Cofounder of Chubbies + Loop Returns | Now, Marathon: A managed technology platform + bespoke services offering helping you exit the short-term direct-response hamster wheel to find your balance of Brand and performance

Chubbies and Loop Returns co founder. Now, applying those lessons and mistakes to help consumer brands transition to a balance of Brand and performance with software that measures the future rev impact of brand, incrementality studies to validate; and the media management and creative production to actually execute on the vision. MarathonDataCo.com

Classic AI software + services combo. 

This is all informed by our firsthand experience and a desire to help brands go through the transition that transformed our business and helped us get acquired for a massive number and continue to grow super profitably today...but without all the pain and heartache we had to go through...

You see, Chubbies almost went out of business because of the exact problem we're trying to solve at Marathon.

In the early days at Chubbies we built Brand because we had to. We had no money. We were scrappy, creative, dynamic. 

And we built an awesome Brand.

Then we monetized that Brand with performance DR. 

We convinced ourselves that that was the source of our growth. 

We almost went out of business.

We righted the ship and built, brick by brick, to a >$100m exit, culminating in a >$1B IPO, and now, doing well over $100M / year at nearly a 30% EBITDA margin, but to do that we had to overcome the overwhelming pressure to take a short–termist approach.

As we've seen this direct–to–consumer brand market evolve over the years, we've seen the same cycle happen to nearly every other business out there: Starting hot, pushing performance marketing, then stalling out and never getting to long-term sustainable growth.

This was the problem we felt absolutely compelled to solve because we felt for these brand builders and entrepreneurs. We were in their shoes. And but for a whole lotta luck and a gritty–a** team, it would have sunk us.

Then we looked around and realized there just isn't anything on the market that helps companies do this — this most important thing imaginable.

So that's what we're working towards, would love your feedback.

Preston 🩳 Rutherford

Cambium Learning Group

SVP, Revenue and Growth Marketing, Time4Learning

Embodied, Inc.

Brought on by the Founder/CEO to oversee direct-to-consumer revenue growth for Moxie, a learning robot for kids powered by AI. I led the company to define a new go-to-market strategy. As the Head of Marketing, I built and led 7-person full-funnel marketing team and 2 agencies across brand marketing, media, performance marketing, creative and lifecycle. I also shepherded the team through brand evolution, price testing, a major website migration and channel expansion onto Amazon.

Chief Marketing Officer 

Literati

Established integrated marketing function  to scale & drive the Literati brand across 3 business lines; kids book box subscriptions,  celebrity-backed adult book box subscriptions and school book fairs, (a business acquired from Follett in January 2021.) Built and oversaw team of 10 across content, brand, product marketing, performance marketing and lifecycle. Directly reported to the Founder & CEO. 

∎ Optimized subscription funnel and accelerated ad testing to decrease CAC 38% 
∎ Refined target personas and brand positioning to align with expanded go-to-market strategy.. 
∎ Activated partnerships with celebrities including Malala, Steph Curry, Richard Branson and more. 
∎ Absorbed Follett book fair business, rebranded experience in 60 days for first school season, launched Salesforce, and delivered meaningful incremental revenue growth within 8 months of acquisition.

Vice President Marketing

WayBetter

Re-energized subscription fitness app through expanded activations with creators scaling to 20-25 digital events/week.  
∎ Led 15-person team across brand marketing, performance marketing, and lifecycle to grow subscribers by 50% while testing into higher price point. Reported to CRO.  ∎ Launched brand podcast leveraging insights from creator community

SVP, Marketing and Growth

Custom Ink

Joined a 20-year-old e-commerce business for custom apparel, in the midst of a transition to omni-channel with the opening of stores and sales teams. Reported to the SVP, Marketing. 


∎Led marketing strategy to open over 30 stores and launch regional sales teams across the country. 
∎Guided spend decisions between channels and helped evaluate channel incrementality as a member of the Marketing Leadership Team.
∎Increased repeat customer sales through integrated and expanded direct response program across email, SMS and direct mail. 
∎Partnered cross-functionally to reimagine our customer journey between site, stores and sales outreach.

Director of Marketing, Direct Response & Lifecycle 

Inspire

Started with a blank canvas as employee #8 at Inspire Clean Energy, a subscription that provides homeowners and small businesses with clean energy and smart home products for a flat, monthly price.  Built a go-to-market organization of 30, with 10 direct reports across growth, brand, digital, social and lifecycle. Partnered with senior leadership to codify and reinforce Inspire's truly unique mission and culture. Reported to the CRO. Inspire was successfully acquired by Shell in 2021.

∎Defined target personas, brand and positioning that took Inspire from tiny start-up to $XXXM in ARR. 
∎Launched and scaled marketing channels across paid search, paid social, display, direct mail and partnerships. 
∎Developed “Do the Bright Thing” non-profit to empower rising leaders in clean tech 
∎Garnered brand recognition by obtaining B Corp certification and industry buzz with features in TechCrunch, Greentech Media, Huffpost, NY Times, NY Post & Mashable.

