full image - Repost: (25) Looking for Career Advice - Goal: VP Marketing at a Tech Company? (from Reddit.com, (25) Looking for Career Advice - Goal: VP Marketing at a Tech Company?)
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Hi everyone!I’m 25 and looking for some career advice.My Goals:A marketing leadership position in the tech industry (which I believe is most tailored to the skills I have now and as such, would provide the most vertical career trajectory and money earned). A startup would be exciting to me since I love building things and want the shared team excitement that comes with the collective, growth-focused goals.Investment goals involving real estate investments and building/scaling/selling businesses, with the ultimate end goal of building and scaling a tech company one day.Due to the above-mentioned goals, along with the need to pay off debt and maintain a minimum lifestyle, money is important to me. I am also looking to have a family in the near future and want to be out of the “rat race” as soon as possible and have the ability to do what I want on my own terms.Main Question(s) to consider while you are reading:Do you see any flaws in this plan? Is VP (or similar) possible in a year from now assuming I focus on upskilling in my current position while using target job descriptions as a guide? The main thing I am worried about with not getting a VP (or similar) position at a tech company is the lack of direct management experience and not having managed large budgets. How would you approach this, considering the opportunity and autonomy I have now in my current position?I am currently on track to make $100k this year ($70k base, $26k commission, $4k bonus [non-performance based] + full benefits, generous PTO, and a 4% 401k match) at a job I’ve worked at for the last 7 months (medium cost of living area, big city in the midwest, getting by and not saving as much as I’d like for debt payoff and investing goals).My job title is currently VP of Marketing at a 60-person firm in the A/E/C industry. There is definitely some title inflation going on since I am a 1-man team with no full-time direct reports, however I do have a group of 3 others at the firm that help with social media and graphic design when I ask them to. We pull in around $8 million a year and it’s my job to increase that.I got the job due to a lot of hustling on my end and spending a couple days creating an entire growth plan for the company and sending it to them before interviewing + interviewing and following up well. As a side note, I am finishing up the last bit of my computer science degree online (my first degree) and will be officially graduated by March/April of 2023.My current job description and duties include the following:Manage all business development / sales efforts, both inbound and outbound. This includes building relationships with potential referral partnersDevelop contracts for new business and respond to RFPsCreate goals (OKRs) for the growth of the firm and track all KPI metrics for successStrategize for and create SOPs for firm-wide business and project management functionsRecruit and interview new team members (part of my commission structure, I’ve already hired 10 new team members, which the owner has been very happy with since we’ve had to turn down a lot of new work due to being short staffed)Project management of projects for high-level clientsConduct market and competitor research and inform company strategy accordinglyParticipate as part of the board alongside the other principals of the company and hold meetings to discuss the individuals at our firm, along with strategic business decisions and goals for the company.My previous positions include the following:7 years - running my own eBay hustle since I was a teen (arbitrage/resale, mostly flipping items I’d find locally). Learned copywriting, negotiation, general business and marketing, etc.~1.5 years - I consulted for and ran multiple Facebook ad campaigns after designing and building complex sales funnels for a few local service businesses over the last few years (learned all of this in my spare time). Con: I didn’t save most of my results / landing page designs so I have little to show for here. Plus no referrals since most clients were family and friends of my ex-wife (we had a bad falling out, so not expecting good referrals either way even if I did get them positive results).2.5 years - Head of Marketing (also inflated somewhat as I had no direct reports, 8 people + many contractors) for a product-based company in the AEC industry that turned into an online platform company of sorts. I was the main driver of the business and worked entirely alongside the owner. We went from ~$400k/rev when I started, to $1M+/rev a year after I started working and putting certain systems in place. I did CRO, web and landing page design, sales, hiring, analytics, LinkedIn networking / business dev, ABM strategy, CRM build out and management, project management, design, strategy, etc.Now onto the pros and cons with this job in relation to my goals.Pros:Full autonomy to do what I want, when I want, with my boss not breathing down my neck (RFPs and proposals take first priority, although most of my time is free to allocate as I’d like).Due to the above, I am currently upskilling. Current examples include:Building our firm a new website and implementing proper SEO for the first time in the firm's historyImproving design skills (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom)Coding through degree and web dev coursesAnalytics through Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and HotJarHiring and leading out the creation of new