Culture, Talent & Growth: Recent Episodes

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Imagine going from part-time teacher to the CEO of the same company. Victoire Lester's journey is exactly that. Victoire began her career with a keen interest in the sociology of music. However, a serendipitous part-time teaching role at Coucou French Classes set her on a path into start-ups and business. Over seven years, she journeyed from teacher to CEO, helping evolve Coucou from a Brooklyn start-up to later expand across New York, L.A., and online.

In this episode, we discuss navigating between Coucou’s roots and growth, understanding leadership nuances, and how Coucou had to adapt quickly online if they wanted to stay afloat during COVID. Victoire gives us insight into hiring the perfect match, and it’s shockingly not about what’s on your resume! All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:01] Victoire Lester's Journey from Cultural Researcher to CEO of Coucou French Classes
• [04:10] Balancing Roles and Growth as a Small Business
• [07:05] How Covid Affected Coucou’s Operations – How to Transition Your Business Online Successfully
• [13:06] Insights into Building a Harmonious Multicultural Team
• [25:29] Balancing Authority and Openness as a CEO
• [27:25] Bridging Online Learning, Bicoastal Operations, and Technological Integration
• [34:40] How to Protect the Essence and Heart of a Business as It Scales

About Victoire

Victoire Lester is the CEO of Coucou French Classes. Seven years ago, Victoire started at Coucou French Classes as a part-time teacher. Founded by two French cousins in their 20s, the school was in its infancy, but Lester quickly became an integral part of its growth. From teaching to overseeing operations, she immersed herself in every aspect of the business. Recognizing her invaluable contributions and innate understanding of the company's needs, Coucou appointed her CEO. Today, under Lester's leadership, the once-small corner shop has transformed, showcasing the power of passion and dedication.

Quotes

“I think communication is key; Communication and transparency and not being afraid to repeat yourself.” – Victoire Lester

“One of the principles that I live by is to treat people the way that you'd like to be treated.” – Victoire Lester

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Born from personal adversity and crafted with a spirit of rebellion, Dirtbag Bar is a testament to founder Mark Andrew Gravel’s journey through substance addiction and depression toward a healthier, more fulfilling existence.

In this episode, we discuss how Mark transformed his battle with addiction and depression into a mission to provide a unique, healthy alternative to the candy bars we know. This single-SKU, chocolatey health bar balances indulgence and wellness, connecting with consumers who embrace an active, unconventional lifestyle. We also dive into Dirtbag Bar’s mission to stand for mental health, contributing a portion of sales to organizations providing no-cost mental health care services. We also get an honest insight into what it takes to expand reach and navigate the intricate terrain of growth in food distribution.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:37] Mark's Unconventional Journey Behind the Creation of Dirtbag Bar
• [07:41] How Dirtbag Bar Redefines Health Snack Branding
• [13:45] Supporting Non-Profits & Choosing Mental Health Organizations
• [19:16] On Growth, Challenges, and Expansion Plans

About Mark

As the Founder of Dirtbag Bar, Mark Andrew Gravel has carved a niche for himself in the food industry, from spearheading unique pop-up restaurant events to crafting an artful food magazine. His professional journey started in 2007 with Bouwerie Projects, where he made his mark as an artist for over a decade. His professional journey in the food industry spans over 15 years, marked by a dynamic mix of popups and conceptual art projects. Throughout his career, Mark's passion for food remained steadfast.

Dirtbag Bar was born out of a personal need for a healthy snack. Starting as a snack bar he made for himself and shared with friends and family, the product quickly grew in popularity. This prompted Mark to commercialize the product, starting from formalizing the recipe to figuring out manufacturing, branding, and packaging, all in the midst of a global pandemic.

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“And it's really all about just listening to like what people are saying and the, you know, people that are interested in your product.” – Mark Andrew Gravel

“It goes back to that idea of being unconventional, not being afraid to do what you love or step outside of the boundaries. Just march to the beat of your own drum and live your life in a way that's meaningful to you.” – Mark Andrew Gravel

“The mental health component in Dirtbag intersects. I think access to mental health is access to nature, to be able to go outside, connect with your surroundings, and connect with something that's bigger than you.” – Mark Andrew Gravel

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Venture Capital is a dynamic and ever-evolving landscape, constantly influenced by market trends, tech advancements, and economic fluctuations. This industry has seen significant shifts, prompting both founders and VCs to adapt their strategies and approaches.

In this discussion, Comcast Ventures SVP Allison Goldberg, and Executive Director at Estee Lauder New Incubation Ventures, Ryan Piela, share advice for founders seeking investment and VCs aiming to excel in their roles. We discuss what can go into crafting a winning pitch, how investment decisions are not static, and the importance of strengthening VC-Founder relationships.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:37] Our Panelists Share Their Background
• [06:12] Exploring Untapped VC Opportunities and Collaborating with Founders
• [11:36] Corporate VC vs. Traditional VC; Exploring Differences and Commonalities
• [20:23] Exploring Changes in Startup Evaluation and Selection
• [32:20] Advice for Founders Engaging the Right Investors – Tailoring Your Pitch to Corporate VCs & Harnessing External Insights
• [37:57] Advice for VCs & How to Create Lasting Value for Their Investments

About Our Speakers

With a wealth of experience in venture capital, incubation, and mentorship, Ryan J. Piela currently serves as the Executive Director of New Incubation Ventures at Estée Lauder Companies, where he drives innovation and fosters the development of new ventures.

In addition to his role at Estée Lauder Companies, Ryan is an active board observer at Haeckels, a company focused on sustainable skincare. He provides valuable insights and guidance to support their growth and strategic initiatives. He also mentors startups at WEVE Acceleration. Additionally, Ryan is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Starta Ventures, leveraging his expertise to guide early-stage ventures. With a passion for innovation and mentorship, Ryan contributes to the growth and success of emerging companies in the startup ecosystem.

Allison Goldberg is an accomplished SVP & Managing Partner at Comcast Ventures and Startup Engagement, where she leads the management of Comcast Ventures, Lift Labs, and Comcast NBCU SportsTech. With a diverse background in finance, media, and digital industries, Allison has excelled as an investor and strategist, consistently delivering strategic value and driving impressive financial returns. Previously, she served as Group Managing Director & Senior Vice President of Time Warner Investments, overseeing investments of up to $25MM in private companies to generate strategic value and financial returns for Time Warner Inc.

Allison has held numerous board and board observer roles, including companies such as Adify, AdMeld, BDG Media, Bluefin Labs, Discord, Dynamic Signal, Everyday Health, Fanduel, FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corporation, Fuse Media, Hive, Mashable, Players' Lounge, Proletariat Inc., SambaTV, Simulmedia, Tact.ai, Visible World, Vostok Emerging Finance, and YieldMo

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“Where are those white spaces or those edge cases that we wanna play into? Where's the market going? Consumers are becoming more educated, they're changing, evolving, and they're at different levels of the journey. And so we see a lot of people that are creating in a space that others already own or others already exist in.” – Ryan J. Piela

“We want to do everything that a traditional VC does, plus bring a little bit more to the table to the extent we can with the portfolio company.” – Allison Goldberg

“If you look back in time, lots of great companies were started when the venture markets weren't, you know, amazing” – Allison Goldberg

“When talking to any investor, know who you're talking to, know who that investor is, understand if they're a corporate VC, what their priorities might be, and some of the companies that they've invested in before.” – Allison Goldberg

“I don't think you can time the market, and I'm always surprised when people think they can. I think now's a great time. Its value for VC is right, as well as just an opportunity to support some great people.” – Ryan J. Piela

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Aaron Luo is the mastermind behind the Spanish delicacy and gourmet food brand, Mercado Famous, and luxury design house, CARAA. In this episode, he shares his entrepreneurial journey and how his diverse background spanning finance, fashion, and food shaped his approach to founding and running his successful ventures.

We discuss navigating the challenges of expanding your business to international markets, go-to-market branding, how to sustain running multiple ventures while avoiding burnout, and Aaron’s journey of how passion, innovation, and love for food and people converge to create an extraordinary brand.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:55] The story behind Mercado Famous and the go-to-market branding journey
• [10:00] How Madrid has influenced Mercado – Spanish charcuterie and the beauty of enjoying amazing company over delicious food
• [14:04] From Finance to Fashion to Food – How Aaron uses his diverse background and transferable skills to be a better entrepreneur
• [21:00] Advice for founders venturing into International Markets and the importance of a solid supply chain
• [29:38] Aaron’s tips for successfully managing CARAA and Mercado Famous through financial planning, hiring, and work-life balance
• [37:48] Aaron’s favorite Mercado Famous charcuteries

About Aaron

Aaron Luo is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mercado Famous, a European gourmet food brand specializing in Spanish delicacies. He is also the CEO and Co-Founder of CARAA, a luxury accessories design house based in New York City. With a background in global supply chain and operations, Aaron is dedicated to redefining luxury functional fashion. He has a passion for sharing the best of Spain with the world through Mercado Famous and creating well-made, versatile accessories at CARAA.

Quotes

“Even if I had the best idea in the world, as an entrepreneur, if ultimately I don't know how to operate a business, I'm not going to be successful.” – Aaron Lao

“Corporate in general, but specifically GE, helped me understand the power of people… How important the function of human resources is and how important it is to build a pipeline, grow your people, and hire right.” – Aaron Lao

“If you don't have supply chain lockdown, you don't have a business, no matter how strong your idea is.” – Aaron Lao

“When you're selling a product, and you have a shaky supply chain, your risk of failure is very, very high.” – Aaron Lao

“You don't have a business unless you have a solid supply chain. The effectiveness of your supply chain can help you drive your cost down, improve your product quality, and can save you a lot of headaches in terms of recalls or defects.” – Aaron Lao

“As a business, no matter how small or big you are, if you don't have the right level of financial planning on a monthly or quarterly basis, you are very much handicapped.” – Aaron Lao

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In the realm of food, wellness, and impactful brands, two companies stand out as trailblazers in their respective fields: Krupa Consulting and The Goods Mart. Led by Rachel Krupa, these companies are on a mission to create meaningful change.

In this episode, we talk about the intricacies of CPG, and Rachel shares profound insights into the essential elements of brand success, understanding your market, the power of building a great team, and so much more.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [01:46] How Krupa Consulting is amplifying authenticity in food and wellness PR
• [07:17] Standing out in the competitive landscape of the Consumer Packaged Goods industry
• [14:50] The Goods Mart's journey into Better-for-You international snacks
• [21:57] Keys to running two food-oriented bootstrapped businesses in a pandemic
• [30:31] The importance of building an incredible team for CPG success
• [35:55] What’s next for Rachel Krupa?

About Rachel

With an illustrious career spanning over 20 years, Rachel Krupa stands at the forefront of the PR world, redefining the role of agencies in the food and wellness sectors. As the founder of Krupa Consulting, established in 2010, and the visionary behind the innovative clean-convenience store concept, The Goods Mart, which opened its doors in 2018, Rachel has propelled herself to the status of a true industry force. Her remarkable 20+ year PR journey spans a diverse range of experiences, from navigating the intricacies of D.C. politics and major league baseball to an impactful five-year collaboration with PR veteran Lizzie Grubman and spearheading the West Coast office for Berk Communications.

Quotes

“A good publicist is not selling things – They're actually telling you and sharing with you what makes a company so special.” – Rachel Krupa

“Being able to have a great team allows you to do a lot.” – Rachel Krupa

“You're seeing what consumers want, and that's the biggest thing – Actually knowing how to talk to people… And so it's this matter of this virtual cycle of talking to real customers. Then you're able to pitch that to editors, but you're also able to talk to other brands and founders.” – Rachel Krupa

“Whoever is in the leadership role, speak last because you need to make sure that you hear everyone. Your opinion should come at the end after you listen to everyone so that they're not swayed by what you think first.” – Rachel Krupa

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In today's rapidly evolving job market, upskilling and reskilling have become crucial for individuals seeking to thrive in their careers. In this episode, we speak with the co-founder of StudentFinance.com, Mariano Kostelec, about recognizing the pressing need to bridge the gap between traditional education and the demands of the job market.

Through StudentFinance.com, Mariano aims to tackle a common problem; The constant evolution of skills demanded by the ever-changing economy and technological advancements. Mariano talks about how he’s helping individuals make informed career moves by leveraging data, insights, and personalization based on their background, skills, motivation, and interests and connecting them to the right stakeholders.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:32] How StudentFinance.com revolutionizes upskilling and career mobility
• [09:20] Partnering with education providers to ensure quality in upskilling and reskilling
• [12:30] The keys to bridging the gap between traditional universities and job market demand
• [19:23] The early days of building StudentFinance.com and filling the talent shortage in the job force
• [21:46] Advice from Student Finance's €39 Million fundraising round – Pitch decks, building a relationship with investors, and building trust with funders

About Mariano

Mariano Kostelec, a dynamic and enterprising individual, embodies the spirit of a global citizen, having called ten countries his home thus far. His entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding Uniplaces.com, the largest mid-term rental platform in Europe, which has revolutionized the industry, while StudentFinance.com, a cutting-edge Fintech platform for global career mobility, empowers individuals worldwide to acquire new skills and embrace new opportunities. Mariano's professional background boasts prestigious stints with renowned investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and UBS, as well as valuable experiences gained from working with several rapidly growing startups.

Quotes

“Student Finance is a career mobility platform to address those three challenges and enable people to upskill to areas in high demand.“ – Mariano Kostelec

“The trigger to solve the problem came when we recognized the gap in talent and skills in many sectors, particularly in the tech industry." – Mariano Kostelec

"When we qualify and vet education providers, we also structure economic incentives so that the actual education provider has skin in the game, in the success of their own students or their own users." – Mariano Kostelec

"The core function or job of the education provider is to provide those skills and provide quality of teaching, quality of training, but really focus on that job market needs." – Mariano Kostelec

"People need to continuously reskill and upskill, and this will continue on an ongoing basis." – Mariano Kostelec

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Frame Fitness was co-founded by Melissa Bentivoglio, a leading Pilates and fitness instructor and proprietary Reformer inventor, and her business-savvy husband Lee Belzberg. Frame was put into motion after Melissa noted the shift in the digital fitness world, with group classes like cycling and rowing moving into homes with well-designed, lightweight equipment and a virtually interactive solution. Melissa was inspired to create a digitally-connected reformer that could fit into any space and connect users with a complete community online. She founded the brand with her husband, Lee Belzberg, who comes from a long line of successful entrepreneurs and creatives. Lee is excited to draw upon his deep expertise in real estate and wealth and private equity management to tackle new frontiers in the digital fitness industry by combining his strategic vision with Melissa’s passion for health and wellness.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:30] From Pirouettes to Pilates – How Melissa became a Pilates instructor
• [06:26] Frame’s early founder journey and the keys to success in business, fitness, and innovation amidst a global pandemic
• [16:05] How Frame revolutionized Pilates with its multi-channel approach and disruption of traditional practices
• [26:00] Leveraging B2B marketing opened up the at-home Pilates industry market
• [31:07] How consumer perspective on health and wellness has shifted in recent years

About Our Speakers

Melissa Bentivoglio is a classically trained ballet dancer and a renowned Pilates and fitness instructor. Melissa credits her dedication to Pilates as having changed her life after years of elite-level performance. In 2018, she designed her own proprietary Reformer for use in her own studio. By launching Frame, she hopes to make Pilates more widely available and accessible so that everyone has a chance to improve their quality of life.

Following in the footsteps of his family, Lee Belzberg continues the Belzberg legacy with Frame. He seeks to combine his deep expertise of wealth management, real-estate banking, and private equity with his passion for health and wellness. Lee is excited to venture into new frontiers and take his strategic vision and entrepreneurial spirit to the digital-fitness startup space.

Quotes

“By offering the different variations and the different styles with the different instructors who have the various certifications, we're able to consolidate really efficiently… Why not offer all the different types of instruction with one very, very simplistic machine? So we really just simplified everything. There was innovation to be had, and we did it.” – Melissa Bentivoglio

“We actually knew our first 500 pre-orders were Pilates enthusiasts. We didn't have to convert anybody. There was no barrier to entry… People who are buying a pre-order product without seeing it in real life are crazy enthusiasts.” – Melissa Bentivoglio

“We're adding, not replacing. When you already have a product, you already paid for it, and you're not going to replace it. But if you [introduce] a new product in there, it will bring a new offering to them.” – Lee Belzberg

“In the initial months of the pandemic, we kind of lived like we were invincible, and then all of a sudden, there was this unprecedented virus with so many unknowns. And I think that shifted the wellness world in a way where now all of a sudden, every single person was thinking about their health; How they can achieve greater health.” – Melissa Bentivoglio

“One of the most important parts of working in a startup is trust. And when you have ultimate trust with your partner, it allows the business to move efficiently.” – Lee Belzberg

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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A guy walks to a bar and leaves with a sales career. Sounds serendipitous, but Kyle Mendoza’s sales career has been nothing short of extraordinary. After graduating from Chapman University, Kyle intended to pursue a career in industrial organizational psychology, but his lack of internships made it difficult to get started. While feeling down and unemployed after applying for fall internships, he walked into a bar and ended up unknowingly launching a career in sales.

In our conversation, we dive into the value of networking from a human perspective, Kyle shares his approach to learning from experiences in previous roles, leveraging the lessons gained that have rounded out his skills and the key attributes he seeks in candidates when building an exceptional team.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:35] Kyle’s background and how a chance encounter at a bar led him to sales
• [06:12] Transitioning from corporate gifting and software sales to Head of Sales in luxury goods
• [10:34] Kyle’s early learnings in his role: Embracing the beginner mindset, emphasizing passion, and networking
• [13:14] What Kyle looks for in prospective candidates when building a sales team – Coachability, Adaptability and
• [16:47] Kyle’s experience working with Ruckus

About Kyle

Kyle Mendoza, the Head of Sales and Business Development at Venus et Fleur, is a highly driven and motivated sales professional with a unique story of how he started in sales. After completing his studies in Psychology at Chapman University, Kyle found himself at a crossroads. Despite facing setbacks in securing an internship in his field, Kyle refused to let his circumstances define him and instead chose to pivot in a new direction.

As the former Sales Manager at Revolution Ordering and BinWise, Inc. (acquired by BlueCart), Kyle honed his leadership skills by successfully leading the BlueCart, BinWise, and Revolution Ordering sales teams. Today, he leverages his wealth of experience to drive growth and develop new business opportunities for Venus et Fleur. With his proven track record of delivering results, Kyle is an invaluable asset to the company and a leader in the industry.

Quotes

“Failure, to me, is not learning the lesson.” – Kyle Mendoza

“It's okay to be the beginner or the new person. We've all been in new roles where we don't want to ask questions because we're going to look dumb. But remember, you’re new to the team; We don't know everything about the brand and the processes that are in place.” – Kyle Mendoza

“Never stop networking.” – Kyle Mendoza

“Software sales forced me to get out of that longer sales cycle that we get into in in-person selling. It's easy for in-person selling to rely on rapport building; Just hoping by doing these favors, we will get a sale with no action items around it. Ultimately we always have to ask for the business.” – Kyle Mendoza

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Becoming a CEO is a daunting task in and of itself, but imagine taking on that role as a non-founder. It's a unique and challenging position that comes with its own set of hurdles and obstacles.

In this conversation with AllTrails CEO Ron Schneidermann, and former CEO of Weedmaps, Chris Beals, we discuss the complexities and difficulties of being a non-founder CEO. From navigating senior leadership to balancing the delicate task of reshaping company culture while preserving its core values, we explore the nuances of this role. We talk about valuable lessons learned during the transition into the CEO and also delve into the crucial aspects of fostering a healthy and productive workplace culture.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [02:29] Ron and Chris share their unique journeys to becoming non-founder CEOs
• [07:29] CEO-imposter syndrome and recognition in the workplace
• [11:51] Transitioning into a CEO – Navigating the skillset shift and learning to let go
• [16:28] Aspects of senior leadership that Ron and Chris were not prepared for
• [23:34] Unforeseen challenges – Why urgency and definitiveness matter when enacting change
• [32:50] How to balance preserving and reshaping culture and values
• [42:45] The importance of hiring and weeding out anti-culture employees for the sake of healthy culture

About Our Speakers

Ron Schneidermann is an entrepreneur who is passionate about building great companies that help people have authentic, organic, real-world experiences. He is the CEO of AllTrails, the most trusted and used outdoors platform in the world. In 2005, Ron co-founded Liftopia, the global leader in ski lift ticket bookings, and was Head of Growth at Yelp Reservations. Ron attended UCLA, earning his bachelor’s degree in Communications, and lives in California with his wife Jenny, their three children, and their dog Sally. Ron loves riding his mountain bike, but his all-time favorite trail is the Na Pali Coast Trail in Kauai.

Chris Beals is a technology executive and startup advisor with a focus on ecommerce and SaaS. He was most recently the CEO of WM Technology, the parent company of the largest online cannabis marketplace, Weedmaps, and WM Business, a suite of SaaS solutions for cannabis brands/retailers. During his 7-year tenure at the company, Chris grew the company from $35mm to over $200mm in ARR and oversaw the transition of the business from listings into online ecommerce with business in 7 countries and 37 states. During that time, he also built out through M&A roll-up and internal development the WM Business SaaS suite (e.g., CRM, logistics, embedded ecommerce, in-store display, API engine). He then led the company through its NASDAQ IPO in July 2021. Prior to Weedmaps, Chris provided turnaround and operating advice to SaaS, software, and healthcare companies at PE-style credit fund and, prior to that, was a practicing attorney focusing on technology and healthcare.

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago, working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“The funny thing about going up the chain is, when you get to senior leadership, the skills that got you there aren't really part of your day-to-day job anymore. The whole thing about going up is learning to let go; you have to fire and rehire yourself continuously.” – Ron Schneidermann

“A very common pattern with becoming a CEO is there's a lot of changes that don't loudly announce themselves, and one of them is the minute you take that title, you automatically take a 50% reduction in your approachability.” – Chris Beals

“One of the challenges when coming in as a non-founder CEO is you need to be pretty laser-focused on figuring out what you think the current state of affairs is and what needs to change for the future state of affairs; the state of affairs that are going to exist under you as a leader. And then over-communicating that and working through it.” – Chris Beals

“Often so much of culture is really just leading by example.” – Ron Schneidermann

“Don't let perfect be the enemy of a hundred times better.” – Chris Beals

“When you take over the ranges as CEO, a big part of it is assessing the team that you have and who is willing to come along with you for the ride.” – Ron Schneidermann

“There's a spectrum of things that you do. No matter what it is, even when you're being definitive and snapping that chalk line on the change, you need to be thoughtful and do your research in advance, but you need to have some degree of urgency in doing the research.” – Chris Beals

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, our panel of seasoned leaders from GitBook, Double Finn, and formerly CB Insights, sit down to discuss the role of the modern COO in fast-growing companies. They share their stories and advice on career mapping, team management, to executing organizational change. Whether you're an aspiring COO or simply interested in the inner workings and nuances of a fast-growing organization, you'll find plenty of valuable insights in this episode.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [01:43] The Panelists Share How Their Specific Roles Differ From Other C-Level Executives
• [10:38] Career Advice: How to map your career path to COO
• [16:53] Frameworks and strategies for effectively managing a large team
• [23:03] Finding your number two: Key traits to look for in a COO or Exec
• [31:29] Strategizing organizational change: How a new COO should approach the first 30-60-90 days
• [37:53] Strategies for balancing short-term and long-term organizational goals
• [44:04] How has the role of COO evolved over the years?

