Why Building Rocket Ships
...and why now?
As we close out 2025, the landscape for marketing and growth seems… different?
If I look back to the beginning of my career, as I nervously slipped in and out of the office tower I where I worked in central London back in 2010, we may as well have been on a different planet.
Back then, I was in planning meetings with my CMO about whether or not we should launch a blog…
Fast forward to today, and we have a high percentage of marketers wondering what they are going to do with their careers because of AI. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are working out how to make their thing sound as if it’s ‘AI-enabled’.
And when you think about everything we need to think of and prepare for marketing and growth to happen, it can seem like rocket science (hence the name), but it really doesn’t need to be.
I am an AI optimist, and incredibly fortunate to sit in two worlds:
I work as the marketing leader for global firms that are building AI software
I am a content creator with a personal brand spanning over 100 million viewers
This gives me access to the latest and greatest of AI technology, insight into how we will use it and what kind of impacts it might have.
As a creator, I also have close insight into consumer behavior, how viewers are interacting with AI and the knowledge of how to build brand and engage an audience.
Like I said, I’m an AI optimist and am very excited about the future. I know there will be a big place for what we do, and companies will continue to rely on us to pull the growth levers, but we MUST educate ourselves on how to become native on AI tools.
I cannot stress this last part enough. Being the AI expert within your firm will be a non-negotiable for the future of marketing professionals.
But I understand not everyone feels the same, or is quite ready, so I’m refocussing Building Rocket Ships as a vehicle to help others make this transition:
I want to build a community of marketing professionals and entrepreneurs who are keen to figure all of this out
I want to provide no-BS guides and reviews to the latest tools available
I want to share stories of what’s working
And that’s exactly what this is all about, so please join me by subscribing below.
Here’s my planned weekly publishing schedule:
Mondays:
Title: AI For Marketing People
Access: Free for all
About: This is a breakdown of an AI platform or feature that we think will be useful for our members.
Wednesdays:
Title: Deep Dive
Access: Paid members only
About: We take a strategy or case study and provide an in-depth breakdown
Fridays:
Title: Podcast early access
Access: Paid members only
About: We provide an early access look at our signature podcast series.
About me:
I realize that I’m speaking to a relatively new audience here as my personal brand lifestyle and travel content is very different.
As a creator, I’ve built an audience of over 300,000 followers and 100 million views. It’s been a labour of love, and has taught me everything I know about really building community.
As a b2b marketing director, I’ve been in the trenches for over 15 years for businesses including BlackRock, BNY Mellon, Investec and more, while also working as a consultant to leading brands. In the consumer space, I’ve produced campaigns for helices of Lush, Tesla, Crerar Hotels, and even the US State Department.
I live partly in Edinburgh, Scotland - my home town. I’m married to Marielle. She’s from Brazil, so we tend to visit her family every year too. We also spend a heck of a lot of time in America every year, and hope to set up a semi-permanent base there too at some point.
So, that’s Building Rocket Ships in a nutshell. I know the world is crazy, but I truly feel that the future is exciting.
Shaun