Jeremy Epstein, chief marketing officer at Gtmhub
Jeremy Epstein is the chief marketing officer at Gtmhub, the world’s leading SaaS provider enabling the OKR (objectives and key results) goal-setting methodology. Prior to Gtmhub, Jeremy was the vice president of marketing at Sprinklr, which grew during his four-year tenure from a $20 million valuation and 30 people to a $1.8 billion valuation and 1,400 people. Jeremy also serves as the co-chief investment officer of the Crypto Futura Fund, a thesis-driven hedge fund that identifies undervalued, high potential blockchain-based tokens in the emerging crypto asset class. He has written three books, more than 150 articles and nearly 1,000 blog posts on the impact of blockchain technologies on society and has briefed senior US Department of Defense officials at the Pentagon on multiple occasions.
I had the opportunity to interview Jeremy recently. Here are some of the highlights of that interview:
Jill Griffin: Tell me about your background and how you became CMO of Gtmhub?
Jeremy Epstein: I’ve been at the intersection of marketing and tech for over 20 years and previously served as the head of marketing for a SaaS company that went from Series A to Unicorn in four years (Sprinklr). About 18 months ago, a Gtmhub board member connected me to the company’s CEO suggesting that I may be able to offer some perspective on its marketing function. I was initially hired as a consultant and quickly learned three things. The first was the power of objectives and key results (OKRs). The second was the power of the Gtmhub platform. And the third was the realization that pretty much every company on the planet is going to use this methodology for aligning strategy with execution by the end of the decade.
After a month of consulting, Gtmhub’s CEO offered me the CMO position and added that I wouldn’t have to give up my various other pursuits, particularly those deep in the crypto space. All he cared about were outcomes, “whether it was one or 100 hours a week,” as long as I delivered. This was an opportunity for me to prove the model of the Outcome Era.
Griffin: Despite being CMO of Gtmhub for about 13 months, you and your marketing team have exceeded your marketing goals so far, driving 80% of the pipeline for Gtmhub and outperforming your type line generation by 45%. To what do you attribute this success?
Epstein: One factor is a relentless focus on the outcomes. And two, we invest two weeks at the end of each quarter in selecting the right OKRs for the next quarter. And we use the Gtmhub platform so that we avoid wasting time on check-ins and status updates. This model keeps our conversations focused on solving problems, not transmitting information.
Griffin: What do you do as their leader to support their growth, effectiveness and success?
Epstein: We emphasize that it’s not about time — it’s about value and outcomes. I literally tell my team that I don’t care where or when they work. I just care about the outcomes.
Secondly, we take a hands-off approach — if I’m asking people to be accountable for outcomes, I have to allow them to own their activities and work without micromanagement. It’s an adjustment at times since it’s in my nature to want to jump in and just do it, but I have learned to resist that urge.
Griffin: Tell me more about this “Success with Less Stress” mindset that you set amongst your team?
Epstein: Our outcome-oriented approach provides clarity, helps everyone stay focused and, most importantly, removes noise. This alleviates a lot (but not all) of the stress and hassle from our day-to-day.
Griffin: The traditional 9-5 work dynamic is being challenged by what you call the “Outcome Era.” What is this Outcome Era and why does the 9-5 standard dynamic not fit into this new world of work?
Epstein: If work can be outlined in a procedure manual, it can be automated, which means it’s not knowledge work. Knowledge work doesn’t happen at specific times. I want to free people to do their best work when it suits them. For example, one of the people on my team is nicknamed “Night Owl” because she tends to do her best work at night. Why shouldn’t I empower her to do that?
Griffin: How should company leaders adjust their leadership and management style to align with this new Outcome Era?
Epstein: The biggest thing employees want is clarity around objectives, a sense of alignment with others on the team and the flexibility to experiment and find the best approach to whatever problem they’re trying to solve. The key thing for leaders is to help team members set clear objectives, and then get the hell out of the way.
Griffin: Since you don’t enforce a standard 9-5 work expectation among your team at Gtmhub, what do you enforce?
Epstein: Not a lot.
Everyone must have their OKRs done before the quarter starts. Everyone must update their OKRs at least twice a week, which includes metrics, confidence levels and commentary.
Griffin: How do you know your team members are getting their work done efficiently and successfully?
Epstein: This is an easy one — I use the Gtmhub platform. It pulls in data from over 100 of our core systems so I can see, at a glance, the overall health of the business. It’s been revolutionary for me and, over the past year, I have developed serious OKReligion!
Griffin: Tell me about OKRs. How do you use OKRs in replacement of the traditional 9-5?
Epstein: The traditional 9-5 is about hours, time and inputs. OKRs are about outcomes and effectiveness. I use OKRs to provide a north star for myself and each team member (as well as our entire company), and we rigorously discuss whether a proposed activity has a high likelihood of affecting the desired outcome. Time is our most valuable commodity and meetings are expensive, so we optimize everyone’s time by focusing on what is going to move the needle. The result is fewer meetings. And the meetings we do have move quickly and accomplish more. It’s hard to believe it’s possible, but it is.
