Last night I watched the Great Hack on Netflix. Highly recommended. Here's a TL;DR oversimplification on how it all worked: SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, created a psychographics-based methodology to manipulate political opinion in developing nations. It worked, and they formed Cambridge Analytica to participate in the US election process. Their methodology was [...]
Sales Engineers are the MVPs of SaaS
I graduated college back in the mid-90s when a 56k modem was considered high-speed internet. I started my tech career in QA at a software startup called AimTech that created authoring software for multimedia apps. We competed with Macromedia Director, and eventually Macromedia Flash. Through my QA job, I became an expert on our product [...]
Oh Shit, Now What?
Okay let me start by paying off this clickbait headline right away: A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. TL;DR I made life changes, and so far they are working. Let's take a step back. I've never exactly been a skinny guy. Even back in high school when I was [...]
There and back again
Today I started a new job at Acquia, the open source digital experience company. Yeah, that Acquia. https://twitter.com/twentworth12/status/282151641401155586 First day at Acquia in 2012 Since I left in 2015, Acquia has exploded to over $200m in revenue. Dries, Lynne, Tim & team have done a fantastic job turning Acquia into a digital experience powerhouse. Bigger, [...]
My 2018 Book Report
A year ago today, I challenged myself to read err listen to more books in 2018. Thanks to a long commute and Audible, I hit my goal. Here’s a quick review of all the new books I read in 2018 (in alphabetical order) with my unscientific rating at the end. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies [...]
Bad Bros and Bad Blood: a Summer Vacation Book Report
Hey kids: I know you hate all that summer reading you get assigned at the end of every school year. But when you grow up, you’ll discover that reading books is actually the best part of your summer vacation. Here’s what I read on my summer vacation. Brotopia — by Emily Chang I already knew most of the [...]
How to do A/B/N testing in a Pardot Engagement Stream
Want to do A/B testing in a Pardot Engagement Stream? You can’t 🙁 Well, not without a little bit of customization. Here’s a simple workaround for doing A/B/N testing in a Pardot engagement stream using a Salesforce APEX trigger. I won’t get into the details of building an APEX trigger, so if you aren’t comfortable with [...]
Debunking Five Analyst Relations Myths
Analyst relations is easily the most misunderstood function in marketing. I’ve been involved with analyst relations — or AR — for over a decade, working on dozens of Gartner Magic Quadrants and Forrester Waves. I’ve experienced the impact that analyst relations, when done well, can have on growth. And I know how much time and effort it takes to [...]
What I Learned Building an App on the Drift Platform
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — I was a Computer Science major at the University of Illinois. I grew up programming in BASIC on a variety of hardware, including my beloved TI 99/4A and then later a Commodore Amiga. My parents came up with a brilliant strategy to get me to learn [...]
Your Best Startup Strategy is Better Execution
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not that time. The other one. The time where your startup gets together and starts planning for the upcoming year. Some of you have already finished this process, but with my fiscal year ending in January, I’m currently in the midst of it. That’s why this [...]