but first, COFFEE: Surviving the attention apocalypse

The go-to-market playbook has been thrown out the window

If you’re building a product, raising money, hiring a team and trying to grow an audience, the challenge is real: how do you make your advertising and content cut through when the world is noisier than it’s ever been and you’re running at founder pace?

We’re living in an attention apocalypse. Feeds never stop. Algorithms change overnight. Brands are flooding the internet with content, and most of it doesn’t even land. When potential customers only give you a few seconds, how do you make your startup cut through?

That’s why But First, Coffee exists. To press pause for an hour, share a caffeine hit, and have in-person conversations about what’s actually working. Not a panel. Not a pitch. Just real stories and ideas traded between people who are building companies and figuring it out in real time.

What we’ll explore together

• The death of the GTM playbook: The old rules don’t work anymore, and polished campaigns can’t keep up with today’s pace. If there’s no playbook, what replaces it?

• How AI is rewriting the rules: From generating creative variations at scale to rethinking how we test and learn, AI is a game-changer. But can it actually replace strategy, or does it just make speed the new advantage?

• The attention apocalypse: Most ads don’t even register. So what actually makes people stop, pay attention, and care, especially when your brand is still new?

• When to hire marketing/creative: As a founder, you’re already shipping product, raising, and doing a hundred other things. When’s the right moment to bring marketing in-house, and what happens if you leave it too long?

• Outpacing the giants: Big brands can move slowly due to lengthy approval processes, bureaucratic red tape, and legacy systems. Startups can ship faster, test quicker, and take risks they can’t. How do you turn scrappiness into your ultimate advantage?

• Surviving (and thriving) in the apocalypse: From bold challenger campaigns to AI-powered creative hacks, we’ll share stories and swap ideas on what it really looks like to succeed in today’s noisy, crowded, “attention economy.”

50 spots only — RSVP now.

Supported by our friends at AWS Startups

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Meet the speakers

• JACK WHITE: Co-founder of Cuttable - With nearly two decades in advertising. From Clemenger BBDO and TBWA to founding his own agency, Sunday Gravy, Jack has experienced both the world of big agencies and the founder grind. A Tropfest winner and son of one of Australia’s pioneering advertisers, he’s now focused on making agency-quality advertising accessible to everyone through AI-driven creative.

• TIM FARMER: Head of Brand Marketing at DiDi - Tim is a seasoned marketing leader with almost two decades of experience helping brands stand out and grow in highly competitive markets. Tim’s strength lies in his ability to strategically identify a brand's opportunity to reframe the category around its core strength, and then build deep, lasting connections with consumers through impactful, distinctive, creative marketing campaigns. His skill and passion for building brands led him to ride-share challenger brand DiDi as the Head of Marketing across ANZ, where he is responsible for building brand presence and driving growth in a category long dominated by Uber.