JumpCloud® is excited to announce our most recent addition to the executive team, Cate Lochead. Cate has more than two decades of experience marketing and selling B2B software to technical buyers and end users. She’s led marketing teams at fast growing startups, like DataStax, and established leaders like Oracle. In 2018, she led Carbon Black’s product marketing, website, events, and corporate communications teams through a successful IPO.
Here’s what Cate had to say about joining as JumpCloud’s new CMO.
As a marketer I’m naturally optimistic. I see the glass half full, make lemonade, and find silver linings. It’s a useful trait – especially when selling new and early technology which relies on marketing and sales to amplify the work of a visionary engineering team.
Sales and marketing led growth is a strategy that has worked well in B2B tech for a long time, but there is a new model, driven by SaaS, that emerged over the past decade: product led growth (PLG). PLG relies on the product to build early momentum. PLG means users are so delighted by the software, that they promote it to colleagues and buyers. This reduces the need for big, early investments in the marketing and sales teams. There are tons of articles on PLG, but that’s not the aim of my note today.
I’m talking about PLG because it fits heavily into what I wanted in a new work adventure. Like most people, when I decided to change companies, I made a list of what mattered most to me.
My list was not unique:
- Team
- Product/market fit: a product that is interesting to me, in a market that captures my attention
- The opportunity to raise awareness of a little known story, and an interest from the company in building a passionate community
Usually those last few requirements land me on a plane as I commute between Colorado and California. So when I learned about the opportunity at JumpCloud, headquartered here in Louisville, Colorado, (sorry. can’t. resist…) I jumped!
JumpCloud is a very cool disruptor of on-prem directories (like say, Active Directory). Directories, which securely connect users to their machines, applications and other resources, were originally designed for an on-prem world. But when ‘as-a-service’, mobile devices, and other new ways of working emerged (anyone working from home today?), the shortcomings of these directories become readily apparent. JumpCloud provides an easy, cloud-based way to manage users remotely and connect them to any resource. Its vision is Make Work Happen®. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is needed now, more than ever.
The team could not be better. A mix of valley veterans, Colorado natives, and imports (like me), everyone from individual contributor, to CEO, to board member believes in the product and the mission to make work happen. More importantly, there is shared respect and value placed on each individual and their ability to positively impact the business.
I’m the most excited I’ve ever been to start a new job. It’s a strange time – we are all quarantined so we haven’t had a happy hour, crazy long white board session, or a shared SoulCycle experience —but even through zoom and hangouts, I can feel the passion, energy, and appreciation that everyone has for our road ahead.
We are early and we have great momentum. I can’t wait to share more of this experience with you.
Faith is not jumping to conclusions. It is concluding to jump — W.T. Purkiser
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You can see Cate’s original post on LinkedIn.