Senior Director, Brand & Customer Experience 

Director, Acquisition Marketing 

UrbanSitter

Hired as first full-time General Manager for UrbanSitter, a babysitting marketplace, and developed a playbook to launch new markets across the U.S. 

∎Led launch and growth in Southern California market and moved it from the #10 market to the #2 market for the business, with a 113% increase in subscribers. 
∎Tripled YoY growth in first time parent booking for the Southern California market by implementing an integrated multi-touch lead nurture process.  
∎Created a partnership program and tracking model that became a benchmark for the company; developing over 20 affiliate partnerships with parenting and kids-focused brands
∎Designed, planned, and launched Southern CA event marketing strategy with 4-10 events/week with parenting and kids-focused brands.

General Manager, Sales & Marketing

BSH Home Appliances Corporation - North America

Promoted to Brand Manager after less than one year, leading all Bosch marketing for North America and reporting to the Marketing Managing Director across BSH's brand porfolio. Designed and led all strategic marketing initiatives across brand, growth, influencer, partnerships, social media, events & PR.

∎ Made Bosch the #1 dishwasher brand in the U.S. and a leader in the mass premium kitchen space.  
∎ Ensured the successful launch of the brand’s first premium line, exclusive to independent accounts, the Bosch Benchmark Series. 
∎ Increased aided brand awareness by 9% over 3 years through omnichannel marketing campaigns across paid search, paid social, display, print and OOH. 
∎ Drove customer acquisition & retention, brand fandom, and industry buzz by designing and launching high-end experiential events at CES, IBS, Napa Valley Food & Wine Festival, Disney Epcot, Sunset Magazine Idea House, House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year, and more. 
∎ Led significant digital transformation towards digital lead generation and online sales, migrating to Adobe Experience Manager CMS, rearchitecting the brand website and piloting the first D2C brand sales through Shopify.

Brand Manager, Bosch

Joined Bosch Home Appliances just as it was exiting the laundry business, struggling with the rise of Samsung and LG, and seeing stalled growth in brand awareness. 

∎ Redefined the brand as the Premium European Kitchen brand for the North American market 
∎ Led successful visual and strategic brand transformation (value propositions, brand architecture, messaging, visual identity, etc.) in partnership with brand agency.
∎ Launched partner campaigns with Disney, GreenTech Media, Serenbe, Reckitt Benkiser, Dwell Magazine that reached or exceeded success metrics and brand fandom

Associate Brand Manager, Bosch

Prosek Partners (Previously Mandelbaum Partners) 

When Lehman Brothers fell, a nice calm job doing corporate communications for the financial services industry became a lesson in navigating chaos. As a member of a 3 person firm, I learned all things crisis communications, media outreach, and storytelling under pressure.

Corporate Communications Associate

BBM&D Strategic Branding

Marketing Specialist

I've spent my 15+ year career leading marketing across mission-driven consumer technology and educational brands. I'm an expert at driving subscription and e-commerce revenue through acquisition and retention. 

My passion is building world-class teams where people are learning everyday and empowered to be their best selves. I'm an Activator dedicated to turning ideas into action, (according to StrengthsFinder it’s my top talent!) 

Some recent business themes I've worked on: 

*Cracking acquisition outside of walled gardens
*Partnering with product and content teams to build brands that pull vs. push 
*Identifying target personas & fortifying differentiation
*Extending subscriber retention 
*Navigating monetization model transitions

I’ve managed teams of 20+ and led growth budgets exceeding $40M but I’ve also been a one-woman show, built ambidextrous teams from the ground up and tested out ideas with $500. Big or small, the teams I've led have been successful through compounding growth.

After getting my MBA, my first big marketing gig started with selling dishwashers, and by that I mean the most dishwashers of any brand in North America! We also made the Bosch home appliance brand the definitive European kitchen line with double-digit YoY growth in kitchen package sales. 

I fell in love with growth-stage businesses at Inspire Clean Energy, where I joined as employee #8. Within 3 years, we were listed at #196 on the Inc 5000 for revenue growth and had built a team of 150+. The company was ultimately acquired by Shell. 

After Inspire, I led direct response & lifecycle marketing at e-commerce brand Custom Ink. At Literati, I oversaw the marketing team and drove acquisition and retention through our D2C subscriptions and school partnerships.   

-Extensive experience leading growth-stage organizations and owning budgets from $500K-$40M at 3-5 ROAS.
-A strong understanding of data and its ability to enable a better customer experience 
-Proven ability to identify high-potential customers, channels and messaging that promotes high relevancy and urgency.
-Extensive background optimizing the marketing funnel and owning attribution within and across channels. 
-Successful track record of developing brand-aligned partnerships to improve access to target personas.
-Broad experience advocating for voice of customer in executive level product, sales, finance and technology decisions.

Learn more about me & my work at micaelashaw.com

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Preston 🩳 Rutherford

Micaela Shaw

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