Emerging in the Marketing Technology Space: Q&A With Katie Martell of Cintell

First of all, how is business these days?

Thrilling. Businesses are focused on growth, and that means improving marketing is top-of-mind for these executives. That has led to an increase in attention and focus on solutions like ours that help companies better gather intelligence on their target market, and use that insight to drive empathy and stronger customer engagement in their own organizations.

What led you to start your own business?

I’ve always marketed to B2B marketers, and being so laser-focused on this functional area has taught me what works and what doesn’t. It helped me to realize that the biggest and most pervasive challenge facing B2B marketers was not understanding their buyers in a way that allows them, and the rest of the organization, to make customer-driven decisions. As a result, business consumers mistrust brands, and all the money being spent in marketing and sales is largely wasted.

My co-founder and I saw an opportunity to make it easier for companies to get to know their buyers, and use technology to drive that insight into the rest of their business. At the end of the day, our goal is to create a customer-centric world, because we believe it has the opportunity to fundamentally change the way businesses operate. This means a better world for buyers, and a better world for the companies selling to them. This vision led us to start Cintell.

What sources did you use for startup capital?

Our first round of financing was from friends and family, and our network.

What do you think is your biggest business strength?

Resourcefulness is everything in a resource-strapped environment like a startup. I have been relentlessly curious about how things are done in marketing and it has helped me to compile a set of skills that I can apply to the business. I am a "Jill of All Trades"—from events, to PR, design, public speaking, social, email marketing, measurement, and copywriting—I am good enough to be dangerous at all of it. As we grow, we will expand the team and hire specialists in these areas, but having the varied skillset and an eye on the high-level strategy at all times has allowed us to gain traction early, with limited spend.

What do you enjoy most about owning your own business?

Being my own boss, doing things my way, and embracing this flexibility.

What’s your least favorite part of running a business?

Some days it feels like the world is on your shoulders. No matter what, there are never enough hours in the day to get to everything you’d like to get done.

What do you think are important entrepreneurial skills to have?

The hardest part of entrepreneurship is prioritizing those things that will make a true difference, and delegation. Activity does not always equate to success. Spending time on the activity that “moves the needle” is critical.

What are some challenges you’ve faced in business and how did you overcome them?

In our category, there are many marketing technology vendors vying for the attention of our buyers: B2B marketing leadership. This means we are not fighting against an established competitor, but rather fighting for the very limited mindshare and time of marketers. To overcome this, we first got to know the specific problems of our buyers and used that to guide our messaging from day one—in their words, understanding their problems, and reflecting their priorities.

What do you wish you’d known before you started out?

Nothing really ever goes as planned. That’s okay.

What is the smartest move you have made with your business so far?

The people in your startup are your strongest asset. As soon as we launched the initial version of our product, we hired the smartest customer experience professional I knew: Kristin Farwell. Her experience, her tenacity, and her genuine care for our customers ensure that anyone who interacts with Cintell has a pleasant, helpful, and valuable experience, from someone wanting to see a demo to a paying customer who she is training or onboarding. I am proud for her to represent our brand and the result of her efforts—happy customers—is an invaluable outcome.

How do you find new customers? What do you do to make sure they become return customers?

There are many strategies working in tandem. One particular strategy that’s worked well for us is providing educational material that not only informs, but also inspires our potential customers to do and think about things differently. There is much confusion in the world of buyer personas and a little education and guidance goes a long way. We use a variety of channels for this: thought leadership bylines, speaking engagements, guest blog posts, and our own content produced in partnership with industry leaders. Once we establish some brand awareness and trust with this content, we’re laser-focused on converting contacts into free trial users. They are then given personal attention by our team to understand their specific challenges, and how we can best help them with our tool.

What’s your management style with employees?

At this stage of the business, the traditional management structure of a large organization is not effective. It causes too much mistrust and red tape. Because we are hiring domain experts, they are trusted to own and run with their projects in a way that doesn’t require day-to-day micromanagement. Instead, I see my role as an advocate for those employees who report to me, and we are very transparent with our weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals and objectives. We openly share which projects we’ve knocked out of the park, and which we missed. Most important, we share lessons learned.

What are some other companies or entrepreneurs you admire, and why?

I’m surrounded by really wonderful female leaders here in Boston whom I respect, admire, and learn from constantly. They include Anita Brearton, Founder of CabinetM, who has taught me the importance and power of negotiation; Nataly Kogan, Co-Founder and CEO of Happier, who has taught me the meaning of focus and gratitude; Maribeth Ross, who instilled the need to measure results and demonstrate impact on a consistent basis; and Katelyn Holbrook, who has shown me the outcome of hard work, a sense of humor, and thoughtful communication plans. There are countless others. They are my people.

Do you have an inspirational quote?

“Accept no one’s definition of your life, define yourself.”

What new initiatives are you working on?

We are wrapping up a benchmark report analyzing how B2B organizations in the United States create, use, and maintain buyer personas in an attempt to understand their buyers. The results will be published in a benchmark study, and the framework will be used to develop an assessment tool to help marketers benchmark themselves.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to start a business similar to yours?

In the world of marketing technology, because there is so much competition, do your research. Be sure that the idea you have is solving an expressed need that will directly impact the lives of your clients, without them needing to take a leap of faith or invest much effort before they start to see results.

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Photo courtesy of Cintell