Emily built marketing from scratch at four startups, including Asana and Carta. Then she started a newsletter she thought of as lead gen, and it quietly became a business.
Why I wanted Emily on the show:
Emily is one of the most respected marketing leaders in tech, and someone I've been lucky to get to know over the past few years. I wanted to hear what it was really like to move away from operating and into writing, advising, and creating, what it takes to build a newsletter business, and how her comfort with change has shaped the bets she's made on herself.
About Emily:
She's a marketing leader who built early marketing teams at Asana, Astro, and Carta, and the co-founder of MKT1, a newsletter on B2B startup marketing with more than 80,000 readers.
Today she runs a true portfolio career: she writes MKT1, advises growth-stage marketing leaders, teaches courses, and invests in startups, including through a fund that backed 35 companies.
In this episode, you'll hear:
• what her portfolio career actually looks like, from paid subscribers and sponsors to advising and investing, and why she built it to smooth out "lumpy" income
• five elementary schools, two high schools, two colleges, and how all that moving made her someone who loves change
• how she landed her head of marketing job at Asana through one of her former summer camp campers
• why you don't have to stay four years to vest your options, and why what looks risky to other people doesn't feel risky to her
• how MKT1 started as an FAQ for founders, not a business plan, and why each newsletter still takes her around 40 hours
• her advice for anyone starting a newsletter or advising practice: go narrower
• the marketing advice she used to give that she's since changed: you have to love the founders
Read MKT1 at: http://www.mkt1.co
Read the Granola notes from this episode and chat with them here.
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About the good work talk show
"the good work talk show" is a deeply honest exploration of work and how it can be a tool for discovering and becoming your best self. hosted by mallory contois, each episode is a conversation with someone whose career you may have admired from afar, without knowing the full picture.
Get every episode in your inbox with mallory's notes and takeaways: watchgoodwork.com
Find audio-only versions of every episode wherever you listen to podcasts.
Subscribe to "good work" on Substack: readgoodwork.com
Follow the good work talk show on instagram: @watchgoodwork
Follow mallory on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mallorycontois
Season 01 is presented by Granola. Get 3 months free at Granola.ai/goodwork
Produced by Joseph M. Olender
Directed by Adam Chavez
Edited by Aaron Bratcher
Graphics by Saltwater Agency
Theme music: "The Other Side" by The Deep West. used with permission. © ℗ 2021 The Deep West. Listen on Spotify.
