The Rising Executive: Recent Episodes
Karan Zoria
Learn from the world's best up-and-coming startup talent. We discuss management, culture, hiring, scaling teams, and leadership with the best emerging leaders in tech.
Michael Weiner is Head of Sales and Marketing at WorkRails. WorkRails is a technology Services CPQ (Configure. Price. Quote) platform that simplifies the process of selling and buying professional services. Prior to WorkRails, he held roles at Gartner, Blue Prism, and Clarion Events. In this episode, we interviewed him about how he balances strategy and execution as a leader along with his advice to young professionals looking to become GTM leaders at startups. We also spoke to him about how he thinks about managing underperformance and his career overall. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for startup executives.
Todd Zanzinger is a growth executive and startup leader at The Offsite Co. Prior to his current role, he was Director of Marketing at Mamba Sports Academy. He's also held numerous marketing roles at the NFL for the Jacksonville Jagaurs. In this episode, Todd shares details about how he's approached building sales and marketing functions in the past along with how he thinks about prioritization and team building. He also shares specific experiences throughout his career that have helped shape his executive skill set. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for startup executives.
David Atlas is a seasoned marketing executive and consultant. With over 25 years of experience, David is an expert on helping technology companies grow their businesses. He previously served as CMO of Zignal Labs, CMO of Persado, and SVP of Marketing at StrongView. In this episode, David shares details about how he sets expectations and creates alignment across the organization as a functional leader. He also shares specifics about his approach to leadership and how he thinks about educating markets about new product categories. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for startup executives.
Jaime Frankos is Chief Revenue Officer of Ferretly. Ferretly is a social media background screening platform designed to help organizations better manage risk. Jaime has 25 years of experience in social media, marketing strategies, and software implementations and sales with Fortune 500 companies, SaaS companies, higher education, and nonprofits. In this episode, Jaime shares details from her career journey and eventual transition from consulting to startups. She also shares her approach to leadership along with how she approaches her role at Ferretly.
Nelson Chu is Founder & CEO of Percent. Percent is a private credit investment platform. In this episode, Nelson shares his perspective on what he looks for in senior hires along with his insights on retaining employees. He also shares his opinions about the cultural impact of shifting to remote work and the leadership lessons he's learned throughout his career. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Mallory Lee is VP of Operations of Nylas, a developer of a cloud-based API platform designed to streamline enterprise communications. Prior to Nylas, Mallory held roles at Terminus, Bluebridge and ExactTarget. In this episode, Mallory shares her perspectives on winning as it relates to culture along with her opinions on executive team misalignment. She also shares details about her leadership and management approach. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Preeti Krishnan is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations at Kafene. Kafene is a digital platform that helps retailers offer flexible purchase options through lease-to-own agreements. Prior to Kafene, she was Vice President of Strategy and Business Operations at DailyPay. In this episode, Preeti shares how she approached transitioning from law to startups along with her advice to professionals looking to make a similar transition. She also shared lessons she learned from her experience at Dailypay during its hypergrowth along with how she developed her leadership approach. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Allison Braley is Partner and Head of Marketing at Bain Capital Ventures. Prior to BCV, she was an Operating Partner at Playground Global. In this episode, Allison shares details about her experience transitioning from startups to venture capital. She also shares how she developed her leadership and management skills and her advice to startup leaders to improve their storytelling and improvisation abilities. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Sarah Allen-Short is VP of Marketing at Chain.io. Chain.io is a cloud-based supply chain integration platform designed to optimize supply chain processes. She has 20 years of experience in technology, nonprofit, government, and higher education, with a specialty in B2B. In this episode, Sarah shares her perspective on the qualities she looks for in founders along with the benefits of starting one's career at a startup. She also shares her opinions on work-life balance. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Rob Karel is a B2B SaaS marketing executive. He's held roles at companies such as Lattice, Okta, and Informatica and was an industry analyst at Forester for a number of years. In this episode, Rob discusses his perspective on why poor management is common along with his experiences as a leader at multiple scaling organizations. He also shares advice to middle managers looking to move up quickly at their organizations. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for startup executives.
