We started with bloggers to gain initial press coverage, which eventually led to national media attention, helping us gain traction despite being in debt.

Despite the initial attention and media coverage, a week later, we found ourselves back at square one, highlighting the typical startup cycle of initial excitement followed by a drop in relevance.

When we launched a new product in 2011, we received a billion media impressions, but we also faced issues with product failures at scale.

Think of launching as an ongoing process; if your initial launch doesn't attract attention, keep iterating and relaunching like Airbnb did.

When we hired our first CMO, we shifted to a more professional marketing approach, which included experimenting with various campaigns.

In late 2009, we decided to publicly announce our product, which led to significant interest and media coverage.

Our marketing strategy initially relied on PR and organic growth, especially leveraging our unique owl mascot, which became a viral sensation.

The initial traction we received was surprising, leading us to iterate quickly based on user feedback and adapt our product accordingly.

Instead of gradually launching new products, we announced five new products simultaneously, which was counterintuitive but ultimately transformed our market positioning and competitive landscape.