Chapter 2Elissa Fink: How to Charge a Brand with Culture
Elissa Fink, former CMO, Tableau Software
Source: Erin Rinabarger
Recently retired as CMO for Tableau,1 Elissa Fink led all marketing strategy and execution for 11 years, from pre-IPO startup with ~$5 million annual revenue to public enterprise with $1 billion+ in revenue. She knows growth, scale, and building disruptive brands. Prior to Tableau, Elissa served in marketing, product management, and product engineering executive positions. Now semiretired, Elissa advises tech companies, serves on multiple boards, and teaches at the University of Washington.
In this interview with Elissa we are going to explore how to charge a brand with culture and how this also helps in hiring people.
Alexander:As CMO you were creating a culture that is unique for a B2B software company. How did you discover Tableau? How did you become Tableau's CMO?
Elissa: I discovered Tableau as I was browsing the web — my very first exposure was when I was looking for Excel add-ins to help me force Excel to be an analytical tool. In fact, I was a Tableau customer before I even joined the company!
But Tableau became front and center to me when I wanted to relocate to be closer to my extended family. I read a LinkedIn job description, and the way that the company described itself intrigued me. I had downloaded the product, and I knew this product ...
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