Amy Young is VP of Operations at Bravado, a community platform for sales professionals. She was one of Bravado's first 10 employees. Prior to Bravado, Amy was Head of Finance at Clara Lending. In this episode, Amy discusses her perspective on how to avoid burnout along with her experiences as an early employee at Bravado. She also shares her perspective on effective management and how to develop the soft skills necessary to become an effective leader. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for startup executives.
Fernanda Belo is Global Director Workplace Systems and Standards at Riot Games. Prior to Riot Games, she was Head of Workplace Strategy and Insights at Vergesense, a workplace analytics and spatial intelligence platform. In this episode, Fernanda discusses her perspective on the shift from in-person to remote work along with her opinions on how startups can most effectively invest in employee growth. She also shares advice on how young professionals should think about the decision between working at a startup vs. a big company. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Jake Makler is VP of Strategy at Quantum Metric. Quantum Metric is a product design platform that helps organizations build better products faster. Prior to Quantum Metric, Jake built the sales engineering function at Heap. In this episode, Jake discusses the most common strategy mistakes that startups make along with how strategy orgs commonly function at startups and large companies. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Archana Kannan is Head of Product, Money Movements and Payouts at Stripe. Prior to Stripe, Archana was Director of Product Management at Google. She spent 14 years at Google in a variety of roles in engineering and product. In this episode, Archana discusses her journey from engineer to product leader along with her perspective on the best way to handle layoffs. She also shares her perspective on the differences between 0 to 1 startup-oriented work and mature product work. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Diwakar Magadi is VP of Product Management at Embroker. Embroker is a digitally-native business insurance company. Prior to Embroker, Diwakar was VP of Product Management at Prudential Financial. In this episode, Diwakar gives his perspective on how to communicate and build relationships with other cross-functional leaders along with his opinion on the differences between big tech companies and startups. He also shares advice on how technical leaders can thrive at marketing and sales-driven organizations. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Sean Twersky is Head of Operations and Finance at Highlight. Highlight is an in-home product testing platform company. Prior to Highlight, Sean was VP of Operations at Sprig, a product development lifecycle research company. In this episode, Sean gives his perspective on effective employee onboarding at startups along with his opinion on the best ways to hire and create alignment at startups. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Karim Fanous is SVP of Engineering at strongDM. StrongDM is a web-based platform that automates the manual tasks involved in creating credentials, cleansing data, and auditing access. Prior to strongDM, Karim was Chief Technology Officer at Kheiron Medical, an AI-powered healthcare software company. In this episode, Karim discusses how he approaches developing cross-functional relationships with other leaders along with lessons he learned from his years at Microsoft. He also gives his perspective on how he manages the budgeting and headcount allocation process at his company. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Brittany Sudlow is Senior Product Marketing Team Lead at Atlassian. Atlassian provides collaboration, development, and issue tracking software for teams. Prior to Atlassian, Brittany was a product manager at Jumpshot, a digital intelligence company. In this episode, Brittany shares how she gives feedback to her team and how she approaches 1:1s with her direct reports. She also walks us through how she and her company approach interviewing candidates. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Drew Brucker is VP of Growth at LASSO. LASSO provides workforce management software for the live events industry. Prior to LASSO, Drew was a marketing director at Fullsteam, a leading payments and technology company. In this episode, Drew shares how he approaches goal setting as a team leader along with how he thinks about managing great and poor performers. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Jennifer Liu is SVP of Product, General Manager at Lattice. Lattice is a people success platform that empowers leaders to build engaged, high-performing teams that inspire winning cultures. Prior to Lattice, Jenn worked at Google for 17 years in a variety of roles. In this episode, Jenn shares the most important lessons she learned at Google along with how she approaches implementing Lattice's culture and operating principles with her team. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Kelsey Biggs is the VP of Talent at Front, a Series D communications software company. Prior to Front, she was Head of Global Recruitment at Square. Kelsey shares her perspective on hiring great talent and effective management practices. This episode is presented by Execore, the premier network for emerging startup executives.
Where to find Kelsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseybiggs/
Where to find Execore:
Website: execore.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/execore-coo/