We’re joined by ‘Billion dollar exit’ Chris Heaslip, who founded Pushpay, and more recently Leadr. 

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Raise, your front-row seat to the wisdom of Australia and New Zealand's most accomplished startup leaders.

Based out of Dallas, TX, Chris hails from New Zealand and we explore his ‘global from day one’ mentality while he also offers other nuggets of advice on sales, growth and planning for success.

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Experience Chris's entrepreneurial energy by watching the Shorts 👉

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In this week's longform article, Chris shares what it took to build Pushpay.

• Embrace the False Summit - Great founders thrive under pressure. Heaslip acknowledges the mental health burden of leading a company, especially after raising money and facing constant expectations.

• Importance of Co-founders in the Trenches - Complementary skills are key. Heaslip credits his success to his partnership with Elliot Crowther, a non-technical co-founder with a fierce drive and sales expertise.

• Think Beyond the Current Round - Don't just plan for the next raise. Heaslip advises looking far ahead, ensuring the current funding will propel you towards bigger milestones, paving the way for future fundraising.

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The trends we're noticing at Atlas Digital:

1. More AI coming to marketing: From ad creation to platform management, AI is here to stay. Google's AI powered campaigns like Performance Max and Demand Gen show increasingly promising results. The shift is clear: away from refined management of specific keywords towards optimisation campaign inputs.
   

2. Self-reported attribution. The end of cookies is nigh and tech companies need to find new ways to understand which marketing activities work and which don't. Companies using CRMs like Hubspot are experiencing great insights from self-reported attribution. It provides trustworthy insights into the performance of your marketing mix, and right from the horse's mouth.

SaaS Spotlight: Meet Smartly

Smartly is a SaaS scale-up providing payroll solutions to SME's in New Zealand, with over 22,000 Kiwi business using Smartly to pay their people on time, accurately and in line with legislation. They're off to a smashing start to the year, surpassing Feb targets by 53%!

Get $20 off your monthly base fee with Smartly today: www.smartly.co.nz

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