GrowthX raises $12M... and I'm along for the ride!

This isn't the usual funding announcement from The Angle, because I'm finally actually joining a startup instead of just writing about or helping fund them.

I’ve been a little quiet here for a few weeks, and now I’m finally ready to share the reason: I’ve got a new gig, with GrowthX, an exciting early-stage startup that blends perfectly the areas in which I can have the most impact, and my beliefs about where the future is headed in terms of AI technology development and tool use. Today, GrowthX is making its $12 million Series A (led by Madrona) official, so I figured it was a great time to share a bit more about the company, some of the people involved, what it’s doing, and what I’ll be doing with them.

First, GrowthX’s focus is (unsurprisingly) growth – the growth of its clients specifically. Its approach to doing this blends a traditional services-based, agency-like model with AI-powered content creation and optimization, along with a flywheel of rapid iteration based on feedback and quick development and deployment of new technological tools.

GrowthX founder and CEO Marcel Santilli has described the approach as “service-as-software,” and it’s a concept that is gaining more purchase and traction particularly in the era of AI. Historically, venture capital has been more or less allergic to companies that resemble service businesses rather than ‘true’ tech or software startups, in large part because the revenue multiples on services businesses have typically not been able to take advantage of the inherent scaling benefits of software: Software is code once, deploy effectively infinitely – services businesses on the other hand, have historically required scaling spending on the capital expenditure side more or less in lock step with revenue growth, because new clients require new people, not just new copies of the same code.

One of the earliest companies to challenge the long-held maxim in VC that ‘services = bad’ was Palantir, which famously relied on a strategy of using ‘forward-deployed engineers’ (essentially embedded contractors) within clients to build alongside them, blending a services approach similar in style to traditional providers like KPMG or Deloitte, with a SaaS model for the resulting tech stack or tool build. Building somewhat inefficiently at first like this also nets you new product that you can adapt and resell to other clients, too, meaning that despite an initial approach that looks like it won’t scale on an exponential curve, you end up with revenue multiples that better fit what a venture investor expects to see.

The broad spread and rapid iteration of generative AI has made the ‘service-as-software’ approach both more attainable and more scalable from even early on in a startup’s lifecycle.

Knowledge work, and in particular work around content marketing and brand communications, seems especially well-positioned to benefit from generative AI in terms of building scalable, effective, and powerful tooling that can dramatically change how companies talk to – and serve – their customers. Even before the opportunity to work with GrowthX came along, I had been personally working on and experimenting with how my own output might be scaled using AI, and in fact, even ideating what it might look like to build an agency on modern AI tooling doing exactly that.

The other thing that really appealed to me about GrowthX is that it’s starting from a position where the product it's delivering is valuable enough to customers out the gate that it’s already profitable – another factor that has sometimes been greeted with skepticism from VC as a category. But because GrowthX offers a marketing stack that’s AI-enabled, but backed by world-class editorial and SEO talent, it’s already winning on value vs. traditional agency approaches. Plus, like Tesla’s efforts with autopilot, the great value delivered on a cost basis for clients helps fund ongoing tech development and continuous improvement – leaving everyone in the equation happier and better for it.

As for my role there, I’ll be working closely with my old boss (now also my new boss) Matthew Panzarino, the former Editor-in-Chief of TechCrunch, as well as fellow TC alum Megan Rose Dickey; ex-TripAdvisor/Red Ventures SEO expert Dave Capone; former Business Insider senior reporter Mara Leighton; ex-G2, ActiveCampaign and Scribe content pro Jakub Rudnik and ex-Semrush growth marketing leader Branko Kral. Together, we make up the team responsible for ensuring our client delivery teams are delivering best-in-class results that best represent our customers to their customers. Given the nature of the startup, I’ll also be working closely with our engineering teams on product ideation and development.

I’m super excited to be joining a company this early in its journey, and to be joining one where I have such strong faith in its vision, mission and direction. It’s definitely going to be a new challenge for me relative to what I’ve done before, but it’s one I welcome – and one where I think my skills and experience will be especially useful.

You’ll probably occasionally hear from me here about what’s going on at GrowthX, just because it’s a genuine thrill ride and I won’t be able to control my excitement. But know also that I’ll still be maintaining The Angle with its current mission of documenting the development of the AI economy, and the startups, investors and companies that factor therein.

Also, if you think GrowthX might be a fit for your company (or those of your portfolio, VCs reading this), please do reach out – happy to chat about what it is why do and what we’ve been able to do for our existing clients so far.