# 7 - Peter Walker

This week I talked to Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta and one of the most followed voices in the world of startup fundraising and valuations.

If you don't know who Peter is, you're probably not a venture capitalist or a startup founder. And if you are in either of these camps, Peter is likely an invaluable resource.

His Linkedin content is different. No humble brags. No unsubstantiated hot takes. No exciting product announcements. Just facts.

He has built everyone's dream content engine—one that produces extremely high-quality, in-depth posts, but at an astoundingly high volume (near daily).

I had to learn how this engine worked, and the conversation did not disappoint.

You can watch the full episode above, and summary below...

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Peter Walker's Insights Machine

Peter shares data. A lot of data. A head-spinning amount of data.

Each of his 4-6 weekly Linkedin posts feel almost like mini white papers. They tell rich, data-baked stories of what is really going on in the world of startup fundraising.

And to a community that is often data-deprived and over-reliant on rumors—this content is like catnip.

Since starting his content engine 2 years ago, Peter is now up to 97,983 Linkedin followers and 30,000 subscribers to his Data Minute newsletter.

The audience is also hyper-engaged. 300+ engagements per post on average, and when he promotes Carta events on his newsletter, signups are 12–13X compared to other channels like cold email.

Again, he posts stuff like this nearly every day...how does he do it?

‍It starts with how he structures his operation:

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‍1. Insights team within marketing

‍Carta’s data insights team lives inside its marketing team.

They use data science, analysis, and visualization to find meaningful insights and stories that need to inform (or be used in) content.

‍2. No product stuff

‍His marketing team then uses the meaningful insights and stories to create content like journalists, not typical marketers.

He doesn’t really talk about Carta’s product. He talks about the world in which Carta’s product lives.

And this almost altruistic approach to content has created a loyal following actively interested in Carta data.

‍3. Personal account > Corporate brand

‍Peter’s team started posting from the Carta Linkedin page.

But after 6 months the posts weren’t successful.

Then Peter started posting them from his personal account.

You know the results:

→ 300+ engagements per post

→ 100K followers

→ 30K newsletter subs

→ 12X-13X higher event conversion

Content from people outperforms brands by 10X on Linkedin.

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‍Peter's Weekly Content Process:

‍→ Data team (within marketing) pulls insights and shapes stories.

→ Content is posted onto Peter’s Linkedin 4x-6x each week to build brand awareness (now 97,984 followers).

→ That content points users to his Data Minute newsletter, pulling them further down the funnel (now 30,000 subscribers).

→ Peter’s LinkedIn and newsletter content is supported by other marketing channels, like podcasts and Youtube, to give even more data, insights, and value.

→ And it all builds to virtual events and quarterly reports, which inherently have the highest conversion rates.

→ Events and reports give Carta's sales team an opportunity to move in for a conversation.

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By the time virtual events roll around, there’s a significant interest from Peter’s network.

For example, webinar signups are 12x-13x higher from Peter’s Data Minute newsletter subscribers when compared to cold emails.

You might be thinking,"That's great for Carta. They have access to tons of data. But this can't work at other companies..."

‍I pressed him on this, and he had a great answer that shut it down. Check out the full conversation at 22:45 and I'll write a post about it next week.