In the past on the Use Case podcast we’ve discussed and debated how several Indian startups have been commanding incredibly high valuations to their business. One practical way how they do so is by creating extremely strong brands - and this is especially true for consumer internet companies. In fact there is an interesting research report by Forbes which shows, how over the last few decades “intangible assets” make up over 80% of the S&P 500 market value.
![The Financial Contribution of Marketing to Enterprise Value The Financial Contribution of Marketing to Enterprise Value](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc14379f8-f8cd-434b-a72f-b7a544f839d1_960x526.png)
And then, as the graph by Forbes above would show, within this intangible component as well, the contribution of marketing related activities is extremely significant! Well placed marketing also increases the perception of innovation, bargaining power with the customer and brand loyalty which drives the valuation higher - investors hate that, and founders love it (they’ll deny it, but they love it).
And so, first in our series of episodes on Marketing, WE ARE THRILLED to be joined by Raja Ganapathy, who was till recently the Chief Marketing Officer at Sequoia Capital India, and is now the co-founder of Spring Marketing Capital, which invests in and works directly with the founders in shaping the startup's marketing and branding strategy.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa719554d-4d87-48f2-8248-765048f16c78_4608x3456.jpeg)
You can listen to the audio file above or find it on Spotify/ Apple or Google podcast apps or any of your favourite podcast apps.
My favourite part of the show is when JPK and Raja play and discuss sections of this iconic talk by Steve Jobs on marketing. Do check it out!
Know a friend who would enjoy listening to the series? Tell them about it! They will appreciate it, and so would we :)
Best,
Ravish
Marketing + 1: Raja Ganapathy, Ex-Sequoia Cap CMO & Co-founder, Spring Marketing Capital