Learning marketing has been the biggest unlock of my career over the past two years.
I finagled my way onto the Product Marketing team of a B2B tech company after joining in a Strategy role for the CEO and CMO. Then I joined another B2B startup as its first marketer when it was Series A and helped build the marketing function from scratch as it grew to Series B. I built a creator brand that started with a 7-second B-roll video about “Why I quit investment banking”.
At the startup, I had to make a complex product make sense to potential customers. In my own business, I’m asking people to spend time engaging with my idea and buy from me, whether it’s brands paying for partnerships or founders and operators investing in brand strategy.
I spend most of my waking hours thinking about marketing from different angles these days - how to make people pay attention…and ultimately, pay money.
I’m always looking to level up my own marketing skills (especially B2B marketing) and learn from the best, so I loved spending time this week at Hubspot UNBOUND, learning from incredible marketers and GTM leaders (like the Head of Revenue at Lovable who I got to interview - stay tuned for this on my IG), media personalities (Mel Robbins!), solopreneurs and creators (my new friends Scott Clary and Lorna and Victoria), and the Creators/Media team at Hubspot.
And the BEST part - I got to host my very own meetup The Nonlinear Career! Seeing a roomful of people turn up for a meetup about unconventional career paths at a conference hosted by a sales & marketing product made it clear just how many people resonated with this shape of career. (Disclosure: I partnered with Hubspot to create content for UNBOUND, but this newsletter is not sponsored! Just my own takeaways.)
Here are 10 things I took away from the week, no $1,500 ticket purchase necessary. Whether you’re a marketer, an entrepreneur, a creator, or just want to be better at marketing your career story, there’s something here for you!
In this post, you’ll learn:
The 3 storytelling principles to make any presentation impossible to forget, from Gamma’s CEO—who made one of the best decks this ex-investment banker has ever seen
Mel Robbins’ three skills for succeeding when information overwhelm and AI tools are everywhere
Why “weird” founders are seen as more creative but less competent—and the formula for standing out without losing credibility
Why B2B marketing is still a low-status, high-income opportunity
Why your nonlinear path might be your best marketing advantage
What five IRL activations—from free taxis to a man dressed as a wizard—taught me about marketing that stands out (vs. marketing that gets forgotten)
How HubSpot uses creators, podcasts, and acquired media brands to reach people long before they’re in the market for software
How to find inspiration for your first vibe coded project (from the Head of Revenue at Lovable)
Why the attention economy is dying and what’s replacing it
