Two and a half years in, I wanted to reflect on some of my top surprises of parenthood. TLDR highs are higher and lows are lower than expected. What we investigated In evaluating the decision to have a child, we tried to consider as much as possible. We approached it as an active…

With all of the talk of The Great Resignation, it doesn’t come as a surprise that many people are asking the question, what do I really want to do? Many people follow a guiding star throughout their early career. Their career transitions are based on what their parents or peers…

Why transitioning to management is hard: The Leadership Chasm When I coach founders and execs, I often encounter them in a point of transition. Reaching the point in your career where you transition from individual contributor to a people leader is often a story of struggle. …

Inspired by a recent conversation that reminded me of Ben Horowitz’s Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager post, I wanted to share a cleaned up version of a similar talk I prepped for a subset of my team at SurveyMonkey on what a world class marketer looks like. Sometimes people ask…

Inquiring minds want to know… What is the average free to paid conversion rate from a free trial or freemium? What is a “good” conversion rate from free trial to paid? Without an industry survey out there and in the process of defining the growth plan for my own company…

Just about every startup has to cross this bridge at some point: making their first marketing hire. I often get asked about this topic and after several conversations, I was inspired to put together a guide on how to scope, evaluate and hire a strong first marketer for your team. Defining the scope of your marketing role …

Thanks to all of the end of year book lists, my current reading list is swelling with newfound gems and Shoe Dog is one of my new favorites. I devoured it in a single day. Shoe Dog is the memoir of Phil Knight, founder and CEO of Nike and details…

One of the areas I often advise startups on are questions around how to structure a marketing organization or make their initial marketing hires. …

The holidays are one of my favorite times of year. As the sparkling lights and decorations go up, the holidays are a reminder and invitation to reflect, spend time with loved ones, and take stock on the learnings from the prior year. I thought this would be an ideal time…