About Our Speakers

Ha is an experienced operator at large technology businesses with a passion for helping SMBs scale up. He is currently COO at Doublefin, an HR tech company, where he leads the company's go-to-market efforts. Prior to Doublefin, Ha advised PE-backed B2B and B2C companies. Ha spent a decade leading partnerships and product teams at Walmart e-Commerce, Yahoo, and Google.

Sara has spent the majority of her career in the startup world, after starting out in finance. As the former COO of Framer, she helped the design tool startup scale both ARR growth and the company from Seed to Series B. As the current COO of GitBook, Sara is passionate about building efficient and impactful teams, developer tooling, and sustainable growth engines.

Fabio has held multiple entrepreneurial executive positions in several companies, with a proven track-record in creating impact, delivering results, and building strong teams and organizations. He was previously the COO at CB Insights and held multiple C-Level positions at Gympass. Before that, he was a Senior Management Associate at Bridgewater Associates, CFO at TG Agroindustrial (portfolio company from Angra Partners where he also did private equity investing), and worked in Investment Banking at Itau-Unibanco Fabio currently holds multiple board positions and advises and mentors several startup companies globally. He holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School (Class of 2013) and a Bachelor of Economics degree from Unicamp in Brazil

Quotes

“For COOs and CEOs that are great partners, You don't look at it as just one functional responsibility; You're trying to weave together everybody that's necessary to accomplish a particular objective.” – Ha Ly

“As a COO every time there's an element that I am confused about, that confusion is going to multiply down the line.” – Fabio Salim

“So that is key; Can they actually understand the full scope and know where to spend their time? Being COO is so cross-functional, it's really across the entire business, and there are only so many hours in a day. You can't possibly move everything forward at all times. So a strong ability to prioritize is a big one." – Sara Tandowsky

“I look for a good ability to think and build systems. Someone who can look into a particular reality, synthesize that reality, almost define it, and then refine it in a way that others can execute.” – Fabio Salim

“If you don't know the answer, find someone who does. Find someone who can share expertise. Most problems aren't brand new.” – Sara Tandowsky

”Technically skilled, objective-oriented folks can get down to the priorities and understand what a company needs to do, but being able to convey that to the rest of the company and build the right relationships internally to execute on that is extremely important.” – Ha Ly

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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The role of CFO today, 10 years ago, and 10 years ahead look vastly different from each other. In this discussion, our panel of industry experts, current and former execs from CFGI, Brooklyn Boulders, Spinn Inc, Ring, and Made Renovation, dive into what traits and skills a CFO needs in order to adapt to today’s business landscape.

They share their insights on what cross-functional leadership looks like in the role of CFO, why cash is king, and why guiding stakeholders through critical financial information is crucial.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [01:04] Our panel introduces themselves and shared their background and experience
• [03:11] Hiring a CFO: When is the right time for a start-up to look for a CFO and what are their key considerations?
• [13:00] Navigating the financial complexities of fundraising rounds
• [16:58] How the Role of CFO is evolving: Adapting to technological advancements and shifting organizational demands
• [28:34] Synthesizing Information to stakeholders and why it’s a crucial skill for finance and analytics leaders
• [40:46] Tips for propelling your career forward: Gain experience by stepping out of your lane
• [47:35] How CFOs can adapt and manage financial stability in an uncertain landscape

About Our Speakers

Gladys is a Chief Financial Officer with 20 years of experience in finance, accounting, and transformation. She’s an expert in consumer products, manufacturing, technology, and growth-stage startups (including proceeding with IPO and M&A exits). Gladys is directly responsible for overseeing accounting and finance functions, managing $50M to $200M+ P&L budgeting, as well as producing accurate financial reporting, strategic planning, investment due diligence analysis, KPI dashboards, and ERP NetSuite implementation. She’s scaled and positioned companies on an upward trajectory in addition to being the recipient of the 2022 CFO of the Year Finalist by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Shane's diverse leadership acumen spans all finance and accounting functions, company operations, strategy, legal, real estate, and business development. Shane also commands deep experience in the private equity space, from both the PE investor and portfolio company perspectives. Since starting his career in big-4 public accounting, Shane has spent more than 15 years in international financial leadership roles, ranging from Controller all the way up to CFO, across a range of industries and company stages. More recently, Shane has led strategic fundraising and M&A efforts as a consultant CFO for SME's and just last month joined a top-tier financial consulting firm in their Business Transformation practice.

Hari has 20+ years of professional experience across VC-backed startups, Fortune 500 companies, and public accounting. He has held finance leadership roles across several startups and played a key role in scaling for growth, fundraising, and getting to profitability. Hari has led teams of 100+ members across multiple functions including Finance, Supply chain, People, and Business operations

Quotes

“As a CFO, as a financier, you want to avoid saying ‘no’ and saying ‘yes’ too much. You want to make sure that you're helping people get to their goals while minimizing risk.” – Hari Seshadri

“Having the willingness to take risk is critical, but to be able to take risks with discipline and foresight is definitely a big part of the role that a CFO plays for a growing startup.” – Shane O’Brien.

“As capital comes in from different sources and you start thinking about capital allocation becoming more complex, that's when it’s the best time to bring on a CFO on a full-time basis.” – Gladys Fung

“The CFO needs to chart out the map that shows the company, all the stakeholders how you get from point X to point Y. Everything the CFO does revolves around that one thing.” – Hari Seshadri

“Finance leaders need to be proactive and to learn about what's going on, not just in the finance industry, but in the general economy to know how we can navigate changes in the future.” – Gladys Fung

“Be willing to step out of your lane; Especially when you're earlier on in your career.” – Hari Seshadri

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Samira Ann Qassim and Indra Sharma join Paul Craven for an insightful discussion on the future of European venture capital. In this episode, we discuss insights on emerging technologies, the changing investment landscape, and leveling the playing field for underrepresented entrepreneurs. Learn how VCs can use their resources to break biases and drive positive change for underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [01:40] Samira and Indra introduce themselves and share their backgrounds
• [03:45] Deep Tech, Health Tech, and Generative AI: What’s on the horizon for European VCs
• [07:00] The advantages and disadvantages that European startups and VCs have over global players
• 12:04 Navigating the changing landscape of investment activity and valuations
• [16:41] Leveling the Playing Field: Addressing the unique challenges faced by underrepresented entrepreneurs with the help of VCs
• [24:26] How VCs Can use their resources to drive positive change in the startup community and beyond

About Our Speakers

Paul Craven brings a decade of recruitment and executive search experience in Europe and the US, with a passion for tech, startups and people. He has spent the last 3 years connecting executive talent with fast growing startups and is now focused on building the Ruckus presence in EMEA.

Based out of sunny Barcelona, Paul also enjoys family days at the beach, playing football and discovering the city’s best restaurants.

Samira Ann Qassim is passionate about supporting visionary founders who are propelling the future forward at lightning speed. With a focus on empowering female-led technology companies, she founded Pink Salt Ventures to tap into their untapped potential. Prior to launching Pink Salt, Samira gained experience as a strategist and successful tech entrepreneur.

Indra Sharma is a partner at Peak, a European seed-stage venture capital fund investing in b2b Saas, platforms, and marketplaces. She's based out of Stockholm, where she brings her expertise in the Nordics to the Peak community. She works closely with companies such as Breyta, Blidz, and Melon.

Indra has an engineering background, starting her career as a quant and a developer and later moving on to the business side. She has an extensive background as an operator and was part of scaling Swedish payment house Bambora Group. Before joining Peak, she led investments in companies such as Lassie, Einride, and Natural Cycles.

Quotes

“I'm of the view that it is never a good idea to get the highest valuation as possible if you can't grow into it.” – Samira Ann Qassim

“The biases that you see in society are reflected in VC and in the tech ecosystem…One of the biggest problems we have is that we just don't see potential in people who don't fit into a certain stereotype of an entrepreneur.” – Indra Sharma

“It’s great to walk into a room where everyone's invited. It's about the quality of your outlook and your output that matters.” – Samira Ann Qassim

“When building your network, make sure that you include different people because it's so easy to talk to people who speak and look exactly like you.” – Indra Sharma

“VCs, if you actually care, you should engage with investors on the merit of their investments.” – Samira Ann Qassim

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, Paul Craven sits down with Frank Hansen of Nordic Secondaries Fund, is the first and only fund in the Nordics to exclusively invest in secondaries, to discuss finding investors, maintaining deal flow, and the nature of secondary investments. Frank talks about how his company chooses the founders they invest in and the unique challenges faced when running a secondary fund.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:22] Frank discusses the Danish Fund and talks about the secondary market
• [03:16] Frank on who his investors are and when they invest
• [08:10] finding investors and keeping a regular deal flow
• [10:00] Does a happy, financially-free founder cause a fund to perform less well?
• [13:28] How Nordic Secondaries Fund helps founders
• [17:25] Advice for founders given the investment landscape in Europe
• [19:12] The biggest challenges when running a secondary fund

About Frank

Frank Hansen has 15 years of experience as a founder and early-stage investor: 25+ investments in companies such as GoMore, November First, Pleo, Spiir, Tradeshift and Listen To News. Experience as executive director in Deloitte, PwC, and Topdanmark. Holds masters in math and economics and actuarial science. Frank has been active in the secondary market for more than 15 years.

Quotes

“I think the most important thing about running a secretary is that you need to have a good network in the area where you're actually investing. You have to talk to the founders of the companies.” – Frank Hansen

“We believe in focus. So if we are both a primary and a secondary fund then where is our focus when we go into a new investment?” – Frank Hansen

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, we sit down with a panel of growth experts that have cut their teeth scaling in foreign markets with hyper-growth companies. We learn that launching in a new market isn’t as simple as copy-pasting your strategies; Localization is critical and foreign markets need to be tailored to.

We discuss the importance of localization, the best UA channels in Europe, how they differ from the US, strategies that didn’t translate well in foreign markets, and working-culture differences.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [03:58] What steps should a US-based company prioritize when testing new markets?
• [06:24] Boris talks about his experience expanding B2Bs outside of the US and what to keep in mind
• [11:38] Ash talks about finding champions for your product by fostering a loyal community
• [14:27] Examples of strategies or features that worked in the US but failed in new markets
• [21:22] The most valuable KPIs to track and which are just misleading or distracting
• [27:27] What are the best UA channels in Europe and does it differ from the US?
• [31:30] Macro Vs Micro-Influencers: Who is more effective?
• [34:14] - The importance of localization in the country you’re launching in – The panel shares their experience on what didn’t translate
• [37:11] - Our panel talks about the differences in working culture – work-life balance, hiring and firing costs, job expectations, and culture

About Our Speakers

Maud Pasturaud has more than a decade of experience launching and growing leading brands across the United States and Europe from Seed to Pre-IPO stage. From Bumble ($BMBL) and Mercari (¥MCARY), to Alan Health and Gilt Groupe - Maud’s experience speaks for itself.

Today, she advises VC-Backed, category-defining B2C companies across Europe and the US, helping founders unlock growth opportunities & set their growth operations up for scale. Maud also invests as an angel in exceptional, mission-driven teams.

Matt Turzo is passionate about building exceptionally high-impact teams. He is at his best when given an enormous, amorphous problem that needs to be solved quickly and sustainably. He founded Compliance and Retail departments at Lyft, ran Partner Management for Groupon in China (90ppl), and ran their customer care in Australia/NZ.

Boris Pfeiffer is the CEO and co-founder of Riddle.com. Before Riddle, he spent 5 years in the gaming industry managing the European branch of Kabam and setting up his own game studio after leaving Kabam. Before his adventures in the gaming space, he served as General Manager for Monster.com, running its Internet Advertising Division across Europe.

Boris has worked for a range of startups and public companies in games and online, setting up businesses in Asia, the U.S., and throughout Europe.

Ashanya Indralingam has 10 years of tech experience growing consumer and enterprise services. Her knowledge spans Content, Marketing, and Product and she has gained scaling product marketing at Framer from Seed to Series B, nurturing a viral gaming community to 15M and using influencer campaigns to drive 25M impressions for social good platform, Causes.com.

She is a strong proponent of inclusive workplace culture and leader of internal D&I initiatives that resulted in broader female, POC, and non-binary representation across the company and community.

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“When you go to a new market, hire someone who knows the market. Don't try to do it yourself.” – Boris Pfeiffer

“Now something we prelaunch with is actual strategy – Thinking about content, community, and influence, really worked and it was really about having that cultural message that resonated and then having the right influencer to disperse that message.” – Maud Pasturaud

“At the early stages of a startup, it can be enticing to look at vanity metrics or only look at the numbers that are moving up and sort of galvanize the company around that.” – Ashanya Indralingam

“No matter what business you're running, start to think about other ways that are worth testing with like a few hundred bucks that you can see if there's actually a very efficient channel that other people in the industry haven't touched.” – Matt Turzo

“If you don't listen to them and don't include them in your communication, that will definitely set them up for failure faster than anything else. And it's probably the hardest thing in the world to do that across Asia or Europe.” – Boris Pfeiffer

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, Estelle Reardon and Anish Shah sit down and talk about their organizations, Slingshot and Ruckus. Slingshot’s goal is to match startups with tech prodigies and is of the ethos that talent, not education or age, should dictate access to opportunity. Estelle and Anish discuss what makes the best hires for startups and why exceptional talent is not just found in good schools and big-shot companies.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:34] The founding stories of Slingshot and Ruckus
• [03:35] The values that drive Slingshot - Providing unparalleled opportunities to talented high school students regardless of their age or education
• [04:28] The perspective that the Ruckus team brings to executive searches to set their clients and candidates up for success
• [06:48] Estelle on the benefits of hiring and working with Gen Z high school students
• [09:16] Anish on spotting exceptional talent
• [14:27] How Slingshot’s interns balance high school and their jobs and why it works so well
• [18:14] Anish talks about the most significant shifts in hiring trends since 2020
• [20:49] Estelle’s advice for employers hiring high school students – The benefits of hiring talented young people before the larger tech companies get to them
• [24:30] Anish’s predictions for hiring trends in 2023

About Estelle Reardon

Estelle is from a four-square-mile town in Maine called Ogunquit. She completed three internships in high school before going on to The University of Chicago and starting her career in venture capital at .406 Ventures and New Stack Ventures. She later went on to help teach New Venture Strategy at Chicago Booth before founding StandOut Search, a startup matching high school students with internships at startups. StandOut Search received investment from The University of Chicago and The University of Illinois and matched over 1000 students with internships before merging into Slingshot Ahead, where she took over the CEO role.

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“We believe in talent. Your skills, not your age or education, should determine the opportunities available to you.” – Estelle Reardon

“At Slingshot, we're trying to find the most exceptional self-taught technologists of every generation before they enter the university environment and match them with roles at startups. In this way, ambitious founders can hopefully beat leaders to the talent that they're looking for.” – Estelle Reardon

“You really want to look at the motivation of the right candidate and not how hot of a company they came out of.” – Anish Shah

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, we sit down with Angelo Sasso, the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Trade Coffee, to discuss his work with subscription-based companies and his three biggest lessons from working at Trade. He also shares the key characteristics that make a great marketing hire for startups.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:27] Angelo talks about the red thread in his extensive and diverse background of working with subscription-model companies
• [02:34 ] Angelo’s 3 key learnings since starting at Trade Coffee
• [05:32] Exploring the intricacies of coffee and making it accessible to a new audience
• [06:47] Angelo on why he looks for adaptable, customer-focused marketers when hiring a marketing team
• [09:00] Angelo shares his experience with Ruckus

About Angelo

Angelo Sasso is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Trade Coffee and former SVP, Customer Engagement at Tidal. He leads marketing teams that use segmented strategies to identify value drivers for key segments, using growth-centric marketing to find these customers, optimizing key customer journeys, and creating loyalty amongst user bases to increase revenue.

Angelo has a proven history of influencing an organization’s initiatives through customer segmentation, product positioning, cost optimization, lifecycle management, and portfolio optimization. His successful execution is driven by a unique ability to build lasting partnerships across an organization and manage cross-functional work streams. He is an expert in turning data into actionable insights and an advocate of fostering culture change across all levels of an organization through relationship building and collaboration.

About Our Host

Kayci Baldwin has been building and growing communities for impactful brands for nearly a decade. She was a co-founder of Six Things, a brand and digital creative agency dedicated to working with underrepresented founders.

Quotes

“Trade has done this wonderful job of taking the guesswork out and helping you become part of this really rich culture by doing it in a way that's really accessible.” – Angelo Sasso

“So that thread of being part of a company and selling a product that really speaks to a unique customer in a broader space and has that subscription hook as part of it, I think is what excited me about coming into this space.” – Angelo Sasso

“You should be able to enjoy coffee on your terms.”– Angelo Sasso

“It goes back to that customer-centric thinking. I really need marketers that understand what this product is, and how to make the right consumer say yes.” – Angelo Sasso

“Ruckus not only was really proactive on connecting me with the right types of opportunities but also as I was going through the process, they were making sure that I felt in the loop and they were being that shoulder to lean on when I needed advice or support.” – Angelo Sasso

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In the last decade, we have seen the perception of value of creators shift dramatically. As brands and companies begin to understand the power and influence creators have in culture and with their audiences, navigating how to establish lasting partnerships has never been more important.

In this episode, Avinash Gandhi, Head of Creator Partnerships at Patreon, sits down with Ruckus’ Sr. Director of Marketing, Kayci Baldwin to discuss how brands and creators alike can leverage partnerships and create meaningful impact. We discuss the biggest changes and challenges in the industry, why brands and creators need to vet who they work with to get better value from their partnerships, and the importance of creators focusing on building an audience that cares.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [00:38] Avinash on the biggest changes he’s seen in the industry in the last decade
• [03:43] How mental health and over saturation are the biggest challenges looking forward
• [05:29] How the metaverse will impact creators and digital spaces
• [07:55] What are the biggest factors when partnering with creators on Patreon?
• [10:39] As the market becomes more competitive, are audiences holding creators to a higher standard as they become more discriminating?
• [12:32] Brands need to vet their partnerships carefully and choose creators that love their brand
• [15:56] Why agencies and companies should assess mutual interest before proposing a deal to creators
• [18:35] Advice for aspiring creators: Focus on building an audience that cares
• [20:09] When is it “too early” to start a Patreon?

About Avinash

Avi Gandhi leads the Creator Partnerships team at Patreon. An experienced Go-To-Market leader, Avi has spent the last 15 years leading partnerships, marketing, and content creation teams at the intersection of tech and entertainment – a space now known as the Creator Economy.

Before joining Patreon, Avi launched and managed Wheelhouse DNA, the award-winning digital and audio content division of Jimmy Kimmel and Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse. Previously, he was one of the first digital media talent agents at WME, where he was recognized by Forbes as 30 Under 30 and Variety as one of Hollywood’s New Leaders for being one of the first Hollywood agents to represent digital creators, pioneering new D2C content models and helping to launch WME’s podcast and gaming businesses. He started his career while an undergrad at Yale, leading a team of content writers for the venture-backed startup Wikinvest.

About Our Host

Kayci Baldwin has been building and growing communities for impactful brands for nearly a decade. She was a co-founder of Six Things, a brand and digital creative agency dedicated to working with underrepresented founders.

Quotes

“One of the biggest things that’s changed is the overall perception of value… No one really understood [influencer’s] power. It took brands, platforms, entertainment companies, and media companies a long time to realize the power and the influence that creators have with their audiences and in culture.” – Avinash Gandhi

“The concept of the Metaverse is very much a Silicon Valley tech buzzword that doesn't necessarily translate to the mass market. But I think that creators are already there, they're just not necessarily thinking about it as the metaverse, but there's a whole ecosystem of creators who make a lot of money producing content within [it].” – Avinash Gandhi

“I think creators will have to find a way to make a living or build a business with potentially fewer audiences because time is limited. And that's the way that creators have to think about this; If someone is going to spend time watching, reading, or consuming something, how do I make it mine?” – Avinash Gandhi

"The advice I always give creators is to only work with brands and partners of any kind that you're excited to say you're working with. And if you're going to work with someone, go all in and make sure they get their value because you want them to come back. If you overdeliver, they're going to come back and give you more money.” – Avinash Gandhi

“Creators who are emerging should focus first and foremost on building an audience that cares.” – Avinash Gandhi

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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How does the one of world’s most expansive, diverse, and enduring toy companies, Lego, continue to capture hearts through compelling storytelling? Most marketers have taken the approach of flooding their channels and seeing what sticks. But our screens are oversaturated with ads and offers. James Gregson, Creative Director for Lego’s internal agency, cuts through the noise with a fewer, bigger, and better approach to marketing.

In this conversation, Ruckus’ Sr. Director of Marketing and Platform, Kayci Baldwin sits down with James Gregson to discuss all things brand building, agencies, and creative problem-solving. During this conversation, James shares his lessons learned, what brands can do to be more relevant, where he finds inspiration, and much more.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:58] When is it time for scaling companies to make the switch from external to internal agencies?
• [03:05] James gives his advice on handling internal agency partnerships and dynamics
• [04:35] How diverse is your role and the problems you solve for given how expansive of a company Lego is?
• [05:56] James talks about the most impactful lessons he’s learned as creative director of Lego
• [11:37] James on the decline of ad spend efficacy and why brands need to focus their efforts on building a genuine relationship with their customers
• [16:06] The most important elements of good storytelling
• [19:06] Natural curiosity, Tik Tok, revolutionary YouTube Campaigns, and the most unexpected places James finds inspiration from

About James

James Gregson is experienced with managing teams in a variety of marketing, creative, content and brand capacities – with success leading impactful, global, cross-platform campaigns. His recent focus has been on driving digital brand transformation across LEGO’s brand communications, their evolving owned channels, content, social media, brand and product marketing, community building, performance marketing, etc.

About Our Host

Kayci Baldwin has been building and growing communities for impactful brands for nearly a decade. She was a co-founder of Six Things, a brand and digital creative agency dedicated to working with underrepresented founders.

Quotes

“It's really important to set that expectation and to build a partnership where it is less subservient and more supportive and strategic. I think that's a really important piece to what we believe we can bring.” – James Gregson

“The world of social and brand communications at one time was flood your channels. Flood your channels with as much content and information and see what sticks. I'm really looking forward to flipping that; fewer, bigger, better. Less is more because I think that's where you start cutting through.” – James Gregson

“The fundamentals of advertising or storytelling are not that different. I think attention spans are certainly shorter than they used to be, and distribution methods are certainly different. But at the same time, a human truth is a human truth.” – James Gregson

Resources Mentioned

• Casey Neistat X Samsung Galaxy: The Rest of Us
• The Truth Is Essential | The New York Times
• Snacks Daily/The Best One Yet Podcast

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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There’s no denying that Web3 and the Metaverse are the next big frontier in digital innovation. As early-adopters and skeptics alike watch the immersive and transformative technologies change the ways we interact with the world around us, we are also watching new companies and career paths shift the job market as we know it.

