Here’s the story behind how I joined LiftLab: When I look for opportunities, I look at the ability to impact change, education and compensation (generally in that order). When I went to an ex-Googler meetup several years ago in New York I met John Wallace (my current CEO & boss) and all we did there was argue for a while. I’m a big fan of the socratic method – trying to understand and defend your opinions and going back and forth. Generally this “horns locking” exercise provides a lot of information in how each other thinks and as a bit of a debate on not only solutions but the language around how we describe solutions. John is very good at this. After a while, he approached me with a “new business idea”. But to be honest – it was terrible. He was building an AB testing software for creative and was asking about pushing identities to Snapchat servers...a messy proposition to use personally identifiable information and match enough for a decent sample. I remember telling him that there was absolutely *no* way of getting this on the Snapchat servers. All in all, it was an idea I couldn’t get behind. But a few months later, he approached me again. He presented me with a new way of this idea, which was an agile mixed model that got informed by geo experimentation. In other words, the current state of LiftLab. The moment he finished talking, I was sold. I wondered how he got from such a bad idea to such a good idea within a couple months. That trajectory, John’s track record of founding companies, and the fact that this was what the industry needed led me to join building LiftLab. After the conversations I’ve had with John, I found that there was a common theme in my career choices. Agencies (MediaVest, Mediacom, Zenith) taught me how to drive the car, publishers (Google, Meta, Snap) taught me how things work under the hood. And now at LiftLab, I get to design the engine that drives growth for my clients. This was exactly what LiftLab allowed me to do. We had a perfect mix of a great idea, great talent – and the chance to dive in and build something awesome. By nature of the problems we are trying to solve, the talent of our company and group of advisors and our ongoing success, LiftLab has checked these boxes for me. #liftlab #marketingscience #marketingeffectiveness
Emre Saritepe
6mo
Jon I stopped by at your Beers & Data meetup yesterday; first time I've been in there in 14 months 😅. That's a great story, it reminds me of a time when I was involved with a pre-seed startup.
KOUSHIKUR RAHMAN
6mo
Hey Jon. This is Koushik. I hope you remember me. We met at last night's meetup events. Your journey is so inspiring. We never know whenever the idea will click in the company.
John Wallace
6mo
And what a journey it's been. Stoked to have your hands and mind to help us build this company and team.
mike lichter
6mo
Thoughtful and concise as always, sir.
DTC/Ecomm Growth Marketing Partner
6moHey did you just call yourself "great talent" in your own LinkedIn post? 🙊