Women of Geckoboard: Sam
To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, we sit down with a few of the incredible women who work at Geckoboard and share their stories and advice for other women interested in joining a tech-startup.
Today, we speak with Sam Gane, someone many of our customers might know and recognise from many a helpful onboarding email, intercom message or call.
Sam, tell us a little about your role, what does a day at Geckoboard look like for you
I’m the Customer Marketing Manager here at Geckoboard. One of the main things I love about my job is that it’s really diverse. The main aim of my role is to make sure our customers get value from the dashboards they’re creating. This means I spend lots of time speaking to our customers. I also work a lot with other teams in the company.
One day I can be talking through customer feedback with the Product team, another I can be working alongside our Support team to create automated comms to help our customers understand how to use new features. No two days look the same.
On the marketing team we’re really passionate about hearing our customers’ stories. We take a lot of time to get on calls and understand the reasons people use our dashboards. For me, this is where I get a lot of satisfaction — hearing how Geckoboard has helped others turn things around. We always have plenty to learn, which is why we’re regularly on calls, and the feedback flows throughout the company.
Can you tell us about your journey in Marketing?
I studied Marketing at the University of Plymouth — I liked that it was a healthy combination of creativity, data and common sense. After studying I worked in a range of different marketing roles for varying industries (publishing, hospitality, recruitment) before ending up in Geckoboard — my first role in a tech company.
But, before I got into marketing roles I got a job working as an Account Manager at Groupon. It was a very young, lively and growing company at the time. Though the work wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, it involved a lot of coordination with departments across the business as well as with B2B customers. This was something I loved and didn’t find again until I joined Geckoboard, where I have been able to merge both marketing and this sense of being fully involved with the company as a whole (rather than in a marketing silo).
Have there been any women who’ve inspired you along the way?
The answer to this is closer to home for me. Both of my grandmothers who, despite being from a very different era, have taught me to be adventurous, curious, and open-minded. They both grew up in Britain during the war, a time when things were very different for women. Throughout their lives neither of them ever let being female hold them back, they pushed gender stereotypes by simply being themselves. I inherited their love of travel, wanting to experience new places, cultures and meet people from all walks of life. I’m lucky to have had two such incredible role models to lead the way and show me that there’s nothing I can’t do if put my mind to it.
I also have to give a shout out to one of our former Geckoboarders — Rachael Grocott, who founded Triangirls. Besides working her ass off in her day job she has grown this incredible community for women and non-binary people in tech to support, learn and empower one another. Her dedication knows no bounds.
What is your experience of being a woman in the tech industry?
I feel very fortunate that at Geckoboard I feel heard, respected and valued. I know that’s not the case for so many women in tech. I find it quite sad to see that so much of the industry is still dominated by white men — in leadership roles or at conferences (when too often it feels like the only woman or person of colour is speaking out of tokenism rather than their experience and work). I was incredibly pleased seeing news that Bumble founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd, became the youngest female self-made billionaire. It’s great to see signs that women are making headways in the tech world, but we still have a long way to go so that women, people of colour and other minorities are accurately reflected in senior roles. It should no longer be news, it should be normal.
Advice for women interested in joining marketing in a tech startup?
Be prepared to get your hands dirty!
Marketing in a small tech company means you’re more likely to get involved in a variety of tasks. If you’re looking for a very structured role you might want to consider larger, more established enterprises. Personally, I enjoy getting the chance to branch out of Customer Marketing and try my hand at different projects such as; lead generation, content, research, and other general Geckoboard team initiatives. Working for a small tech company will be what you make of it.
Interested in joining Geckoboard? We’re hiring, learn more about life at Geckoboard and our open opportunities at www.geckoboard.com/careers