Whether you’re looking to hire or get hired, our panelists have been there. Join us live as we sit down with some of the leaders pioneering the world of Web3 to discuss the challenges and nuances of team building in a new and ever-evolving digital world.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [03:43] Jordan talks about the early days of cryptocurrency and wealth creation in established crypto companies
• [12:12] Courtney dives into how 90% of employees at Original Protocol took more than 50% of their annual salary in tokens
• [15:30] Rips for founders and investors when hiring for Web3 companies
• [21:53] Courtney on why it’s important to find talent who is web3 curious and the importance of leveraging your community for hiring
• [23:17] Erin’s advice with hiring is to pay attention to the volunteer projects on your candidate's resume and see if they align with what you’re hiring for
• [24:54] Jordan on what gets candidates most excited when pitching the job
• [30:21] Erin advises pitching the real-world application of Web3 and figuring out what interests the candidate
• [36:05] Erin on educating and reaching new audiences for web3 recruiting
• [41:20] Biggest hiring bottlenecks and what companies are looking to hire for

About Our Speakers

Courtney Glover, Head of People, Origin Protocol, Courtney is a self-proclaimed people person and has spent the better part of the last 10 years helping companies recognize that their greatest asset is their people. She is currently Head of People at Origin and has previous experience in Web3, Government Contracting, and Tech. As a recent transplant back home to Michigan, Courtney enjoys spending her non-work time with her husband and two kids in Michigan’s great outdoors.

Jordan Fried, Founder, NFT.com, Chairman & CEO, Immutable Holdings, Jordan Fried is a blockchain evangelist and crypto-capitalist. He’s currently the Chairman and CEO of Immutable Holdings, the publicly-traded blockchain holding company that owns and operates NFT.com, 1800Bitcoin.com, CBDC.com, Immutable Asset Management, HBAR.com, and more.

Previously, Jordan was a founding team member of Hedera Hashgraph where he served as Senior Vice President of Business Development from inception in 2017 until the end of 2020. Jordan also co-founded and served as CEO of Buffered VPN, the fastest growing personal VPN service until it was acquired in the first quarter of 2017.

Jordan is an angel investor in companies like Buffer.com, Clearview.ai, Hive.org, and other early-stage startups. Jordan has been featured in Wired Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Time.com, and Success.com.

Erin Boose, Global Talent Lead, CoinDesk, Erin is currently the Global Talent Lead at CoinDesk. Prior to CoinDesk, she spent time at Smartly.io, Forbes, and Autism Speaks amongst others in recruiting and people operations. Erin also participates in volunteer programs like Co-op, teaching first-generation college graduates the ins and outs of job hunting. When not working Erin loves travel, cooking, and the NY Mets.

About Our Host Anish Shah, Founder + CEO at Ruckus – Anish is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“How you go about acquiring new users, fundamentally, is still largely the same.” – Jordan Fried

“Where we have done poorly in hiring in the past is we've looked for people who we figured were just pure web3 believers, even though they may have lacked our desired fundamental skills.” – Jordan Fried

“The industry is still relatively small. There are a lot of people that are working on projects that are not being paid for their work. You have to look deeper into those projects that you might see on resumes.” – Erin Boose

“You're not gonna find folks who likely came from another protocol company or came from Web3, but I do think there's a huge advantage if you have somebody who's web3 curious or at least understands web3. It's really difficult to convince a really talented developer to see the value in your NFT project,” – Courtney Glover

“When we are trying to talk rationally or unemotionally to candidates, we want them to appreciate what we see as still a very exciting growth sector.” – Jordan Fried

“Figure out what interests a candidate and what might drive their engagement.” – Erin Boose

“Have that curiosity, that willingness to learn and to jump in and get your hands dirty, whether you are the CMO or you are an individual contributor.” – Courtney Glover

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We had the chance to sit down and dive deep into what it takes to build lasting community in the wild world of SAAS. Laura Coscarelli, Account Executive at Higher Logic, Victoria Cumberbatch, Operations Specialist formerly at Osmosis, Kerri Williams, Community, Strategy & Engagement Manager at Workday, and Melanie Bond, Director of Community at Nanit shared the importance of setting clear expectations with community members and internal stakeholders, striving to give twice as much as you ask in return and riding the wave.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [04:49] How to communicate the value of community to stakeholders and organization members
• [12:40] Balance community, marketing, and product needs by setting boundaries and building trust
• [22:01] Best practices for user and product feedback groups
• [27:58] The platforms and tactics that are most effective in getting the community to engage with each other
• [32:44] How to find your pioneers when starting a community
• [36:51] Our experts share goals that they’re working towards; Prioritizing fostering relationships and mentorships
• [39:52] How community and sales can go hand in hand
• [43:49] How much is too much to ask from your customers?
• [50:30] Our panel shares the challenges that they’re dealing with right now

About Our Speakers

Laura Coscarelli, Account Executive at Higher Logic, Laura is an Account Executive at Higher Logic. A former teacher, she spent a decade managing online communities and then consulting for non-profits, associations, and corporate customers on how to engage their networks online. Now Laura helps organizations that are earlier in the process of building their digital engagement strategies as an Account execute (it’s easy to sell something you really believe in!) When she’s not cheerleading for her customers, she enjoys hosting fondue dinner parties, restoring old houses, and biking with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Victoria Cumberbatch, Operations Specialist formerly at Osmosis, Victoria is a Community & Operations Specialists. Being part of a myriad of groups from high school to current, allowed her the space to learn from the best and engage with impactful individuals that have provided a way for her to view leadership within communities. With experiences spanning athletics to studying on Semester at Sea, to overseeing classrooms, to truly embarking on her career with Tunnel2Towers and working with their passionate volunteer coordinators, to being a leader on Remote year, and finally working with top-notch med students at Osmosis; over time it’s become clear that community management and leadership are where she finds herself at her best.

Kerri Williams, Community, Strategy & Engagement Manager at Workday, Kerri helps brands connect with their customers in a meaningful way, by listening to feedback, building teams and processes to engage and delight, and assessing data trends while remaining focused on unique business objectives. Her 10+ years in customer experience, community management, communications, and consulting have given her the tools to help brands navigate this growing digital space and make the most out of their customer engagement strategies.

Melanie Bond, Director of Community at Nanit, Over the past decade, Melanie has built and scaled high-performing and results-driven teams. She has a passion for community building and has worked with hundreds of companies with varying use cases to create and build strategic community plans to reach their organizational goals.

She believes that communities empower companies to work more efficiently, and have a two-way dialog with their customers to build trust while also helping acquire new customers. Building authentic communities is at the core of my work and experience.

About Our Moderator Kayci Baldwin, Director of Marketing & Platform at Ruckus, Kayci has been building and growing communities for impactful brands for nearly a decade. She was a co-founder of Six Things, a brand and digital creative agency dedicated to working with underrepresented founders.

Quotes

“Whenever you're building a community, the most important thing is that the goals and the KPIs that you're setting for your community are tying back to your organizational goals.” – Melanie Bond

“Whether you're a community manager, a director of customer success, in sales, or you're in product, there's no pitch, to begin with. The pitch should be listening first and taking more of a servant leadership approach to seeking to understand the business goals.” – Laura Coscarelli

“If you start with the customer in mind, the balancing of the needs becomes easier. Because whatever you're trying to achieve with community, marketing, or product, as long as you can bring it back to the customer and how it serves their needs, then it should also serve the business’ needs as well.” – Kerri Williams

“Create the expectation list. Set the expectations of what the community members can expect from team and what team can expect from community.” – Victoria Cumberbatch

“When you only lean on a specific subset of your customer base, you're really missing out on so much great intel that you wouldn't have otherwise. I think that's really important when it comes to product feedback.” – Melanie Bond

“There's an element of training and education that goes into how your salespeople talk about your community. There is an opportunity for the community to be a value add in the sales cycle.” – Kerri Williams

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Community-led growth marketers know that nothing drives customer acquisition, retention, and expansion like a community that is truly passionate about your product, especially in SAAS. Social proof from happy customers speaks for itself, a great referral program is the gift that keeps on giving, and launching your product with community that will provide you with honest feedback is invaluable as you scale.

In this episode, we sit down with 3 community experts to shed light on the value and ROI community building provides SaaS companies. We talk about why trust, authenticity, and listening are values that community thrives in and how to get started with community building.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [05:50] Our experts share how they got into their current community roles, what previous experiences prepared them, and which traits are most valuable for their roles
• [12:06] Jillian’s advice for those who want to get into community management but don’t know where to start
• [13:32] How to communicate the ROI of community building for buy-in from skeptical execs or team members
• [23:38] The starting point for building a community is putting the customer first by asking them what they want
• [28:25] Making sure members feel seen and heard is the key to rebuilding trust with your community after dropping the ball
• [33:57] Top tips for increasing member and community engagement
• [44:42] Our experts share their thoughts on utilizing exclusivity in community building and community management
• [50:31] Software that our panel can’t manage their community without

About Our Speakers

Laura Coscarelli, Account Executive at Higher Logic, Laura is an Account Executive at Higher Logic. A former teacher, she spent a decade managing online communities and then consulting for non-profits, associations, and corporate customers on how to engage their networks online. Now Laura helps organizations that are earlier in the process of building their digital engagement strategies as an Account execute (it’s easy to sell something you really believe in!) When she’s not cheerleading for her customers, she enjoys hosting fondue dinner parties, restoring old houses, and biking with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Jillian Bejtlich, Head of Community at Zapier, Jillian is a quirky, ambitious, and enthusiastic techie who is enamored with online communities and the complex data and psychological puzzles they present. She is currently the Director of Self-Serve Customer Experience (SSCX) at Zapier digging deep into curating a customer experience that delivers the right information at the right time and right place.

Jillian has spent her entire career working in and on communities of all sizes, in all industries, and of all types. She has extensive experience with all things community and innovation management including engagement, strategies, metrics, analysis, and interface (UI/UX). She prefers the hardest, ugliest, and most inglorious community challenges.

As Jillian is actually a data nerd at heart happiest swimming around raw data and visualization tools, she is most interested in digging deep into how data can be used to predict future community user behavior and how community design and interface impact desired and undesired behaviors.

Nisha Baxi, Director of Community at Gong, At the heart, Nisha is a community builder and customer advocate. Through the power of an active community, any organization can increase retention, crush its pipeline and build lasting relationships with its partners.

At 19, her first job was to create customer success stories for IBM. She didn’t realize that would set me up for a lifetime of enabling startups and customers to succeed through education, evangelism, and structured partnership. She had the pleasure of growing a prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneurship organization to 15K members. She’s built programs and frameworks at Microsoft, Salesforce, and Facebook that are still used today continuing to drive adoption and fostering loyalty.

Her passion comes from the joy of bringing people together to achieve a common goal, and you’ll find her putting together a panel of Fortune 100 execs, enabling teams who are passionate about a new idea, and mentoring and being mentored by folks along the way.

About Our Moderator Kayci Baldwin, Director of Marketing & Platform at Ruckus, Kayci has been building and growing communities for impactful brands for nearly a decade. She was a co-founder of Six Things, a brand and digital creative agency dedicated to working with underrepresented founders.

Quotes

“You really have to be a person who wants to seek out relationships and doesn't have an ulterior motive. Having true servant leadership but also, still being really organized and thinking about where this fits into the overall experience. And that's gonna really lend yourself to being a community person.” – Laura Coscarelli

“I've always tried to work with communities where I, as an individual, am actually legitimately passionate and excited about the thing that the community stands for. And that really helps me connect with my users in a very, very authentic way.” – Jillian Bejtlich

“If I'm starting a community, especially at the beginning, is it impacting the core operations of the main departments that it needs to hit? Is it impacting customer success, product, marketing and support?” – Laura Coscarelli

“Anytime someone says, ‘How is [community] gonna impact the company? Just ask what are the four things that we care about this quarter or this half. And then just map out programs that align with that.” – Nisha Baxi

“If you're starting a new community… Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. If you can, ask your customers, ‘We're gonna build a community, what do you want from us?’” – Jillian Bejtlich

“In the beginning, it's about building trust and getting the heartbeat of the community.” – Nisha Baxi

Software Mentioned:

• Monday: https://monday.com
• Calendly: https://calendly.com
• Slack: https://slack.com

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with three data-driven industry leaders and discussed best practices, how to pinpoint insights into customer behavior, and reflect on the ways we leverage data to enhance customer experiences.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:17] Our experts introduce themselves and share their background
• [03:05] How data can be leveraged for good and with more user transparency
• [10:00] Neerav explains why there is no one-size-fits-all tech stack and how to choose the right tools for you and where your company is at
• [14:20] Sunny shares her recommendations for a CDP and analytics tech stack depending on the size of your company
• [20:22] Ben shares his advice for analytics layers for companies that hit a million users and are running into attribution issues
• [23:25] Best practices for customer segmentation
• [30:52] Neerave shares 2 tactics marketers will use to enhance customer journeys after 3rd party cookies will no longer be accessible
• [37:15] Our panel shares their recommendations for open source tools
• [42:53] The difference between data science and data analytics and how data scientists can have a more product-centric approach when building solutions

About Our Speakers

Ben Taylor, Chief AI Evangelist, DataRobot, Ben is passionate about machine learning. His life’s mission is to further the boundaries of what is possible with data science. He spends as much time as he can working with deep learning, NLP, and all forms of data science. He currently has a passion project of combining the power of genetic programming with deep learning to automate network design.

He is most well known for his work in machine learning with the data science community and with HireVue. He enjoys speaking and presenting to all types of audiences.

Huijuan (Sunny) Zhu, Director Data & Analytics, Maisonette, Sunny is a data-lover who cares about the business value it can bring. She’s a time-manager and willing to grab every opportunity to enhance her career and personal growth. She’s organized, creative, and strongly motivated to do outstanding work! Analytics is her passion and always open to mentoring new graduates/ early career starters.

Neerav Vyas, Principal CDA, AI, ML, Data & Analytics, Amazon Web Services, Neerav helps organizations to accelerate innovation, drive growth, increase operational efficiencies, facilitate large-scale transformations, and turn around ailing business units/ brands. He’s an award-winning leader, using a combination of Human Centered Design and Advanced Analytics to help ensure these transformations and product launches are more likely to succeed and have a meaningful impact. Finally, he’s served as an advisor to a number of Fortune 500 CMOs. CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CTOs, and several of their boards. He’s also served on the Executive Team of a Fortune 500 company and a successful series B (now series C) venture back startup.

About Our Host Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“There's something so good about allowing a human expert to be unlocked and out of a process.” – Ben Taylor

“Do qualitative research seriously. Put the thing that you're building in front of people. Because you can have the best intentions in the world, but until a human reacts to it and gives you feedback on it, you're not gonna understand the unintended consequences.” – Neerav Vyas

“Most of the AI that you see for harm was not intentional, it was accidental.” – Ben Taylor

“What is the right way to evaluate the efficiency of AI? I think it's ROI; What benefits does this AI strategy bring?” – Huijuan (Sunny) Zhu

“For customer segmentation, I think about not just segmenting the customers you've acquired, but also trying to decide what are the new personas you wanna go after? Because as a product evolves, you'd add new personas and new customer segments that you haven't gone into yet.” – Ben Taylor

“The biggest challenge when you're doing journeys, besides defining what the customer journey is and which journeys are important is connecting the data.” – Neerav Vyas

“Data scientists need to adopt more of that, they need to start taking that domain-centric approach rather than coming in and saying, ‘I'm gonna make a neural net out of everything.’ Because that's the quickest way to lead to projects that don't result in ROI.” – Neerav Vyas

“One domain of a data analyst is you need to be really familiarized with business application modeling. You need to be able to form descriptive analysis and explorative analysis to be predictive and prescriptive.” – Huijuan (Sunny) Zhu

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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With more than 117 million monthly listeners in the United States alone, podcasting has officially become the next billion-dollar industry. For marketers, this means that podcast marketing has simultaneously become one of the most viable and exciting channels for growth. Last month, with that in mind, we brought together four of the industry leaders who have already established themselves as experts in this rapidly expanding space to discuss the ways businesses can leverage podcast marketing to get in front of their target audience unlike ever before.

In our conversation, we dive into the challenges of podcast marketing. We discuss the consumption curve of podcasts, how results can’t be seen until 21 days of advertising, and that patience is key in a world where marketers want to be instantly gratified. We talk about the nuances of knowing which podcasts are right for you to advertise on and the importance of thorough onboarding. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [03:50] The greatest challenges our speakers encountered in podcast marketing
• [05:36] Krystina and Michael explain the consumption curve of podcasts and how long it takes advertisers to see results
• [09:14] How do you know which podcast shows to buy? How marketers tackle attribution and false positives
• [16:14] Understanding Pixel-Based tracking and its challenges today
• [21:46] Michael talks about the value of a post-checkout survey
• [26:25] What do you look for when partnering with a podcast?
• [29:50] Krystina dives into buying ad inventory released by networks
• [34:52] The power of good onboarding; How to get a host engaged and connected to your product
• [38:36] One of the best advantages of the podcast channel is it gives your product a voice
• [43:24] Krystina breaks down the operational steps for getting your ad on a podcast
• [48:02] Our experts talk about the challenges of scaling the podcast channel and how many aspects of it are still manual

About Our Speakers

Dan Granger, CEO, and Founder, Oxford Road, Dan is the Founder and CEO of Oxford Road, the leading independent audio agency in the US. Oxford Road has helped hundreds of DTC companies scale their efforts in audio using Podcast, Radio, Streaming, Connected Voice, and more.

By offering the combined capabilities of Media, Analytics, and Creative Development, Oxford Road guarantees super performance for brands that qualify for their services. Oxford Road was named among Inc 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies and has supported the growth of over 12 Unicorn Companies, (private companies valued over $1Billion) to date.

Krystina Rubino, Head of Offline Marketing, Right Side Up, Krystina has worked in digital and offline media and marketing for 15+ years in NYC and SF, on 70+ brands and products. After investing hundreds of millions in media dollars, she knows how to create campaigns that achieve goals and build businesses.

A digital expert and paid search nerd turned display banner apologist, she’s turned her focus to podcast and offline advertising, and helping companies of all stages to diversify their overall marketing mix and stand up these channels in-house. She started and lead the offline growth marketing function at Right Side Up, the leading collective of growth marketing specialists who have helped more than 300 VC-backed tech companies hit their goals across virtually all paid channels, SEO, CRO, email marketing, analytics, and more. She’s been a featured TechCrunch contributor, conference speaker, and is also an advisor to multiple companies in the ad technology and marketing analytics spaces.

Michael Kropko, Partner & COO, Ad Results Media, Michael is Partner and Co-CEO at Ad Results Media. ARM is a pioneer of the podcast movement and has been leading the broadcast industry for nearly 20 years. As the preeminent performance-based audio advertising agency in the US, they focus on buying media on podcasts, radio, satellite radio, digital audio, and YouTube. Their buying power, industry relations, proprietary grading, monitoring system, and deep analytical skill set have enabled them to transform a once upper-funnel marketing channel.

Molly Laufer, Growth Marketing Consultant, Laufer Direct, Molly is passionate about the inflection point when a company begins to diversify its acquisition portfolio outside of digital channels and is ready to dip its toes into emerging/offline marketing channels to achieve scale without compromising performance metrics. She has a decade of customer acquisition experience from early stage ecomm (first employee at NatureBox.com) to real estate tech (HomeLight.com) and scaling offline performance marketing channels for a range of consumer tech companies and startups in-house, as an agency strategist, and as an independent growth marketing consultant. She has directly managed 7-figure monthly media buys across a diverse set of offline channels with a focus on return on ad spend and marketing profitability. Her channel experience spans linear & connected TV, audio (including podcast, streaming, terrestrial, and satellite – both endorsement and produced audio), direct mail, and OOH with a holistic understanding of media strategy and buying, creative development, and analytics/attribution.

Quotes

“As marketers, we have to adapt to the medium and the way the medium is consumed in order to see the best performance of it.” – Krystina Rubino

“Repetition is key and it does take time. [Podcast] is kind of this weird hybrid of an online and offline channel. People have trouble compartmentalizing it and they want that immediate gratification.” – Michael Kropko

“If you are going to use pixel-based attribution, there are a lot of caveats to it. You have to really make sure you're doing everything you can to align it with your digital marketing efforts and with the way that your digital marketing exactly is measuring it, otherwise, it's like apples to oranges.” – Molly Laufer

“The myth is that if you just target the right audience with the right people, then you're going to get the best results… Sometimes the thing that you think is perfect for your audience actually is going to perform horribly.” – Dan Granger

“There's a media buying transaction that's occurring, but is the partner engaged? Are they taking the time to understand your brand? Are they able to give a good credible read on the topic?” – Krystina Rubino

“Everybody wants to buy into that new celebrity that has their own new podcast. Typically, the loyal following of that celebrity is not as strong as that celebrity thinks.” – Michael Kropko

“There's no substitute for good onboarding… When you can, and as much as you can, go big on your onboarding.” – Dan Granger

“One of the biggest things that the podcast channel brings is someone putting their voice behind your product.” – Molly Laufer

Resources Mentioned

• Podcast data and analytics for advertisers, Magellan AI: https://www.magellan.ai

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Anthemos Georgiades is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zumper. At Zumper, based in San Francisco, Anth leads the company in its mission to make renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel. Since 2012, Anth has grown Zumper to 200 employees, 80 million annual users, and raised $140 million in venture capital for the company.

Prior to his work at Zumper, Anth worked at the Boston Consulting Group in London and NYC and was an Economic Advisor on the 2010 British election. Anth has a First Class BA from Oxford University, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

World’s Best Boss with Ruckus is a series of conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders that explore how the best bosses attract fantastic people, build up their teams, and keep their employees happy.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [01:53] Anthemos talks about why he started Zumper due to his personal frustration with renting, and fundraising for Zumper through Venture Capital
• [10:39] Anth shares his philosophy for hiring: IQ is table stakes, but resilience and cultural fit are what get people through the door
• [19:41] How to vet for resilience by asking candidates about their failures
• [24:10] Anth’s secret to effective delegation as a CEO through clear key metrics and hiring great talent
• [29:40] Why Anth found no difference in Zumper’s 20th vs 200th hire
• [33:26] Anish gives his thoughts on mistakes companies make for growth by hiring an ‘Ultra Senior Executive’
• [41:00] Anth’s advice when hiring a COO is to find someone who compliments you
• [42:57] Anth shares his biggest failures as a CEO
• [45:09] How the mission of Zumper and the positive impact the company has on his team inspires and motivates Anth
• [48:36] How Anth wants to improve Zumper’s culture with even more transparency

About Anthemos

Anthemos Georgiades is co-founder & CEO of Zumper, the largest startup in the rental industry. He’s raised $39.2 million in venture capital, grown the team to 70+, and completed the acquisition of apartment search platform PadMapper. Previously a consultant for Boston Consulting Group and Economic Advisor and speechwriter in the 2010 British election, Anthemos founded Zumper in 2012 after his own terrible rental experience.

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“I didn't do this to be a CEO, I did this to solve a problem that I had throughout my twenties and now that I'm doing it, there's no way back.” – Anthemos Georgiades

“The two things we look for that get a hire through the door are resilience and then how they fit our cultural values.” – Anthemos Georgiades

“I want to recruit the best people at Zumper and the best people look very different.” – Anthemos Georgiades

“If you've done everything right in your career, that means you're probably not resilient because you've never put yourself in a situation of risk.” – Anish Shah

“Every CEO has to reinvent themself as they go from venture stage to growth stage. You're a different CEO to get to 10 million in revenue than you are as a CEO to get to a hundred million in revenue.” – Anthemos Georgiades

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Over the last years, DTC businesses have been able to incorporate more comprehensive approaches to meeting the evolving needs and attention spans of their customers. We learned strategies, insights, and tips on how these growth leaders leverage channels beyond paid social to scale direct-to-consumer businesses.

