Name: 'No one has ever solved the problems we're solving right now'
Uploaded: 2023-12-20T15:34:06.205Z
Duration: 585.62

Meet the Chief Strategy Officer V3.mp4

Meet the Chief Strategy Officer V3.vtt

English

{{00:00:00}}
What I bring is, you know, a
passion for solving the problems

{{00:00:04}}
that the company solves.

{{00:00:09}}
I'm Jeff Coyle.

{{00:00:10}}
I'm the co founder and chief
strategy officer for MarketMuse.

{{00:00:13}}
MarketMuse is a content
intelligence platform that sets

{{00:00:17}}
the standard for content quality.

{{00:00:18}}
So what we do is we give insights to
content teams, content strategy teams,

{{00:00:23}}
editorial teams, and search engine
optimisation teams on what content they

{{00:00:27}}
should be creating, why they should
be creating it, how much, what's the

{{00:00:30}}
level of effort for these projects.

{{00:00:32}}
And we take that all the way down
to updating existing content,

{{00:00:36}}
building outlines and briefs all
the things that take a lot of

{{00:00:40}}
time to do manually with content.

{{00:00:45}}
My progression being a co founder,
it's who's, who's on the bus?

{{00:00:49}}
And now, you know, what things are we
good at and so having started being

{{00:00:54}}
the first kind of go to market, so
leading, selling the first market

{{00:00:58}}
news, you know, evangelising for and
my co founder at the time was focused

{{00:01:02}}
on, you know, building the initial
product as well as fundraising.

{{00:01:07}}
And then over time, that's evolved and,
you know, you hire team members that

{{00:01:11}}
are better than you at every job, which
is always the goal of any co founder.

{{00:01:14}}
So in my time  at MarketMuse, I have
done that I've built the initial

{{00:01:20}}
sales group, done customer success.

{{00:01:23}}
Then got back to build as a product
officer,  and then moved on to

{{00:01:29}}
strategy officer, which was more
like I'm advising for all the teams.

{{00:01:33}}
And then from there, now I've transitioned
back to being the product officer.

{{00:01:38}}
So  my role is very fluid.

{{00:01:40}}
And  as my soccer coach used
to say see a need, fill a need.

{{00:01:48}}
Market insight, I'd say you know, it's
really hard when you're working inside

{{00:01:53}}
the walls of your organisation to.

{{00:01:55}}
Have perspective on product market
maturity, on competitive landscape,

{{00:02:01}}
on what's happening in the industry.

{{00:02:03}}
And I take that on effectively as my role.

{{00:02:05}}
So being able to say, hey this
company is doing something interesting

{{00:02:09}}
that we need to spend our time
on is one of the critical things.

{{00:02:13}}
And then, you know, just being a
sounding board for the various team

{{00:02:16}}
leaders to say, you know, how does this
fit into the overall market ecosystem?

{{00:02:22}}
Should I be doing this differently?

{{00:02:24}}
Because you can get stuck in your own
walls and forget the world exists.

{{00:02:28}}
And so I take on that role as the CSO.

{{00:02:35}}
Passion for the market you're in,
they need to know why they're there.

{{00:02:39}}
For it to even be  a rule.

{{00:02:42}}
Even to be something that you
would want at your company.

{{00:02:44}}
I think what I bring is, you
know, passion for solving the

{{00:02:49}}
problems that the company solves.

{{00:02:51}}
You might be in a situation where
a CSO, their role is to make.

{{00:02:55}}
Maybe you're disorganised and they
are bringing organisation like a COO

{{00:02:58}}
would and they're like hybrid of those
two things or that they have some

{{00:03:03}}
sort of level of expertise, almost
like a member of your board would

{{00:03:06}}
be, but they're not on your board.

{{00:03:08}}
This is their day to day.

{{00:03:09}}
So I think it matters the type of
business, the size of the business,

{{00:03:13}}
how kind of mature the organisation is.

{{00:03:15}}
I see it as primarily being,
you know, the voice of  the

{{00:03:20}}
market, voice of the customer.

{{00:03:21}}
Yeah.

{{00:03:21}}
that maybe nobody else
has those types of skills.

{{00:03:27}}
And that's, that's what I uniquely bring.

{{00:03:29}}
But the passion has to be there.

{{00:03:34}}
My entire career has been to
think about solving puzzles.

{{00:03:39}}
I always used to say that being an
SEO was a socially acceptable way

{{00:03:43}}
to get paid to do puzzles, right?

{{00:03:45}}
And that to me was the origin of
how can I build products that will.

{{00:03:51}}
Solve these mysteries.

{{00:03:53}}
And so what excites me about
this job is we are now so close.

{{00:03:57}}
We're delivering editorially appropriate
insights so they can see that and

{{00:04:03}}
see where their art where their
expertise Can blend well with data

{{00:04:07}}
and that has never been the case.

{{00:04:09}}
We have all this amazing data that if
you could use it would change the way

{{00:04:13}}
your business works And give bringing it
to those teams in a way where they go.

{{00:04:19}}
Wow.

