Rachel Cravit

B2B SaaS content marketer & writer | Dog mom 🐶 | YYZ ➡️ CHS 🇨🇦🇺🇸

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

“I am who I am” is not a sign of a strong identity. It’s a mark of a closed mind.

A rigid sense of self is a barrier to growth. It makes you a prisoner of your past.

Prior patterns don't have to dictate future decisions. Who you've been shouldn't limit who you become.

[Glassbox @GlassboxDigital]

Discover three practical ways to enhance your #MobileApp’s performance in this new Glassbox blog! 🔎📱

➡️ https://t.co/sCnWsKZlV1

[Todd Spence @Todd_Spence]

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, hit with a massive "Pay your writers!" chant from Boston University students during his commencement speech. Love to see it. #WGAstrong

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

"If you are unwilling to disrupt your business, there will always be someone willing to do it for you." #facts

[Marc Randolph @marcrandolph]

In 2000, Blockbuster was the movie rental king with 60,000 stores and 9,000 employees. Reed Hastings and I, on the other hand, were just two Silicon Valley geeks with a DVD-rental-by-mail idea.

We’d been struggling since 1998 to find a way to make it work, and by the summer of 2000, we were finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Our no-due-dates, no-late-fees subscription model was a hit. Customers were pouring in and the company was growing like crazy.

Running a subscription business takes a lot of cash, since you pay acquisition costs up front while the revenue comes in over time. But it was the height of the internet boom. Cash was plentiful.

Until suddenly it wasn’t. Over a few short months, the internet bubble finally popped. The .com at the end of our name had been a badge of honor; now it was three scarlet letters. And with customers flooding in, cash was flying out. We’d spent more than $50 million getting to this point, and now it looked like our success was going to bankrupt us.

Luckily, there is a Silicon Valley play book for this. It’s called “pursue strategic alternatives”—code for “sell, and sell fast.”

The obvious strategic alternative for us was Blockbuster. Which is why, just a few weeks later, you’d have found me, Reed, and our CFO Barry McCarthy sitting at a giant conference table on the 37th floor of the Blockbuster headquarters in Dallas, getting ready to pitch Blockbuster.

The pitch was simple. We would join forces with Blockbuster. We would run the online business. They would run the stores. We would jointly develop a blended model. And everyone would live happily ever after.

And it was going great. They were leaning in. They asked good questions. Until they asked the most important question of all: “How much?”

Now, we had rehearsed this. We figured we were $50 million in the hole... so let’s go with that! Reed leaned forward confidently and told them: “Fifty Million Dollars.”

There was perfect silence. Their words were “we’ll consider it,” but we could tell they were fighting to suppress laughter. After that, the meeting went downhill fast.

Well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Or, as my father used to tell me, “sometimes, the only way out is through.” We knew there was no easy way out. We struggled for years. But we eventually did make it through. We had our IPO. We passed Blockbuster in revenue.

And today, the company that Blockbuster could have purchased in 2000 for $50 million, has a market cap exceeding $150 billion. And that company with 9000 stores? Now it’s got just one.

But what’s the lesson to take from this?

There’s certainly an inspiring one: It’s possible for a handful of people, with no prior experience in the video business, to take down a 6 billion dollar category-leading company.

But I think the more important lesson—one that Blockbuster learned too late—is simply this:

If you are unwilling to disrupt your business, there will always be someone willing to do it for you.

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

Content writing is so much fun when you find the topics genuinely fascinating.😊 AI, CX, customer demands in the Instant Gratification Era... could nerd out about this stuff all day. Also, before this post I had no idea 100 milliseconds in latency could cost Amazon $5B 🤯

[Glassbox @GlassboxDigital]

Customers know want what they want and they want it FAST. And it’s up to you and your brand to keep up with the pace, or lose.

Check out our most recent blog to learn more about #PerformanceMonitoring in the instant gratification era 👇

https://t.co/l1XoJuODE8

#CX #Ecommerce

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

@h5amin Literally just laughed out loud, Hiba this is genius. The ™ 😂

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

@mara_calv umm my couch is basically a dog bed that i am also allowed to sit on 😂

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

We pay too much attention to the most confident voices—and too little attention to the most thoughtful ones.

Certainty is not a sign of credibility. Speaking assertively is not a substitute for thinking deeply.

It's better to learn from complex thinkers than smooth talkers.

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

actually though 😂

[neha @neharedy]

one day you’re young and cool and the next you’re thinking about b2b SaaS

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

Fascinating thread! Groups of kindergartners built taller marshmallow towers than MBA students because they weren't preoccupied w/ figuring out unspoken heirarchical rules & jumped right in to experimenting/failing/learning/improving. They were more innovative & agile! Love this

[Matt Schnuck @mattschnuck]

A famous experiment exposed the No. 1 killer of high-performing teams.

Here it is (and how you overcome it):

[Superpath @superpathco]

Our 5th annual content marketing salary survey is live! Help us collect data by submitting your 2022 salary data & sharing the link🙂

We're donating $1 for the first 500 respondents to 826 National, a non-profit that helps young writers find their voice👉https://t.co/RwwitnVCVv

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

I was not asked to share this or leave a review and am not connected to Friday Growth Notes in any way, was genuinely just blown away by the content 🔥 Thanks for being so generous with your insights @adamcgoyette! Also, that data scraping tip for competitor contract renewals 🤯

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

🙌

[Amanda Natividad @amandanat]

It's a tough world out there for creators...

Over half of Google searches end without a click.

And social media platforms ding you for linking out.

What to do?

Beat the platforms at their own game.

Make Zero-Click Content.

Here's how:

[Daily Copywriting @dailycopywriter]

Bad copywriting: ”5GBs of storage”.

Great copywriting: ”1,000 songs in your pocket”.

Sell the benefits, not the features.

[सर्वज्ञ | Sarvagya @VermaSarvagya]

‘Hiring rockstars’
Bro chill you run a B2B SaaS company

[Rachel Cravit @RachelCravit]

This team is 🔥 just sayin' @h5amin @testboxofficial

[gtmfund @gtmfund]

🔥GTM Job of the Week🔥: Sr Marketing Manager @testboxofficial

The software buying process is broken. TestBox is changing that.
- Create & manage user acquisition campaigns
- Build GTM priorities
- Drive the revolution of customer-led buying 🚀
https://t.co/akmhhW6SjB

[Mark Rofe @iamrofe]

Do you pronounce it Semrush or Semrush?

[Nathan Jensen @NateMJensen]

Thinking of a new email signature other than "best".

You'll never take me alive,
Nate

[ASPCA @ASPCA]

Hurricane Ian is quickly approaching Florida's Gulf Coast, and we're reminding pet owners in impacted communities about the importance of including pets in disaster preparedness plans. Be prepared and share these tips with other pet owners! More tips here: https://t.co/6Kjldpth01