A goodbye to 2025
The best of the newsletter, and some reflections
A whole year has ended. Wow. It has been one of those years for me which feel like they just zoomed through. In fact, it feels like the year which has zoomed fastest. O do not necessarily like that.
But it was also an important year for me. Professionally, I feel like I had a development arc that I didn’t trust myself to go through. This was the year I applied all the lessons I learnt in the years before this, and had the patience and resilience to keep going through burnout and just plain exhaustion. I can’t and won’t say that I didn’t enjoy it, though.
Why is there joy in a cold pint after a hard day at work? Because it is deserved. And this year, I deserved it.
But it was also a year in which everything except work took a backseat. There was limited downtime. It started off with our Series A announcement in January, to setting up our GTM teams, to gaining momentum, to product launches, to organising our own event, and keeping the team going. As I said, I enjoyed all of it. But my mind was full, and when your mind is full, you can’t read or write. You needs space to do both of these things, and I didn’t have any. I was overwhelmed, and something had to give way.
I did manage to write a little though. 14 essays I wrote through the year (including this one), easily the lowest number since the newsletter started, but there are good ones in there.
So for the end of the year, I’ll include my top 3 instead of a top 5, just to keep the quality high for you. Plus, I never could get around to the community, and the new year seems the right time to do it, so watch this space.
And finally before the list, I wanted to say that I did get some time to get some writing done in December, so January should start off strong on the newsletter.
Please keep giving me your support and readership, and I promise there will be a lot more to learn, both for me and you, in 2026. :)
Here’s the list, and why I think you should read these essays (again):
This is something most marketers are now coming to as a conclusion as they plan their strategies, and I did too. Read this to have a idea of how to approach marketing as you set it up. If you choose one strategy and the other’s tactics, then you will confuse yourself and the team.
Bit of a rant, but an important one. It is very easy to drink the AI kool-aid as founders right now, and dismiss the marketing function as just tasks that can be automated. But that’s not the case yet, and it’s a classic trap. I still believe in an in-house team, and I explain why here.
A playbook for startup marketing that actually works
A podcast I did this year that actually asked all the right questions. It is exhaustive, well structured, and I loved how deep I was allowed to go in each question. If you are not a video-watcher, I was summarised the lessons too. So go read.
That’s all for this year, dear readers. In every way, 2025 has been remarkable, and I’m hoping for a similar 2026 too. For me and for all of you. Wishing you all a very happy new year!
Please keep reading, and keep commenting.
As I keep telling you, it’s because you read that I write. :)
Thoughtful leadership perspective. This kind of reflection is critical for modern CMOs.
Loved reading your emails this year. Thanks for writing them. I graduate in 2027 and such emails, to me, are very helpful. Looking forward to all future editions. Happy new year!