I started my career working at AOL when it was cool to work at AOL.
Facebook didn’t have advertising, and companies were figuring out how to make The Internet work for them.
Little did I know that launching my career at this time would be fortuitous. I was in adtech from its inception and have been riding that wave for nearly two decades. I’ve stayed that long for a few reasons.
First, the speed at which adtech operates is truly unique. It’s always changing. Working in sales, you must be able to speak intelligently about those changes and how your product or service will help companies tackle their hurdles. I loved that pace of work — so much that after a stint in a different industry, adtech pulled me back.
Second, I was good at building teams of folks who thrived in that competitive space. I enjoyed taking GTM from zero to one hundred and built over ten sales teams, many with 50+ AEs selling all over the globe.
18 years in, adtech still hadn’t gotten old. But it was changing, and I knew I had to change with it. That push brought me to Kard, a company with untapped potential in fintech and adtech.
The opportunity at Kard
As I was looking for my next move, Kard stood out immediately. Here’s why.
Unbeatable value props
Working in the adtech world, I knew the deprecation of third-party cookies would change the performance marketing landscape forever. While cookies hadn’t gone away completely yet, the writing was on the wall. It seemed like there was a new regulation or browser update every quarter. Yet, concerningly, very few solutions had materialized to address the impending gap.
Hearing about Kard was an “aha” moment. The product is inherently connected to the buying experience, recording exactly how customers buy, who they buy from, and when. The first-party data Kard was gathering was an eye-popping opportunity unto itself.
While I didn’t have as much experience in fintech, I knew that every modern bank should want a fully customizable loyalty program, and the rewards space seemed ripe for disruption. With both value props, I knew Kard would be unstoppable, and I was excited to sell it.
An incredible team
Seeing people grow and develop into leaders I admire is the most humbling thing I do. If I went to Kard, I could build another killer sales team from scratch and possibly bring over some of the same stellar performers I’ve worked with previously.
Plus, I found Kard’s existing talent exceptional. From the jump, I could tell everyone was wicked smart.
Since joining, I’ve been even more impressed by the team’s humility, dedication, and willingness to help each other. They all work their tails off. There’s no ego, no “that’s not my job,” no self-righteous arguments. Everyone at Kard cares about each other and the work.
I see that going all the way to the executive level, which, in my opinion, is key to a startup’s continued success.
(Spoiler alert: I did hire some amazing people I’d worked with in the past. At Kard, it’s my second time working with our Sr. Director of Merchant Sales, Blake Ziolkowski, my second time working with Ali Mitchem, our Head of Merchant Accounts and Operations, and my fourth time working with Chris Di Censo, our Merchant Sales Director.)
Huge potential impact
In my research, the most fascinating thing about Kard was its two-sided marketplace. Merchants rely on issuers’ customer bases to get in front of the eyeballs they need to. Issuers must partner with great merchants to make their loyalty program worth it for consumers to join.
That meant the partnerships Kard facilitates meant the difference between barely-breaking-even quarters and record growth for their customers. I was jazzed about affecting customer outcomes (and consumer outcomes) on such a macro level.
Navigating the next frontier
Coming from martech — where hundreds of companies compete with basically the same product — Kard’s been a breath of fresh air.
There are very few competitors at the intersection of adtech and fintech, and so much possibility. Put simply, it’s greenfield like I’ve never seen before: a gold mine for salespeople and what gets me excited to go to work every day.
With this in mind, my team has done extensive analysis to determine which merchants and issuers to go after first. A lot of it has to do with the current state of their business and their target audience. Who are they going after? What do those consumers want? Are they looking to scale?
At the same time, we’re developing a GTM strategy that emphasizes (1) our unique audience, (2) Kard’s concrete ROI, and (3) our account managers, who have an outstanding reputation for being a pleasure to work with.
Want to help us pave Kard’s path? Apply to one of our open roles today.
Bonus round: Rituals and obsessions
A Kard ritual I enjoy
Kard is the first fully remote company I’ve worked at, and I’ve been surprised by how much intention and effort everyone puts into promoting a culture of collaboration.
We have offsites multiple times a year, designed to be both strategic and fun. We have a weekly team meeting to get us all on the same page and to help us get to know each other — someone ends the meeting presenting about something completely unrelated to work. And we celebrate each other in our shoutout Slack channel daily, using HeyTaco rewards points to celebrate mini-wins across the company.
It’s become clear to me that the whole Kard team is bought into making the culture the best it can be.
What I’m obsessed with
In my professional life, I’m super passionate about ensuring everyone gets fair and equitable treatment. I’ve been a long-time proponent of women in sales, women in leadership, and a sponsor of many ERGs, and I’ve had the privilege of promoting many of those folks to Manager, Director, and VP levels. Because I’ve gained so much knowledge and experience from my previous bosses, I prioritize paying it forward — it just follows my general life philosophy and personal values.
Outside of work, I love outdoor sports. I’ve been dirt bike riding since I was five years old and taught my twins how to ride when they were three. Downhill mountain biking is the best way to blow off steam.
