Just evil enough: Subversive marketing strategies for startups | Alistair Croll

Alistair’s background (0s)

• People often overlook that their product is only half of the solution, as seen in the example of Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner, where powdered cheese was combined with macaroni to create a readymade dinner that people would buy (21s).
• David Ricketts, a Harvard professor of innovation, uses the Kraft macaroni and cheese example to illustrate this point (4s).
• Alistair Croll is the author of "Lean Analytics", a highly influential book on using data to build startups (34s).
• Alistair is a multi-time founder who runs conferences worldwide on data, AI, technology, and government (41s).
• He has played a significant role in the host's life, convincing them to leave a job and start a company, which was eventually sold to Airbnb (51s).
• Alistair is releasing a new book called "Just Evil Enough", which explores loopholes and strategies for getting people to pay attention to what you've built (1m7s).
• The book provides 11 specific strategies for finding subversive ideas, shifting your mindset, and thinking more subversively (1m22s).
• Alistair shares dozens of examples and stories that make his advice relatable and applicable (1m32s).
• The book is essential for startups and founders who struggle to get people to pay attention to their product (1m38s).
• Alistair's work is relevant to anyone thinking of starting a company and wanting to develop a subversive mindset (1m41s).

The story behind Alistair and Emily’s book Just Evil Enough (2m0s)

• Alistair Croll, a product manager, wrote the book "Just Evil Enough" to emphasize the importance of market strategy and distribution for startups, as many product managers focus too much on the next feature and ignore these crucial aspects (2m29s).
• The book highlights the need for startups to have an unfair advantage and to capture attention and turn it into profitable demand, which is often an afterthought for many product managers (3m5s).
• Alistair aims to remind startups and founders that distribution matters and that subverting norms and getting the system to behave in a way that gives them an advantage is important (3m18s).
• The book provides examples of companies that have used subversive marketing strategies to gain an advantage, not by doing something evil, but by using a system in a way its creators didn't intend (3m51s).
• Alistair's goal is to give people examples of the kind of strategies that can be used to gain an advantage and to set expectations for what the book is about (3m30s).
• The book is meant to provide a reminder to startups and founders to think about market strategy and distribution, and to use subversive marketing strategies to gain an advantage (3m25s).

Examples of subversive tactics (6m17s)

• Netflix initially used the US Postal Service to deliver DVDs, turning it into a high-bandwidth but high-latency network, as broadband penetration was limited in the US at the time, allowing them to offer on-demand video before streaming was viable (6m37s).
• Blockbuster had the first streaming service, but it wasn't successful due to limited broadband penetration, and they missed the opportunity to use alternative methods like Netflix did (6m27s).
• Whitney Hess used the "top shelf tactic" to promote Bumble by putting up posters in universities that appeared to be official university messages, listing Bumble alongside other popular social media apps that the university supposedly disapproved of (7m5s).
• The tactic exploited the unregulated platform of university walls to distribute the message and sent a subversive reminder that Bumble was one of the top applications, without needing permission to do so (7m29s).

The importance of unfair advantage (7m43s)

• Many founders have a growth strategy, but simply identifying a growth lever or engine is not enough, as successful companies often find a subversive and unprecedented way to grow their business, which can be referred to as an "unfair advantage" (7m44s).
• Examples of subversive growth strategies include invite lists and referral programs, such as Dropbox's model of offering more storage for inviting friends, but these strategies can become less effective over time and may even become illegal (8m17s).
• The key is to find a unique and unprecedented growth strategy, referred to as a "zero day marketing exploit," which is as important as building the right product features and having a seamless onboarding process (8m47s).
• Alistair Croll and his co-author Emily have been researching and collecting examples of these subversive marketing strategies for the past 10 years, and have found that there are tactics that have worked in certain markets, such as Europe, that are untried in the North American market (9m2s).
• The book "Just Evil Enough" is not about being evil or doing evil things, but rather about finding a small advantage by doing something unexpected or unconventional, and the name is meant to be tongue-in-cheek and attention-grabbing (9m22s).
• Startups are often seen as a disagreement with the status quo, and those in power may label them as "evil" for not playing by the rules, but this can be an opportunity to find a unique advantage (9m37s).
• The book's authors believe that even if a cause is just, it's still important to recognize that you need to fight for it and find ways to get the world to behave differently in order to win (10m25s).