In this episode, Jessica dives into Verb Energy’s focus on finding where their target market is hanging out through innovative strategies like micro-affiliates, third-party inserts, and co-marketing. Owen highlights the importance of optimizing creative for its marketing channel in order to get the best performance and results.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [01:50] Owen talks about Honeylove’s processes for finding and starting successful channels by using tried and true channels of competitors
• [08:11] Jessica shares Verb Energy’s strategy for reaching their audience through micro affiliates, what is a micro affiliate, and how they manage these relationships
• [17:30] Owen talks about interesting anecdotes and learnings on channels out of paid social
• [19:20] How much time and money are necessary to determine a channel’s viability?
• [27:00] Finding success with third-party inserts and co-marketing
• [34:00] How are you thinking about performance and attribution when looking at emerging channels versus SCM paid social?
• [42:31] Knowing when it's time to pull the plug on a particular channel; Make sure you’ve given the channel enough time and the resources it needs to be successful

About Our Speakers

Jessica McGlory, Head of Growth, Verb Energy, Jessica is a visionary growth leader with a knack for unlocking e-commerce and DTC companies’ marketing strategies to drive revenue and achieve long-term company goals. In 2019, Jessica left her role as Director of Paid Social, Paid Search, and Programmatic to step in as Head of Growth at Verb Energy. In the last decade, Jessica has helped organizations across nearly every vertical successfully scale marketing efforts across paid social, paid search, SEM, native advertising, and more. Jessica’s work and leadership have earned her recognition including being named a Business Insider Marketing Rising Star, a PR News Social Medial Luminary, the winner of the AdColor Rising Star Award, and more.

Owen Bell, VP of Growth, Honeylove, Owen serves as VP of Growth at Honeylove, driving paid and organic acquisition and retention strategy. As a recovering liberal arts student, sometimes he writes and does freelance work to validate an otherwise linear career path.

Quotes

“When evaluating the new channels, it comes down to audience in our acquisition strategy… We have these growth segments that are focused on communities that we want to always look like we're everywhere. So everywhere they are is where we start to strive to be.” – Jessica McGlory

“I will say when considering a new channel, in my opinion, please don't ever think about it in terms of spend.” – Jessica McGlory

“For us, the key determiner is, is the creative optimized? Have we invested enough in the creative process to get something that's truly native to the channel or feels like it really fits with the audience?” – Owen Bell

“We want to make sure we've invested the resources before really calling it on the channel. Whether that be a consultant, or if we're running it internally then do we switch up the resources that are committed to this? Can we reinvest in creative here in a more meaningful way?” – Owen Bell

Resources Mentioned

• GRIN - How to find influencers for your brand: https://grin.co

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Bring Ruckus and Taktical have brought together a panel of brand experts to discuss the art and impact of storytelling in growth. We’ll learn why messaging and storytelling are crucial components to building your brand’s momentum and pinpoint some of the key ways to leverage a resonant brand presence for scalable growth.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [02:40] How do you track the effectiveness of brand building? Understanding your brand’s impact through breadth and depth
• [08:58] Verena talks about how effective branding for Gossamer means bridging the consumer gap and making cannabis a conversation people are comfortable having
• [13:30] Verena and Eva share how a brand’s voice evolves as it grows
• [19:04] The most important elements of storytelling when debuting a brand new product
• [24:33] Ivan shares success stories and failures of companies priming audiences for product reception
• [31:02] How brands go wrong with using statistics and data to drive their decision making
• [38:50] The biggest misconceptions people have about storytelling and scaling
• [41:17] Which channels see the most growth while being low cost: How to leverage press and storytelling
• [47:02] How to consistently provide value even when you aren’t launching new products

About Our Speakers

Ilan Nass, Chief Strategist, Taktical, Iland is an experienced performance marketer with 9 years of experience helping B2B and B2C companies grow. He was Director of Marketing at Fueled, in the first 12 months he drove sales from $2mm annually to $8mm, 80% of which was organic.

He was also the Lead Marketing consultant at Artsy, and helped them triple traffic in 3 months, grow from 50,000 visitors/mo to over 1,000,000, and built out the marketing department. The company’s valuation grew to nine figures as a result.

He has spent the last 8 years running Taktical Digital, whose clients include WeWork, Ellen Degeneres, BarkBox, Bustle, Casper, MoviePass, Rachel Zoe, Univision, Chase Manhattan, and others.

Eva Goicochea, Founder & CEO, maude, Eva spent her early career as a legislative aide in healthcare and then went on to spend 10+ years in eCommerce and brand strategy working with companies including ADIDAS Y-3, Squarespace, Steven Alan, and Josie Maran Cosmetics, and was part of the early team at Everlane building social media, culture, and talent. In 2015, she co-founded her first company, Tinker Watches, and in 2018 launched maude, a modern sexual wellness company built to challenge a legacy industry and serve the customer through quality, simplicity, and inclusivity.

Verena Von Pfetten, CoFounder, Gossamer, Verena is the co-founder of Gossamer, a cannabis lifestyle brand and biannual print publication covering travel, design, and culture through a green lens.

A digital native with over a decade’s worth of experience in brand consulting, editorial direction, and content strategy, Verena has worked with clients such as Instagram, Glossier, Spring, ASOS, Ann Taylor LOFT Lou & Grey, 7 For All Mankind, Man Repeller, and The Coveteur. She contributes regularly to fashion, food, and travel publications, such as The New York Times, Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, InStyle, New York Magazine, and Modern Farmer.

About Our Host Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“We try and stay really true to our brand, our brand voice, the world we are trying to build, the stories we care about, and the values that are important to us which are art and culture, activism and education.” – Verena Von Pfetten

“When you consider your brand, there's your breadth; How wide your brand goes, how many people know of your brand. But then there's also depth; How loyal people are to your brand, how much they love and advocate for your brand.” – Ilan Nass

“Probably the number one thing I love to see is when someone says, ‘I love Gossamer and I don't even smoke weed.’ That to me means we are really bridging that gap and we are building a brand that is accessible and inclusive.” – Verena Von Pfetten

“What’s really important is recognizing first that you have to have something to tell a story from. And it cannot be your value proposition as it relates to your price point because that really limits you.” – Eva Goicochea

“There is no such thing as too much [education]. You need to make sure you are giving people the resources to understand every piece of how they might be interacting with your brand or more specifically your product.” – Verena Von Pfetten

“If your product is not going to fit into the brand circle then either the product needs to change or the brand needs to adjust. And then you'll find that products will just debut themselves at a certain point.” – Ilan Nass

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Strong product leadership impacts every part of the organization and can help foster an overall culture of innovation and growth. But if you’re a product leader, you understand how difficult it is to find avenues for continuous growth and learning for both yourself and your team.

In this episode, we discuss the unique challenges and opportunities product leaders face on the path towards growth, with three industry leaders, Jeannie Yang, SVP of Product at SmartNews Inc., Katherine Fischer VP of Product at 1stDibs, and Lucy Huang, VP of Product at Storyblocks.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:20] Our panel of experts introduce themselves and share their backgrounds
• [03:05] The importance of impact over output when measuring success as a product leader
• [07:51] How product leaders can grow people and gauge their impact on their teams
• [10:46] Katherine talks about the keys to managing stakeholder expectations: Be explicit with timelines, outcomes, and the impact on the bottom line
• [14:43] Jeannie brings up the importance of not creating Frankenstein solutions that are aimed to please stakeholders and how to realign with product vision
• [21:03] Lucy gives her thoughts on how companies can balance innovation and risk
• [27:17] Our experts share defining moments and lessons in their careers
• [38:18] Handling the highest paid person’s opinion as a product leader and tips for keeping a product vision from derailing
• [45:06] What resources our experts go to for inspiration: Having conversations with people in other functional areas, and one-to-one coffees with people in the industry
• [50:27] Katherine shares the initial challenges she faced when transferring to product

About Our Speakers

Jeannie Yang has been creating successful products at the forefront of social, mobile, and media for two decades. At Smule, she led product strategy and scaled the platform to over $100 million run rate, increasing users from 50K users to a community of 50M people. Today, she leads Product at SmartNews Inc, the first unicorn news startup since 2015.

Katherine Fischer. Until recently, Katherine was the VP of Product at 1stDibs, a global marketplace for one-of-a-kind, luxury goods. Over her 7-year tenure, Katherine held various leadership roles focused on the seller experience, logistics, e-commerce enablement, trust and safety, and the iOS app.

In Katherine’s next role she will lead the Product team at Made Renovation. Similar to what Opendoor has done for home buying or Carvana for car buying, Made is creating an e-commerce-like experience for home renovations, bringing this $400B market online.

Prior to 1stDibs, Katherine held product roles at growth stage companies (SinglePlatform and Seamless/GrubHub), launching numerous key products.

Lucy Huang is a product leader with experience across enterprise and consumer businesses. Lucy has held product leadership roles at companies ranging in growth from $0-$70M+ in ARR such as Storyblocks, CB Insights, and Marketing Evolution. Lucy is passionate about building great teams and sharing her lessons learned with the product community.

Quotes

“One of the most important things for product is to make sure you're measured on your impact versus your output… At the end of the day, it's really about how the product team impacts the business as a whole.” – Katherine Fischer

“Managing up is being really explicit about things that take a little bit longer, what the outcome will be, and what the impact will be on the bottom line.” – Katherine Fischer

“We're all problem solvers. We want to try to solve problems and take all the feedback… But it's okay to not address all the feedback, as long as we're clear what the expectation of the milestones is now, and what it will be in the future.” – Jeannie Yang

“I am very adamant in terms of carving out one piece, at least, for innovation because you have to. If you're not investing, you're actually losing money because there's inflation going on. And if you're thinking about this whole business as a way to invest in product, you should be investing in something.” – Lucy Huang

“As the product manager, if you don't believe in a vision, then you can't really lead it.” – Jeannie Yang

“For product teams to be empowered, what I do try to do is educate the rest of the organization. How do we set up the product development team for success? A part of it is defining roles and responsibilities.” – Lucy Huang

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Linda Vermaat, Director of Innofest, a team dedicated to helping impact-driven startups test their prototypes at festivals. Due to COVID and festivals coming to a halt they’ve developed online methods to help startups kickstart their growth.

Most startups fail within the 5-year mark. According to Linda, this is due to 2 main reasons – These startups aren’t solving a big-enough problem, or they aren’t testing their product thoroughly. Linda hopes to help entrepreneurs trying to solve the issues of today by giving them platforms to kickstart their products with Innofest. In this episode, Linda also shares her vision, best practices learned along her journey, and powerful advice.

Here's What We Discussed

• [00:17] Inda introduced herself and Innofest. Linda talks about her documentary, Fix the World and Make Money, in which she traveled around the world for
• [02:12] Linda shares her experience co-creating Professional Rebel, how she felt inclined to impact-driven startups, and how that led her to her position in Innofest.
• [03:56] Linda defines an impact-driven startup as entrepreneurs intending to make money, and start a business while solving an issue
• [04:50] The 2 things that impact-driven startups need in order to succeed
• [07:49] How Innofest can help kickstart growth for impact-driven startups by providing opportunities for networking
• [09:24] What makes your product testing successful and why festivals are an ideal testing environment
• [12:20] The success of Innofest Test TV, an online testing environment developed due to COVID
• [14:50] For interest in Innofest, contact Linda using the links and contact details below
• [16:13] Where Linda gets her impact-driven related news

About Linda

Linda Vermaat (38) lives in Amsterdam, together with Erik and their daughter Isa. She has a curious mind, is quite talkative, and loves to eat with her hands.

She is inspired by people who go above and beyond to challenge the status quo. Therefore she founded the Slow Food Youth Network, Professional Rebel & the international documentary Fix the World & Make Money; as places where these people can come together and propel each other forward.

These experiences have made Linda the perfect fit as the new director of Innofest, a function she has proudly embraced from September 2019 onwards. As a director, Linda closes partnerships, spots (new) business opportunities, and leads the Innofest troops and the Innofest brand.

Finally, Linda is a well-known speaker on sustainability (TEDX Amsterdam), a jury member of diverse startup competitions (Enterprijs), and host of sustainable innovation events (ADE Green and ASN Bank Wereldprijs). And on the side, she is a pitch coach for impact projects and startups.

Resources Mentioned

Learn more about Innofest here.

Contact Linda at: linda@inoffest.co

Documentary Fix the World and Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyw7IBkKmNkC7_-p7SfFVw

White paper: https://innofest.co/whitepaper-aanvragen/

Quotes

“It doesn't matter if you're an impact startup or not, go and prove your product and then make the next steps. Because too much time, money, and energy is wasted if you just keep on working solely on your idea.” – Linda Vermaat

“By learning a lot, you can improve your products. If [testing] runs super smoothly, I won't say it was a success because what did you really learn?” – Linda Vermaat

“If you have a prototype and this is the first time you have a product or a service in place, please go out and test it. Don't stay too long inside, but go out, test it, and see what kind of assumptions you have.” – Linda Vermaat

“If you want to actually grow your startup, most of the time, a lot of capital is needed, especially when it's a really technical startup today. You need a lot of money to actually improve your product.” – Linda Vermaat

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, we dive into strategies that help balance DTC and Wholesale as sales channels. We discussed the pros and cons of each channel, and our experts explain the different roles DTC and Wholesale play, how a good mix can help with brand awareness and customer acquisition, and best practices to integrate into your channel strategy.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:53] Our experts introduce themselves and share their background
• [02:31] How do you approach balancing your media and campaign performance when balancing DTC and Wholesale?
• [09:08] Using wholesale, retail, and pop-up models as a tool to acquire a new customer base and drive awareness
• [18:34] The different roles DTC and retail play and why wholesale and retail experiences are here to stay
• [22:10] Things to keep in mind when setting up 3PL for DTC
• [27:41] How COVID affected fulfillment and 3PL supply chains
• [31:17] Matt talks about where Wandering Bear Coffee sold their first 1000 units and their learnings from selling direct-to-office
• [33:58] How Wandering Bear Coffee drove more sales to their flavored coffees through a UX change
• [37:55] Matt’s thoughts on marketplaces and consignment opportunities and how COVID fundamentally affected his distribution mix
• [42:34] Best practices for compelling customers to buy through your DTC channels while serving your wholesale channel

About Our Speakers

Katelyn Glass, Founder & Managing Partner at Fifty Six Advising, Katelyn is the Founder and managing partner of Fifty Six Advising and has spent the past 12+ years of her professional career leading the digital transformation for multiple firms serving in various change management roles for high-end retail and consumer brands.

Matt Bachmann, CEO & Co-Founder at Wandering Bear Coffee, Matt is CEO & Co-Founder of Wandering Bear Coffee. In 2013, Matt walked into a grad school classroom carrying a travel mug of homemade cold brew and met Ben Gordon who was sitting with his own mason jar of home-brew. Their fated meeting set the two off on a seven-year-long journey to create the best-tasting, strongest coffee products on the market, packed uniquely to suit the full range of caffeination occasions, whether at home, at work, or on the go.

Hilary Jensen, Founder & CEO at Obe, Hilary is Founder & CEO of Obe. Obe provides individualized nutrition for your healthier, happier pet. Obe’s digital platform provides veterinarians and pet parents with real-time, accurate behavioral data that enables better health and nutrition decisions to help with preventative care and early diagnosis of potential problems, long before the problems are acute. Hilary is a customer-focused, data-driven entrepreneur with successful experience rapidly growing DTC and B2B businesses to profitability and exit.

About Our Host Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“We have always taken the stance that it's not our right to care where they find our product, we just need them to care about finding our product.” – Matt Bachmann

“When wholesale is used effectively, it can be used as a tool to acquire you a new customer base.” – Katelyn Glass

“The same experience you get from buying a luxury good online is different from when you walk into a retail shop and they give you the white-glove treatment. You don't get that experience from online. I think a lot of wholesale and store experiences are really always going to be relevant that way.” – Katelyn Glass

“What comes to mind when thinking about marketplaces? It's just the economics. Marketplaces need to be profitable for you. You need to figure out how to support them and hopefully grow them in a way where they're not consuming more resources than they're able to generate.” – Matt Bachmann

“The right partner can really help balance your overall DTC strategy. There could be a retailer or a wholesale account who gives you access to a new consumer that your DTC is incapable of getting.” – Katelyn Glass

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Jack Gindi, Co-Founder at Cheeky, the affordable custom night guard service. Jack joins us to share his story, how Cheeky’s team created a subscription service around a personal need, and tips and tricks learned along the way.

Jack advises aspiring entrepreneurs to not be afraid of launching a product that still has the potential to get better. The fastest way to learn is to start, listen to your customer’s feedback and improve. In this episode, we hear his advice for entrepreneurs on how to stay focused on their business, how to find their market fit, and so much more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:20] How Cheeky got started – The gap in the market for a subscription-based, affordable, custom night guard
• [02:09] How Jack tested market demand before launching
• [03:19] The key ingredients for a successful subscription-based service
• [04:15] Different ways to be a Cheeky subscriber – Provide flexibility to your customer
• [05:48] The importance of customer service and fulfillment speed in a needs-based subscription service
• [07:01] How Cheeky determined their subscription pricing structure
• [09:15] Jack talks about how they created a fake landing page for Cheeky to test market interest and collect leads
• [11:09] Jack’s sources for industry news and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

About Jack

Jack Gindi co-founded Cheeky, a subscription service for teeth grinders, alongside his brother. Cheeky offers custom nightguards at an affordable price for every teeth grinder’s unique needs. As a senior in college, at Boston University, Jack and his brother recognized the gap in the market for affordable but high-quality night guards, inspiring them to start Cheeky.

Quotes

“We know everyone's needs may be different, so we definitely maintain the flexibility to be able to ship whenever somebody wants.” – Jack Gindi

“Almost always, try to bake in what your worst-case scenario acquisition cost is going to be. Because there are going to be times when you do hit that worst case scenario, and you're not going to want to optimize for a seventh month payback period.” – Jack Gindi

“And one thing that definitely surprised us was how important customer service is and how important it is to be proactive with your customers.” – Jack Gindi

“Don't be afraid to launch with something that you know is going to look a lot different and a lot better months down the line. The only way to improve is to just get your product out into the market and learn.” – Jack Gindi

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Building and maintaining a great brand that stands out and gains the trust of your customers is a huge job. And growing a brand new brand is a completely different job than re-inventing a brand that has already been around for a while. So how do you go about both? Learn from leaders who have plenty of experience doing both for some of the most popular and emerging brands today.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [01:00 - 04:09] Our panel introduces themselves and shares their background
• [04:10 - 11:49] How a brand determines and tests a target audience
• [11:50 - 13:59] Patricia and Kate advise that early-stage companies should test and adjust product and messaging as one
• [14:00 - 17:52] How to fail fast and early when testing a product, brand, idea, or messaging – Conversion rates and staying close to the customer
• [17:53 - 22:05] The importance of content as an expression of brand voice and brand behavior: Great content contextualizes how people use your product
• [22:06 - 22:05] Jinal talks about the importance of consistency and clarity in your branding
• [27:09 - 35:50] How to measure ROI on brand building
• [35:51 - 44:26] Our panel shares mistakes and marketing decisions they would have done differently
• [44:27 - 49:55] Our experts talk about who helps them make critical decisions – Customers, non-customers, and peers

About Our Speakers

Kate Twist, Co-Founder & Board Chair, Ever/Body – Kate is a data-driven Consumer, Wellness & Healthcare brand management, and growth marketing professional with 15+ years of experience in Digital Marketing, Growth, Product Development, Content Creation, and Client Experience / UX. She is passionate about building emotional connections with consumers.

She has cross-cultural experience in the U.S. and Asia Pacific in Global and Operational Marketing, and her professional background prior to 2009 includes investment banking and strategic advisory to top-tier luxury branded products, retail, and licensing companies.

Derek Callow, CMO, Ex-Bumble, Tinder & Google – Derek is Co-Founder and Partner at Nest.vc. Nest invests in entrepreneurs and builds platforms to support each stage of their journey. They believe the path to achieving positive impact is to fuel the entrepreneurial spirtit: empowering startups on their mission to solve big challenges in a profitable and scalable way.

Derek is the former CMO + Advisor at Bumble. He’s an LA-based Global C-Suite marketer with Brand and Growth leadership experience across consumer tech, automotive, consulting, and agency worlds. He was the former VP of Growth at Tinder and Marketing Director of Google.

Jinal Shah, VP Marketing & Growth at Feather – Jinal is the Ex-VP of Marketing and Growth at Feather. Jinal is passionate about growing purpose-driven brands that are building new consumer behaviors. As a digital-first leader, she has built a niche connecting brand and e-commerce and excels at driving both creative and commercial capital. Throughout her career, she has successfully led teams through periods of intense growth, transformation, and turnaround.

Patricia Korth, CMO, Ex-Better Mortgage Huge – Patricia is a passionate leader who believes in the power of collaboration and flat teams to drive industry-defining customer experiences, Patricia is a regular commentator on digital transformation and what brands can do to better serve and communicate with their customers. She has been recognized as a breakthrough leader in the marketing industry by publications including Mashable, Adweek, The Holmes Report, DMNews, and the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Currently CXO, Nuula. Nuula believes there’s a better, simpler way to manage your small business — so they’re building it. Nuula is a mobile application that gives small business owners instant access to critical business metrics and innovative financial products, anytime, anywhere. It provides small business owners with the tools, content, and capital they need to be successful in a modern, competitive market.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“You want to enable yourself to launch everywhere at one go as much as possible. You need to understand localization that's more than translation. If you can get your product into as many places as possible, as quickly as possible, without an opportunity cost on budget, time, or people, what you can then understand from a product perspective is where the natural product market fit is.” – Derek Callow

“When you're at a very early stage company, when you're thinking about product and messaging, you could try to divorce them, but you'll end up getting false negatives in both directions… For that first zero to five thousand customers, you almost can't think of message and product as two different things. You have to be in one world where you're adjusting both together.” – Patricia Korth

“There were some things we thought would definitely work that tanked and I think that's inevitable, it's part of the process. Test small, learn big, and fail fast and cheaply.” – Kate Twist

“I found that a lot of early stage companies run themselves like later stage companies with very specific targets when they could have done a little bit more work on the front end to figure out whether what they were building was even valuable for whoever they're building it for." - Anish Shah

“I think brands are expressions of customer experiences… And so content is putting the right context around how people use your product. Great content that just contextualizes how people use your product, puts the right emotion around it, and makes your product relevant to different types of audiences, is extremely powerful. It's gotta be anchored in communicating the benefits of the product in a way that's engaging to different audiences.” – Derek Callow

“I think that content as an extension and expression of the brand voice and behavior is extremely important, but consistency and clarity of it are even more important… Why will someone pick my brand over someone else's? I think that's where you start seeing the investment you put in your tone of voice, your assets, and how you show up in the world. That's where I believe it starts paying off.” – Jinal Shah

“Questioning your own arrogance in terms of the nucleus of where you started and examining the power of some of the tools that may or may not be at the center of your wheelhouse is important.” – Patricia Korth

“You're not gonna create your point of difference or your true brand recognition based on pixels… You're gonna create your point of difference around your brand values, how you speak to customers, your ethos, your service model, et cetera.” – Kate Twist

“I think the one thing I find myself saying a lot to my team and myself is to have conviction. To a certain extent, we are told as marketers to not always trust our own judgment… But at some point, we also can't forget that this service was created to solve a very specific need that a lot of us as customers are also feeling. And I try and make sure that I don't completely dismiss my own intuitive voice, my own voice of reason, and my team’s as well.” – Jinal Shah

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We heard from agency owners, DTC brands, and early-stage advisors about addressing paid advertising for your company’s stage of growth.

