Grit CMO Attentive, Sara Varni: Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers
Jan 3, 2022
01:08:45
Bowling Roots From Childhood Summers
- Sara traced her bowling passion to summer trips where she and cousins were allowed to roam the alley.
- Those early memories created a lifelong love for bowling and weekday leagues.
Dad's '20-Box' Habit Shaped Her Discipline
- Sara's father kept a daily '20-box' legal pad to structure his days and modeled discipline.
- She adopted the write-it-down approach to manage career and family chaos.
Write Simple Customer-Focused Copy
- Use straightforward, consumer-style copy for B2B messaging to be memorable.
- Favor clarity over cleverness to make product value instantly understood.
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Introduction
00:00 • 2min
You Were a Product Marketing Manager at Tuilio
01:46 • 3min
Bowling League - You're a Super Bowler!
04:26 • 2min
I'd Spend a Majority of My Sun as in the Bowling Alley
06:23 • 3min
Do You Feel Like Part of Your Dad's Drive Is Filling His Time?
09:42 • 2min
I've Watched Hours of You Everywhere and Listened to You for Most of the Day
11:13 • 2min
Do You Know Where to Draw the Line?
12:55 • 2min
Product Marketing
15:06 • 2min
What Was the Worst Job You Had at Sales Force?
16:37 • 3min
What's Up With That?
19:19 • 3min
The Eight Secrets to Sarum Success
22:07 • 2min
I'm Sorry, I Can't Believe I'm Putting This in Front of You
24:30 • 3min
How Did You Get Your First Product Marketing Job?
27:57 • 2min
The Precursor to Humility
30:16 • 4min
How to Build Trust With Your Customers
34:09 • 3min
Working at Home, Is It Harder to Show, Ya, to Make Sense?
37:30 • 2min
The Sales Force Was Your Baby.
39:03 • 3min
How to Recharge Your Marketing Muscles
42:01 • 3min
Dot Maganize Inberg, I Do Tis Amazing Yet
44:44 • 2min
What's the Culture of Twillio?
46:30 • 4min
What Do Great Companies Do?
50:15 • 2min
What Happened to Your Son?
52:01 • 2min
What Was It Like Being Sarah in 20 18?
54:26 • 2min
Career Coach - What Was Feedback That Surprising You?
56:18 • 2min
I Cultivate Feedback Loops
58:37 • 2min
It Socks, Thoughts, but It Still Stinks
01:00:17 • 2min
Did They Throw You a Party?
01:02:13 • 2min
Do You Want to Be a General Manager?
01:03:47 • 2min
Do You Think You'd Fail a Portfolio Company?
01:05:22 • 2min
How to Hire a Product Marketing Organizer - Part One
01:07:06 • 2min
B2B marketing powerhouse, Sara Varni joins this episode on her final day at Twilio to discuss her journey and what lies ahead as she steps into her new role as Chief Marketing Officer at Attentive. Sara demonstrates a stellar track record of marketing know-how and creativity and has a refreshing take on the ever-changing marketing landscape.
In this episode, Sara shares insight on what it means to speak to your audience and uses an example from her Twitter to show how products can market themselves. She reflects on her time at Salesforce and Twilio, discusses why it’s important for marketers to recharge, and explores how her disciplined mindset contributes to her success. Sara and Joubin also discuss their shared love of bowling and Sara shares her thoughts on joining Attentive at the beginning of its next phase of growth.
In this episode, we cover:
- “The full slice of life at the bowling alley”: Sara and Joubin connect over their love for bowling. (04:26)
- How Sara learned from her father’s disciplined mentality - and what it means to create a home for her children. (07:17)
- Sara follows up on her tweet about product marketing - and she shares why her 10 years at Salesforce was “the best marketing training.” (15:14)
- A look back at the marketing structural changes at Salesforce and Sara’s role as CMO - and a conversation about writing memorable copy and earning “the right to speak to your audience.” (26:14)
- Sara’s insight on why managers play a key role in cultivating a motivated team - and her take on the balancing act of working remotely. (35:39)
- Why it’s important for marketers to recharge and how that mindset led Sara from Salesforce to Twilio. (39:53)
- Twilio’s aggressive customer-centric values and go-to-market approach - how Sara navigated her son’s autism diagnosis during that stressful time of her career and what gives her peace of mind. (48:31)
- Advice Sara received from her career coach and the benefits of a consistent feedback loop for people at any stage in their career. (56:16)
- Reflecting on Sara’s last day at Twilio and why she loves being a CMO. (01:02:49)
Links:
- Connect with Sara
- Connect with Joubin
- Learn more about Kleiner Perkins