The origin of the title “Just Evil Enough” (10m36s)

• The concept of "Just Evil Enough" originated from a conversation about a startup accelerator called Year One Labs, which was built on the Lean Startup methodology, emphasizing the importance of testing and iterating products rather than locking oneself away for a year to build something nobody wants (10m55s).
• The Lean Startup methodology, popularized by Eric Ries' book, encouraged startups to get out of the room and test their products, which was a new approach at the time (11m8s).
• Year One Labs was founded by Ben Yoskovitz and others, who were obsessed with the Lean Startup idea, and the accelerator was designed to help startups test and iterate their products over a period of a year (11m3s).
• One of the startups in the accelerator, Local Mine, was a product that allowed strangers to answer questions about a place, and the founders tested whether strangers would answer questions by geofencing tweets and asking strangers questions, with a 95% response rate (11m56s).
• However, the startup hit a roadblock when people weren't asking questions, and the founders were suggested to fake asking questions on the platform to show people what it was like to answer questions, which led to a conversation about whether this was "evil" (12m13s).
• The phrase "Just Evil Enough" was coined during this conversation, emphasizing the importance of understanding the boundaries of what can be done to provoke change and prove that an idea is better, without being malicious (12m29s).
• Another phrase that was mentioned during the conversation was "being too much of a Boy Scout," which referred to being too cautious and not taking enough risks, and this phrase helped the founders think more critically about their approach (13m3s).
• The strategy of sending questions to people in location from the app itself helped collect passive data about what was happening in a particular place, similar to what Google Maps does now (13m18s).
• The concept of "Just Evil Enough" is also illustrated by the example of Scott Belsky, who launched Behance by reaching out to influential designers and asking them to join the platform, and when they said no, he pivoted and asked to interview them instead, which helped him collect content and create social proof (13m42s).

System awareness and novelty (14m24s)

• To think creatively and grow a startup, it's essential to be "just evil enough" and challenge the status quo, recognizing what the current state is and finding a novel approach within that system (15m1s).
• System awareness is crucial, which involves understanding the system you're in and finding ways to make it behave differently than its creators intended (14m47s).
• Subversiveness is a skill that can be learned, and it comes from system awareness, novelty, and disagreeability (15m23s).
• A Stanford professor, Tina Seelig, gave her engineering and entrepreneurship class $5 in seed capital, five days to plan, and two hours to execute, with the goal of turning the $5 into the maximum revenue (15m39s).
• The students came up with innovative ideas, such as testing bike pressure for free and then charging for pumping it up, or selling their space in line at fancy restaurants during premium lunch hours (16m17s).
• The winning team made $650 by selling their three-minute presentation time to a company that wanted to recruit Stanford grads, demonstrating system awareness and novelty (17m21s).
• System awareness involves recognizing the big picture of what you're in, taking a step back from what you're told you have, and looking at what you actually have (17m32s).
• Once you have system awareness, it's time to introduce novelty and mess with things to create innovative solutions (17m47s).
• Jim Shark, a European athletic leisure wear company, used a subversive marketing strategy by having celebrities wish a person named Jim Shark happy birthday on Cameo, a platform that allows users to book personalized video messages from celebrities, and then later referenced the coincidence in their marketing efforts (17m51s).
• Cameo added 6,000 words to their terms of service for consumer videos around the time Jim Shark used the platform, but the company had already achieved their marketing goal (18m12s).
• Some companies use unconventional methods, such as graffiti, to grab attention, as seen in a recruiting ad by the British intelligence agency, which sprayed signs on the sidewalk, taking advantage of the fact that there is no law against cleaning up (18m30s).
• Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, bought a 60-second Super Bowl ad that featured a bouncing QR code, which was ranked as one of the worst ads but still generated 20 million hits and crashed the company's servers (18m46s).
• Subversive marketing strategies often involve finding novel ways to do things and "zagging" when everyone else is "zigging," which can be an effective way to grab attention and stand out (19m7s).

How to use this thinking successfully (19m16s)

• One-off marketing stunts, referred to as "turbo boosts," can drive traffic to a site and achieve temporary success, but they often fade away, and companies need to figure out a way to grow their product sustainably through methods like paid growth engines or SEO (19m16s).
• Companies that do well use subversive thinking to change their value chain, such as IKEA, which flat-packed furniture and delegated the assembly stage to customers, completely changing the furniture industry (19m51s).
• To successfully use subversive thinking, companies need to look at how they differentiate themselves, reframe their products, change the manner of delivery, and identify who provides certain steps in the process (20m35s).
• This approach is helpful for both long-term growth strategies and driving spikes of growth, but it's essential to distinguish between subversive marketing and growth hacks, which are often product-agnostic and short-term (20m51s).
• The term "zero day marketing exploits" is used to describe the difference between a growth hacker and someone who genuinely tries to subvert the dynamics of their industry, requiring a big perspective (21m23s).
• An example of subversive thinking is the work of researcher Zachary Hamri, who created a dashboard for sailors to monitor and maximize their score, and then changed the scoring system to test their adaptability and behavior (21m40s).