In this episode, our experts discuss when to switch from in-house to external partners, the value of hiring agency expertise for learning purposes, best practices for testing content, and how to onboard an agency to set them up for success.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [01:01] Our panelists share their backgrounds and experience
• [03:09] How do you know when to stick with ad vendors or find new partners?
• [13:42] How the agency space is differentiating itself from its competitors through new offerings and services
• [15:09] Our panel shares their best practices for testing content
• [21:50] If you're not testing categorically and methodically, you're not gonna think about your marketing strategy on a bigger picture basis
• [24:36] Onboarding a new agency to set them up for success: How long should it take and what are some best practices?
• [32:46] How to choose the right agency for you: Finding partners that care about your business and will hustle for you
• [43:23] Our panel answers what rubric guides their decision to go from in-house to external partners and vice versa

About Our Speakers

Andrew Gluck, GP at irrvrntVC – Andrew is a startup veteran, growth leader, and the GP of Irrvrnt VC. Before starting Irrvrnt Andrew helped clients like Rothy’s, Shake Shack, Goop, Nike, Spanx, Bandier and more generate over $ 5 billion in revenue. Today, Andrew partners with early-stage DTC, e-comm, and next-gen commerce companies with investments between $150,000 and $350,000. His direct investments include Lunchbox, Caraway Home, Coop Commerce, and more.

Sib Mahapatra, Co-Founder of Branch – Sib is the co-founder of Branch, where he runs the growth and digital product teams. Launched in 2019, Branch grew to an eight-figure run rate by making it easy and affordable to furnish corporate office space for enterprise clients.

Prior to Branch, Sib spent time in venture and started his career at Redfin, where he worked with the executive team on partnerships, corporate development, and new revenue initiatives.

Steph Hon, Founder & CEO of Cadence – Stephanie is Founder and CEO at Cadence. Think of Cadence as the S’well of the portable personal space. Cadence is committed to eliminating travel-sized plastic with our capsules, which make it easy to bring your routine with you (everywhere.) Cadence allows users to put their products into durable, leakproof vessels for easy, aesthetically designed, transport.

Mike Schanbacher, Head of Growth, Ex- Hawthorne – Mike is a cross-channel marketer with a strong focus on subscription products. He most recently led Growth at Hawthorne. Before that, Mike was the Director of Growth at Quip and led Paid Social + Search marketing at the New York Times after starting his career in the agency world at Ogilvy and Partner Commerce.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“If you're trying to launch some channels, especially as you're growing a company and you're on the smaller side, it makes sense to dip your toe in the water with some of these expert agencies rather than just hiring an affiliate manager… It doesn't necessarily make sense to just hire an expert in every single channel as you increase your mix.” – Mike Schanbacher

“Our game plan is we have one or two really outstanding generalists on the team and basically they take care of some of the initial thesis testings… It's almost like an inverted curve. You start in internal and then you go to an agency to begin to scale it out a little bit more.” – Sib Mahapatra

“So there are a lot of tools that are going and trying to help you analyze the performance of the ads, what's working and what's not. That's one piece of the pie that's really critical. And then the other aspect is a balance of also being able to create enough content to test.” – Andrew Gluck

“One of the biggest strategies we've also used on the content side is bringing on interns. That has been able to allow us to test things so quickly. So that’s one of the best things we did early on that allowed us to really grow and test at the speed that we needed to.” – Steph Hon

“To me, a lot of times where the relationship falters, whether it's on the agency side or consultant’s side are different expectations around what success looks like.” – Andrew Gluck

“If you're trying to maximize your client LTV, obviously you'd want to swing for an enduring relationship, which you would assume would be predicated on better understanding your partner.” – Sib Mahapatra

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Unlike Sales which can have linear growth, Marketing Organizations have to build for where the company needs to go next. The way you design and allocate marketing resources within the organization needs to change as the company grows. Learn from former HubSpot leaders who have helped built & scale B2B Marketing organizations.

In this episode, our panel of experts dives into scaling B2B marketing organizations and gives all their trials and tribulations of getting there.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:55] Our panelists share their backgrounds and experience
• [09:42] As you're building out your channels, what is an overlooked channel that actually performed really well?
• [12:12] The effectiveness is authenticity – How sending emails that aren’t templated will boost your response rates
• [18:10] If you could only have 3 people on your team to start, what function/roles would they be?
• [27:40] The optimal marketing team structure for a small to mid-size B2B organization
• [34:40] When do you scale to building out a full sales team? Creating a unified relationship between the sales, account management, and marketing team
• [41:47] What you need to have in place before hiring your first sakes person – How to set them up for success
• [46:00] Our panel shares their mistakes and lessons in building a B2B marketing organization

About Our Speakers

Sam Mallikarjunan, Co-Founder & CEO at OneScreen.AI – Sam helps build organizations that drive growth. Enduring companies build engines of growth and teams with the right muscles to test, experiment and challenge assumptions. Growth isn’t mysterious magic, it should be intentionally and methodically executed.

It’s not the impossible goals he’s personally hit or big competitors he’s personally beaten that makes him the proudest. His greatest definition of professional success is that if he were hit by an asteroid today, he could go to that great CRM in the sky knowing he’d still had an immeasurable impact on the world because of the incredible impact the people he’s helped grow, will have on the world.

Jenn Stele, CMO, ex- Madison Logic – Jenn Steele is director of product marketing at Kissmetrics, a product intelligence platform that helps eCommerce businesses make smart product decisions. She previously worked for Amazon and HubSpot and holds degrees from MIT and Simmons School of Management.

MK Getler, Head of Marketing at Alyce – Human to human marketing executive and public speaker, MK Getler, is on a mission to bring authenticity and empathy to B2B organizations around the globe. With over a decade of experience building and leading marketing and business development teams, a keen ability to make meaningful marketing, and a passion for bringing inclusion and equity to the conversation, MK thrives on empowering others to actualize their potential in and out of the workplace.

When MK is not flipping tables in the marketing world, they’re found either in the surf or snow. Or perhaps off finding adventures big or small with their fiancé, Natasha, and pup, Kody.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“The more authentic you are with the approach, not the channel, but the approach that you take within the channel, that's where effectiveness comes into play.” – MK Getler

“When you have a team that's small, for me, it's mostly about balance. Identify how you create balance and where you fit in.” – Sam Mallikarjunan

“If you can't find someone who has the lived-in experience, then you need to find a customer marketer who can go immerse themselves in that experience. I think that the new CMO needs to do a stint in the customer marketing world because our lives are stretched across the entire customer journey, not just in the pre-sale process.” – MK Getler

“My job as a marketing leader is not just to build marketing and not just to build revenue, but also to build people.” – Jenn Stele

“I build marketing and product organizations after I do the sales thing. I mean, we don't know what to build until we started selling.” – Sam Mallikarjunan

“When you have too many direct reports, sometimes the direct report that is the loudest is where you're gonna end up spending most of your time with. That doesn't always mean that's the right person to be spending your time and energy on. You need to be investing time and energy with the folks on your team that are actually going to drive the impact that your organization needs to make.” – MK Getler

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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This week we teamed up with Rockerbox for a panel on how to solve attribution challenges by getting a single source of truth for their marketing activity.

Attribution, simply put, is answering the question of why we do things. Our attribution experts discuss what role it plays in the daily operations of a company, why perfection is the enemy of progress, the methodology for handling multi-touch and multi-channel attribution, and how to know when to turn off a channel.

Here’s What We Discussed

• [01:05] Our panelists share their backgrounds and experience
• [03:08] What role does attribution play and how it’s used in daily-monthly marketing operations
• [11:40] Ashley talks about the challenges of attribution data in offline channels
• [17:57] How to tackle multi-touch and multi-channel attribution
• [21:24] How to deal with getting buy-in from executives that need insight and understanding into your decisions
• 26:44] Connecting your path to conversion insights with your LTV as an indicator for an LTV predictive model
• [30:00] Deciding when to turn off or keep a channel – If you turn off a channel and you don’t lose customers, you know the value of it.
• [36:59] What advice would you give to a D2C brand that’s starting to figure out attribution: Don’t aim for perfection, don’t overcomplicate it, challenge your assumptions
• [42:45] The panel shared their thoughts on Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) for modern companies: You need to have a huge budget to get a readable result on MMM

About Our Speakers

Quinn Michael, Director of Marketing Analytics at TomboyX – Quinn is the Director of Marketing Analytics at TomboyX. He’s an experienced Data-driven digital marketer and manager. Skilled in analytics, A/B testing, deciphering and presenting quantitative data in simple terms, and clear visuals that make sense of user behaviors and lead to increased user engagement.

Ashley Castellanos, Head of Offline User Acquisition at Curology – Ashley is an experienced marketer with a demonstrated history of brand development, executing global, integrated marketing campaigns, and performance-driven acquisition campaigns in offline channels. Her specialties include TV, online video, out-of-home, digital, social, audio, and SEM/SEO channels. She is passionate about building breakthrough creative, driving innovative marketing strategy, and designing efficient implementation processes.

Stang Gappa, Growth Senior Manager at – Stang is a growth marketing leader and advisor with extensive experience in finance, DTC, and eCommerce. He is passionate about leading startups and early-stage businesses towards scalable and defensible growth through paid and organic acquisition and retention.

Sara Livingston, Head of Platform and Solutions at Rockerbox – Sara is an experienced marketer, product strategist, and operator.

She’s spent the last decade building data and analytics products and establishing the underlying strategies and supporting teams. This has spanned across the marketer side to drive growth marketing and customer insights efforts, on the publisher side for data monetization, and then in building enterprise SaaS technology to be used by these end companies.

In all instances, Sara helped establish new functions and divisions, introducing new operating frameworks and supporting technologies at organizations from startups to enterprises. Sara’s been fortunate to work with many of the leading Retail, CPG, DTC, and Subscription Services companies.

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“We use attribution at every step of the planning and optimization cycle in performance marketing. So daily, we're looking to understand how we can optimize the in-channel performance.” – Ashley Castellanos

“Our approach to attribution is that perfect is the enemy of good. I don't think there's a silver bullet in attribution, I don't think anyone will ever find that. But just strive to get to a point where it's as good as it can be, understanding its limitations. Working towards that consistently to try and improve every day yields better results, long term.” – Stang Gappa

“Attribution is one of those things that grasp the question of why we do things. It's not that simple and easy, but if you get your multi-touch down to a point where you feel very strongly about it then you can make a lot of big decisions with really simple numbers.” – Quinn Michael

“I think the most important piece, and this is where the multi-touch attribution solution comes in, is being able to map that pathway to conversion.” – Ashley Castellanos

“One of the issues we've fallen into in the past is not starting with a really good testing plan. That’s the first step.” – Stang Gappa

“You're never gonna get every single solitary conversion attributable to marketing, and you will go insane trying to do that. But instead, aim for what are all the different tactics we can have to make that incrementally better every day and make sure we're getting to a place where we have significant data – That actionable goal to optimize off.” – Sara Livingston

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Kristina Finseth, Growth Marketing Manager at Interseller to talk about her career trajectory which has been anything but linear. What she’s most excited about is bridging the gap between marketing and sales.

Having been in the shoes of a recruiter in startups, enterprises, and agencies Kristina is genuinely driven by a desire to make a positive impact on the way companies engage with candidates and clients. She’s spent a lot of time helping teams learn how to stand out in a sea of outreach with the Outbound FIRE Framework ™

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [01:10] Kristina talks about her journey and how being in sales for a full year allowed her to be a better marketer
• [04:04] “Drive Revenue, not MQLs” Kristina speaks on best practices to keep your Marketing and Sales teams aligned
• [05:47] Kristina introduces Outbound FIRE Framework and talks about how her love for both tactics and strategy is fulfilled by working for startups
• [06:45] The philosophy of Outbound FIRE Framework: The power of a hyper-personalized approach and genuine conversations
• [09:30] Where to access Outbound FIRE Framework
• [11:13] Kristina’s resources for anyone in marketing or sales: the RevGenius community (link below)

About Kristina

Kristina Finseth, Growth Marketing Manager at Interseller – Kristina has been a corporate recruiter, agency recruiter, content marketer, account executive, and growth marketer throughout her career so far. She is obsessed with growth, driving sales and marketing alignment and initiatives, anything outbound related (soft spot for email), and pushing good, not perfect.

She also loves mentoring and helping others to be successful in their day-to-day and long-term careers. It’s one thing to help yourself. It’s another thing to empower someone and then get out of their way to let them shine.

Resources Mentioned

• Outbound FIRE Framework: https://outboundfireframework.teachable.com/p/outbound-fire-framework
• RevGenius: https://www.revgenius.com

Quotes

“I fully believe that if you think you want to be somewhere, you can make it happen.” – Kristina Finseth

“Drive revenue, not MQL’s. Simply put, I'm not just trying to generate huge volumes of leads.” – Kristina Finseth

“Connect with people who are in your shoes or in the shoes of where you want to be or aspire to be and build authentic relationships. Get yourself some mutual mentors too.” – Kristina Finseth

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Learn how these leading direct-to-consumer beauty brands are transforming the way that brands go-to-market, scale growth, and interact with their customers.

Our experts tackle how COVID has influenced the beauty industry as a whole, beauty brand awareness versus direct response, emerging channels to take advantage of, and their best retention strategies. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [04:58] Our experts share advice for starting your own beauty care line. “You don’t have to have all the answers to start, just get started.”
• [09:27] Melissa advises establishing the kind of customer data you want to gather
• [11:33] Tackling the balance between direct response and building awareness for your brand
• [19:57] Which emerging channels our panelists are looking into for this year and next: TikTok, Hulu, affiliate, podcasts, Pinterest
• [25:05] How COVID has changed growth strategy, the customer journey, buying patterns, and the beauty industry as a whole
• [31:03] Our experts share their company’s approach to new product development
• [33:31] What’s your most effective strategy for retaining users?
• [38:46] How PROVEN has seen success with product bundling as part of their growth strategy
• [42:48] Approaching retail as D2C brands – Why it works and why it does not work for their brands
• [47:28] Our panel shares what they view as the biggest upcoming challenges for the next 6-12 months

About Our Speakers

Ming Zhao, CEO of PROVEN – Ming Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of PROVEN Skincare, the smart skincare company dedicated to creating personalized and adaptive skincare.

PROVEN uses award-winning data and machine learning technology to customize beauty and wellness products for individuals. Founded in 2017 by Ming and Dr. Amy Yuan, PROVEN creates personalized skincare solutions that adapt with you as you move through life. Using their proprietary Skin Genome Project, the largest beauty database on earth, they create personalized skincare solutions as unique as you.

Fabian Seelbach, CMO at Curology – Fabian Seelbach has more than 15 years of experience building and scaling businesses with P&L ownership. For five years, he led the industry-defining marketing team at Curology as CMO. Today, Fabian is President of the fully shoppable lifestyle and wellness brand, Goop.

Fabian grew up in Berlin, Germany, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Melissa Sova, Growth, Ex – Glossier – Melissa oversaw all performance channels for Glossier and managed a team scaling full-funnel growth across search, shopping, affiliate, paid social, partnerships, display, and more from 2017-2020. Melissa began her experience in the beauty industry agency-side, working with Coty while at Performics, followed by an in-house role at Clarins Group. She is currently the Director of Marketing for Tie Bar in Chicago.

Guilhaum Ceccaldi, Growth at Prose – Guilhaum is the Head of Growth Marketing at Prose, the direct-to-consumer beauty brand delivering custom hair care products that are made-to-order and address the specific needs and goals of each individual’s hair and scalp. In his capacity, Guilhaum is responsible for leading and implementing Prose’s marketing strategy, overseeing both acquisition and retention. Before joining Prose, Guilhaum served as Online Acquisition Director at Adore me. He has also held additional marketing positions at various companies in Paris, France.

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“The misconception that I feel is often out there is that the money you put into [direct response], it doesn't matter how you portray the brand or how it reflects on your brand. We've tried to make sure that DR means that we measure it based on conversions, but it still needs to accurately reflect who we are as a brand, speak to that brand and further that brand perception.” – Fabian Seelbach

“Using performance channels to inform brand messages is the key. You can be efficient with what you're learning creatively. You start with direct response, messages, and creative and then build that into a brand strategy. Make those performance channels work really hard for you to inform insights at the top.” – Melissa Sova

“I think that the change in behavior that COVID has caused in consumers, in that they're willing to trust some random brand they saw on the internet with taking care of their skin is going to stay.” – Ming Zhao

“So we have been constantly working on the products that we're offering the consumers… For the two years that I've been working at [Prose], we have seen the retention side of the business increase in parallel to product satisfaction. So we are trying to improve the quality of the product that we are making to ensure that people are coming back.” – Guilhaum Ceccaldi

“Customers want it to be easy. They want it to be simple. They're doing their research, but they want to know that a brand knows what they're talking about.” – Melissa Sova

“Bundling is really at the heart of what we are doing, in the sense that we are defining for every customer what their ideal routine will be. We are not trying to oversell by artificially bundling, we are just trying to get the customer to choose the best product for themselves.” – Guilhaum Ceccaldi

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Ruckus and Tatari team up for a panel on how to utilize TV as a performance marketing channel to help your brand drive large-scale user acquisition at profitable CPA, build awareness, brand recall, and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [04:03] How TV’s effectiveness is measured amongst the different products of our panelists and how Tatari measures CPV, CPA, and ROI unlike any other solution
• [10:08] Junior shares how Resident measures TV CPA’s – Recreating the path to conversion, and leveraging third-party vendors and smart TV data
• [16:58] The panel talks about different attribution models
• [24:58] How should brands think about the mix of Linear and OTT as they start out and scale?
• [30:29] A breakdown of the different types of TV
• [32:52] The minimum spend needed to see if TV as a channel will be successful for your company
• [36:08] How long TV takes to perform depends on your baseline volatility
• [43:50] The panel answers how to reduce the risk of wasting money on TV – Partnering with someone you trust, testing, understanding your measurement approach, and aligning your KPI
• [48:27] Perceptions of TV our panel had before that are different after launching successful campaigns

About Our Speakers

Junior Reyes, Head of Marketing at Resident – Junior is a proven business leader with multiple roles in leadership capacities coupled with a data-first approach to decision-making. He is adept in partner/vendor negotiation and bringing enhanced efficiencies to team productivity while focusing on growth.

He has been increasing performance efficiencies, reducing costs, doing growth marketing optimization, and restructuring procedures throughout his career.

Dan Guy, Head of Marketing at Lemonaid Growth, Ex – Glossier – Dan is a data and technology-driven marketing leader with expertise in building and executing Brand, Digital, Offline, Organic, and Analytics organizations to deliver impactful business growth. Having spent over 15 years in marketing within Online Travel & Online Healthcare.

He has a demonstrated ability to increase profit through marketing as well as find new ways to improve monetization and unit economics.

Key strengths include marketing analytics, business development, communication, and building successful teams.

Aaron Pelander, VP of Marketing at GovX – Aaron has 15+ years of progressive experience in multi-channel marketing, e-commerce, product strategy, and program development. His key areas of expertise include: developing consumer acquisition & retention strategies, digital marketing, web/email optimization, data-driven decision making, leading cross-functional teams, project & program management, roadmap development & execution, budget planning/management, and strategic partnerships.

Co-Host: Skyler Logsdon, Head of Sales at Tatari, Skyler is from Ojai, CA, and went east to study entrepreneurship at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. After graduation, he moved to SF to join the on-demand valet parking company, ZIRX (acquired by KAR) as their first Growth + BD hire. After ZIRX, he joined Philip as his first employee at Tatari to help rally up customers and get Tatari off the ground. Skyler has been with Tatari for over 4 years now as the Head of Sales.

About Our Host

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“In terms of how I would measure the effectiveness [of TV] I view it in a phased approach – The three phases at a high level are cost per visit, cost per acquisition, and return on investment. And as you get more data, you can get more precise down that funnel.” – Dan Guy

“We have several approaches to measuring TV CPAs. One of them is essentially recreating the path to conversions for the existing order. The other approach is leveraging third-party vendors, and then the last one, which I think is the most effective is leveraging smart TV data.” – Junior Reyes

“I personally don't care to try to make the numbers work, because, at the end of the day, that will be my head on the chopping block. So when it comes to the data science team, the relationship that we have is just strictly data focused.” – Junior Reyes

“We think that the worst TV pilots are ones that don't know whether you should throttle or run for the hills.” – Skyler Logsdon

“Unfortunately, it requires testing to figure out if you're wasting money or not. It’s the balance of really efficient, smaller networks versus bigger bets. For us, that could be buying a much more expensive spot, and some worked for us, some haven't. The faster we can learn what doesn't work, then that'll help us not waste money as we move forward.” – Aaron Pelander

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Building community creates a unique bond of trust and loyalty between a product, employees, and users. Nurturing and growing that trust has helped create many of the most viral and fastest-growing startups in the world. But that trust can easily dissipate if not properly respected.

We sit down with 3 leaders who’ve built the early communities at Yelp, HER, and Tastemade to teach us how to build loyal communities and how not to mess them up. We talk about the meaning of authentic community, who needs it, and when to start investing in it.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [04:05] What is community? Community is bringing people together over a common interest that they might not find anywhere else
• [07:00] The first steps of growing a community – Find your niche, figure out how to serve your people, and build authentic connections one person at a time
• [10:02] Nish and Stephanie share their learnings when creating the Yelp Elite Squad
• [14:20] When a company should invest in growth
• [18:28] Shana shares her wishlist of tools that are necessary for building and facilitating a community – Moderator tools, clear spaces of communication, etc.
• [22:22] How to prevent your community from becoming “anonymous” as it starts to grow to thousands or millions of members
• [26:13] Nish talks about the importance of larger influencers engaging in comments and making people feel heard – “That’s how you make evangelists.”
• [29:09] Community moderation from the get-go is key when growing your community
• [31:53] How to make the most of community events – Tips to authentically engage with people through virtual events
• [37:19] Our Panel shares their main North Star metrics – Driving retention
• [39:34] Shana shares how HER users who engage with the community have better retention
• [47:29] Advice on the best ways to get to know your community members better – The importance of testing every avenue and the lucky accident of Yelp

About Our Speakers

Shana Sumers, Head of Community at HER app – Shana is a black, queer woman who is the Senior Manager of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Communities at HubSpot.

Shana has had the opportunity to speak on multiple panels (as panelist and moderator), podcasts, private events, and stages as both a speaker and a keynote speaker. In her free time, you will find Shana running around a sports field, exploring new restaurants, or getting tickets to the latest Beyoncé concert. She also likes catching up on her favorite shows, attending virtual concerts, and lots and lots of Facetime.

Stephanie Hughes, Former Head of Community at Tastemade – Stephanie is a Community Vanguard for startups. Currently, she is working on building out her own company: The Femps (aka The Female Empowerment Society). They bring amazingly talented women together for professional networking and passion project exploration. Stay tuned for updates!