{{00:04:19}}
Yeah, that's exactly what I need  that's
what drives me because I would love

{{00:04:23}}
nothing more than to have an editor in
chief of a large publication that we work

{{00:04:28}}
with feel like I heard them as an expert.

{{00:04:33}}
I value their expertise and what I
delivered made them more successful

{{00:04:38}}
without jeopardising their
authenticity or their expertise.

{{00:04:45}}
Having the technical background allows
you to see how one change here can

{{00:04:50}}
influence every single other team.

{{00:04:52}}
In a way that many CSOs that don't
have that background, they may be

{{00:04:56}}
just looking at it as spreadsheets,
P& L, making more money, but the

{{00:05:01}}
change that they make may trickle down
and negatively impact an engineering

{{00:05:06}}
decision that was made six months ago.

{{00:05:08}}
So I think what it allows you to
do  is practice, you know, some sort

{{00:05:12}}
of form of empathy instead of just,
here's what, the decision we made.

{{00:05:19}}
How quickly the maturity
of products move today.

{{00:05:24}}
And the disruption that artificial
intelligence has caused is impactful to

{{00:05:29}}
every product manager, every company.

{{00:05:32}}
And it takes a situation where
what workflows and what use

{{00:05:37}}
cases are in the growth phase.

{{00:05:40}}
That's, those are the things that
people will pay lots of money for.

{{00:05:43}}
Then you have things
where they are mature.

{{00:05:46}}
Everyone needs this thing and there
are a number of options for that.

{{00:05:51}}
But then you get saturation.

{{00:05:53}}
And saturation is when
something becomes ubiquitous.

{{00:05:55}}
And there's hundreds of options
and very little differentiation.

{{00:06:00}}
So what keeps me up at night is that the
introduction of newer forms of linguistics

{{00:06:05}}
and natural language processing,
natural language generation, which is

{{00:06:08}}
the field that I work in, are moving
so fast that you can take an industry

{{00:06:13}}
from growth to saturation overnight.

{{00:06:16}}
And we've seen it happen.

{{00:06:17}}
So what keeps me up at night is the
fact that This technology moves faster

{{00:06:23}}
than anything we've ever experienced.

{{00:06:25}}
And so all the solutions that
everyone, whether they're, if they

{{00:06:28}}
don't tell you this, they're lying.

{{00:06:30}}
Everything that someone's doing
as an executive in a technology

{{00:06:33}}
company right now is the first
time anyone's ever done it.

{{00:06:38}}
Right?

{{00:06:38}}
And that should keep
them up at night, too.

{{00:06:41}}
Because no one has ever solved the
problems that we're solving right now.

{{00:06:49}}
I've kind of jumped around a
lot, and so I know the things

{{00:06:51}}
that I'm not, I'm not great at.

{{00:06:53}}
I'm, I should never be the one
actually making the presentation.

{{00:06:58}}
I can build the storyboard, because
I'm really into storytelling, and I can

{{00:07:02}}
build the index cards to go in them,
but to actually build them, not for me.

{{00:07:06}}
I'm not good at it, it takes
me forever, and I'm really

{{00:07:08}}
particular, so I over analyse it.

{{00:07:11}}
Ironically, anything that involves
actually writing I'm good at building

{{00:07:17}}
the structures of stories, but
actually sitting down and saying,

{{00:07:19}}
it just takes me way longer.

{{00:07:21}}
If you've ever been in a sales position
or a business development situation

{{00:07:24}}
where, you know, all that people cared
about was the number on a spreadsheet

{{00:07:27}}
it can take some heart out of it.

{{00:07:30}}
And so, anything that takes the
heart out of my job is the the

{{00:07:34}}
stuff I would love to not have.

{{00:07:39}}
If you don't have shared KPIs and shared
priorities, and you don't make that

{{00:07:43}}
a priority,  you have to expect that.

{{00:07:46}}
You have to expect that if my job
depends on this number, and your job

{{00:07:51}}
depends on that number, If we're,
if we are in unison, without working

{{00:07:56}}
on it, we're not doing our jobs.

{{00:07:58}}
We're lying.

{{00:07:59}}
And so for, for, for me, it's about if
we're going to hold our own separate KPIs

{{00:08:04}}
as separate groups, we all have a shared
one, but we should expect that  they're

{{00:08:08}}
going to cause a lack of alignment.

{{00:08:11}}
And if we don't, we're actually
just either lying or not being

{{00:08:13}}
respectful of the other team.

{{00:08:16}}
Because if I can say, yeah, well
my number is shipping this product.

{{00:08:20}}
Yours is a revenue number.

{{00:08:22}}
Their CX is a churn number, or a
renewal count, or, and then, you

{{00:08:26}}
know, we all got along natively?

{{00:08:31}}
We're not actually being genuine
in our, in our situation there.

{{00:08:35}}
So I, appreciate that.

{{00:08:36}}
As long as it's done with respect.

{{00:08:38}}
And respect for the expertise and,
and how much work it takes to do

{{00:08:43}}
their job, it can be a good thing.

