Discussing The Future CMO with Bill Macaitis, former Marketing Leader of Slack, Zendesk, & Salesforce - Episode #117

“It doesn’t matter if you’re employed or not, it matters if you’re employable…if you learn the skills around how to grow ‘capital-efficiently’, [affecting] the growth curve in a positive way—that’s incredibly employable.”

Bill Macaitis is an advisor and board member, guiding aspiring unicorns and helping build out world class teams and innovative go-to-market strategies. Over his 20 year career Bill has achieved five successful exits and powered growth at three of the fastest-ever growing companies: Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO), and Salesforce (SVP of Marketing). He has also held leadership positions at Fox Interactive Media (SVP of Online Marketing) and IGN Entertainment (VP of Marketing).

Questions and topics we covered include:

• When is the right time to transition as a marketing leader from one company to another? 
• What does it mean to have a “marketing philosophy” as you grow in your career?
• What does it mean to be an employable marketer?
• The early challenges a 1st-time marketing leader faces when working at a startup.
• How can marketing teams infuse a personality into their brand?
• Finding the right balance between goal setting for various channels?
• How would you define capital-efficient growth?
• What does the future CMO look like?
• What are some common misconceptions around brand marketing?

And more!

You can say hi to Bill via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmacaitis/

Connect with me on LinkedIn too: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/

Here’s that Kahn Academy course on reading a company’s financials that I mentioned: https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/accounting-and-financial-stateme