Prior to this, she’s run community for Tastemade, Need, Kekanto and handled the editorial/community reins for Loopt (acquired by GreenDot in 2012). But all of this community madness and mischief started back in 2006 at a little site you may have heard of called Yelp.

Nish Nadaraja, Brand Consultant and Advisor – Nish works on all aspects of the marketing puzzle (from high-level strategy to content creation to grassroots buzz marketing initiatives). His favorite areas are community, brand evangelism, and customer loyalty.

While a lot of people know him from his work at Yelp, he learned a lot about influencer and lifestyle marketing from his time at Ammo Marketing.

He continues to advise and consult on projects big and small, primarily in San Francisco but has debated going back to full-time on occasion. Currently, he is acting as the interim head of brand and marketing for a wine company that is just coming to market. He is also involved in a few restaurants in San Francisco (Foreign Cinema, Noosh, Padrecito, Schroeders), and just might open his own one day.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“I look at community as something that's not necessarily just a membership idea, but it encompasses the entire brand.” – Nish Nadaraja

“Community is something that people can be a part of that's bigger than themselves and gives them a voice.” – Stephanie Hughes

“Every part of community is bringing people together over a common interest… The community is providing something that [people] don't find elsewhere. And so you want to be able to drive people into that space to be able to grow.” – Shana Sumers

“Find that niche group of people that will have instant feedback for what you're about to build… Starting the basics with having the voices of your community when launching your community is the best way to get that party started.” – Shana Sumers

“Sometimes I think of growth as like a hack, in a way. And community is a lot of authentic connections and one member at a time sort of ideas. I've always personally found it a challenge to try to match growth and community together. But I think that’s the holy grail.” – Nish Nadaraja

“There is something to feeling heard. That's how you make evangelists.” – Nish Nadaraja

“ It's really important to have total buy-in on is community important and have a team that will help you build these tools and really listen.” – Stephanie Hughes

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Learn top retention strategies from the minds that implemented these for Parsley Health, Harry’s, Vivino, Equinox, Casper, Opendoor, Lyft, and more.

In this episode, our retention pros discuss tactics to increase retention, which win-back strategies work and don’t work, how to predict churn and top companies like Equinox and Opendoor have provided value to their customers during COVID. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [02:18] Our experts share the tactics and strategies that have helped them increase retention
• [08:52] Frequency vs. Average Order Value – Refining your RFM depends on what you’re selling
• [13:35] How Equinox and OpenDoor are providing value to their customers during COVID
• [21:32] Win back strategies for “Dead Customers” – Discounting, SMS, RFM
• [29:52] Joey speaks on volume play in mix of remarketing vs. new customer acquisition
• [33:29] Where the line stops between retention and product
• [37:39] Our Panel discusses which criteria have been the most successful in predicting churn – Check-ins, speed of engagement with the product, mixing surveys with nurture flow

About Our Speakers

Katie Donham, Parsley Health, Harry’s – Katie has a 7+ year, proven track record building effective and innovative marketing ecosystems, specifically with CRM, retention, lifecycle, acquisition, and referral. She has worked in-house and consulted for both DTC and legacy brands in the beauty, luxury, CPG, health, and wellness spaces.

Brant Cebulla, Vivino – Brant Cebulla is an alum of Vivino, the world’s best wine app and largest marketplace, he helped the company scale from 5 to 25 million users, 600 thousand to 1.5 million monthly email clicks. In 2019, Brant left to co-Found Scalero, an enterprise platform making email creation workflows easy and scalable.

Jenna Klebanoff, Equinox, Casper – Jenna has a track record of building successful, data-driven marketing infrastructures from the ground up across the full marketing organization, with particular expertise in retention, lifecycle, loyalty, referral, email, and CRM. She has a passion for learning about how customer-first organizations differentiate themselves and grow through effective marketing programs. She is always looking to learn something new, create something more efficient, and challenge herself and her team more than others thought possible — all while having fun.

Outside of work, Jenna’s most passionate about fitness, health and wellness, travel, and making a positive impact on the world around her.

Joey Soriano, Opendoor, Lyft – Joey creates marketing from the strategic planning phase through program implementation. He has 15+ years of domestic and international marketing experience on both the agency and client side, at Fortune 500 companies as well as high-growth start-ups.

He is skilled at transforming customer insight into actionable campaigns, creating dialogue between the business and its consumer, and reducing marketing expenses with rigorous optimization.

Joey is a hands-on MBA executive with the enthusiasm of a fresh college graduate and the intangible experience of a seasoned veteran, always looking to do the best work of his career.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“We used our data and we used what our members were engaging with to send them comms only about the parts of the business that they showed interest in. And that's really moved the needle in terms of driving engagement and decreasing email unsubscribes early on, so we can actually keep in touch with these members.” – Jenna Klebanoff

“I've generally veered on the side of focusing on frequency of purchases over AOV. And I actually feel like AOV is one of the worst metrics to gauge success on. Just because someone isn't buying the most expensive product doesn't mean they're not the best customer or you didn't just basically create a very successful experience for them and they're not gonna keep coming back more and more.” – Anish Shah

“For Vivino, oftentimes the case was good merchandise would beat out good couponing. If you're selling an average wine and you discounted it 20% to win back a customer, that wasn't quite as effective as selling a really rare wine at list price. Having good merchandise would always beat out couponing at Vivino.” – Brant Cebulla

“We have to work super closely with product because that's the best way to get people to come back. If they didn't like your product, doesn't matter how great your emails, or push notifications are. So I've always seen that you have to work super closely with both digital product and another type of product if your product isn't only digital.” – Katie Donham

“Being in retention for a company. I can't take a job unless I believe in the product and unless our customer experience is good otherwise they're not coming back. My job is impossible if it's a bad product or a bad experience.” – Jenna Klebanoff

“So if the product [team] has the transactional emails, you are doing the marketing emails, and those aren't in sync, each customer is getting two different campaigns and they don't really see that they're the same company. So with product, you have to get in there and say, ‘Hey, let's look at this, let me give you a template or guidelines so we are looking in step.’” – Joey Soriano

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We get asked by a lot of accomplished in-house operators what it’s like to start an agency. As strong talent is now hitting the market, even more folks are considering it.

To help you get some answers, we assembled a panel of five leaders who went from being in-house Marketers at popular companies to building million-dollar agencies, and all have their own unique paths to getting there.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [04:44 ] Our panel shares how they acquired their first customers and their advice on finding seed clients – Focus on 1:1 relationships
• [12:18] Don’t seek a solution to replace yourself; The barriers our panel had to break in order to scale their agencies
• [20:50] Advice for going from in-house to founding an agency. “Be ready to take that entrepreneurial leap.”
• [23:15] The best way to grow clients is to have current clients refer you to other clients
• [23:53] Raising pricing with clients – How do you deal with clients that won’t budge or ask for discounts?
• [27:45] How to optimally partner with vendors for clients
• [29:27] Will agencies use more tech to replace people in order to scale?
• [33:38] Going from In-House to Agency; What were the problems you faced that you only learned on the job?
• [36:09] Tips on handling difficult clients
• [43:30] How do you know when the right time to make the jump from in-house to agency is?

About Our Speakers

Corey Eulas, Chief Strategy Officer at Power Digital Marketing – Corey was an SEO leader for ZocDoc and Intuit. He built Factorial Digital, an SEO agency, a little over 6 years ago, and took his agency to acquisition by Power Digital Marketing in Oct 2019.

Shamanth Rao, Founder of Rocketship HQ – Shamanth is the founder and CEO of the boutique growth marketing firm RocketShip HQ and host of the podcast Mobile User Acquisition Show.In the past, he’s led growth leading to 3 acquisitions(Bash Gaming, by GSN Games; PuzzleSocial, by Zynga; FreshPlanet, by GameLoft).

Amit Khera, Managing Partner at OAK Digital – Amit led multi-million dollar customer acquisition budgets at publicly traded companies like Ralph Lauren and Aeropostale, as well as high growth VC backed startups. He subsequently founded OAK Digital, focused on performance marketing, servicing clients like Freshly, Angie’s List, Manitoba Harvest, and the UFC.

Rebecca Nackson, Founder of Notable – Rebecca has over a decade of experience managing acquisition, engagement, and product development for leading startups like iHeartMedia, Brandsintown Group, and Audible. She now runs Notable, an agency focused on engagement and retention.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“So in terms of scaling… you want to templatize the parts of the engagement that you can… I think one of the big things that you bring to your client is, ‘We have a couple of different ways of tackling the situation that you're bringing to us. And we have proof that it's worked before because other clients of ours have used it.’” – Rebecca Nackson

“Be true to yourself and self-aware that you are the person that's going to progress your agency forward. Stop looking for that silver bullet solution.” – Corey Eulas

“Like any small or big business, I think there has to be a part of it that you really just love… That compliments the parts of the business that you ultimately hope to have somebody overseeing… You should still stay connected to the core of what your agency is offering.” – Rebecca Nackson

“Something that's worked enormously well for us is templatizing for our internal processes. We got a project management system… Just templatize as much as possible that is internal so that the team can do as much of it without really leaning on you.” – Shamanth Rao

“If you're going from in-house to founding an agency, you better be ready to be an entrepreneur. I was very comfortable taking a nice, fat salary as head of marketing here and there. But there are times when I run this agency, including going through crisis, where I'm not gonna pay myself. And if you want your clients to do really well, and you want them to refer you, you better hire everyone that it takes… give really high level of service, and you better be ready to take that entrepreneurial leap.” – Amit Khera

“We just bite off this little part of the pie, and try to do it better than anybody else.” – Rebecca Nackson

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We tackle offline marketing best practices from the minds that led these campaigns at digital native companies across a number of different industries. We learned how to leverage offline marketing as a performance marketing channel to drive measurable growth and scale.

In this episode, we cover what steps to take when beginning an offline marketing channel, how to determine which channel will have the most impact on ROI, navigating offline marketing on a smaller budget, and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:28] Our panel shares their background and experience
• [04:40] The key to nailing attribution with offline marketing is to gather as many data points as possible to inform you in the right direction
• [11:42] The attribution methods our experts found most reliable – Why you should be using surveys, and ‘How did you hear about us?’ questionnaires
• [16:03] Measuring the ROAs of offline marketing efforts
• [19:16] How does LTV (Life Time Value) differ between customers acquired through offline and paid search channels?
• [23:37] Getting started in offline marketing with very little budget to allocate to offline channels
• [29:42] How Covid has changed offline marketing
• [31:19] Steps to take when determining whether an offline opportunity is worth investing in
• [39:40] When you should add another channel into your marketing mix
• [44:07] Local testing is a great way to look at incremental impact, but determining your audience is the first step when beginning a new offline marketing channel
• [48:06] The differences and limitations of local versus international testing
• [50:02] Our panel shares their marketing success and failure stories

About Our Speakers

Avital Caspi, Freshly, Wix, Adore Me – Avital Caspi is a performance marketing consultant with more than 10 years of experience driving growth and achieving scale through offline channels for $100M-$1B consumer-space startups. Before taking her consulting practice full-time, Avital led Offline Marketing at both Adore Me and Freshly. Today, she helps growth-minded brands like Harry’s tackle key offline issues like when to introduce a new offline channel, how to structure and execute test campaigns, identifying realistic CAC goals, and how to effectively measure the effectiveness of offline campaigns without the attribution brands have grown to rely on with digital channels.

Yousuf Bhaijee, VP of Growth at Eaze, Ex-Zynga, Ex-Disney ClassDojo – Yousuf is a growth executive with 13+ years of experience at Eaze, Zynga, Disney, Life360 (IPO), CSC Generation, and more. He spends his time as a contributing writer at Reforge where he publishes “word-of-mouth acquisition” research, and as a growth advisor for clients such as HP, Ergatta, Plushcare.

Molly Laufer, HomeLight, NatureBox – Molly is passionate about the inflection point when a company begins to diversify its acquisition portfolio outside of digital channels and is ready to dip its toes into emerging/offline marketing channels to achieve scale without compromising performance metrics. She has a decade of customer acquisition experience from early stage ecomm (first employee at NatureBox.com) to real estate tech (HomeLight.com) and scaling offline performance marketing channels for a range of consumer tech companies and startups in-house, as an agency strategist, and as an independent growth marketing consultant. She has directly managed 7-figure monthly media buys across a diverse set of offline channels with a focus on return on ad spend and marketing profitability. Her channel experience spans linear & connected TV, audio (including podcast, streaming, terrestrial, and satellite – both endorsement and produced audio), direct mail, and OOH with a holistic understanding of media strategy and buying, creative development, and analytics/attribution.

Gavin Carr, Honey, Ro, Candid – Gavin is an experienced Growth Marketer specializing in Traditional, offline, and endorsement media. He currently leads a performance marketing team at Honey dedicated to user growth encompassing these with some of the fastest growing startups in tech and commerce such as Dollar Shave Club, Candid Co, Ro and now Honey.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“The problem with offline marketing sometimes is that there is just no touch. So the idea is to try to combine as many different models as possible and hope this will lead you in the right direction, but you never get to accuracy.” – Avital Caspi

“I always say there is no one best attribution model and anyone who tells you that there is one hasn't seen them all. It's really about making sure that you're looking at your tools internally. ” – Molly Laufer

“Every method has its limitations. But what we’re trying to go for is to get enough data to make a business decision. If we can have that data, that's all that really matters.” – Gavin Carr

“When a channel is heavily dependant on promo codes and discounts, the LTV will be lower.” – Avital Caspi

“[Where to get started in offline channels] depends on the product and the audience. Who are you speaking to? It really does come down to your core audience for that product. I think it's really important to speak with your customers. And so put out a survey, and ask them what media types they use. Just asking them where they spend their time could give you a good sense as well of going into podcast, radio or some other channel.” – Gavin Carr

“If you have very little budget [to invest into offline marketing] get really scrappy.” – Yousuf Bhaijee

“If you invest too little [into offline marketing] or you don't actually have the ability to drive a response then it’s a waste of money.” – Molly Laufer

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Mike Schmidt, founder of Dovetale, the go-to platform for any company working with social media creators. We learned about his journey and got his advice on how to approach Influencer Marketing the right way.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:59] Mike’s accidental entrepreneurial journey, starting Listn, and why he founded Dovetale – Building everything that Google missed on social media
• [04:52] Why publishers aren’t appropriately indexed; Social networks want to control the experience as much as they can
• [07:14] Imagine a future where creators fully can provision their data from one system to the next, like some sort of data wallet or passport that can communicate between different types of applications
• [10:04] Mike talks about where to get started with Influencer Marketing
• [13:50 ] The differences in performance between Influencer Campaigns and Paid Social
• [19:22] Brands that have done Influencer Marketing the right way – How Curology, Bravo Sierra, and KontrolFreek succeed by trusting their influencers, and having disciplined and organized marketing teams
• [23:46] Mike talks about how most marketers fail because of their lack of discipline and lack of understanding what they’re measuring
• [26:26] Final advice from Mike when starting in Influencer Marketing – You don’t need a platform to start reaching out to people

About Our Speakers

Mike Schmidt, Founder at Dovetale – Mike is the founder of Dovetale.com, an influencer marketing suite for brands of any size. Mike previously founded Listn, which was acquired by SFX Entertainment. Mike has also represented Canada at the G20 summit and graduated in Chemical Engineering.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“We imagine a future where creators can fully provide their data from one system to next. It's almost like a data wallet or passport that can communicate between different applications.” – Mike Schmidt

“If we can help creators get work and find brands to work with that's a win for us. We want to be the place where brands and agencies alike start their process. As the company is evolving much more into a suite of tools, we want to be a relationship management layer for all those relationships as well.” – Mike Schmidt

“if you're looking at influencer marketing to achieve scale in your sales or marketing org, not many teams ask themselves the fundamental questions: What am I measuring? What does success look like to me? Just being very organized and having that discipline… really helps you throughout pretty much anything that you're trying to do in problem-solving.” – Mike Schmidt

“Some advice when you're going into this influencer space is you don't need a platform to go out there and reach out to people. Tools like Dovetale are to help you scale, so once you figure it out, then you can go out and scale.” – Mike Schmidt

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Michael Yewdell, Co-Founder of Campus Protein and BEAM Be Amazing. We learn about his journey and best practices on how he created affiliate programs for both Campus Protein and BEAM, which offers its own line of health/ fitness supplements, controlling the process, from farm to shaker.

In this episode, we get the secret recipe to successful affiliate marketing; Pairing data with powerful branding and identity. Mike talks about the value of building community and connection into your affiliate program and shares the incredible backstory of BEAM Be Amazing.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:42] Mike shares how he started Campus Protein and why building BEAM Be Amazing has been one of the most interesting projects he’s been a part of
• [02:16] The key ingredients of a successful affiliate program – Community, reason, connection, relationship
• [03:33] Ways to evaluate affiliate models
• [04:27] BEAM Be Amazing’s philanthropic mission – Righting the wrongs of the supplement industry
• [07:07 ] Mike’s lessons and career takeaways – The key to winning at affiliate marketing is pairing data with understanding your brand
• [07:38] Build your program brick by brick. Don’t expect to hit a home run on your first go at an affiliate program. You’ll be able to refine it along the way

About Michael

Michael Yewdell, Co-Founder of Campus Protein & BEAM Be Amazing – Michael has been an entrepreneur for the past 10 years building my legacy business Campus Protein along with his newest brand BEAM: Be Amazing.

The brand BEAM is based on Michael’s battle with a rare form of cancer back in 2017. He failed 4 chemotherapies and ended up having to switch hospitals to try a rare form of chemotherapy that ended up saving his life.

BEAM has an incredible story, but the products and their impact are where they truly differentiate themselves. BEAM controls 100% of the production process from sourcing the ingredients, to formulating, to flavoring, and manufacturing its product in-house. This allows them to put 100% of our resources into the product, but it does not stop there. Quality to them is of the utmost importance so they do in-house allergen, metal, and efficacy testing along with 3rd party testing.

BEAM has also been able to use its platform to raise close to $500,000 towards cancer research, plant 1000s of trees, gift 1000s of free hours of therapy, and contribute to so many other initiatives in just 2 years of business.

Quotes

“The key ingredient is community. There needs to be a personal touch to everything that you do. There needs to be a reason and a connection to everything you do, whether it's the story or the result.” – Michael Yewdell

“Building a family or a community with connection and with relationships needs to be in affiliate marketing.” – Michael Yewdell

“Whether it's a content creator or a sales superstar, you need to understand that relationship and nurture it to maximize and optimize.” – Michael Yewdell

“I thought that if I had the right data, I would be able to make the right decisions. Data helps make decisions, but it's not the ultimate deciding factor. Being able to pair data with your understanding of your brand will ultimately make your affiliate marketing program the most successful.” – Michael Yewdell

“Our products are set out to right the wrongs in the industry.” – Michael Yewdell

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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To a lot of startups, growth is just ads and emails—tactics that occur outside of a company’s digital products. But your product can also become one of the biggest drivers of acquisition, engagement, and retention if you’re utilizing it in the right way.

In order to dive deeper, we assembled a panel of Product-Driven Growth experts to speak about how you can unlock Growth by using your digital product as a driver. We discuss reframing your growth targets in the pandemic, the steps you need to take before hiring your growth team, product features that drive growth, and retention wins. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [04:12] The first steps when building out a growth team – Growth is not just ‘doing marketing better,’ it is understanding your market-value proposition.
• [08:22] Our panel shares how they gauge product-market fit in order to start growing.
• [11:24] Which metrics growth teams can use in order to understand and define retention and user behavior.
• [13:47] The best methods to measure incrementality of growth driven through your product.
• [16:33] Growing in a global downturn – How to reframe your focus and goals in a pandemic.
• [23:01] From SEO, machine learning, and curation to SMS alerts; Our panel shares the #1 product feature that has driven growth.
• [28:53] Tip: Pick up the phone and speak to your clients to get insight into their experience with your product.
• [30:41] How to strike a balance between building a creative-driven product growth and achieving growth metrics.
• [35:05] Using documentation in order to define team mission and responsibilities.
• [37:40] Our panel shares their biggest retention wins and setbacks
• [46:39] How to clearly define the value and purview of your team to the rest of the company

About Our Speakers

Akshay Rathod, Founder of Usonia – Akshay is a self-titled nerd who spends his days obsessing over growth systems. In 2018, Akshay founded USONIA, his full-stack growth consultancy. In the years since, companies like Nike, AngelList, Goop, Dia & Co and Buffy have partnered with USONIA and seen the benefits of their data-driven, customer-obsessed and hypothesis-first growth process. Akshay serves as a Growth Advisor to Primary Venture Partners, providing go-to-market growth advice and guidance to the portfolio’s founders.

Sabrina Scandar, Director of Product at Better.com – Sabrina is Director of Product for the Growth Team at Better.com. Previously, she was a Lead Product Manager at Skillshare, where she worked on the core Experience team and then helped to build out the company’s first Growth team. She has 10+ years of Product Management experience in both consumer and B2B web.

Paul Ghio, VP Product at Shutterstock – Paul is a marketplace product leader at the convergence of craft, growth, and distribution. As the Director of Product at Yelp, he enjoys learning about the complexities of new markets, systems, strategies, and tactics. Before joining Yelp, Paul was the VP of Product at Creative Market, a marketplace for designers and creatives, overseeing a team of 17 across product management, analytics, research, and design, which increased Creative Market’s user base by 2077%.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“The way that I've always thought about [growth] is it's the process of defining, measuring, and improving what really matters to the growth metric, whatever that happens to be, for that company.” – Paul Ghio

“When you're starting a growth team at a company, it's really important that you don't start it too early. You need product-market fit before you can really do growth properly. Otherwise, you haven't figured out what your best growth levers are and what exactly the value that you're selling is.” – Sabrina Scandar

“The key misconception is that growth is just doing marketing better. But it's not. It's about delivering value to users. So it's about building product value, getting users to experience and understand that product value is as quickly as possible, and then making sure that they understand it over and over again.” – Sabrina Scandar

“It's really helpful and really necessary to understand product-market fit throughout the life cycle of the company or the journey of a product.” – Paul Ghio

“Talking to people is so important. Spending an entire day, just talking to customers will reap so many rewards.” – Akshay Rathod

“Core product teams are focused on creating the things that users derive value from. Growth product teams are focused on getting users to experience that value and understand that value as quickly and as often as possible.” – Sabrina Scandar

“I think growth product people are troublemakers. We're sitting nestled between marketing, distribution, sales, and the core product. Depending on the business, you're in everyone's business. So it is a very complicated thing and it can get messy, but I think it speaks to the intersectionality of this growth mindset; you have to be holistic.” – Akshay Rathod

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Join us for this edition of the Growth Leaders Circle. This week we will be learning from the minds that built and managed the Growth & Marketing teams at Buffy & Cornershop by Uber.

