Reflections on one year of First Impression
What I learned from starting First Impression a year ago, plus, some of my favorite Substack posts.
Hello, I’m Hema, and welcome to my newsletter First Impression. Each month, I write an in-depth post on positioning, brand, or GTM strategy for early-stage startups. Join startup founders, investors, and practitioners and subscribe to get the newsletter in your inbox.
A year ago this week, I started my substack. I’ve learned so much from this experience, and I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. I am very thankful to you, my dear subscribers, for reading and supporting my work. My heartfelt gratitude to all of you!
When I started my substack, my goal was simple:
Share what I’ve learned as a marketing leader at startups
Do more of what I love - writing & storytelling
Be thoughtful, authentic, and candid
My goal was not subscribers or revenue, or leads. Although, I have got them too, thanks to you! Here are the three things I’ve learned in this past year:
Focus on the right motives
Writing is not always easy for me, even though I love it. If I have to push myself to write because of goals like revenue, subscribers, or impressions, I would have been miserable and stressed. It would have interfered with what I wrote and how I wrote it. My core motivation when I started First Impression was to be of service to founders and founding teams by sharing my knowledge and experience. Coming back to this, even when my motivation levels were low, helped me find a way forward.
Know your medium
Everyone has a medium where they shine. I am no good at videos. I don’t take a lot of photos (Sorry, no Instagram for me). I know nothing about doing a podcast, although I listen to many. But words are my first love. Writing, even when it’s frustrating and challenging, is very rewarding and cathartic for me. As Patty Smith says in her brilliant substack, “The reader is my notebook”.
It takes effort
Just because I love something doesn’t mean it’s not work. In fact, my experience is that it’s more work because I really care about it and want to make sure I put my best work out there for my subscribers. Deadlines help. I gave myself a modest goal of posting one long, thoughtful post a month. I made this commitment in my first post, and I’ve stuck to it. Some writers post more frequently, but this is the right balance for me, given my consulting projects or interim CMO roles. Still, I always wish I started researching and writing the post sooner than when I get down to it. Sigh, writers. We procrastinate.
Below are the First Impression posts most liked, shared, and commented upon on social media:
Positioning at different stages of PMF
The art and science of great customer interviews
What if the problem you are solving is not that urgent?
Why your CMO wants to quit your startup
10 mistakes I made in my first head of marketing job
Here are some of the posts from other substacks that I’ve enjoyed and learned from that might be useful to you.
Moats in the era of AI and also What are we seeing as VCs by Aspiring for Intelligence. This is a great newsletter to keep up-to-date on all things AI, minus the hype.
Finding the white-hot center by the brilliant James Currier. A must-read for anyone who cares about understanding and activating growth.
Think 1M ARR means you’ve achieved PMF? Think again from OpenView and Your guide to SaaS metrics 2.0 by
.12 most common mistakes scaling your first sales team by SaaStr. Do yourself a favor and read this before you begin hiring more AEs and SDRs! And another fantastic read from
My top 10 mistakes getting to 100M ARRThank you for continuing to read First Impression. If there are specific topics you’d like me to write about on positioning, brand, or GTM strategy, please comment below.
So many truths mentioned here. Loving what we write is far more fulfilling than metrics - 100% agree.