Build Your Own Channel: The Anti-Playbook for Early-Stage Marketing w/Sterling Snow, Co-Founder and CEO @ Redo

Most early-stage startups fail at the same place: they can't figure out marketing. Sterling Snow, former CMO at Divvy (acquired for $2.5B), has cracked the code on what actually works when you're searching for your first scalable channel—and it's not what the playbooks tell you.

Sterling calls it "the haystack phase"—that brutal early period where you're testing everything, burning through budget, and desperately searching for the needle of a channel that actually works. Most marketers try to be "data-driven" during this phase, which Sterling argues is impossible when you have no data yet.

In this tactical conversation, Sterling shares the unconventional approaches that took Divvy from zero to acquisition and what he's building at Redo with AI-powered personalization at scale.

Key takeaways for marketing leaders:

• The haystack phase framework: Why activity (not analysis) is what matters when searching for your first scalable channel.
• Creating proprietary lead flow: The newsletter sponsorship story that became Divvy's #1 channel for years (before everyone else figured it out).
• Comp marketers on revenue: Sterling's controversial take on why marketing should be paid one level deeper in the funnel.
• Zigging when everyone zags: Why Sterling believes the rise of AI search means doubling down on high-touch, human interactions (micro-events, partnerships, in-person)—the exact opposite of what most marketers are doing.

Sterling also addresses what he looks for when hiring "haystack phase" marketers (hint: it's the 14-year-old who 5x'd his lawn mowing business through guerrilla tactics), why he believes freemium can work if you're creative enough to monetize usage, and how marketing team composition needs to shift from "button-pushers" to strategists and orchestrators.

If you're tired of being told to follow best practices that produce mediocre results, this episode is a masterclass in finding alpha where others aren't looking.

Resources: 

See what Sterling is building at https://redo.com/en 

Connect with Sterling on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterling-snow-051baab5/ 

Connect with Paxton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paxtongray/ 

Looking for an agency that'll be worth the investment? 97th Floor creates custom, audience-first campaigns that drive pipeline and conversions. Get started here: https://97thfloor.com/lets-talk/. 

About Sterling Snow:
Sterling Snow is the CEO and Co-founder of Redo, a customer experience platform for online brands.

He's a member of Utah's oldest and largest early-stage venture firm.

He was a former Senior VP or Revenue at BILL, a former Chief Revenue Officer at Divvy, and a former Marketing and Sales Director at LogMeln.

Sterling is also an angel investor mainly in the seed and Series A rounds His investment portfolio includes Kaedim (AI for 2D and 3D image modeling) and Trinsic (full-stack identity platform).

Timestamps:

00:41 - The haystack phase: activity beats strategy

04:07 - Creating proprietary channels vs. following playbooks

05:25 - The $1,000 newsletter ad that changed everything

26:23 - Why SDRs are becoming extinct

28:42 - Making freemium actually profitable