Yiota Avram and Matt Breuer discuss how to get started when building your team out, what roles you should prioritize as first hires, and how to improve performance and culture especially when there are new hires. We also discuss our favorite interview questions to assess candidates and how to bridge the gap of feeling like a family to a company when you scale from a small team to 50 employees.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:17] Our speakers introduce themselves and share their background
• [02:33] Insight on processes for getting started with building a team early companies and start-ups
• [08:38] Matt talks about Buffy and what it’s like for a startup to go from zero to reaching its first milestones
• [12:42] Matt’s opinion on contractor/agency versus in-house teams
• [14:36] Growth Person Vs. Brand Person: What makes a better first hire?
• [18:57] How to maintain a positive culture while setting performance expectations when building out your team
• [25:59] Yiota shares her thoughts on the downsides of channel specialization or channel isolation
• [28:08] How to prepare a new hire for a blended role
• [34:39] What attributes and identifiers make a growth team “world-class?”
• [40:36] From family to company: Tips on bridging the gap when growing from a small team to 50+ employees
• {44:30] Yiota and Matt share their favorite questions to ask during interviews to assess candidates
• [48:00] Our speakers share their favorite recent growth stories and learnings

About Our Speakers

Yiota Avram, CMO at Cornershop by Uber – Yiota is the CMO of Cornershop by Uber. Cornershop by Uber is the app that connects your front door to your city’s top stores in as little as 60 minutes. Founded simultaneously in Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City in 2015, they now operate in eight countries across the Americas: Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Canada, and the US. In July 2020, Uber acquired a majority stake in the company, providing an important injection of capital that allowed us to access more resources to continue building and improving our service over the upcoming years.

Yiota manages a team of ~80 global marketers across LATAM & North America to build Cornershop/Uber Grocery on-demand grocery+ delivery business.

Matt Breuer, Chief Marketing Officer at Buffy – Matt is the CMO at Buffy. Buffy is on a mission to help us live comfortably – without making our planet uncomfortable. That’s why they use earth-friendly fabrics and manufacturing methods to create more sustainable products, from the first sketch to the last stitch and beyond. They don’t just help you feel good today. They contribute real good for tomorrow.

After 2 years of joining Buffy, Matt oversees revenue strategy marketing, creative storefront, and merchandising, while driving the company’s sustainability efforts and launching new products. Last year, Buffy achieved profitability while revenue grew more than 30% year-over-year, and the company expects to surpass $100 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2021.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“What is your skillset as the leader and then who do you need first full time to compliment your skillset?” – Yiota Avram

“For me, it's important to have the skill set of both market evaluation, and ground positioning differentiation, in addition to the more typical quantitative growth marketing skills. Because you need both of those skills when you are figuring out the proposition.” – Yiota Avram

“What does it look like to go from zero to those first few milestones? When I look at what we did at Buffy in the early days, for me, it's a reflection of where we placed that early focus on, and what capacity we needed to build inside the work.” – Matt Breuer

“Your first full-time hire has to understand performance… They have to understand the performance implications to keep opening up runway for all of the teams and folks that'll end up reporting into that marketing structure.” – Matt Breuer

“Yes, there is specialization in new channels, but at the end of the day, it's similar principles. And from a career progression, I find that so many of my team members love the idea of learning the other channels and connecting the dots beyond their individual siloed channels.” – Yiota Avram

“I've always been really laser-focused on where we are eliminating any chance that we've created perverse incentives for people to pursue things that will make them or their work look really good yet be totally disconnected from whether the overall marketing program is succeeding.” – Matt Breuer

“What I'm learning is that, yes, you can still scale, but you don't necessarily need to incorporate bureaucracy. So what's the minimum of cadences that you need to organize the team, but at the same time, feel like a startup and a family.” – Yiota Avram

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Partnering with Voyantis, we learned from a powerful panel of growth experts how they use LTV predictions to scale and uplift ROI.

In today’s changing, iOS 14.5, cookieless world, marketers have to leverage internal data and predictive models to stay ahead of the curve. Our expert panelists shared some of their best practices and unexpected features they rely on for calculating, predicting, and improving Customer Lifetime Value.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:53] Our speakers introduce themselves and share their backgrounds and experience
• [02:11] Eran shares what variables he recommends a company look at to define LTV
• [08:03] Ori’s thoughts on calculating LTV in D2C business
• [12:34] Isgav shares the data sets that he looks at to determine LTV and how to handle clients and advertisers that insist on their own models
• [19:23] How to move from insights from LTV models to actions
• [24:30] Orin shares concrete examples of how he’s been able to utilize LTV models as concrete efforts that affect daily operations
• [28:09] How do you think about LTV alongside the other metrics you track?
• [31:22] Isgav on his observations of industries overestimating and underestimating LTV
• [33:41] What types of products or brands should or shouldn’t be implementing an LTV-based marketing strategy?
• [36:07] Predicting LTV with limited attributed data across paid channels
• [42:20] How to address declining return on ad spend due to cookie updates

About Our Speakers

Eran Friendinger, Co-Founder and CTO at Voyantis – Eran is the Co-Founder and Coo at Voyantis. Voyantis turns LTV prediction modeling into an end-to-end optimization solution. They enable growth and UA teams to shape and control the future, engineering free.

Isgav Davidowitz, Client Solutions Manager at Facebook– Isgav is the Client Solutions Manager at Facebook. He’s a Data scientist, specialized in statistical modeling and machine learning. At Facebook, working with Digital Health disruptors, start-ups and global companies on how to integrate predictive models and advanced data usage into their business while optimizing toward long term growth.

Ori Klein, VP and Digital Marketing & Product at Lennar – Ori is the VP of Digital Marketing & Product at Lennar. Prior to Lennar, he was the Senior VP of Growth at both Via and Eight. Before getting into Digital Marketing he was Senior Associate in McKinsey & Company and Venture Capital Associate at Amiti Ventures.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“What we care about, especially as we optimize media is thinking about how we know it's a meaningful interaction and there's meaningful interest partnering that session. So it's really understanding the depths of interaction with our content, and the level of interest. And then using that to try to predict what the likelihood is that they actually engage with the sales process.” – Eran Friendinger

“A lot of clients, advertisers, and people in the industry and in different industries talk about LTV. But to be honest most of them have either a very basic model to no model.” – Isgav Davidowitz

“The goal is not to be able to calculate or know the LTV, the goal is to be able to make impactful business decisions based on these numbers you calculate otherwise they're just numbers.” – Isgav Davidowitz

“There's also the question of how you use the LTV framework as a decision-making tool generally for your connect growth efforts and for your business. Obviously, we all would like to invest more in channels and campaigns that drive higher value LTV. But if you think about all your other efforts starting from which promotions you're sending out, customer service rewards, and thinking from an LTV lens, that can provide a lot of value.” – Ori Klein

“If you're overall declining, then you need to figure out how to evolve your strategies. Generally speaking, as digital marketers, we all need to become a bit more comfortable with not knowing as much as we did know over the past few years. Not being able to attribute every single purchase to a single source and being able to rely more on top-down approaches versus the bottom-up approaches.” – Ori Klein

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Spero Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the things that make life worth living. They partner with entrepreneurs to solve problems in three areas: well-being, work & purpose, and human connection. They invest in technology companies that are driven to deliver value to both shareholders and society, including Clarity, Mati, Core, Droneseed, Gencove, Roam Robotics, and Skillshare. They are high-conviction investors and we help companies scale to billions of customers. Their LP and partners are founders and early execs at eBay and Tesla.

VC Insights with Ruckus is a series of conversations with Venture Capitalists to learn about what they look for in companies to fund, how they spot the best talent, and what is their advice for startup founders looking to grow or get funding.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:35] Our speakers introduce themselves and share their backgrounds
• [03:11] Sonny, Ha, and Anish discuss the Black Lives Matter events and the tragedy of George Floyd as well as implore those with a seat at the table to do more to support underrepresented communities
• [10:11] What is an EIR (Entrepreneur In Residence) and how does it differ from being a VC?
• [16:00] Ha talks about her transition from EIR into VC and how her startup background equipped her for success in the role
• [23:52] Sonny and Ha discusses the skills and attributes needed to be successful as an EIR or VC
• [26:30] How to get into VC – Is there a typical profile and path to follow?
• [32:11] How introverts can thrive in a role that seems made for extroverts
• [35:52] On the power of relationships – Opportunities come from people
• [43:20] Our speakers share market opportunities they’re bullish about but that lack hype: Product led communities, AR and VR affecting the workforce,
• [50:06] Tips on Managing conversations with your Limited Partners?
• [51:15] Ha discusses the deal terms and compensation structure within Spero Ventures
• [55:55] Ha and Sonny share their final thoughts

About Our Speakers

Ha Nguyen, was formerly a Founding Partner at Spero Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the things that make life worth living: our well-being, work & purpose, and human connection.

Her core drivers are the following: connecting people through community, building products that have a positive impact at scale, leading with empathy, and elevating women and underrepresented minorities in the technology industry.

She gives talks around the globe on design thinking and how to build products that customers love. She’s on the Board of Women In Product (non-profit organization of 20k female product builders) and co-founded the Product Leader Summit (invite-only conference bringing together founders and VP-level product leaders).

Sonny Mayugba, is a multi-time CEO and C-Level executive, who has gone from ‘napkin to Nasdaq,’ scrappy operator chops to SEC Compliance training, SPAC and De-SPAC first-hand experience, and many things in between. HE led Growth at Swimply (through $10M Series Seed and $40M Series A) over 3x’ing revenue in one season, founding CMO at Waitr (Nasdaq:WTRH) launching 700+ cities and over $1B in public company market cap, Managing Director at LAUNCH, EIR at Spero Ventures, Global Business Marketing at Facebook

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“You will actually do a very bad job in this role if your expectation is that you're gonna go into a company and fix their problems for them. That's not what the founders actually want from you. They're gonna understand their businesses much better than you, but they don't have the experience that you do. And so they do want you to be a coach to them.” – Ha Nguyen

“Venture sounds sexy and sometimes it is, but it's not always that way. And if you are a builder and you love building, it may or may not be the right role for you.” – Ha Nguyen

“[As an IER] you get to take your experience of being a founder and be a coach to those who haven't been down that road. That is just really powerful because you've done it. And when they hit you with their challenges or objectives, you actually know where it's gonna go. So you coach them on sales strategy, product strategy, marketing strategy, operational, tactical plans and help connect those dots.” – Sonny Mayugba

“If you're a founder or an operator, you tend to have your opinions and your biases. But you need to listen. It’s so important.” – Sonny Mayugba

“We do have to build that muscle and get out there into the world. We have to develop our thesis, but then also publish our thesis. You can be an introvert and learn how to build that muscle.” – HA

“The key is about starting to participate. If you stay invisible, how can anyone know about you? What I think is happening is people outside the bubble are starting to participate a little more. And that doesn't mean building a massive personal brand. It's about participating and building relationships.” – Sonny Mayugba

“Your relationships and the relationships you consistently go after, build, and grow will actually take you a lot farther in any career than expertise or knowledge.” – Anish Shah

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with three industry leaders to learn how to best leverage marketing in the Crypto space, how to navigate the new and fast-changing nature of the industry, and what trends we can expect to see for blockchain and cryptocurrency in the future.

In this episode, Jay Kurahashi-Sofue, Nicole Tay, and Tony Pham discuss how marketers have been approaching messaging in a fast-changing space and effective marketing strategies for companies on a budget. We'll also talk about some of the most common challenges marketers face when trying to engage audiences about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:18] Our speakers introduce themselves and share their backgrounds
• [04:27] Jay explains what ICO is and how it functionally works
• [07:25] What is your model for effective marketing in the Crypto space and how can successful marketing be gauged?
• [13:47] Nicole shares her strategy for using education as a way to bridge the gap between the industry and her audience
• [19:40] Our speakers share the most interesting trends their following at the moment
• [27:39] The most common challenges to engage new crypto users
• [37:49] What marketing strategies do you recommend for bootstrapped (or pre-seeded) startups?
• [44:30] Tony shares how he approaches PR
• [47:10] The panel shares their thoughts on E-Commerce opportunities, options, and wider acceptance of cryptocurrency

About Our Speakers

Jay Kurahashi-Sofue, VP of Marketing at Ava Labs – Jay is the VP of Marketing at Ava Labs, a blockchain organization building Avalanche. Prior to Ava Labs, he was the Head of Marketing at Fluidity and AirSwap and also was a strategist at Ogilvy, where he co-founded its first blockchain marketing group. Jay is also the co-founder of BlockMarketers, a virtual and in-person community for marketing executives in the blockchain industry. Outside of Ava Labs, Jay is a photographer and music producer.

Nicole Tay, Head of Marketing at Skynet Labs – Nicole is a storyteller with a passion for blockchain technology. As a guiding principle, she leads with diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in maximizing the potential of decentralized technology to decentralize power.

Nicole is a graduate of Wellesley College and received her MPH from Columbia University in Epidemiology and the Social Determinants of Health. In her spare time, she writes and directs short films.

Tony Pham, Head of Marketing at Kadena – Tony is the former Head of Marketing at Kadena, a blockchain technology company that came out of J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain center for Excellence. Tony’s responsibilities at Kadena included brand communications, product marketing, and engagement strategy. He started his career in Silicon Valley by managing community and product marketing at Slide (acquired by Google), followed by his role as the first VP of Marketing at Life360 (IPO on ASX). He has won a web award and spoken at industry-leading conferences including Mobile World Congress (Barcelona,) SxSW (Austin), and Marketing 2.0 (Paris.)

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“I think in the crypto space, they love to attach names and rebrand things. But at the end of the day, when you look really far down into what it is exactly is, it's just a simple mechanism with the only difference being the blockchain as the piece of technology underneath it all.” – Jay Kurahashi-Sofue

“The way that I try to stay really consistent when [marketing a decentralized internet] is using diversity, equity, and inclusion as my basis for how I approach marketing. At the end of the day, I fully believe that diversity, equity, inclusion, and access is exactly how we optimize the potential of decentralized tech to decentralized power.” – Nicole Tay

“The cool thing about DAOs is that it's the full embodiment of when communities have that level of self-determination to set the rules and the standards for how they wanna operate and also for that community to be running completely autonomously.” – Nicole Tay

“[The challenge with engaging new crypto users is] in addition to helping people understand, it's the helping them figure out for themselves why they should care at all.” – Tony Pham

“The foundations of an early stage company have to be laid out first. Regardless of how much money you have as an organization, I always like to come into a preseed company and make sure that all the organic channels are as optimized and as discoverable as possible.” – Jay Kurahashi-Sofue

“There are so many projects out there right now, that it's really important to be able to distinguish yourself as being credible, reputable, legitimate. One way of doing that is to pay attention to what teams are collaborating and cooperating with each other.” – Tony Pham

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Jonathan and Brendan who work on the platform team at Portage Ventures, a fin-tech-focused venture capital firm. We learned what it’s like to transition from heading up marketing & sales at an operating company to advising portfolio companies within a venture capital firm.

Join our conversation as we discuss how to build trust with your partners and create a long-lasting relationship by offering value first. We cover the nuances of working in venture capital, the skills needed for the role, and career advice for anyone looking to level up. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:27] Jonathan Metrick and Brendan Callaghan share their backgrounds
• [03:06] Brendan and Jonathan share why they decided to transition from an operating role to VC and the differences between the roles
• [11:18] How success is measured in a VC role
• [16:09] Portage is looking to build a longer-term relationship with their investments, not just provide capital
• [21:30] Brendan and Jonathan share what about the world of VC appealed to them
• [25:15] How their roles as VCs have grown Brendan and Jonathan
• [32:25] Career Advice: Schedule 3 coffees a week with people to have conversations and learn from them
• [34:58] What skills in your previous roles provided you with an unfair advantage as a VC?
• [37:05] How has COVID impacted the industry or your relationship with portfolio clients?
• [40:11] Jonathan shares what he misses about being an operator and what he’s gained as a VC
• [44:53] Trends in the VC space: What’s getting funded these days

About Our Speakers

Jonathan Metrick, Chief Growth Officer at Portage Ventures – Jonathan Metrick is the Chief Growth Officer at Portage Ventures, helping build some of the world’s leading fintechs. During this time, Jonathan has also been the Fractional CGO at Wealthsimple.

Prior to joining Portage, Jonathan served as the CMO of Policygenius, America’s leading online insurance marketplace. At Pg, Jonathan built a growth marketing division of +45 and helped 10x revenue and achieve positive LTV in 3 years. Previously, Jonathan has held marketing leadership positions working with Tiffany & Co, Live Nation Entertainment, Diesel, Hult and Procter & Gamble.

Jonathan has an MBA with distinction (top 10%) from Harvard Business School.

Brendan Callaghan, VP Sales at Portage Ventures – Brendan is VP Sales at Portage, helping build some of the world’s leading fintech companies. A key member of any start up’s Management Team charged with generating and maintaining year over year growth. While developing/coaching staff and creating a successful sales organization. He is a sales leader with substantial hands on sales team management experience and high attention to bottom line results.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“Building capability is another element of driving impact because the key thing you want to make sure you're doing is not about necessarily doing the work for them. But building capabilities so that they can internally do it themselves.” – Jonathan Metrick

“We [Portage] like to partner with our investment. We're not just capital. There are a lot of sources for entrepreneurs to get funding and we're aware of that. The reality is we come to the table with more than just capital. We're there to be used. We're there to support. And we do so freely across all of the investments.” – Brendan Callaghan

“Don't rely on blogs, on books, or on classroom learning. Don't think that your internal job is gonna help you level up to the next. Make sure to schedule a lot of external meetings within your career with people outside of your four walls, your organization. That's what's going to level you up.” – Anish Shah

“When I come in, I just try and add value. I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and do some of the work, and I think that helps build trust.” – Jonathan Metrick

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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With so much content competing for our attention, how can a brand stand out on its social platforms? Sarah McLoughlin says a great social post speaks to its audience, in a way that is relevant and genuine. Brands need to let their consumer direct their social strategy by placing themselves in the shoes of their audience.

We sat down with Sarah McLoughlin, Director of Digital Marketing at Power Digital to learn about her journey, insights, and best practices on how to best communicate with her creative team. In this episode, Sarah shares her key ingredients for a social media strategy, all her best tips and lessons from her career, and how she stays up to date with the latest trends.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:22] Sarah shares her background and how her career began in Paid Social
• [01:33] A great influencer post requires keeping your audience in mind and being relevant and genuine
• [02:33] Sarah shares the most memorable projects she’s worked on and lessons learned from her career highlights
• [05:41] The key ingredients for a social media plan
• [10:43] Best practices to communicate and collaborate with your creative team
• [16:53] Have an open mind and don’t let your preconceived notion of what will work on the platform stop you from trying things – Let the data decide what will work
• [19:37] Determining an effective social media posting structure depends on your budget, brand, and bandwidth
• [23:06] Where Sarah gets her industry news and how she keeps up with social trends

About Sarah

Sarah McLoughlin, Director of Digital Marketing, Power Digital – Sarah works as a Vice President, Paid Social at Power Digital Marketing, which is an Advertising & Marketing company with an estimated 64 employees; and founded in 2012. They are part of the Social Media Marketing team within the Marketing Department and their management level is VP-Level. Sarah graduated from Rowan University in 2009 and is currently based in New York City, United States.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“A great influencer post speaks to their audience. It speaks to the things that are relevant to them and does it in a way that feels like a recommendation from a friend. A lot of times in paid social, the most important thing you can do is really keep your audience in mind. What's important to them and how do we make sure that that's being the forefront of what we're putting in our ad?” – Sarah McLoughlin

“Consumers are very savvy nowadays. They know when something is fake and when it's contrived. What they’re looking for is that organic content that just speaks to them.” – Sarah McLoughlin

“The most important thing that you can do for your consumer is talk about problem solutions.” – Sarah McLoughlin

“Creative teams have great ideas, but it's the data from the platform that puts parameters around creativity.” – Sarah McLoughlin

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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We sat down with Neerav Vyas, VP Head of Data, Insights, and Analytics at Homer to learn his tips and tricks on how to turn data into tangible strategic insights.

In this episode, we discuss how to effectively use data science to hit your business goals, when to hire a Data Scientist, and what you should look for when doing so. Neerav also shares his tips for those who want to get into data science and changes to expect from the industry in the next 24 months. All this and so much more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:35] Neerav shares his background and how machine learning plays into uncovering patterns to make decisions
• [02:17] How HOMER uses deep data to reach growth targets, reduce churn, increase retention & more
• [04:59] If data isn’t driving decisions, it’s just a fancy algorithm that doesn’t add any value
• [09:08] How to cultivate a collaborative relationship within your teams
• [12:03] When a company should hire a Data Scientist and what to look for
• [17:31] Neerav’s advice for those who want to get into data science
• [20:17] How the landscape of data analytics is shifting

About Neerav

Neerav Vyas helps organizations to accelerate innovation, drive growth, increase operational efficiencies, facilitate large-scale transformations, and turn around ailing business units/ brands. He’s an award-winning leader, using a combination of Human Centered Design and Advanced Analytics to help ensure these transformations and product launches are more likely to succeed and have a meaningful impact.

Finally, he’s served as an advisor to a number of Fortune 500 CMOs. CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CTOs, and several of their boards. As well as served on the Executive Team of a Fortune 500 company and a successful series B (now series C) venture back startup. He’s twice led teams to become finalists for the AiConics Awards for Innovation in AI (in 2019 with Realogy Holdings and in 2020 with HOMER Learning). He’s also won the Ogilvy Award for research in advertising twice.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“At the end of the day, if data is not driving decisions, if it's not driving tangible strategic insights, then it's gonna be a fancy algorithm that doesn't really drive a lot of value.” – Neerav Vyas

“If you take a design-led or human-centric approach to how you're coming to it, and you're really being thoughtful about how people are going to use this [data], then you're gonna become a partner in helping shape those recommendations and turn it into something tangible.” – Neerav Vyas

“Try to avoid being enamored with the technology itself, right? Technology is a tool to an outcome. If you focus on what those outcomes are, you are much more likely going to be successful and happy as a data scientist.” – Neerav Vyas

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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TikTok is the fastest-growing social platform ever, and the window is still open for brands to get in on the ground floor. Come learn from Movers+Shakers, the agency that produced the #eyeslipface challenge for e.l.f. comestics. As the fastest-growing TikTok campaign of all time, #eyeslipface attracted 3 MILLION user-generated videos, 5 BILLION views, and unsolicited celebrity participation from Ellen, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba, Kevin Hart, Howie Mandel, and more.

Learn directly from Evan Horowitz, the founder of Movers+Shakers, as he discusses the buzz TikTok has, the unique opportunities it offers, key strategies for how brands can win on the platform, and your brand’s next steps. Evan also answers all your TikTok questions during the Q&A session.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [03:15] TikTok 101: How to WIN as a brand on TikTok
• [04:14] Evan introduces Movers+Shakers and how they positively impact the creative space by spreading joy
• [08:44] The window of opportunity TikTok offers with its growing users and unprecedented reach
• [13:25] Key things you should know as a marketer about TikTok and why it stands out among other platforms
• [18:43] FOUR main ways brands are entering TikTok – Creating a brand channel, influencer campaigns, in-feed ads, viral hashtag challenges
• [32:44] Where do I start? Some next steps and practical tips to get started on TikTok
• [34:42] How can more ‘serious’ companies thrive on a platform that seems to be all about fun?
• [38:31] How do you leverage and maximize a video that’s beginning to go viral?
• [40:42] How can brands with small budgets make original music or buy licenses to participate in trends?
• [43:26] How to create a viral campaign
• [44:37] Creating serious or sensitive content on TikTok

About Evan

Evan Horowitz, founded Movers+Shakers with a mission to spread joy. They have quickly become the #1 fastest-growing marketing agency in the world (as measured by Adweek). Brands hire them to connect them to culture and drive buzz and relevance. They work across social with a focus on emerging platforms & technology, from TikTok to the Metaverse.

