"It is probably the best decision we made when we were in a tough spot in our business. Connectd didn't just introduce me to support — it transformed our understanding of how business operates at the highest level."
What pushed you to seek support beyond your own network, and how did you find Connectd?
Sam Marshall, Founder, Snippit Media: We found out about Connectd through a contact in our accelerator hub. She recommended it — she'd found success on the platform herself. But before joining, we were really licking our wounds from a failed go-to-market strategy the previous year.
When you're a small media network, scale is a real issue. You need enough screens to get on plan with agencies and brands. We took a chance — it was a calculated risk — but it didn't work out, and it left us with a significantly smaller network than we had agreements in place to commercialise. We knew we needed support from someone with senior media experience to help us navigate those challenges.
What were the biggest challenges or decisions sitting on your shoulders as a founder?
Sam Marshall: There were a few. Quite significantly, rising bills — the go-to-market strategy had added considerably to our monthly burn rate. The stakes were hugely increased, and with that came a lot more pressure than we'd been accustomed to across our journey to date.
But I'd say the biggest challenge — the thing we really needed to dial in and focus on at that time — was rebuilding the commercial strategy from the ground up. And that's where we sought support from Connectd.
What were you hoping the right support would unlock for the business?
Sam Marshall: Clarity and regaining confidence, to be honest. When we first started working with Grant, we were a wounded animal, and we needed to rebuild our commercial strategy from the ground up. Right now, the business finds itself in a better position than we've ever been — and Grant, who we found through Connectd, has really been instrumental in helping us get there.
What did the brief for the right advisor look like?
Sam Marshall: We were pretty clear in our brief. We wanted somebody experienced in the media buying space — whether that came from the agency side, media buying, or programmatic — but we didn't want someone who was operationally involved. We wanted someone who could give us the executive perspective.
Grant was one of the first people to apply for the role, and it was a perfect fit. There was actually quite a specific moment that stood out. On our first call, Grant just put us at ease and helped us zoom out and focus on vision, which was really important — and where we've always felt most comfortable. But the specific moment was when we pitched a software extension we'd been talking about for a while. Grant immediately gave us a perspective to look at it more expansively, and at a certain point he said, "Then you're onboarding like Amazon and Google — that's exactly where you want to be." Hearing that at a time when we were quite low on confidence was really important. From that call, we knew we had to get Grant working with us.
How did you structure the relationship early on, and how did it evolve?
Sam Marshall: The agreement we put in place with Grant was a board advisor agreement. We agreed on a weekly cadence for standups, with ad hoc document review in between. Grant's support with the document review side of things has really levelled up our deck-making and commercial proposals — his experience there is something we lean on pretty consistently, and it's improved significantly.
What I'd say is that Grant is not afraid to let us make our own mistakes, and he's always patient with us — steering us in a really emotionally intelligent way. Two examples stand out.
When we first started working together, our commercial thinking was centred around branded sponsorships and a media ownership play that not many media owners could promise a brand. There isn't a tremendous amount of commercial experience in our team, so when we were mapping out brands, it was hard to find the right decision makers. What consistently came up was, "Talk to our agency" — which went against both our past experience and Grant's advice. He let us go and pursue agencies anyway. It went exactly how he said it would. He'd told us: "They'll entertain you, you're doing something cool, they'll get you in for a media owner session — but ultimately they'll say they're keeping it on file and you'll be hearing from them. Until you have scale, they're not going to do it." And now, seven months later, we're right back to getting branded sponsorships for our World Cup launch — exactly what we'd originally pitched Grant. He just emotionally intelligently steered us back, let us make the mistakes, and nudged us in the right direction. Which is exactly what you want from a leader, especially one who only has the overview perspective because they see you once a week.
The second example: after the agencies didn't work out, Grant encouraged us to refocus on our core issue — scale. He suggested reaching out to other media owners as a creative way to combat it. A couple of weeks ago, we found a media owner who scaled using a mechanism that doesn't rely on asset lending or giving away equity — which is perfect for us, because our bespoke network isn't appropriate for asset lending. It had been probably our biggest issue to date, and we found the solution through connecting with media owners — all Grant's suggestion.
What would you say to a founder considering Connectd today?
Sam Marshall: After my onboarding experience, I think I figured out why you're growing so fast. You've nailed the network effects — absolutely nailed it. You've flattened the onboarding for founders, you verify the talent at the point of onboarding, and you're going to attract the best startups because it's easy to join. You've got world-class talent — New York executive-level media talent — applying to work with a little startup from Manchester. That's why I recommend Connectd to other founders constantly.
If you've got a good business and a good opportunity, it's literally 30 minutes of your time. Apply to be onboarded, take the onboarding call, come prepared — treat it like an investor call, make sure you've got your answers ready and can really capture the scope of the opportunity you're bringing to the table. You're going to get some fantastic applications through Connectd.
It is probably the best decision we made when we were in a tough spot in our business. Connectd didn't just introduce me to support — it transformed our understanding of how business operates at the highest level.
Sam Marshall, Founder, Snippit Media