{{00:08:49}}
I own a beer brewery as well
as a co founder of Markamuse.

{{00:08:54}}
So I would probably be leaning
in and doing full time at a beer

{{00:08:58}}
brewery in Brunswick, Georgia.

{{00:09:01}}
We are World Beer Cup
medalists this year, won a U.

{{00:09:04}}
S.

{{00:09:04}}
Open medal in 2020.

{{00:09:07}}
And it is also one of my passions.

{{00:09:09}}
It's one of the few things I enjoy
writing about, which is funny.

{{00:09:12}}
Which also led to a previous
question that I answered to say,

{{00:09:15}}
if you're not passionate about
it, it's really, really difficult.

{{00:09:18}}
So that would be probably
what I would be doing.

{{00:09:20}}
Or You know, building a search
engine of some sort or working

{{00:09:24}}
at a search engine company.

{{00:09:26}}
It's a building content that
tells the story of expertise.

{{00:09:30}}
Is kind of my, where my
heart is on the product side.

{{00:09:36}}
And then on the other side,
it's making really good beer.

What I bring is, you know, a
passion for solving the problems

I'm the co founder and chief
strategy officer for MarketMuse.

MarketMuse is a content
intelligence platform that sets

So what we do is we give insights to
content teams, content strategy teams,

editorial teams, and search engine
optimisation teams on what content they

should be creating, why they should
be creating it, how much, what's the

And we take that all the way down
to updating existing content,

building outlines and briefs all
the things that take a lot of

My progression being a co founder,
it's who's, who's on the bus?

And now, you know, what things are we
good at and so having started being

the first kind of go to market, so
leading, selling the first market

news, you know, evangelising for and
my co founder at the time was focused

on, you know, building the initial
product as well as fundraising.

And then over time, that's evolved and,
you know, you hire team members that

are better than you at every job, which
is always the goal of any co founder.

So in my time  at MarketMuse, I have
done that I've built the initial

Then got back to build as a product
officer,  and then moved on to

strategy officer, which was more
like I'm advising for all the teams.

And then from there, now I've transitioned
back to being the product officer.

And  as my soccer coach used
to say see a need, fill a need.

Market insight, I'd say you know, it's
really hard when you're working inside

Have perspective on product market
maturity, on competitive landscape,

And I take that on effectively as my role.

So being able to say, hey this
company is doing something interesting

that we need to spend our time
on is one of the critical things.

And then, you know, just being a
sounding board for the various team

leaders to say, you know, how does this
fit into the overall market ecosystem?

Because you can get stuck in your own
walls and forget the world exists.

Passion for the market you're in,
they need to know why they're there.

Even to be something that you
would want at your company.

I think what I bring is, you
know, passion for solving the

You might be in a situation where
a CSO, their role is to make.

Maybe you're disorganised and they
are bringing organisation like a COO

would and they're like hybrid of those
two things or that they have some

sort of level of expertise, almost
like a member of your board would

So I think it matters the type of
business, the size of the business,

I see it as primarily being,
you know, the voice of  the

that maybe nobody else
has those types of skills.

And that's, that's what I uniquely bring.

My entire career has been to
think about solving puzzles.

I always used to say that being an
SEO was a socially acceptable way

And that to me was the origin of
how can I build products that will.

And so what excites me about
this job is we are now so close.

We're delivering editorially appropriate
insights so they can see that and

see where their art where their
expertise Can blend well with data

We have all this amazing data that if
you could use it would change the way

your business works And give bringing it
to those teams in a way where they go.

Yeah, that's exactly what I need  that's
what drives me because I would love

nothing more than to have an editor in
chief of a large publication that we work

with feel like I heard them as an expert.

I value their expertise and what I
delivered made them more successful

without jeopardising their
authenticity or their expertise.

Having the technical background allows
you to see how one change here can

In a way that many CSOs that don't
have that background, they may be

just looking at it as spreadsheets,
P& L, making more money, but the

change that they make may trickle down
and negatively impact an engineering

So I think what it allows you to
do  is practice, you know, some sort

of form of empathy instead of just,
here's what, the decision we made.

How quickly the maturity
of products move today.

And the disruption that artificial
intelligence has caused is impactful to

And it takes a situation where
what workflows and what use

That's, those are the things that
people will pay lots of money for.

Then you have things
where they are mature.

Everyone needs this thing and there
are a number of options for that.

And saturation is when
something becomes ubiquitous.

And there's hundreds of options
and very little differentiation.

So what keeps me up at night is that the
introduction of newer forms of linguistics

and natural language processing,
natural language generation, which is

the field that I work in, are moving
so fast that you can take an industry

So what keeps me up at night is the
fact that This technology moves faster

Meet the Leaders

Explainer

Any company with success in mind must have a considered plan to do so. The crucial role of Chief Strategy Officer helps seed these ideas and makes sure companies are capitalising on any growth opportunities. But what is it really like to be in the shoes of a CSO?

Jeff Coyle, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at MarketMuse, talks to us about the ins and outs of being a CSO and what it takes to succeed in the role.