Fast Company named Movers+Shakers one of the world’s “Most Innovative Companies,” Glossy calls us “the TikTok whisperers,” and Inc. Magazine ranked them the 78th fastest-growing company in the United States.

Evan is an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS Engineering from Stanford. For Evan’s industry insights, follow him on LinkedIn.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Resources Mentioned

• How to know what’s trending: The TikTok Trends Report

Quotes

“TikTok is a place where people come for joy. They come for relief, they come for positivity, and for brands that want to lean into that, they wanna provide that to their consumers and connect with them in that sort of positivity, playful, joyful way.” – Evan Horowitz

“TikTok is just so different from other platforms. The creativity that exists on the platform, it's that sort of expression and creativity that brands wanna bring when you're entering the platform. You wanna be having your point of view, engaging in the conversation, and sharing something that's new and unexpected.” – Evan Horowitz

“Creating good organic content is really the best thing. I'm not a big believer in gaming the algorithm. If people like the content it's gonna go viral.” – Evan Horowitz

“The first step [to creating a viral campaign] is the brand strategy. What are the KPIs that we're really trying to accomplish here? What's the personality of the brand? Everything needs to stem from that because there's no one size fits all type virality.” – Evan Horowitz

“Just have fun. This is a platform that's having fun and your brand should have that experience too when entering the platform.” – Evan Horowitz

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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The dust has more than settled over the bombshell that has been Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework.

With Google announcing their Privacy Sandbox for Android, the march toward a more privacy-focused internet is not slowing down. For marketers, adapting to & thriving in this post-identifier world is more critical than ever.

Join us in this webinar hosted by RocketShip HQ and Ruckus, in which our panelists share strategies that have worked for them across the web and app ecosystems, along with their best tips and pointers to prepare for a post-identifier future.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:35] Our panelists introduce themselves and share their backgrounds and experience
• [03:05] Shamanth explains the limits that ATT has placed on marketer’s abilities to target
• [05:42] How performance has changed since ATT – Real-time data from our panelists to help you make informed decisions
• [13:13] DTC Vs. E-commerce – The difference in impact ATT has on both
• [20:00] The power of contextualized storytelling – How Poppy Seed Health’s creative strategy overcomes targeting limitations
• [27:58] Our panelists share how they’ve diversified channel mix and expansion
• [40:40] Strategies for smaller channels that perform well with audiences and save CAC
• [47:10] Tips on redoing your infrastructure and moving out of Facebook and Google dependency
• [50:44] How metrics have evolved and upgraded since ATT

About Our Speakers

Grace Ouma-Cabezas, Head of Growth, Poppy Seed Health – Grace is a Growth Marketing Executive and Consultant with more than 15 years of experience at high-growth digital brands & startups. She focuses on delivering customers and audiences through performance-driven, brand-enhancing marketing. Featured in Digiday, AdWeek, The Muse, and more, Grace’s impact on digital marketing is widely celebrated.

Evan Woods, General Manager, DT.Co – Evan is a growth marketer, advisor, and investor with over 12 years of experience driving success for a wide range of businesses, from Fortune 500 brands to start-ups. He currently is the General Manager at DT.Co, a growth studio focused on helping high-growth, DTC start-ups scale. Prior to DT.Co, Evan led growth & retention teams at Haus & Ollie, and he has also held Marketing and Sales leadership roles at Aaptiv, Jet.com, HelloFresh, and Twitter.

Shamanth Rao, Founder & CEO, Rocketship HQ – Shamanth is the founder and CEO of the boutique growth marketing firm RocketShip HQ and host of the podcast Mobile User Acquisition Show. In the past, he’s led growth leading to 3 acquisitions(Bash Gaming, by GSN Games; PuzzleSocial, by Zynga; FreshPlanet, by GameLoft).

Matej Lancaric, User Acquisition & Marketing consultant – Matej is a true mobile marketing enthusiast who has been in the gaming industry for almost a decade. He develops multi-channel acquisition strategies and marketing campaigns that are designed to drive the overall growth for his partners. Matej partners with talented developers across the globe with multi-channel user acquisition strategies, soft launch, and global launch planning and general marketing and business advising.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“The first 24 hours in games especially on iOS now is really important. Now when I’m looking at the [Information and Content Exchange] network schema, I’m able to actually evaluate the raws and run value optimization campaigns.” – Matej Lancaric

“Really digging into the emotion and storytelling and trying to show [potential users] where they would be when they would need us, really contextualizing ourselves in an emotional way has been the most powerful thing. And I think it's helped us overcome some of these targeting challenges.” – Grace Ouma-Cabezas

“With blended aggregate, trying to isolate how much you're spending on one particular channel at one given time and seeing if there is marginal efficiency overall for the business as you’re making these larger changes, could have a really big impact and allow you to allow to scale.” – Evan Woods

“How you evaluate campaigns is so critical because you cannot evaluate as deterministically as you used to. In fact, a number of folks we work with have grown, they’ve done well, but they’ve had to embrace the fact that they cannot evaluate campaigns anywhere as clearly.” – Shamanth Rao

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Andrew Mitchell and Wesley Gottesman join our panel to talk about getting started in venture capital, what skills will help you excel in the industry, and why people and relationships are so integral. They also dive into what key metrics they look at when investing in early-stage companies and how to meet founders and find investment opportunities.

Brand Foundry Ventures invests in early-stage companies that emerge into brands you can’t live without. Marrying extensive entrepreneurial, manufacturing, and operational experience, the Brand Foundry team has been “seed” financing consumer brands since 2009. With a presence in New York City and Austin, the team offers early-stage entrepreneurs the insight and support they need to scale their brands into industry-leading companies. They partner with entrepreneurs that build long-lasting connections with their consumers, driving consumer trends through elevated customer experiences. Portfolio companies include Allbirds, Birchbox, Bonobos, Harry’s, LOLA, Peloton, The Wing, Warby Parker, and more.

VC Insights with Ruckus is a series of conversations with Venture Capitalists to learn about what they look for in companies to fund, how they spot the best talent, and what is their advice for startup founders looking to grow or get funding

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:24] Our speakers introduce themselves and share their backgrounds and experience
• [04:24] On shifting from an Operator to a VC – What skillsets are required to excel in each industry?
• [08:04] Wesley shares his advice on the best ways to get into venture capital
• [10:34] Andrew shares why people are the best part about working in VC
• [13:09] How has your current consumer investing perspective shifted or changed as you’ve grown in the industry?
• [16:54] Spotting founders with potential but are lacking relevant experience
• [23:26] Andrew and Wesley share their advice for pre-revenue consumer product companies
• [29:10] What KPIs to look for in early-stage companies that are good indicators for future success
• [36:27] How COVID impacts the current DTC landscape – Does it affect criteria for investing in the future?
• [43:25] Tips on how to meet companies and founders for a new firm starting out in early-stage startup investment
• [52:38] The best ways agencies or consulting firms can show value and work with VCs or their portfolio companies
• [55:01] Andrew and Wesley share how a new seed investor can meet founders to invest in through relationships and people

About Our Speakers

Andrew Mitchell is the founder of Brand Foundry Ventures and leads its strategy. A successful entrepreneur with dual experience as an operator and investor, Andrew has sourced, monitored, and executed over 50 early-stage investments in the consumer and retail technology space with a total combined enterprise value today of over $3 billion.

Wesley Gottesman joined Brand Foundry in 2017 after an extensive operating experience at consumer start-ups. He launched an apparel company, Nine Brand, with Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees and has led product departments at two consumer technology businesses: PHLUR, a digitally-native fragrance brand, and Buzz Points, a growth stage fin-tech business.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“I’ve used a lot of the good, bad, and ugly of those operating experiences to translate in my decision making for investments.” – Andrew Mitchell

“Initiative and energy are two things that I definitely look for when I talk to a founder. The energy piece is huge because if you can come and make me excited that I'm a part of this pitch, it's definitely like a step in the right direction. Then if you take the initiative to reach out to founders, that's a really strong sign that somebody is willing to break the conventions of just sending a cold email and figure out the best way to connect.” – Wesley Gottesman

“If you want to angel invest, be a good person, work your way in through the relationship somehow, be credible, and just stay really active and hungry.” – Andrew Mitchell

“It doesn't make a ton of sense to be very reactionary to economic trends. We can't predict how deep the recession is or how long it will last, but I can promise you that American ingenuity and American progress will keep marching forward. In 5 or 10 years, we're gonna have some amazing companies that were started during this time of hardship.” – Wesley Gottesman

“If you're trying to get into investing at seed, what's the best way to invest? It's very much a people and relationship business. We're very open to anyone investing with us if they can show some value and have a good reputation.” – Andrew Mitchell

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Where people work, how they work, and what they expect from work, continue to shift significantly, year over year. And it’s an organization’s People Leaders who hold a seat at the very heart of this transition.

Today’s People Leaders not only need to stay up to speed, and adapt to the ever-evolving ways of working but they are also tasked with finding key talent and keeping up with candidate demands.

In Redefining People Leadership, we explore the ways in which today’s People Leaders can do more than just adapt to today’s ever-changing landscape, but prosper.

Joining us will be, Brittany Blumenthal, VP of People Ops at The Block, Cassidy Gonzalez, VP of People at Pura, and Maggie Duvall, Head of Recruiting at Veho.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:32] The panel tells us about their background and experience.
• [03:37] Why transparency is key to how People Leaders will need to respond in an upcoming recession.
• [11:02] Maggie and Brittany talk about maintaining strong cultural values while scaling rapidly by being invested from the top-down and integrating it into everything you do.
• [15:51] Cassidy shares why you should consider how your values scale and how to embed them as you grow
• [17:58] Our panelists share what the evolution of People/HR Leadership looks like to them
• [22:56] As the future of People Leadership becomes more data-driven, do you track key metrics within your organization to test the health of your culture?
• [25:36] Our panelists share their best practices for providing value to Executives in a startup environment
• [30:35] When sitting down with your Executives, are there any metrics you make sure to present?
• [35:39] How our panelists have responded to the rise of remote work and faced its challenges
• [43:12] Virtual culture-building practices that have been helpful
• [47:33] Final tips for managing remote teams

About Our Speakers

Brittany Blumenthal (she/her/hers) has over ten years of progressive experience in talent and people operations. Currently, Brittany is the Vice President, of People Operations, at The Block Crypto, a digital asset information company experiencing hyper growth. Previously she was the Head of People at Holler, a conversational media company, where she built the people operations function in preparation for scale as well as the Vice President, of People Operations at Reorg, a financial technology company. When she’s not focused on how to create a more inclusive and engaging workplace, she enjoys strolling through Central Park, finding a really great sushi restaurant, and spending time with her family. Brittany received her bachelor of science from The University of Texas at Austin (hook em) after growing up in a small town in Texas, Cut and Shoot.

Cassidy Gonzalez is a builder of great places to work. She is a self proclaimed career strategist, perpetual optimist and queen of getting stuff done. A people leader for over a decade, she has made her career leading people programs and teams at Google, SanDisk, Peek.com, and currently holds the role of VP of People at Pura. She is a wife and mother of two beautiful, rambunctious toddlers.

Maggie Duvall is an experienced talent acquisition leader, with a niche in building high performing recruiting teams, at hyper growth startups. Driven by the opportunity to build, she takes pride in helping companies identify top tier talent, while facilitating exceptional candidate experiences. Maggie currently leads recruiting at Veho, a logistics tech platform that puts the customer in the center, and has helped the company grow from 200 to 850 teammates within the last 12 months. Prior to that, she was part of the Uber recruitment team that grew the company from 5,000 to 25,000 employees globally, over the course of 5 years.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“Transparency is the biggest key to keeping things from not falling apart… To do nothing is probably the worst thing you can do.” – Cassidy Gonzalez

“Even if you don't have all the answers, saying that you don't have all the answers, but talking about it is important.” – Brittany Blumenthal

“When scaling your values over time, there has to be top-down investment… It is up to us and the people organization to bring those values to life throughout the entire employee journey. And that actually starts with recruiting.” – Maggie Duvall

“You have to have a no-tolerance policy for people who are not living up to your values. If you're not willing to address those issues immediately, then those values are not going to be as impactful as you want them to be if people in the organization see that you don't hold everybody accountable to them.” – Brittany Blumenthal

“Make sure that no employee is just left in the dark so that no one is feeling left out in this remote realm.” – Cassidy Gonzalez

“something that oftentimes needs to be flushed out is what is the skillset that you need today? But more importantly, what is the skillset you're gonna need a year from now? Because at hyper-growth companies, the role as it exists today is gonna be very different from the role a year from now.” – Maggie Duvall

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Episode Summary

Finding the right candidates in B2B not only means employing the standard hiring strategies, but also finding folks who can bring your products and services to life, all in a talent pool that’s smaller than ever. But, hey, recruiting in B2B is notoriously challenging.

That’s why it’s more crucial than ever to not just attract anyone but the right person for every role.

In this episode, we explore how a variety of B2B recruiters are maintaining strong and diverse talent pipelines, and keeping up with high demands. Diving into this topic with us will be, Sierra Kaslow, Head of Business Recruiting at Miro, and Neetu Parab, Director Talent Acquisition, ex-Uber, Mercedes-Benz.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:19] Sierra and Neetu introduce themselves and share their backgrounds
• [01:37] What are the most important skills recruiting teams need to develop and what do you look for when hiring a new recruiter with no past experience?
• [04:40] Leading with data – What key metrics should you focus on and influence?
• [10:45] How do you scale teams while maintaining strong cultural values?
• [14:28] How do you evaluate candidates with B2C experience for B2B roles?
• [20:48] How do you identify diverse candidates and push the internal agenda of maintaining a diverse pipeline and employee base?
• [29:33] What roles should you keep in-house with your internal recruiting team versus working with external partners?
• [34:03] Tips and processes for creating a great candidate experience
• [38:48] What are the best ways to attract talent in joining very early stage B2B startups?
• [41:52] has remote hiring been an obstacle or a win? What are the biggest hiring challenges you see in the next 6-12 months?

About Our Speakers

Sierra Kaslow started her recruiting career at Box where she lead the G&A Recruiting team. After 5 years, she moved to Miro where she owns Global Business Recruiting and manages a team of 60 recruiters, sourcers, coordinators, and program managers globally. She’s seen scale from 200 to 2000 and loves the challenge of managing managers through hyper-growth.

Over two decades of tenure in Talent Acquisition, Neetu S Parab has held various leadership roles focused on building technology teams for companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, Electronic Arts, and Mercedes Benz R&D. At Uber, she led sourcing and recruiting teams to grow Engineering orgs including Infrastructure, Marketplace, Driver, Rider, etc. during their hyper-growth period prior to going public. In her current role, she leads a global team at a high-growth B2B startup called 6sense, where she has built a technical recruiting team, defined hiring processes and best practices ground up to scale hiring for the engineering, product, and design. With the breadth of experience working for various companies across industries, Neetu is passionate about providing data-centric talent acquisition solutions.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“I think being very intentional and actually moving it into your interview process is the best way to [maintain strong cultural values] at scale.” – Sierra Kaslow

“When I'm hiring recruiters that are early in their careers, I'm really looking at the attitude. If they've not experienced what recruiting is or the problem areas, but they have the right attitude and you throw situations at them, they can navigate through that.” – Neetu S Parab

“I would say, the number one skill, if you're really getting into recruiting, is sourcing. Unless you work for a really massive company where you have a dedicated sourcer, you're gonna need to build a pipeline in addition to what's coming through inbound. So becoming a really strong sourcer, first, is the foundation and then developing further skills.” – Sierra Kaslow

“When you're hiring, you can solve for two of three things; quality, cost, or speed. Very rarely can you get all three of those.” – Sierra Kaslow

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Episode Summary

We sat down with Sam Nasserian, Founder and CEO of Cozymeal, the top marketplace for culinary experiences in North America. We’ll learn how he has built one of the biggest networks of chefs worldwide and has managed remote teams for companies including Upwork, Cozymeal, and JustAnswer.

World’s Best Boss with Ruckus is a series of conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders that explore how the best bosses attract fantastic people, build up their teams, and keep their employees happy.

In this episode, Sam shares the keys to maintaining culture and keeping your teams mission-aligned even when handling a growing remote team. He talks about the traits he looks for when hiring and why it’s important to prepare case studies and ask practical questions. Lastly, Sam reveals the lessons he learned from failed products of Cozymeal. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:16] Sam tells us about his background and experience
• [02:22] Sam shares how his passion for cooking began and his favorite cuisine
• [04:47] Why asking real-world questions is a great indicator of culture fit when hiring
• [07:50] The traits Sam looks for when hiring someone
• [07:50] How to invoke strengths within your teams
• [12:54] Sam shares his tips and mistakes for handling cross-continent remote teams
• [17:10] How has Covid caused you to shift gears?
• [23:06] How to maintain culture and excitement in the company while growing
• [26:00] Sam shares the mistakes and lessons learned from a failed product

About Our Speakers

Sam Nasserian, is an entrepreneur, speaker, and startup advisor. In 2014, he founded Cozymeal, the #1 marketplace in the U.S. and Canada featuring the best culinary experiences and products, including top-rated cooking classes, private chef experiences, team-building activities, cookware, and more!

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“[Asking real-world questions] not only helps us better assess if they can think analytically, or if they can solve a problem, but they'll also help us assess to a certain extent if they could be a good culture fit.” - Sam Nasserian

“It's very important to me that I empower the team members, and I think it's good for the team member, but also ultimately it's good for the company. When we hire team members we should define clear goals, and give the individual enough responsibilities that that individual owns part of the business.” - Sam Nasserian

“It's also important that they see a purpose in the job. That really helps get the best out of the individual, when they know there's really a purpose. It's not just like they’re meeting their goal, making a salary and bonuses, but also, they’re actually helping our partners have a better life

and a better income.” - Sam Nasserian

“The things we were trying to do in terms of culture when we were a much smaller team, it's important to try to maintain them even when you're a big team… You want to make sure that everyone is aware of the company vision, and ideally, you wanna have the buy-in of every single team member.” - Sam Nasserian

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Jascha’s coaching philosophy drives high‐performing teams with an emphasis on valuing team success above individual achievement, developing inclusive work practices, and building ‘T’ shaped professional skills.

World’s Best Boss with Ruckus is a series of conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders that explore how the best bosses attract fantastic people, build up their teams, and keep their employees happy.

In this episode, Jascha dives into his thought process when finding his next career opportunity. By viewing his work through the lens of ‘being a tourist,’ he aligns himself with those roles that leave him feeling excited about his work and continue to point him towards his greater goals. Jascha shares the methods he uses with his teams to help them navigate what they enjoy doing, what they're great at doing, and how to help them align that towards the ultimate goals they have for their careers. All this and more!

Here’s What We Discussed: * 6:45 – Jascha explains how he became CMO of various popular companies and the mindsets that helped him get there * 9:56 – Jascha compares his current role to past one at Mozilla as CMO * 13:31 – Anish shares advice for interview process that lights CEOs’ eyes up * 15:05 – Jascha comments on the biggest risks he’s taken along his career * 18:40 – Jascha shares why understanding what your team defines as success is so important * 20:20 – Jascha speaks about the true role of a manager in any organization * 25:07- Jascha shares how you can create a system to create an opportunity for your employees to be successful * 26:26 – Jascha advises on how to onboard new team members and how to get them up to speed in the company’s culture * 28:20 – Jasha’s former Microsoft manager questioned him and shared the heart, tree, and star system – system used for career development * 38:28 – Jascha’s anecdote about how he didn’t get a role he wanted and how it had nothing to do with his qualifications * 49:19 – Jascha encourages leaders to create scenario planning into their cultures moving forward * 52:33 – Jascha focuses on online mentorship and how to approach this new virtual reality * 56:00 – Jascha replies on “What makes a good marketing leader and which attributes you appreciate in leaders around you?” * 1:07- Jascha dives into his current role as Lytics president

About Our Speaker

Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, is an executive business leader with a creative flair, who has built teams that transformed the customer and user experience.

A champion for supporting company values and mission; his coaching philosophy drives high‐performing teams with an emphasis toward valuing team success above individual achievement, developing inclusive work practices, building ‘T’ shaped professional skills and constantly reinforcing the importance of business acumen in addition to functional expertise.

In his current role as President of Lytics, Jascha is responsible for Go-To-Market, Customer Success and operations. Previously, at Mozilla, BitTorrent, Webtrends, Microsoft and more. Jascha has a strong track record of building robust brands with hockey-stick growth trajectories for new products.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Episode Summary

Anish Shah speaks with growth experts Adam Gassman and Luke Fernandez about the importance of delegating and elevating key people in order to grow a scaling startup and avoid burnout. They also talk about the shift from solving problems to creating systems that solve problems and how those systems are made up of the right processes and people.

When it comes to structuring teams, Luke explains that the mistake he learned at Wikibuy was not hiring quickly enough. Adam shares that hiring to fill the ‘hole of today’ was not the right strategy for Freshly. Lastly, the two share their reflections on what they would do differently or better if they could go back.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [00:42] Our speakers share their backgrounds and experience
• [02:33] What were the most important decisions you made when transitioning from a small startup to a scaling business?
• [6:37] How do you create a system that empowers employees and informs them to make correct decisions?
• [10:07] Adam discusses his tenure at Freshly and the importance of maintaining relationships even when leaving a company
• [16:37] The value of executive coaching and how it benefits companies long term
• [19:41] Luke talks about how he almost left Wikibuy twice and what kept him at the company
• [25:20] Lessons learned and mistakes made when attempting to structure teams
• [31:12] How to define the right outcome KPI’s and north star metrics as a company matures
• [39:15] In retrospect what are some things you could have done better?
• [43:41] Tips for hiring the right team

About Our Speakers

Adam Gassman is a Growth & Marketing executive with a decade of experience driving user growth for both content & D2C brands. Adam previously led growth at Freshly from its earliest days through its 1.5B sale to Nestle. Currently, Adam is leading Lane 529, the boutique marketing shop he founded after leaving Freshly.

Luke Fernandez is a Consumer SAAS and e-commerce user growth leader and advisor who is always looking to share knowledge and meet great teams. An early hire at Wikibuy, Luke worked as Head of Growth to lead the company to its 2019 acquisition by Capital One where he went on to become Head of Growth Marketing for Capital One Shopping. Today, Luke is a growth advisor and angel investor.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“One of the most critical decisions is really knowing that if you don't start to delegate to and elevate people, you're gonna reach a ceiling rather quickly.” - Adam Gassman

“When you're working as a first hire for a startup, you are the go-to person to provide the best answer for the problem in front of you. When you start scaling up, you move from having to be the person to solve the problem, to being the person who has to build a system to solve the problem.” - Luke Fernandez

“There's nothing more critical than making sure you leave on just as good of terms as when you got hired. And sometimes that could be difficult, but I think it's really important because we also work in a very small world and relationships are critical.” - Adam Gassman

“I think most early stage companies burn because they're not thoughtful enough. Because they lean in too aggressively on building teams and spending dollars without a clear return… I would characterize the thing that we could have done better as being the exact opposite of that.” - Luke Fernandez

“Scaling is like building muscle; You have to bulk and then cut. You can't build muscle quickly by dieting.” - Luke Fernandez

“All of our clients want to hire people who have the hottest backgrounds, coming out of the hottest companies, that have scaled the best, and have the best track records. Those aren't always the best people for early stage anymore.” - Anish Shah

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!