Operations

The department was organised to produce output rather than own outcomes: channels had people working on them but no single person accountable for their numbers.

Data was locked down for good security reasons, which meant most teams made decisions without seeing their own numbers.

Tracking what competitors were doing across their channels and reviews was manual, inconsistent and time-consuming, so it happened late and produced snapshots instead of a trend.

We publish a large volume of content against the tax regulations of more than 100 countries, and the brand runs on that content being right. Checking what has changed, and what competitors have moved on, took more time than the team had.

Inbound from accountants wanting to partner and affiliates asking questions arrived faster than it could be answered well, and most of answering it well is repetition.

There was no shared view of where money was going, no operating rhythm to track performance, and a communication culture so private that the CEO had no visibility into what her own team was doing.

There was no product function. A single person was acting as a product tester, loosely connecting engineering to the rest of the business, with no ownership, no roadmap, and no operating system. Engineering missed deadlines consistently, and the CEO was the only thread holding it together, which kept her stuck in execution instead of where her network could actually create value.

On why I do not longer work here

The marketing team had zero access to email. Every send went through the platform, making campaigns, flow optimization, and testing completely impossible.

Building a marketing function from zero in a fully remote, internationally distributed environment with no existing structure, playbook, or budget history.