RIP Old-School Marketing
Old-School marketing is dying. What once worked for big companies with established market positions increasingly falls flat, and for startups looking to change the future, it’s all but worthless. This piece digs into why that’s true. We’ll look at how startups can gather their first believers and turn them into a movement. As for the critics—let them shout as loud as they want. Their noise will further fuel your growth, bringing even more of the attention you need.
We will consider:
The need for founders to take charge of their own story.
How founders can steer clear of others’ tribes and build their own.
The power of naming a clear enemy that stands for the old ways.
How founders can close the gap between the world today and the one they’re building.
Pattern Breakers Market Differently
Most startups stick to traditional methods of getting their message out. They see themselves in a market, fighting for a larger “share” of it. They launch campaigns and run programs, trying to catch the attention of potential buyers by honing the right messages and driving leads through a sales funnel. To get more PR, they try to have their story told in the right publications, through the right media, and on the right channels.
But pattern-breaking startups don’t follow these old rules of marketing. They don’t just market a product; they’re not content with capturing a “share” of an existing market. That’s thinking small. Instead, they ignite a movement that allows them to rise to the top uncontested, while others scramble for the leftovers. And they don’t rely on outside voices or media to shape their narrative. They speak directly and boldly, telling their story on their own terms.
A couple of months ago we released a post called “How Movements Make Radical Change Real”. We shared that a movement is started by appealing to a higher purpose, identifying your enemy, and focusing on early believers. But I wanted to take this a step further, by sharing a recent example of someone who brought their movement to life and how you can too.
Traditional PR Doesn’t Work for Pattern-Breaking Startups
Founders used to rely on others to tell their story because they had no choice. To reach a broad audience, they needed the press. The media gatekeepers held the keys to public attention, and without their nod, stories went untold. But those days are over. Social media, newsletters, podcasts, and other direct channels have diminished the press’s relevance. At the same time, the media’s abuse of its gatekeeper status has eroded its credibility—people see through the agendas in the headlines.
That’s why playing it safe with watered-down, committee-driven messaging is a mistake. To stand out, you must speak boldly and with conviction. That’s what Niels Hoven has done with Mentava, a startup that is aiming to teach two-year-olds to read at a Kindergarten level. That audacious vision rattles the norm, and that’s the point. When you’re breaking patterns, you don’t stay quiet—you make noise, and you don’t back down when people come after you.
Communication is the Founder’s Job
There was a time when founders stayed mostly in the background, focused on building their product. Maybe they were seen as harmless nerds, not a threat to the status quo. But those days, if they ever really existed, are over.
As a founder, you may not care for the heated tech debates, but they care about you. If you stay silent, you give up the opportunity to lead a movement—and without a movement, you can’t build a pattern breaker.
No one is better suited to lead that movement than the founder. No one else has the same passion, vision, or commitment. It’s not about being polished or perfect—it’s about being real. The founder knows the heart of the company and can stand up for it when inevitable challenges come.
Niels Hoven nailed this with Mentava. He didn’t just launch a product—he launched a stand against mediocrity. And while the company just launched, Niels has long been communicating his vision publicly. The bio of his X reads “We teach preschoolers to read. I post about supporting high-achieving kids.” and by design, he tweets about his vision non-stop. This has created unexpected opportunities, such as a viral debate on X that wasn’t just about buzz; it was about childhood education mediocrity. By sharing his vision, challenging the status quo, and speaking directly to his audience, Niels sparked a movement of early believers.
Pattern-Breakers Master the Narrative
In marketing, people often talk about “defining your audience.” But for pattern-breaking startups, it’s deeper than that. Your audience isn’t just a group of potential buyers; they’re believers in a shared future–a future you’re building together. Mastering the narrative means turning your audience into a tribe.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean latching onto an existing tribe. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. This isn’t about aligning with political causes or adopting someone else’s fight. It’s about defining your tribe, speaking directly to them, and exciting their tribal spirit. At the same time, you define the tribe that stands against you, the one that embodies everything that’s wrong with the status quo.
Traditional marketing avoids conflict, focusing on delivering the right message without inviting negative attention. Pattern breakers go further. Niels Hoven rallied parents who want educational excellence for their kids and also defined his out-group: those lowering standards in the name of “equity,” promoting mediocrity. By calling them out and showing how well-meaning policies have backfired, he energized his tribe.
When breaking the mold, your vision may not be clear to everyone and so creating a narrative also means linking the known to the unknown. In Mentava’s case, Niels did this by using the metaphor of sports: just as young athletes get advanced coaching, children deserve the best education. You need to show the gap between today’s world and the better one you’re offering—a future so compelling it draws people in.
Haters Can Be a Good Thing
Lastly, haters can be a good thing. The right kind of haters, anyway. The ones who stand for everything wrong in the eyes of your target audience. They reveal their weakness and, in doing so, strengthen your position. As the singer Doja Cat puts it (admittedly in a very different style than my own), “that’s a ratin’, that’s some hatin’, that’s engagement I could use.” Being controversial isn’t a risk to avoid; it’s a strength to embrace. The right enemies make your story stronger for the people who matter—your tribe. And when your tribe believes, the movement grows.
So, What Does This Mean for You?
A pattern-breaking startup needs a clear, honest story told directly by the founder to early believers. So once you’ve defined your higher purpose, your enemies, and most importantly your early believers, consider asking…
Am I personally taking ownership of the movement that I’ve created?
What is my game plan to elevate my communication and energize my tribe?
Am I prepared to defend this movement, no matter who comes after me?
And, if you want some help thinking through these questions or any of the concepts from Pattern Breakers, you might want to give ChatPB a try–the new Pattern Breakers AI Ideation and Stress Testing Tool by Xpertloop. We are only sharing this with folks on the Pattern Breakers substack because we are hoping to get feedback before we release it into the wild.
