Mailchimp CEO saw similar values at Intuit: 'It was always about the plight of small business'
In September 2021, Intuit bought Mailchimp for $12 billion. The deal was part of Intuit’s effort to position itself as a one-stop shop for small and midsize businesses. Shares of Intuit have risen about 75 percent over the past year, giving it a market capitalization of 152 billion.
Mailchimp, founded in 2001 and based in Atlanta, is best known for its email marketing platform, which it has advertised in abundance on podcasts such as “Serial.” Its platform has grown to include marketing services and software for tracking customer engagement. It has about 13 million total users globally and 800,000 paid customers, half of which are outside the United States.
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Like many bootstrapped companies, Mailchimp spun out of another business idea. Founded in 2001, the web design agency Rocket Science Group initially focused on big clients while informally tinkering on the email marketing service with which we are all familiar.
Co-founders Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius methodically tailored the tool to small business owners, offering them an alternative to the clunky, expensive email platforms of the mid-2000s. Chestnut sketched the company’s logo — Freddie the ape — on a Post-It note in 2008, offering a friendly face instead of the sterile business apps of the 2000s and kickstarting a trend of software branding with cute animals.
As Chestnut and Kurzius describe it, Mailchimp grew as a result of listening to their customers’ desire for “look pro and grow” products, and their email marketing tool met that need.As it has expanded, Mailchimp has not taken on any outside money. As part of the deal, Intuit is carving out about $300 million in equity for Mailchimp’s employees to help with retention.
At the time of the announcement in September 2021, Chestnut shared: "...After the deal closes, Mailchimp will issue an additional $200 million in stock to Mailchimp employees. Small businesses have been a major focus for Intuit. Its small-business and self-employed unit made up about half its $9.6 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year. While the pandemic hurt small businesses, it also forced more to manage their finances online, driving sales for the unit up 16 percent over the year prior."
A year later, in September 2022, Intuit Mailchimp Launched a New Brand Campaign to Help Growing Businesses Eliminate the Guesswork
“Guess Less, Sell More” combines absurdity and creativity to highlight how marketers overcome challenges
“Guess Less, Sell More,” uses playful, slightly strange visuals and assets to help illuminate how easy it is for small to mid-sized businesses to “take the guesswork” out of their marketing strategy.
Mailchimp’s in-house creative agency, Wink Creative (Wink for short), dreamed up the concept and partnered with global production company SMUGGLER and director Björn Rühmann to shoot the campaign. To bring the avant garde visual elements to life, Wink and Bjorn chose to shoot in Prague because of the city’s incredible art direction and set building talent, both of which were an integral part of the shoot and are evident in the work.
Personally, I'm a huge fan.
Stay tuned for our Interview elucidating just how much Mailchimp has retained its brand promises to its users.