Running a SaaS company requires a mix of technical expertise, marketing know-how, and a ton of grit, not to mention passion. For Lindsay Tjepkema, this all comes naturally, especially her passion for podcasting, which made her the perfect person to found and run Casted.
Before she ventured into the startup realm, Lindsay thrived in the marketing industry, heading-up strategy within digital marketing agencies, leading marketing teams within global B2B brands, and even running her own consulting agency. Most recently before starting Casted, Lindsay was VP of Brand & Content at Emarsys, a global SaaS/MarTech platform, which was recently acquired by SAP. There, Lindsay launched the company’s podcast “Marketer + Machine” and served as its host.
Marketer + Machine quickly became a foundational piece of the Emarsys integrated marketing strategy and found success among the company’s audience, customers, and team members around the world. Lindsay’s team used the show to create a range of supplemental content from each episode and maximize the show’s value for the Emarsys brand. Clearly, there was immense opportunity in building a content strategy around podcasting. Lindsay quickly saw, however, that the podcasting technology available wasn’t suited for marketing leaders and teams like hers. Instead, podcasting tools were created to meet the needs of hobbyists or influencer-types who have very different podcasting strategies and measures of success than those of a B2B brand.
With listenership growing exponentially year after year, podcasting presented incredible opportunity for marketers to reach their audiences in richer, more meaningful ways, however, the lack of podcast solutions for marketers made it incredibly difficult and cumbersome to capitalize on podcasting as an effective B2B marketing channel. Lindsay set out to change that.
After two and a half years with Emarsys, Lindsay set out to deliver the platform that would unlock podcasting not only as a powerful B2B marketing channel, but as a foundational part of any marketer’s content strategy. But she wouldn’t do this alone. She eventually brought along two co-workers from Emarsys—Zachary Ballenger and Adam Patarino.
Zachary was the first to get wind of her venture while she was searching for a technical lead. Right out the gate, he was an ideal partner to lead revenue for her startup and also brought in his long-time friend, Adam, who was the technical leader needed to bring the vision to life.
The trio chatted for several days, and quickly realized that they could create something truly amazing together - not just a product that the market so desperately needed, but also a team, a culture, a brand, and a workplace that could lead real, meaningful change. Together, they were a powerhouse team with marketing, sales, and product expertise, as well as years of experience in B2B enterprise SaaS.
And most importantly, the three had a shared vision of how to build the company and the unique culture at its core. One that valued diversity, so each employee could bring their whole self to work and feel supported and succeed and grow both personally and professionally.
For Lindsay, teaming up with Zachary and Adam has made the adventure of founding a startup so much more fun and rewarding.
As Casted approaches its second anniversary, Lindsay has led the charge to see the company double in size of employees, quadruple revenue, and triple its customer base, bringing on market leaders like Salesforce, Drift, Terminus, Sumo Logic, ZoomInfo, and Auth0. No small feat in the world of startups!
When she gets a little time away from her role as CEO and Co-Founder, you may find her sipping on coffee (with unsweetened oat milk, of course) while listening to her favorite podcasts—Dare to Lead and How I Built This. Or enjoying a glass of red wine while reading a book, probably by her favorite author, Brene Brown.
Lindsay’s favorite hangout spot (besides her living room couch playing video games and watching movies with her family—thanks to the pandemic) is a nearby coffee shop called Schoolhouse 7. It is, you guessed it, a 100+ year-old former one-room schoolhouse that has been turned into a cute and cozy coffee spot where she can sometimes be found working, reading or chatting with friends or, her favorite, playing chess with her oldest son.
What keeps her driving forward are her three sons (including one set of twins), the ridiculous talent of the growing Casted Crew, and listening to shows about startups, female founders, venture capital, marketing, category creation, and leadership.
Podcasts are an integral part of her life, and she’d have it no other way. In her words: “I love that podcasts create connections like no other content can. They are so much more human and authentic than other content. And for that reason, they also serve as great resources to fuel other content channels to make a brand’s entire strategy more engaging and effective.”
