Some time ago, I was honored to speak on an SVAMA panel on Entrepreneurial Marketing alongside Donna Wells, CMO of Mint.com and TJ Schimone of Slice by Karim, partybeans.com and what seems like a handful of other ventures.

In addition to the usual advice “Be exceptionally careful who you hire” and “Manage your network effects”:

• None of the panelists had spent any money on advertising in their current role save a couple thousand bucks on a HARO ad here and there.  Takeaway: A great story and some PR investment is exponentially more effective than traditional advertising.
• With today’s network effects in the Business to Consumer world (and increasingly in the Business to Business world) product is king.  A great product does not guarantee success, but it certainly helps.  A poor product is a ticket to the deadpool.
• You will not get network effects without giving something away for free.  This can be your product or your content–preferably both.