A catalyst for positive change, I help purpose-led founders + companies build their internal and external communications, marketing, and operations to gain more traction with investors, clients, and employees. 

If you're ready to take your brand to the next level and make a bigger impact, I'm here to help. 🤝

Elizabeth Jepsen, M.A.

Honored to be joining the Forbes Communications Council!

Communications has been central to my work across healthcare, nonprofit, and tech — looking forward to sharing perspectives and learning from this community.

Chief of Staff at Kinetik | Branding + Marketing + Operations

I help Coaches & Founders get leads with LinkedIn Personal Branding | Get High Quality Bookings in 15 Days with Facebook Ads | Social Media Marketing

I’m a marketer, strategist, and builder serving as Chief Marketing Officer at SUUVO, a next-gen social entertainment platform launching globally.

I’ve been working closely with SUUVO’s leadership for nearly two years contributing to product development, early strategy, and foundational decision-making. While I don’t hold the co-founder title, my involvement has consistently been at a co-founder level across product, strategy, hiring, monetization frameworks, and shaping the company’s early direction.

My work sits across product, growth, hiring, and execution. At SUUVO, I lead creator-first monetization strategy, shape our global go-to-market plan, contribute to product development, and actively build the early team across marketing, tech, and creative roles.

I also help the company optimize finances designing resource-efficient hiring plans, reducing development costs, and ensuring every dollar supports long-term growth.
Early-stage startups don’t just need marketing… they need strategic operators who can scale smartly.

Before SUUVO, I spent 6 years running Social Uprys Media, partnering with founders and startups in the U.S. and India to grow their digital presence through content, storytelling, and high-performing Meta ad systems. My background spans marketing, business strategy, app development direction, and early team building.

What drives me is simple:
Understanding why people pay attention and building systems that turn attention into opportunity.

At SUUVO, I’m applying that mindset at scale: designing monetization, building creator systems, optimizing financial efficiency, and preparing the platform for a global launch.

If you’re building in consumer tech, creator economy, or growth, let’s connect.

Aashik Thakkar

6 months ago, I stopped posting on LinkedIn.

Not because I lost interest.

But because my focus shifted.

While I was running my agency, I came across SUUVO INC through LinkedIn.

It started as conversations.
Then strategy.
Then execution.

There was no grand announcement.
Just work.

For more than 2 years, I’ve been building with the team, long before anything was formalised.

The official title came later.
The responsibility came first.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped sharing and started operating.

When you move from advising brands to owning outcomes inside a startup, your thinking changes.

You care less about content.
More about clarity.

Less about impressions.
More about impact.

Less about visibility.
More about velocity.

Building something from zero forces you to mature fast.

You don’t get applause for the hard calls.
You get accountability.

The last 6 months were about tightening systems, making difficult decisions, refining strategy, and stepping fully into ownership.

No lottery.
No overnight shift.
Just sustained work.

I’m back here now, not to “restart posting.”

But to document what building actually demands.

Strategy.
Leadership.
Growth.
Mistakes.
And everything in between.

Let’s build.

CMO @ Suuvo | Performance Marketing | $1M Generated for High-Ticket Brands via Facebook Ads

LinkedIn changed my life.

Not in a motivational way.
In a leverage way.

When I started my agency, I cold-called 50-100 people a day.

That’s how it began.

Relentless outreach.
Rejection.
Follow-ups.

Then came LinkedIn.

At first, it was just another place to connect.

But over time, it became something else.

Clients didn’t just hear my pitch,
they could see how I think.

They could read my perspective on growth.
My approach to strategy.
My way of solving problems.

That changed the dynamic.

Conversations became warmer.
Trust built faster.
Sales cycles shortened.

It didn’t replace hard work.

It multiplied it.

As I kept sharing consistently, the quality of conversations changed.

Bigger discussions.
Longer-term thinking.
More aligned opportunities.

Not because I was “active.”

But because there was visible proof of competence.

I see many people share their wins - it's important as it builds credibility, but sharing only wins isn't enough.