Normalizing disagreeable thinking (22m37s)

• Conscientious individuals are often recruited by the military, but those who are disagreeable and question the rules can be valuable in certain situations, such as in poker, where winning is not just about having the best cards, but also about bluffing and subterfuge (22m37s).
• The story of Jula du Martins, who defended a castle by baking bread and throwing it over the walls to the enemy, is an example of a clever and valid strategy that is not typically discussed in business school (23m29s).
• This type of disagreeable thinking is not often encouraged in business and startups, but it can be beneficial to normalize this type of thinking and to spend time considering unconventional and irrational ideas (24m15s).
• Rory Sutherland, an expert in this type of thinking, suggests spending time on conventional tasks, but also setting aside time to explore irrational and crazy ideas (24m35s).
• Sutherland's example of the wine list is a system that can be manipulated to influence consumer behavior, and he sees the world through the lens of these systems (25m0s).
• The wine industry and wine lists in restaurants are a system that people are beholden to, and understanding these systems can be a key to success (25m28s).
• Rory Sutherland is an expert in seeing the world through the lens of systems and is able to identify and manipulate these systems to achieve his goals (25m34s).

Recon canvas and market scanning (25m49s)

• To come up with clever ideas for a product and business, it's essential to have a subversive mindset, which includes system awareness, novelty, and disagreeability, and then scan the market using a framework like the Recon canvas, which splits the market into product, medium, and market (26m7s).
• Product-market fit is overrated, and it's crucial to consider product-medium-market fit, as marketing textbooks were written in a time when the medium was one-way, one-to-many, paid broadcast, which has changed today (26m17s).
• The medium strategy is vital, and it includes both the platforms used and the norms of that platform, which can make or break a company's success (26m45s).
• Burger King is an excellent example of a company that understands the medium and uses it to its advantage, such as when they launched their mobile app and offered a free Whopper to customers who ordered from a McDonald's parking lot (27m4s).
• Burger King also edited the Wikipedia page for the Whopper and created an ad that made home speakers read it, demonstrating their understanding of the medium (27m25s).
• In 2019, Burger King started liking old posts from influential posters without explanation, which created a buzz and eventually led to the reveal that they were bringing back funnel cake fries (27m39s).
• Understanding the mechanics of the platform and its norms is crucial for a successful go-to-market strategy, and it often gets overlooked (28m43s).
• Scanning for opportunities across product, market, and medium is essential, and the Recon canvas can be a useful tool for this purpose (28m51s).
• A marketing strategy canvas has three rows and three columns, representing objective, collective, and subjective ways to look at the world, and sections for product, medium, and market to help create a comprehensive go-to-market strategy (29m10s).
• The canvas serves as a checklist with 18 squares to consider when developing a marketing strategy, encouraging users to think about opportunities to do something subversive in each section (29m38s).
• The idea is to look within each square and identify the status quo, normal behavior, and potential methods to disrupt it, with over 160 case studies provided as examples (29m49s).
• A subversive marketing stunt example is Runway's influencer campaign, where they sent packages with a lock and countdown timer, creating a sense of anticipation and exclusivity (30m8s).
• The campaign leveraged the natural human curiosity to open mail immediately, turning the unboxing experience into a launch event (30m44s).
• Another example is the launch strategy for the book "Lean Analytics," where the authors sent scheduled messages to 15 influencers with click-to-tweet links and Google Analytics tags to track the campaign's effectiveness (31m1s).
• The campaign created a sense of competition among the influencers, who started comparing their performance and trying to outdo each other (31m43s).
• Documenting the campaign and writing a blog post about it helped establish credibility in brand building and demonstrated expertise in analytics (31m57s).
• The way a company launches a product or campaign sends a message to the market, and using subversive marketing strategies can help build credibility and create a lasting impression (32m8s).
• Liquid Death is considered an underdog with consistent marketing strategies, often incorporating humor in their campaigns (32m13s).
• The company has a unique approach to advertising, where they only proceed with a campaign or ad if it receives at least 50% disapproval, using this as their Northstar metric (32m29s).
• This approach is seen as a way to gauge whether their marketing strategy is subversive enough, with the goal of achieving a certain level of controversy or dislike (32m41s).

