Fourteen years ago, Simon Mulcahy startled his boss by turning down a promotion. He then proceeded to a pub ("This is what you do in England," he said) and was later joined by his wife to ponder their future. Together they reviewed an issue of The Economist that listed the best places to work and live in the world and, remarkably, they...

When I asked Sarah Kennedy, the relatively new CMO at marketing automation firm Marketo, what's the best advice she'd ever been given, her answer set the tone for our discussion: "Jump out of the plane and find your parachute on the way down." It is little wonder that Kennedy, who jumped into her role eight months ago, felt compelled to not...

When the first Lumascape was shared by Luma Partners in 2010, it listed a few hundred marketing technology companies. The latest version shows nearly 5,000 brands, now in an epic struggle to stand out and be part of the mission critical tech stack of modern marketers. Clearly, not all of these brands will make the cut as increasingly sophisticated practitioners...

When you're repeatedly successful as a marketer, luck and circumstances can be eliminated as the cause. Such is the case with Eric Eden, who has been a marketing leader at three companies that have gone public: Network Solutions, Verio and Cvent. He has also worked for a number of growth companies backed by private equity, including in his current role...

When I asked Sarah Kennedy, the relatively new CMO at marketing automation firm Marketo, what's the best advice she'd ever been given, her answer set the tone for our discussion: "Jump out of the plane and find your parachute on the way down." It is little wonder that Kennedy, who jumped into her role eight months ago, felt compelled to not...

As an English major at Stanford, Rich Kylberg challenged himself to read the sacred scriptures of over 90% of the world's population—including the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, the Quran, Dhammapada, Tao and the Gospels. In addition to gaining an "empathy and understanding for others," he believes these foundational texts are a prerequisite for becoming a good brand storyteller. Now in...

As one of the founders of Marketo, Jon Miller helped make marketing automation a mainstream approach for b-to-b companies. And in his role as chief marketing officer back in 2011, few were better at creating content to drive inbound leads. In our interview back then, Miller noted that "our marketing team generates 80% of the sales pipeline" and that Marketo was...