Anna Furmanov

I start up marketing at startups using the MaaS Method | host of Modern Startup Marketing podcast

You’re not missing data. You’re missing clarity.

AI made it easy to create more content, more dashboards, more noise. But it didn’t make it easier to understand what your buyers actually want. And that’s the real problem.

I fix the Clarity Gap that slows your growth, using buyer truth, not internal guesswork.

Marketing teams are suffering from a clarity crisis:
- messaging that doesn’t land
- pipeline that feels unpredictable
- deals that stall for “mysterious” reasons
- sales rewriting everything marketing creates

This is the Clarity Gap: the gap between what companies think buyers want and what buyers actually want.

And the cost of that gap is massive:
- wasted spend
- slower revenue
- confused buyers
- internal misalignment
- a GTM engine that feels like it’s working way too hard for the results it produces

I fix the Clarity Gap that slows your revenue.

I use deep, whole-person buyer insights (the stuff no dashboard can show you) to realign your ICP, refresh your narrative, and give your GTM team the clarity it needs to create demand, win more deals, and move faster.

When companies see the real truth behind why people buy, everything becomes easier — messaging, sales, roadmaps, campaigns, prioritization, growth.

If your GTM feels busy but ineffective, or you’re guessing more than you want to admit, it’s not a channel problem. It’s a clarity problem. 

Go to market using research, not assumptions.

★★★★★
“We had a 4X increase in sales and I 100% attribute that to those learnings I had with Anna.”
—Founder, EdLight

★★★★★
"What stood out most was her ability to uncover surprising insights and help the team sharpen our strategic bets. Anna is collaborative, organized, and grounded in how marketing work connects to tangible outcomes."
—VP of Marketing, Everyday Speech

★★★★★
"We were consistently impressed by her commitment to a user-centric marketing approach, with each step being deeply rooted in voice of customer research."
—Founder & CEO, Cognitive ToyBox

★★★★★
“What I appreciated most was how every part of her work tied back to the voice of the customer...She helped us operationalize that mindset, making our marketing more grounded, empathetic, and effective.
—Director of Growth Marketing, Everyday Speech

Founder

Helping venture-backed startup founders and marketing leaders implement marketing programs that drive revenue. Industries include: e-commerce, ed tech, higher ed tech, food tech, security tech, sales tech, martech, innovation tech, developer tech and more.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

👉🏻 Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising. I’m like your fractional Head of Marketing (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com

👉🏻 Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 

👉🏻 Sponsor my Top 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov

What I’ve learned over the last 20+ years is consistent - great people who are open-minded to new approaches and new technologies can go beyond what they thought imaginable with the right leadership and execution.  

Passionate about driving change, I started my career streamlining industrial operations with software and lean operating principles. That work opened the door to leading diverse development teams who built software that enhanced digital experiences. Software leadership created opportunities to lead global marketing for large software and services businesses.

What I enjoy most about marketing is the rapid rate of change that technology brings to the work. My experience & leadership in navigating this change includes:

Strategy & Execution – I build marketing plans aligned to the objectives of the business. Plans I know through experience can be resourced, measured, and executed successfully.

Brand & Positioning – I’ve built new brands and re-invigorated existing brands resulting in leadership in both market share and awareness. Balancing brand goals with market perception and developing a strategy to shift perception when necessary is critical.

Content-Lead Digital Marketing – I’ve executed multiple digital marketing strategies using SEO, social, email, marketing automation, and more. However, the key to digital is great content that leads the buyer to what you sell.

Product Marketing & Sales Support – I’ve built product marketing teams that align the business with a unified vision of the customer need, build great content which leads prospects through the buying journey and educate sales teams to support the journey.

Customer Engagement & Advocacy – in many companies, engaging the customer face-to-face is still required to close a sale and build advocacy. I’ve built programs that increased customer engagement and helped close multi-million dollar deals. 

When not working, I enjoy life outside Chicago with my patient wife and not-so-patient kids.

Cassidy Shield

Each year, leaders from Emergency Communications Centers across the country head to our Nation’s Capital for 911 Goes to Washington.

At its core, it’s simple: the people responsible for answering emergency calls sit down with the people responsible for shaping the policies, funding, and frameworks that determine how 911 operates.

What’s discussed there isn’t abstract.

It’s the daily reality inside ECCs:
=> Staffing shortages.
=> Rising call complexity.
=> Language access.
=> Technology modernization.
=> Mental health strain.

For many policymakers, these pressures are invisible until someone from the field explains what they look like in practice — and what support is actually needed.

That’s why this week matters.

It’s a rare moment where operational experience and national decision-making meet face-to-face. Where the voices of telecommunicators, directors, and public safety leaders help shape the future of emergency response.

For those privileged enough to be part of these conversations, the responsibility is clear: listen closely, represent faithfully, and advocate for systems that strengthen the people behind every 911 call.

Grateful to stand alongside the 911 community this week.

Check out our 911 Goes to Washington Blog in the first comment. 👇

Every year, I publish “Good vs. Bad Marketing.”
And every year, I learn something new.

The fundamentals don’t change.

But markets do.

Demand shifts.
Technology accelerates.
Competition gets louder.

Here’s what I’ve learned since my 2025 post.

1️⃣  AI is leverage — not differentiation.

Good marketers use AI to move faster and think deeper.
Bad marketers mistake using AI as a strategy.

Tools amplify judgment. They don’t replace it.

2️⃣ Trust compounds faster than tactics.

Buyers are more informed than ever.  They validate before they engage. They test before they buy.

Strong marketing may open the door.
Trust determines whether it stays open.

Revenue is still the scoreboard.
Trust is the multiplier.

3️⃣ Proximity to the customer is a competitive advantage.

Good marketers stay close to the market.
They listen. They pressure-test messaging against reality.
They understand the emotional and operational context in which their product lives.

Distance creates drift.
Drift creates tone-deaf marketing.

4️⃣ Speed matters. Clarity matters more.

Shipping fast is table stakes.
Shipping fast and confusing-  is noise.

The best teams maintain quality and velocity — simultaneously.

5️⃣ Fundamentals still win.

Ownership.
Clear positioning.
Revenue accountability.
Brand consistency.
Curiosity.
Relentless improvement.

The tactics change.
The discipline does not.

Marketing is not black and white.
The best operators know when to follow the framework — and when to challenge it.

As we head into 2026, I’m leaning even harder into proximity, clarity, and disciplined execution.

What have you learned over the last year?
Where are you doubling down in 2026?

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Anna Furmanov

Cassidy Shield

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taplio

The Battle

Anna Furmanov

Cassidy Shield

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Cassidy Shield's LinkedIn Performance

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