11 tactics for subversive marketing (32m43s)

• To come up with subversive marketing ideas, one can use the Recon canvas, which provides various areas to explore, and also look into case studies from different fields, including business and unusual stories, to identify patterns and tactics that can be applied to a specific market or product (32m43s).
• There are 11 tactics that keep showing up as patterns in various case studies, and while these tactics cannot be stolen, they can be applied to a specific situation by identifying vulnerabilities in the market or product and then using one of these tactics to create a go-to-market strategy or zero-day exploit (33m29s).
• One of the tactics is to turn a weakness into a strength, as seen in the example of Salesforce.com, which turned its limited feature set into an asset by positioning itself as a simple and easy-to-use product, with a logo that read "no software" (35m7s).
• This tactic involves identifying a limitation or weakness and thinking about how it can be turned into a benefit, often by reframing it as a positive aspect, such as simplicity or ease of use (36m0s).
• The 11 tactics can be used to create a set of candidate go-to-market strategies or zero-day exploits, which can then be pruned and refined using certain rules to identify the most effective one (33m52s).
• The key is to have a disagreeable mindset and be able to scan the market and product for vulnerabilities, and then apply one of the 11 tactics to create a subversive marketing strategy (33m42s).
• A product may already be a perfect fit for a market that is being ignored, and one tactic is called "buyer upgrade," where the product is already being sold, but to the wrong person (36m41s).
• An example of buyer upgrade is Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser, which started out as melamine foam for aircraft insulation but was later found to be useful for cleaning stains, making it a better market for people who want to clean stuff (36m49s).
• Another example is a company that was selling drones for bridge inspection, but found that insurance companies were a better market for the product, as they would require the drone inspection before signing off on bridges (37m5s).
• Hitachi's personal massager is another example, where the company partnered with another company to sell the product without mentioning Hitachi's name, as the Japanese management company did not want to mention the specific use case for the product (37m45s).
• The tactic of buyer upgrade involves getting out of one's own way and acknowledging that a different market wants the product, and it's possible to sell the same product to a different target market or buyer without changing anything about the product (38m24s).
• Access is another tactic, where having access to something that others don't can be an advantage, but it's essential to be careful and recognize that access can be a privilege, and people from different backgrounds may have different kinds of access (39m8s).
• An example of access is Jessica Scorpio, who launched Get, a car-sharing service, and had access to people and resources that others didn't, which helped her launch the service (39m23s).
• Changing the target market or buyer can make a significant difference, as seen in the example of a web performance analysis tool that was initially sold to operations but later found success when sold to the marketing department (38m43s).
• Utilizing personal networks and access to gain an advantage is a subversive marketing strategy, as seen in the example of a rental by owner service that used a VC's friend's early Tesla Roadster to gain attention at CES (39m28s).
• The founder of MasterClass used his connection to Justin Hoffman's daughter to gain access to a resource, demonstrating the importance of leveraging personal networks (39m43s).
• Another example of this strategy is the founder of Runway, who used his connections to send hats to fancy people, and Whitney Wolfe Herd, who used her sorority connections to promote Bumble (40m2s).
• The "bait and switch" strategy involves offering something appealing to attract customers, then switching to the actual product or service, as seen in the example of Tupperware's dinner parties that led to multi-level marketing opportunities (40m45s).
• A modern example of the "bait and switch" strategy is the company Ingage, which launched a "best workplaces" survey in conjunction with local newspapers, then used the survey data to sell HR software to the participating companies (41m12s).
• The key to a successful "bait and switch" strategy is to ensure that the customer is delighted with the switched product or service, or that the initial promise is still delivered (40m41s).
• Combination is another subversive marketing strategy, where a product or service is paired with another to create a complete solution, as seen in the example of mac and cheese, where powdered cheese was paired with pasta to create a complete meal (42m25s).
• David Ricketts, a Harvard professor of innovation, uses the example of mac and cheese to illustrate the importance of combination in creating a successful product (42m30s).
• Combining products or services can simplify the offering for consumers and make it more appealing, as seen in the example of a salesperson packaging macaroni and cheese together with an elastic band, creating a readymade dinner, (42m42s).
• Analyzing the value chain of a product can help identify opportunities to add value by combining it with a related service, such as the example of 800 Mattress in the US, which included mattress removal in their delivery and installation service, (42m56s).
• Arbitrage involves knowing something that others don't, which can be achieved through various means, including finding out information sooner or exploiting existing systems, (43m53s).
• The Optical Telegraph system in 16th century France is an example of how information can be transmitted quickly, but it was also vulnerable to manipulation by bankers who paid off operators to introduce errors in messages, allowing them to trade on insider information, (44m13s).
• Finding out information in advance can provide a competitive advantage, as seen in the example of analysts inferring growth from social platform APIs, (45m11s).
• Having early access to information can be a powerful tool, as demonstrated by Mark Zuckerberg telling Mark Pincus that apps would be allowed to post to users' timelines, allowing Farmville to grow rapidly, (45m46s).
• Using this information to create engaging content, such as Farmville's posts to users' timelines, can be an effective marketing strategy, (46m2s).
• High-frequency traders discovered an arbitrage opportunity by moving closer to data centers and buying land next to trading locations, allowing them to access data faster and gain an advantage in the market (46m13s).
• A hedge fund's primary goal is to find something that will be illegal and exploit it until it becomes illegal (46m46s).
• Aggregation is a pattern where one player in the market collects data from multiple sources, modifies it, and uses it for affiliate links, selling data, or other purposes (47m1s).
• LP Maurice, founder of Busbud, created an app that aggregated bus schedules from around the world, making it a multi-billion dollar industry, and used automation to create millions of pages of bus tables with properly structured JSON data (47m26s).
• Busbud became the default destination for bus ticket data, and although bus companies initially refused to work with them, they eventually agreed to partner after seeing the significant traffic coming from Busbud (48m33s).
• Aggregating data can be done in various ways, including consolidating it and making it easily accessible to search engines, but it can also be done in a way that is considered "too evil," such as Get Satisfaction's complaint site, which extorted companies by threatening to share customer complaints unless they paid (49m3s).

