Meet the Writer: Anna Nadeina, Turning Experiments Into Growth Strategies

So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests.

I’m Anna, and I’m a Growth Marketer, meaning I get to not only work with numbers and push the sales but create a meaningful communication with the community I’m working with. Currently, I’m the Growth & Partnerships Executive for MarsX.

And, yes, you guessed it, I do everything to establish cool partnerships with accelerators, incubators, and startup communities globally to allow the founders, developers, and devpreneurs to enjoy the perks of using Mars.

It’s pretty much a perfect job if you ask me since I get to learn a looooot pretty much every day, meet with fantastic people and experiment all I want.

One of my experiments turned success is Mars Talks - a podcast where I bring fantastic people to share their founding stories, missions, and visions, and help the first-time founders move from 0 to 1.

Another side of my life is me being a wife, a mom, a passionate traveler, and a sucker for good meals and good books!

Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?

My Hackernoon story is about (surprise-surprise!) Growth Marketing for Dev tools. Being in this space myself I realize how challenging it is sometimes to look for new angles to stand out with a dev tool.

I’ve read somewhere that “selling dev tools to developers is like selling magic tricks to magicians”. They already know what those should look like, how much time they should take, and the way they are done, and can easily spot an imposter.

“Selling dev tools to developers is like selling magic tricks to magicians”

I’m not saying I’ve mastered selling to developers on any level but we’ve reached pretty good results by doing what we’re doing.

The top tips I’d give to any growth marketer at any point:

1. Be honest - building in public is a great way to build trust, give your audience a sense of belonging and a channel to express their wishes and concerns

   
   

2. Be consistent - social media/discord/slack/whatever communication channel you’re using is your home, your idea’s home. Show up and show up frequently, otherwise, people will start leaving

   
   

3. Be there - you or someone who shares the values of your company completely. Create a persona that will understand what you’re doing and advocate for it any day of the week

Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?

I haven’t started writing too long ago so there’s no real pattern. As I mentioned before, this job can be super cool in a way that I get to experiment.

I wrote a few case studies about the projects being built on Mars, an article about the future of development, as well as an overview of the ways developers can find a steady passive income in the future.

What I’d really like is to get a bit deeper knowledge of low-code tools and SaaS businesses to then write articles about creating new ideas using the coolest new tech available.

Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)

I make sure I have some coffee by my side and a yummy sweet :) The inspiration comes and goes, there’s no strict written content plan for me, so once I feel there’s an urge to write something, I start my coffee machine right away.

Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?

Absolutely! Apart from being a writer in tech, I’m also a podcast host, a community builder, a social media manager, and much more. That adds to the challenge but also gives me enough room to change what I’m doing and not feel stuck in the same role.

I love switching activities and tasks, so the best part of being a writer is the fact that you can just create something you find relevant at any point of your day/week.

The most difficult part for me is having to really focus, to correct myself, and be very much aware that I’m not the best writer out there. I’m very self-critical and also open to constructive criticism but sometimes I can feel stuck in not knowing how to develop the thought.

Something that really helps is reading. And this is something I’d recommend to everybody.

If you decide to start writing about whatever topic, 90% of your time should be spent reading about it.

What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?

I’d love to make sure my podcasting journey is up and running. There are hundreds and hundreds of outstanding people I’d love to interview, it is extremely inspirational.

As I mentioned before, I’d love to deepen my knowledge in tech and SaaS building. Although I’m super happy being a generalist and I see the benefits in it, it’s important to become a specialist in one particular niche.

Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?

A good book. Well, not necessarily a great book. Just something nice, fun, something that’s easy to read, and something I can fully submerge into to let go of the work stuff and just relax.

And cake.

Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?

Traveling. I probably spend all my money on it. I believe it’s so important to go and explore, and see how other people live, what they eat, how they talk, and what makes them happy. It’s something I try to pass on to my kid, as well. He’s 4 and Turkey (the country of our current residence) is the 4th country he’s lived in. He seems happy, and it brings me infinite joy.

What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?

Lots and lots of ideas in my head. Waiting for the inspiration to hit! Probably still something about low-code platforms and the way they take GIANT steps towards changing the way we approach development, shortening the time for deploying projects, and allowing a lot more creativity and freedom when it comes to business logic.

What’s your opinion on HackerNoon as a platform for writers?

100% love it. A ton of aspiring authors, a great way to stay on top of the news that is not toxic, and learn from the best writers out there.

Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?

Share your thoughts about my articles! I’m always trying to get better so every opinion counts!

If you’re a founder that would love to share their story, reach out to me on LinkedIn and let’s get you on the podcast!

And overall, I’m super open to new communication, if you think we have something to discuss, let’s do it.

Cheers,

Anna