How did you work with the C-Suite, earlier in your career?

The simple answer is that I didn't. However, it didn't take long for me to realize that in order for me to accomplish what I was driving on personally (both internally, as I thought about promo paths at the companies I've worked for and externally, when selling into other companies), I needed to ensure that I understood what the respective C-Suite cared about and find a way to tie my goals to their goals. For example, when thinking about my career progression, I make sure to align the projects a ...Read More

There's actually a lot of overlap here between my early music industry career (music agent - negotiating show deals for artist tours) and tech sales career. I believe comprehensive market understanding was my #1 value add in both cases. In music that was having a deep understanding of music trends / direction and communicating that to leadership in deciding what artists to sign.In tech sales that came from taking a ton of customer calls, living+breathing the market/category, and spending real ti ...Read More

Ever since I've worked in tech, I've only worked for one company where I didn't work with a founding CEO. Early in my career, I was intimidated when I would see the c-suite walk into the room.  I finally realized I had nothing to be scared of. It's like you're at war and you're all defending the same country or the same company mission. I had the pleasure of sitting next to my CEO at a small startup and I would ask him how he had overcome certain objections in the past. His one- liners were grea ...Read More

Early in my career, I made mistakes but when things started clicking, I moved up the ranks pretty quickly. Here are a few things I did to ensure the job I wanted was mine when it became available. Show up early, be available, and say yes when power people are watching - I literally turned the lights on in the office every morning for 4 years. I was always there and always available for risky projects when the C-Suite was building a thesis around something (in my case - for GTM) Be the tide that ...Read More