Jason McGinnis

He doesn’t yodel.

Beyond that, I’m pretty sure Jason McKinnis does just about everything else.

Jason is one of those rare ambidextrous talents whose experience covers sales, corporate marketing, product marketing, and brand development on both the corporate and agency sides. He's held senior leadership positions at Clickatell, Lighthouse, Smith, Solavei, Motricity, and founded his own marketing agency, Craft and Theory.  

Baseball heralds its five-tool players. Jason might be a six-tool guy. 

Jason and I worked together 100 years ago when he was senior marketing manager at Infospace. We recently reconnected at Third Culture Coffee in Bellevue for a blazing-fast hour of catching up. 

Some highlights:

1) Inspiring Partners: Jason described his inspiration working with many great people over the years, especially “Wireless Jim” Jim Ryan, who orchestrated AT&T’s exclusive partnership with Apple for the launch of the first iPhone. Remember when you had to be with AT&T to own an iPhone? That’s a powerhouse partnership.

2) The Reason to Go IPO: Sometimes companies go public to raise money and scale the business. Other times they do it to pay back the original investors. When you see companies struggle rather than soar after an IPO, that might be a reason why. Also, retail investors, beware.

3) Founding to Scaling: What makes a small company take off in the early years is not the same thing as what makes grow big and sustain that growth. It’s a mindset shift in senior leadership that needs to evolve from early, necessary hands-on involvement to strategic direction setting, agreeing on the plan to get there, providing resources, and evaluating progress. It’s a significant challenge many successful founders face.

4) Everything Goes Down Better with Sugar: We discussed effective leadership and people management, especially in high-performance environments. Some good rules; compliment people before sharing honest feedback about improvement areas. Praise in public, offer constructive feedback in private. And start meetings by telling a joke or sharing some small talk. It may seem frivolous, but it creates an emotional bond that leads to better collaboration and more commitment as a team. 

There is always more to learn and opportunities to get better throughout your career. Spending just an hour with Jason made me better. I can’t wait to do it again. 

Thank you Jason for being part of the Reconnect Roadshow.

#founders #business #team #leadership #coffee #thankyou