EP 1 - Kadion Preston, Co-founder, Carib Shopper - Do You Have the Right Marketing Team?

In this episode, host Etgar Shpivak interviews Kadeon Preston, the CEO of Carb Shopper, about the challenges of managing a marketing team as a startup founder. They discuss setting KPIs, communicating long-term strategies, measuring effectiveness, balancing creativity and strategy, common mistakes founders make, and qualities to look for when hiring marketers. Kadeon emphasizes the importance of understanding the customer's why, being cross-functional, making hard decisions sooner, and clearly measuring success as a founder.Keywordsstartup founders, marketing teams, KPIs, long-term strategies, effectiveness measurement, creativity, strategy, common mistakes, hiring marketersTakeaways* Setting KPIs for a marketing team involves understanding the customer's why and using data to acquire and retain customers.* Founders should communicate long-term strategies to their marketing teams by constantly reiterating the vision and being open to feedback and improvements.* Measuring the effectiveness of a marketing team requires a close relationship with the team, understanding the customer, and aligning with the business's goals.* Balancing creativity and strategy in marketing involves testing and iterating different approaches based on the audience's preferences.* Common mistakes founders make when working with their marketing teams include expecting a silver bullet solution and not collaborating cross-functionally.* When hiring marketers, startup founders should look for individuals who understand the process of bringing a product to market, are comfortable with uncertainty, and can make bold decisions.* Running a startup requires sacrificing short-term rewards for long-term success and making hard decisions sooner rather than later.* The key question founders should ask themselves is whether they have the right marketing team for their current stage of growth.Thanks for reading Etgar’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit etgar.substack.com