During the 184th episode of “Marketing Today,” I interview Jake Sorofman, the chief marketing officer at Pendo, in front of a Marketing Today live audience in Durham, N.C. Previous to his role at Pendo, Sorofman was vice president and chief of research at Gartner.

In October of 2019, Pendo became a newly minted “unicorn” with a valuation of over $1 billion, following their latest injection of $100 million in venture capital. Sorofman shares more about Pendo and what marketing looks like at scale while experiencing exceptionally high growth rates.

Pendo is an integrated set of tools that help digital product teams make better decisions and create better experiences in web and mobile apps. The real goal for Pendo, according to Sorofman was to “build a billion-dollar company, a company that has lasting and enduring value in a community, creates lots of jobs and delivers value to customers.”

In this episode, we learn from the incredible growth of Pendo and the experience of Sorofman about how to handle fast growth and an expanding organization.

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

  • The life of the CMO of a “unicorn company” 02:39
  • What do you do with $100 million? 03:17
  • Defining Pendo and its role in the market?  04:21
  • The three major target markets for Pendo. 05:19
  • The landscape of marketing at Pendo. 07:02
  • The importance of “events” in marketing. 07:56
  • Jake’s insight into “performance marketing” and “brand marketing.” 09:03 
  • Advice for other fast-growth companies. 10:20
  • Triple, triple, double, double, double: the rate of growth for Pendo. 10:50
  • The four keys to making marketing “more valuable.” 11:32
  • The importance of discussions at the “executive table.” 13:40 
  • The current “state of talent” in the marketing industry.  14:40
  • How to be successful as chief marketing officer. 15:55 
  • The key to earning the right to your audience’s attention. 16:38
  • The importance of content marketing in your tool bag. 16:55

Resources Mentioned:

Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.