MAU Newsletters

I’m going to be honest — the past week has been rough. I’m in the Washington DC area and we’re still reeling from last week’s ice storm. We’re not prepared to manage ice on the roads, so school is still closed. Enter day 3 of virtual school☹.

If you’ve ever tried to do a full-time job while also managing virtual school in your house, you know exactly what I mean when I say: this is not working.

The teacher comes online for 10 minutes and then releases the kids to do their schoolwork off camera. This leads to endless questions from my nine-year old. I finally asked her why she keeps asking me for help because there’s no way she can do that with a teacher at school. It turns out it’s because they usually work in buddy groups at school to get their assignments done.

Buddy groups make sense. The kids work as a team. When one person stumbles, another person steps in. This made me think of the Braindates we’re bringing to MAU this year. I’ve been teasing them in the past, so I’ll dive in with details.

So, what is a Braindate and how does it work?

In the MAU expo hall we’re building a new Braindate lounge. Each table in the lounge will be numbered and allow up to 6 people to ‘join’ the table. As attendees, you can be a driver or a passenger using a new online Braindate platform that will launch six weeks ahead of the show to either host a topic or join a topic. It's that simple. Full details on the platform will come out in April, but here's a preview of what you can accomplish.

You’re a driver: You can book a table and suggest a topic you’d like to discuss with other attendees.

You’re a passenger: If you see an interesting topic hosted by another attendee, use the platform to book a seat at the table and join the conversation.

It changes the dynamic. MAU will always have the sessions we curate and run — but now you also have the power to put topics on the table and have conversations that matter most to you.

What kinds of topics show up in the Braindate Lounge?

Honestly — it’s whatever the community needs at that moment. Sometimes you’ll set the topic. Sometimes you’ll see one and think, I need to be in that conversation.

Here’s what that can look like:

Getting granular on a topic Maybe MAU has a strong session on something like how to measure influencer marketing. That’s great for the 10,000-foot view, but you want the messy, real conversation — like Have you found early signals that predict bad influencer cohorts before you’ve burned the budget?

You might host that. Or you might see someone else post it and grab a seat because that’s exactly what you wanted to discuss too.

Building your team You might set a table topic called Interviewing Performance Marketers to Scale My App to 10M ARR. Who shows up? People who opted in because they’re interested in what you’re building. You’re talking through what they’ve scaled, what they’ve owned end-to-end, how they think about incrementality vs. volume, and what they’ve broken (and fixed) in production.

Or you’re the one exploring your next role, and you see that topic and think, that’s a company and stage I want to be part of.

Solving a specific problem Maybe SKAN data is still leaving gaps, or creative fatigue is hitting faster than it used to. You can bring that problem to the table — or join someone else who has already put it out there. Either way, you’re sitting with people who have lived it and can pressure-test solutions with you.

Getting unfiltered market intel You might host something like What’s working in paid social for subscription apps right now. No slides. Just practitioners comparing notes.

Evaluating partners or vendors Maybe you host something like What I Wish my MMP told me before we Signed. Or maybe you join because you’re about to make that decision.

That’s really the point — you don’t have to wait for the “right” session to exist. You can create the conversation. Or you can step directly into one that matters to you.

Why bring Braindates to MAU? Because instead of hoping you bump into the right people in a hallway, you create the room, and the right people opt in because the topic matters to them.

This is why MAU Vegas exists. It’s not just for content or meetings you could technically do online. It’s because MAU is about community and driving connections and conversation. When you put founders, marketers, growth leaders, product teams, and partners in the same place, things move faster. And that’s not theory. That’s coming from my house, this week when a nine-year old reminded me it's good to have a buddy system.

Stay tuned for full Braindate details coming soon.

Housekeeping

1.  Registration is open so grab your pass today!

2. Book your hotel…May will be here before you know it.

3. Give us your feedback – there’s only 1 day left to tell us what you think about MAU. We're giving away $500 so take a chance!

And as my YouTube-obsessed daughter would say. If you like this, hit subscribe and follow me. Thanks, bye!

Angela Harar