You also need to demonstrate your thinking.

Because when people can see how you think,

they start to understand how you operate.

And that’s what builds real leverage.

Over time, people don’t just see posts.

They understand your patterns.

And patterns change trajectories.

If your marketing depends on one channel, you’re fragile.

Many companies think they have growth.

What they actually have is one working channel.

Maybe it’s Meta ads.
Maybe it’s SEO.
Maybe it’s LinkedIn.
Maybe it’s TikTok.

Things look great until the algorithm changes, CPMs spike, or the platform shifts direction.

Then growth disappears overnight.

Real growth isn’t a channel.

It’s a distribution system.

Strong companies build layers:

~ Owned channels — email, community, direct audience

~ Platform channels — ads, search, social

~ Relationship channels — partnerships, referrals, word of mouth

Each layer reduces risk.

When one channel weakens, the system keeps moving.

Operators understand this early.

Platforms are rented.
Audiences are owned.

If your revenue depends on one channel,
you don’t have distribution.

You have exposure.

There’s a common pattern in struggling startups: they keep buying more traffic

Usually, it makes the problem worse.

More traffic doesn’t fix a weak offer.
More traffic doesn’t fix poor retention.
More traffic doesn’t fix bad positioning.

Traffic only does one thing:

It amplifies reality.

If your product is strong,
traffic accelerates growth.

If your product is weak,
traffic accelerates churn.

This is why many companies scale ads and still struggle.

They assume growth is a traffic problem.

Most of the time it’s not.

It’s an offer problem.

A strong offer creates pull.
People talk about it.
People return.
People recommend it.

A weak offer needs constant pushing - ads, discounts, promotions.

Operators know where to look first.

Before buying more traffic, ask one question:

Would the right customer feel stupid saying no to this offer?

If the answer is no, traffic isn’t the solution.

The offer is.

Most people underestimate LinkedIn.

Not because they don’t use it.

But because they use it incorrectly.

They treat it like a job board.
Or a place to announce promotions.
Or a space to post when something big happens.

That’s surface-level usage.

LinkedIn is not just a platform.

It’s a credibility engine.

The mistake most people make is this:

They optimize for visibility.
Instead of leverage.

Visibility gets you impressions.

Leverage gets you conversations.
And conversations change trajectories.

When I started, I cold-called 50 to 100 people a day.

That built resilience.

But when I began sharing how I think,
how I approach growth, strategy, decision-making –

something shifted.

People didn’t just see what I did.

They understood how I operate.

That changes the quality of opportunities that come your way.

LinkedIn is underestimated because it doesn’t give instant dopamine like other platforms.

It compounds quietly.

Your posts become proof of thought.
Your consistency becomes proof of discipline.
Your positioning becomes proof of clarity.

And over time, that proof works for you — even when you’re not active.

If you use LinkedIn casually, it gives you visibility.

If you use it intentionally, it builds leverage.

There’s a difference.

Growth without unit economics is gambling.

Many startups celebrate growth.

More users.
More traffic.
More signups.

But they don’t know three basic numbers.

CAC – How much it costs to acquire one user.

Payback period – How long it takes to recover that cost.

Runway – How long the company survives before the money runs out.

Without these, growth isn’t progress.

It’s spending.

Example:

If CAC = $40
But the user generates $20 in lifetime revenue

You are scaling losses.

Faster growth simply burns cash faster.

Good operators understand something simple:

Growth must compound economics.

CAC should decrease over time.
Retention should increase lifetime value.
Payback period should shrink.

When those three move in the right direction, growth becomes powerful.

When they don’t, growth becomes dangerous.

Most startups don’t die because they couldn’t grow.

They die because they grew without the math.

Most startups don’t have a GTM strategy.

They have noise.

Running ads is not GTM.
Posting content is not GTM.
Hiring sales is not GTM.

That’s distribution activity.

GTM is system design.

And most founders design it in the wrong order.

You cannot optimize monetization before proving retention.

