You are reading contentfolks—a fortnightly blend of sticky notes, big content ideas, and small practical examples. Thank you for being here! ~fio
Hey there 👋
This is an unusual issue, because I’ve had an unusual few weeks.
In April, the company I worked for (Wildbit) sold its main products to another business (ActiveCampaign), and our entire team moved over as part of the deal. I went from an indie, 35-person company to a hyper-growth one with over 1,000 employees.
It was… unexpected, in more ways than one.
What’s the right company for you?
Most of us probably have a favourite size/type of business we like to work at.
Some enjoy freelancing and being a company of one; others prefer being part of an in-house team with clear hierarchies; others still love the variety of agency life. Some folks thrive in the early days of a startup, when everything is up in the air and the options are endless; others only come alive when getting an established company ready for acquisitions or IPOs.
As we say in Italy, il mondo è bello perché è vario: the world is beautiful because it’s varied.
When a company is small, content marketing tends to be a new function that needs strategic foundations and processes, something I both enjoy and am good at. After the first hundred hires, however, the same company usually shifts gears, adds infrastructure, gets a different vibe—and for me, it’s time to move on.
Over the last decade, I mostly joined companies with a headcount of <30 and left after they crossed the 100-person threshold. With this acquisition, I got catapulted into a place with 1000 people, and the difference is vast. There are formal processes where a verbal agreement would have previously been enough; there are hours of onboarding meetings in my calendar, hundreds of Slack channels, and stuff going on at all times.
But.
There are also extensive learning plans, fast-tracked exposure to a huge network of talented people, opportunities for vertical and lateral moves, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) activities, ERGs (employee resource groups), an entire employee brand function. These are all things I never had, I didn’t know I was missing, and I’m now actively enjoying.
I had come to understand myself as somebody who thrives in a small place and is unsuited for a big one—and now it turns out I might have been wrong all along?!?
What else are we wrong about?
I don’t have my usual practical content example for you this week, because I’ve been busy trying to get my head around a larger question: what else am I wrong about when it comes to work?
What other long-held beliefs do I have about content marketing that may be in need of an update? What opportunities is my team missing out on, as a result? Is this where I finally re-evaluate my arch-nemesis, gated content?
These are the kinds of questions we should probably ask ourselves every once in a while. I don’t know that I have many answers right now—but if you do, or you have any helpful tips to share, please get in touch. I am, admittedly, a bit lost at the moment 😅
PS: in the spirit of giving you something content-related, here is a content/marketing campaign I found quite entertaining—it didn’t make me want to buy more oat milk, though.