Implementing subversive strategies (57m1s)

• There are 11 concrete ways to think about getting above the noise, getting people's attention, and being a little subversive, which involve thinking from first principles, thinking outside the box, being innovative, and creative (57m2s).
• To operationalize coming up with ideas, it's suggested to spend time thinking about how to be disagreeable, understanding the system, and using the need for novelty and disagreeability to temporarily think like a super villain (57m44s).
• Tactics for this include ignoring the guardrails, embracing absurdity, and not pulling punches on wording, as seen in the example of The Blair Witch Project, which used hyperbolic marketing to get attention (58m7s).
• Other techniques include using the Innovation formula Tris, which combines unrelated fields to overcome obstacles, and construal level Theory, which brings distant ideas closer to change how you think about them (58m46s).
• Neuroscience plays a role in picking good exploits and brainstorming properly, and techniques like premortem, counterfactuals, and deep canvassing can help test ideas and consider alternative perspectives (59m5s).
• The techniques have been applied in workshops, such as one at Start Fest in Montreal, where participants completed workbooks while learning, and a course is being developed based on the book (1h0m14s).
• The techniques have also been used with four startups, resulting in successful go-to-market strategies, and it's expected that the book and course will generate interest and consulting requests (59m51s).
• The process of rewriting a book led to a shift in focus from anecdotes to frameworks that can be applied, making it more useful for readers (1h0m31s).
• In product management meetings, instead of discussing features, people should be talking about their "zero day marketing exploit," which is a key factor in creating attention and sustainable demand (1h0m42s).
• Not having a zero day go-to-market exploit can lead to failure, especially when talking to investors, as it's essential to have a plan for creating attention and demand (1h0m56s).
• With the rise of AI, building products has become easier, but distribution and growth have become more crucial to success, making it essential to focus on these aspects (1h1m13s).
• Traditional patterns of mass production, such as software development, movie production, and building a battleship, involve doing the easily changed stuff up front, but technology has changed the relative risk and fungibility of each step (1h1m55s).
• It's essential to re-evaluate processes and consider what's scarce and abundant, hard and easy, and adjust accordingly, as this can be a key factor in the success or failure of companies (1h2m21s).
• Technology has made it easier to build prototypes and test them with citizens, making the documentation process the riskier part, as it requires approval from legislators and others (1h2m42s).
• Big companies can fail and small companies can win by re-evaluating their processes and leveraging new technologies and tactics (1h3m10s).
• To promote a book, a survey was created, and participants were incentivized to share it with others by creating two teams and choosing the survey winner from the team with the most submissions (1h3m23s).
• This tactic encouraged people to share the survey and created a sense of competition, which helped to promote the book (1h3m51s).
• A technology has been built that allows readers to access additional content for case studies through a QR code, which links to a webpage with more information, videos, and resources. (1h4m5s)
• The webpage also includes a list of places to find weak signals to start looking for exploits, which can be updated over time with new information. (1h4m22s)
• The case studies have a text stack behind them, which is one of the reasons a traditional publisher was not used, as they do not like QR codes and the retention of intellectual property rights. (1h4m33s)
• A non-traditional publishing structure was used to publish the book, allowing for the retention of intellectual property rights and the inclusion of QR codes. (1h4m46s)

