Just evil enough: Subversive marketing strategies for startups | Alistair Croll (author, advisor, entrepreneur)

Alistair Croll is the co-author of the best-selling book Lean Analytics and a longtime product manager, entrepreneur, and startup advisor. He was also instrumental in my starting a company, funding it, and helping us exit to Airbnb as part of his Year One Labs incubator. He’s chaired notable events such as O’Reilly’s Strata and UBM’s Cloud Connect and founded FWD50. In our conversation, we focus on lessons from an upcoming book by Alistair and his co-author, Emily Ross, Just Evil Enough, which is set for release in late 2024. We cover:

• The importance of subversive marketing strategies in most startups’ growth

• 11 specific subversive tactics that successful companies have used

• Examples of companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Tesla that used clever tactics early on

• A framework for scanning your market for opportunities

• The importance of finding your “zero-day marketing exploit”

• How to apply these tactics ethically without actually being evil

• Much more

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Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/just-evil-enough-alistair-croll

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Where to find Alistair Croll:

• X: https://x.com/acroll

• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@alistairish

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistaircroll/

• Website: https://justevilenough.com/

• Substack: https://acroll.substack.com/

• Just Evil Enough on X: https://x.com/evilenough

• Just Evil Enough on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/just-evil-enough/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Alistair’s background 

(02:00) The story behind Alistair and Emily’s book Just Evil Enough

(06:17) Examples of subversive tactics

(07:43) The importance of unfair advantage

(10:36) The origin of the title “Just Evil Enough”

(14:24) System awareness and novelty

(19:16) How to use this thinking successfully 

(22:37) Normalizing disagreeable thinking 

(25:49) Recon canvas and market scanning

(32:43) 11 tactics for subversive marketing

(57:01) Implementing subversive strategies

(01:05:01) Ethical considerations in marketing

(01:08:19) Lightning round

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.