If users don’t stay, pricing doesn’t matter.
If value isn’t repeated, revenue isn’t durable.

The real sequence is:

Market → Offer → Distribution → Retention → Monetization

1. Define the exact market.

2. Craft an offer that solves a painful problem.

3. Build predictable distribution.

4. Prove users stay (retention = real value).

5. Then optimize monetization.

Monetization is extraction.
Retention is validation.

If people don’t come back, you don’t have a business.

You have a campaign.

Most startups don’t fail because of marketing.

They fail because they monetize before they validate.

They fail because they monetize before they validate.

Most early-stage startups don’t hire marketers.
They hire task-doers.

And then wonder why growth stays weak.

At an early stage, the problem is usually not:

“Who can post content?”
“Who can run ads?”
“Who can manage social media?”

The real problem is:

Who understands the market deeply enough to answer the hard questions?

Who is the real customer?

What pain is urgent enough to act on?

Why would they choose us over the alternative?

Which channel is actually worth attention?

What message will create response?

What should we not do yet?


That is not tactical work.

That is commercial judgment.

Early marketing is not about keeping channels active.
It is about reducing uncertainty.

If you hire someone only to execute, but the company still lacks clarity, they will produce activity - not traction.

Content will go out.
Ads will run.
Reports will be made.

But the core questions remain unanswered.

This is why cheap early hires often become expensive mistakes.

Not because junior people are bad.
Because the business hired for execution when it actually needed thinking.

At the beginning, marketing is not a volume game.

It is a diagnosis game.

Get the diagnosis wrong, and every tactic after that becomes waste.

I spent years in the agency world building with full ownership.

You build the strategy.
You run the ads. 
You own the ROAS.

If a client churns, it’s a hit to the P&L but the business model itself stays in its lane.

Then I moved inside a startup, and the definition of ownership expanded.

In an agency, accountability is usually defined by a Scope of Work.
In a startup, the scope is whatever impacts survival.

The biggest shift wasn't the workload. It was the Decision Depth.

Agency Thinking: "Our CPL is too high; let’s pivot the creative."

Startup Thinking: "Our CPL is high because our positioning and messaging is weak."

When you’re internal, Marketing isn’t just a department, it’s the connective tissue of the entire company. You aren't just optimizing performance; you’re stress-testing the foundation:

Pricing Logic:
Is our friction a barrier or a quality filter?

Product Feedback:
Are we building features, or just distracting ourselves from the core value?

Retention Loops:
Why are they coming through the front door but sprinting out the back?

In an agency, if a campaign fails, you change the tactics.
In a startup, if a campaign fails, you might have to change the model.

You stop thinking in "Campaigns" (which have an expiration date).
You start thinking in "Systems" (which have a compounding effect).

It forces you to think beyond metrics.

Beyond campaigns.
Beyond quarters.

You start building for compounding.

Most founders say they want fast decisions.
But their companies move slowly.

Not because the team is bad.

Because the decision system is broken.

Here’s what usually happens:

A decision comes up.
People start discussing.
More opinions get added.
More meetings get scheduled.

A week passes.

Nothing moves.

Startups don’t lose to competitors because of one wrong decision.

They lose because of decision latency.

When decisions take too long:

Opportunities disappear.
Experiments slow down.
Momentum dies.

Good operators understand something simple:

Speed is a strategic advantage.

You will make some wrong decisions.
That’s normal.

But a fast wrong decision that gets corrected quickly is cheaper than a slow correct decision.

Why?

Because startups learn through cycles.

→ Decision
→ Action
→ Feedback
→ Adjustment

The faster the cycle, the faster the company learns.

And in early-stage companies, learning speed is survival.

Slow decisions don’t protect startups.

They quietly kill them.

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Elizabeth Jepsen, M.A.

Aashik Thakkar

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taplio

The Battle

Elizabeth Jepsen, M.A.

Aashik Thakkar

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Elizabeth Jepsen, M.A.'s LinkedIn Performance

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