Going from big to small to big - a marketer’s journey

If you don’t count my childhood jobs or my side job of teaching scuba diving, I’ve had 8 jobs before making the move to Budapest to join Shapr3D as their VP of Marketing. While changing a job and/or career can be stressful, it can also be an incredibly rewarding experience if you invest the time to make it the right decision for you.  

At Shapr3D, we are rapidly expanding the team (see Kata Oroszi’s article on how we’re scaling) and I’m often asked what brought me here (apparently when I say an airplane, that is not funny in Hungary…). My journey involved moving from a large, segment-leading company (14K employees) to a small one (30 employees) and relocating from Boston, USA to Budapest, Hungary.

As I learned in my google search, there are nearly 4 billion (well, 3,790,000,000) articles covering the differences between working in a large company and a small one. Apparently I am not the first person to ever contemplate this change but yet, I’m going to add my two cents - from a marketer’s perspective. Here’s what I’ve experienced going from a large company to a small one - with aspirations to grow it into an iconic brand.

Leading from the front

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘nobody gets fired for choosing IBM’? Marketing for a segment leader has several advantages:

1. Like Norm going to the Cheers bar, everybody knows your name. You’re the market leader.
2. You have a proven channel. People know where to go to buy your product and you’ve established a network to provide sales, training and support services.
3. You have an experienced and polished marketing team that knows how to focus and execute.

It’s not a bad place to be, but it is not all unicorns and rainbows. Being the segment leader makes you a target - for everybody:

1. Everybody has their eyes on you. For the US crowd, you might remember the old Avis slogan “We’re number two; we try harder”. They are all going to try hard to displace you and your marketing strategy needs to include tactics to defend your position.
2. Growth after scaling gets tougher. Your stakeholders probably expect double-digit growth. Harder at $100M than it is at $1M.
3. Complacency is the silent killer. We all remember the story of Kodak and digital cameras, right? If not, google it :).

From a work perspective, you might have more security at a larger company. Depending on the company, there are varying levels of bureaucracy to deal with that can help in terms of providing structure, but can frustrate those who are self-motivated and want to move quickly.

Going from small to big - the start-up life

Marketing for a start-up (in my case, a company that is in the scaling phase) is exhilarating. If you ever wanted to try your hand at every marketing discipline, this is the place to be. Some of the advantages:

1. Like a Facebook user with a hidden account, nobody knows your name. But you can change this. Use your savvy as a marketer in the digital era to develop your audience and build a brand.
2. Give Blue Ocean Strategy a read and then ‘create and capture uncontested market space.’  
3. Start with PPC, but don’t get addicted. PPC for customer acquisition is a terrific start-up strategy but be sure to balance your investment in branding and organic growth.

It sounds super cool, but make sure you do this with an understanding of what you’re getting into:

1. Have a long talk - with yourself. Working in a fast-paced environment is not for everyone. You have a high degree of accountability and if you’re used to just ‘getting by’ at work, this is not the world for you.
2. Choose wisely. Find a company that you’re passionate about. A product that you really love. Success comes through authenticity.
3. Make sure you are truly excited about your customers. If you’re not laser-focused on their success, then you’re in the wrong business.

Making a career change can be one of the most important decisions of your life. Invest the time and remember one key point: The company may be interviewing you, but you have an equally important role in evaluating your potential employer to find the perfect match.

At Shapr3D, I found a culture that aligns with my values. It’s a team of highly ambitious people who deeply care about making our customers successful. If you’re interested (I mean really interested), we’re hiring amazing people to help us build the future. Check out shapr3d.com/jobs for details.