GTM 137: The Biggest Business Turnaround You've Never Heard Of & The Growth Levers to Pull When Things Go Wrong | Cassie Young

Cassie Young is a General Partner at Primary Venture Partners, a $1B AUM early-stage venture capital firm in New York that has backed category-defining companies such as Chief, Alma, K Health, Latch, Alloy, Dandy and Vestwell. 

Before joining Primary, Cassie was Chief Customer and Commercial Officer for Marigold (formerly known as CM Group), an Insight Partners roll-up of marketing technology software including Sailthru, Campaign Monitor, Delivra, Emma, Vuture and Liveclicker; Cassie assumed that role when Marigold acquired Sailthru, where she was Chief Revenue Officer.

Prior to Sailthru, Cassie served as VP Marketing & Analytics at Gerson Lehrman Group ("GLG") and as VP Marketing & Growth for Savored (acquired by Groupon). Cassie's time in tech dates back to 2006, when she joined TheLadders.com as an early employee and managed marketing and analytics for the company's subscription business. She began her career as a tech and media analyst at Citigroup Global Corporate & Investment Bank.

Discussed in this Episode:

• The turnaround story of Cassie’s time at Sailthru and overcoming scaling challenges.
• How to rebuild and regain customer trust after technical failures.
• The importance of leadership alignment and transparency during times of crisis.
• How to effectively use Net Promoter Score (NPS) and what it really tells you.
• The value and impact of Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) in driving customer-centric growth.
• Why executive compensation should align with key business metrics for better team alignment.
• Creative tactics like video mailers and regional user groups to engage customers and drive product adoption.

Highlights: 

07:53 What happens when commercial scale outgrows your technical scale.

15:53 Driving alignment through northstar metrics and incentives.

22:16 The best ways to measure customer trust.

34:10 Tips on setting up a Customer Advisory Board (CAB).

52:48 A fantastic multi-media mail campaign.

Guest Speaker (Cassie Young):

• LinkedIn
• Primary VC

Host (Scott Barker):

• LinkedIn
• Newsletter

Find GTMnow (GTMfund’s Media Brand):

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• Twitter/X
• [YouTube]( / @gtm_now)
• Podcast

Sponsor: Pursuit

The best talent isn’t actively job hunting. Pursuit helps companies hire elite go-to-market talent on a non-retainer basis. As a key GTMfund partner, they equip sales and marketing teams with top performers.

If you're hiring for sales or marketing roles, reach out to Pursuit at pursuitsalessolutions.com/gtm or message a GTMfund team member.

The GTM Podcast
The GTM Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.

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