Get intentional about messaging: Seeking press placements in target publications is important, but so is getting clear about company messaging. In the beginning, Ortega and his team were excited about the startup moniker, but the excitement faded when they found it held them back. “If you want to target a large company, they don’t want to work with a startup,” said Ortega.

First, a flawless product: Before increasing a marketing budget, it’s crucial to measure net promoter score (NPS), according to Ortega. Yuno measures NPS on roughly a bi-monthly basis, asking its users whether they’re likely to recommend Yuno.

“You cannot build a product if you’re not in constant communication with the customer,” he said.

He’s also incorporated a ratings system into his product, allowing website viewers or product users to rate how much, on a scale between one and five, they like the product and feature.

“Having that communication with the customers in the different parts of the journey is also really important,” Ortega said.

A good product, the founder asserted, is the first step younger startups should take, allowing word of mouth to impact growth. Before marketing teams role out an NPS measurement system, it’s impossible for them to know if they’re pouring money into advertising and disregarding the real reason customers aren’t converting.

“We have to make sure that we were executing correctly … that when people ordered something it was being delivered within a really short time, that the products were being delivered correctly,” he said.