Ethical considerations in marketing (1h5m1s)

• Certain marketing strategies are considered unethical and should be avoided, including abuse, assuming consent without approval, lying, using dark patterns, breaking the law, and ruining one's reputation (1h5m10s).
• Examples of egregious marketing strategies include a company called Afterlife that crawled obituaries and sent flowers to funeral homes years after the funeral, resulting in criminal charges (1h5m30s).
• There are also nuanced examples of unethical marketing strategies, such as the Chrysler PT Cruiser, which was built to meet fuel efficiency standards by technically being classified as a truck, allowing Chrysler to continue selling fuel-inefficient trucks (1h5m57s).
• Important principles to follow in marketing include not assuming consent, not acting without permission, not punching down, not breaking the law, and not using dark patterns (1h6m50s).
• The book "Just Evil Enough" provides examples and frameworks for subversive marketing strategies, with the goal of being both useful and entertaining (1h7m20s).
• Readers can share their own examples of subversive thinking with the authors, Alistair Croll and Emily Jane Ross, through the website justevilenough.com or by contacting them on most platforms (1h7m50s).

Lightning round (1h8m19s)

• Alistair Croll recommends three books: "The Unaccountability Machine" by Dan Davies, "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt, and "Made to Stick" by Dan and Chip Heath, with the latter being considered the best marketing textbook (1h8m24s).
• Alistair Croll's recent favorite movie is "The Killer" by David Fincher, which he considers the embodiment of self-awareness, and he watched it twice in two nights (1h8m50s).
• Alistair Croll recently discovered a $100 folding second screen for his MacBook, which he finds very useful for productivity, and it powers off a USB-C cable that also serves as an HDMI connection (1h9m5s).
• Alistair Croll believes that brand names do not matter as much as they used to, especially on Amazon, where products are often chosen based on factors other than the brand name (1h9m34s).
• Alistair Croll thinks that Anchor and KER are good examples of companies that have managed to establish themselves despite being relatively unknown initially, by doing their packaging and products right (1h10m1s).
• Alistair Croll's company motto is "Solve for Interesting," and he also often comes back to the motto "It's amazing what can get done when nobody cares who gets credit" (1h10m19s).
• Alistair Croll has fond memories of working with a colleague in Montreal, including a time when they went tobogganing down a giant hill and visited his mom's cottage (1h10m51s).
• Alistair Croll's experience of moving to Montreal from San Diego and having to adapt to a new culture and climate, including buying winter gear, is recalled as an example of jumping into new experiences (1h12m1s).
• A hackathon was used to bring people together and build products on the new Google Cloud platform, with Alistair and others building a product that used Foursquare check-ins to track customers' movements before and after visiting a restaurant (1h12m25s).
• The product, which was built over a weekend, included a working prototype and a slide deck, and was even sold to three companies, demonstrating the potential for rapid innovation and success (1h13m14s).
• The idea behind the product was to help restaurant owners understand where their customers were coming from and where they went afterwards, in order to target their advertising more effectively (1h13m35s).
• Alistair reflects on the experience and notes that even if the idea wasn't perfect, the process of building and testing it was valuable, and that the ability to come up with and test new ideas quickly is an important skill (1h13m52s).
• Alistair's book, "Just Evil Enough", can be pre-ordered at buy.jevileneough.com, and he invites listeners to share their own examples of subversive marketing strategies in action (1h14m10s).
• Alistair also invites listeners to follow him on social media, where he can be found under the handle "evil enough" on most platforms, and to sign up for his newsletter (1h14m32s).
• Alistair mentions Emily Jane Ross, who is brilliant and hilarious, and invites listeners to follow her on social media as well (1h14m52s).
• The host thanks Alistair for being on the show and bids farewell to the listeners (1h14m58s).
• Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the show on various platforms such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, or their favorite podcast app (1h15m6s).
• Viewers are also asked to consider giving the show a rating or leaving a review to help other listeners find the podcast (1h15m13s).
• All past episodes and more information about the show can be found at Lenny podcast.com (1h15m19s).