offices for the firmImplementing a firm content strategy including a podcast, social media, blog, YouTube videos, etc.Building out our CRM since they never had one in the 20+ years they’ve been around.40-hour weeks, despite the position being salaried (my boss is very much for work/life balance and discourages working extra). This gives me extra time outside of work.Own office with no one looking over my shoulderGenerous PTO and flexible schedule (hours on my own terms as long as I hit 40)Learning about the real estate development process and meeting with numerous real estate developers and investors (I have future real estate investing goals)Living in an apartment within 5 minutes walking distance from workMe and the owner of the company get along really well and have even begun doing various hobbies outside of work together that we both enjoy (sailing, flying in his planes, etc.). I also have a good relationship with the other few principals in the firm, and believe they all like me on a personal and professional level.Free lunches when going out to eat during business development effortsBuilding and enhancing my personal network with successful business owners/executives and investorsCons:Not directly in my desired industry (although I have learned a lot related to investment goals)More business development based, rather than marketing (although I can alter this in marketing’s favor to a great degree)Low-energy environment. No one in the firm is very ambitious about growth. Plus, since I don’t have an actual marketing team surrounding me, I’m the only one who really understands the value of marketing and gets excited about it / wants to dedicate resources for it.Owner doesn’t like spending on marketing and is very oldschool in his approach to businessPay: Although there is the opportunity to earn more through outbound business efforts, we keep having to turn down small/medium-sized projects and there is too much volatility for any consistent forecasting. I also have my phone blowing up with inbound referrals/calls. A lot of these individuals and companies end up choosing a different firm because our portfolio, website, proposal templates, and marketing collateral need to be updated and don’t reflect the quality of work we do. Our portfolio is ~7 years old and not pretty. We don’t look like we design well when we should be able to, and can.This leads me to want to spend my time updating these, since I feel it’s a matter of integrity to not chase outbound full time when we have so much inbound coming our way. This is in spite of the fact that I get no commission or bonus for anything inbound, even though I have directly closed a lot of inbound. Anything marketing/brand related simply falls within my salary-based job description.Now onto a SWOT analysis of my current career skills/position as they relate to my goals:Strengths:Tech stack proficiency & software skillsProject Management: ClickUp, NotionCoding: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL (not proficient by any means, improving upon each of these at the moment)Web Development: Figma, WebFlow, Wordpress, ClickFunnelsDesign: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom/photographyData/Analytics: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, HotJarCRM: StreakGeneral: SEO, copywriting, podcasting, experience in a tech-ish platform company, business development$400k → $1M+ rev/yr success at 2nd positionThe ability to set up an entire marketing system (web dev, SEO, content, podcast, events, ABM, networking / biz dev, project management, etc.)Hiring Abilities (20+ hires)Weaknesses:No degree (until 4/2023)Little paid ad experience, plus no Google ad campaigns (only certs and lots of courses, no real experiences here)No experience managing a large marketing teamNo experience managing large budgetsOpportunities:Up-skilling opportunity through current position and time after workThe opportunity to boost my resume by staying for at least another year (I am tracking all the things I’ve done for the company with numerical data to back my successes)Threats:Potential for being laid off due to economy, especially while still working towards the degree (would be a weird limbo spot)Getting pigeon-holed and not having my current opportunity help much in my pursuit of a marketing leadership role in techAll this being said, I have nearly 5 years of “marketing” for other companies under my belt (including cool experiences as a 1-man marketing team with certain executive-esque responsibilities), with a degree in computer science coming in March of 2023.My plan at the moment is to stay with this company for at least another year while designing my day-to-day work around the job requirements/experiences listed in the job descriptions of VP Marketing positions for tech companies. I am also planning on doing freelance web development work, along with reaching out to local companies and asking to do their paid ads for them for free/low cost to gain more experience in this area. All of this while finishing up the remaining schooling online that I have left for my bachelors in Computer Science.Main Question Repeated:Do you see any flaws in this plan? Is VP (or similar) possible in a year from now assuming I focus on upskilling in my current position while using target job descriptions as a guide? The main thing I am worried about with not getting a VP (or similar) position at a tech company is the lack of direct management experience and not having managed large budgets. How would you approach this, considering the opportunity and autonomy I have now in my current position?Thanks so much!
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