From Mad Men to MVPs: Gary Stein on Reinventing Marketing for Startups Artwork

The Catching Fire Podcast

Any successful venture starts with great ideas, but it takes great marketing to make them stand out. In the Catching Fire Podcast, we delve into outstanding products and ideas that have gone to market and what it took to get there. Listen to conversations with inspiring startup founders and marketing leaders. Rethink your team’s approach to marketing in an increasingly crowded digital landscape. Learn how to make your ideas “catch fire.”

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The Catching Fire Podcast

From Mad Men to MVPs: Gary Stein on Reinventing Marketing for Startups

March 26, 2025 • Bryan Karas

Is your marketing still stuck in the Mad Men era?

In this episode of Catching Fire, we sit down with Gary Stein, founding partner & Chief Strategy Officer at 61Hawk, to talk about how startup founders and growth marketers can stop gambling with million-dollar launches—and start building smart, iterative campaigns that actually work.

Gary spent decades inside traditional ad agencies before launching his own consultancy, and now he’s helping ambitious brands move fast, test faster, and scale with confidence.

From using AI for synthetic ad testing to building MVPs for marketing campaigns, Gary breaks down a modern go-to-market strategy rooted in real-world feedback—not guesswork.

We cover:

🔥The Composer vs. DJ mindset in marketing

🔥Why over-investing in direct response is killing your brand

🔥How AI helps de-risk creative testing

🔥The psychology of performance branding that actually builds trust

Whether you're a scrappy founder or a seasoned marketer, this episode is packed with insights you can apply today to grow smarter—and stand out.

Connect with Gary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-s-stein/

Connect with Bryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankaras/

https://bryankaras.com/

Looking for quality digital marketing talent? Connect with Bryan's team at GrowTal. https://www.growtal.com/

Looking to solve your toughest marketing challenges? Connect with Bryan's team at Playbook Media. https://www.playbookmedia.com/

#MarketingStrategy #GoToMarket #MVP #PerformanceMarketing #StartupGrowth #BrandBuilding