Craig Zingerline

I'm a serial entrepreneur currently working as CEO of Growth Minded, where I work each day to help startups succeed. Prior to Growth Minded, I founded Velocity Growth and scaled to 7-figure ARR, was Chief Product Officer at Sandboxx and before that, Head of Growth at Upside Travel. I've been a co-founder of 6 companies (4 startups & 2 agencies) and have advised or consulted for close to 200 others. I'm an active startup coach who is well versed in all aspects of startup strategy - including product, marketing, and growth. I've got deep experience helping high growth B2C companies grow, have worked with some of the fastest growing B2B companies, and have deep experience in E-commerce as well. Work I've done has won over 60 web awards, including 3 Webby awards. I'm as comfortable bootstrapping as I am running marketing teams with over $1M in weekly spend. My deep startup experience enables me to look at the big picture holistically and outline core strategies that drive more growth for my companies. My core specialties within growth are retention based growth, activation (driving more people through the funnel), experimentation, and email marketing, but I'm well versed in all aspects of growth.

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  Advice on funding

  As a founder I've raised over $2.5M for startups across B2C and B2B. As an advisor I've helped companies raise another few million. I spent some time managing one of the most prominent Accelerator's in the USA (LAUNCH) and as a result vetted and did diligence on dozens of companies. I understand what investors are looking for, how to build a strong and compelling deck, and how to get your company in front of investors. I'm also a small investor myself.

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  Bootstrapping

  I've bootstrapped 3 companies to profitability and love looking at sustainable, organic growth strategies. If you need help thinking through ways to drive growth, I'm always happy to dig in.

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  Email marketing

  I started my career as an engineer at an Email Marketing company, so I know the industry well. As a growth/product lead, I've: grown an engaged email list by over 650% in 12 months for a B2B company, built an email list from 0 to 50k in 6 months for a B2B company, increased open rates by over 50% through A/B testing for a B2C company, increased CTRs for a B2C company by >300% for a B2C company. I know the ins and outs of deliverability, list growth, activation & more.

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  Growth marketing

  I'm well versed in all aspects of growth including the Pirate Funnel (AARRR) strategies around Acquisition, Activation, Referrel, Revenue & Retention. I’ve helped dozens of companies with growth, and have lead teams of up to 15 people. Highlights: Helped a B2C company grow to over 1M subscribers in under 18 months, Helped a Travel company grow their user base by > 700% in 12 months, reduced CAC for a client by over 1000% in 12 months.

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  PPC strategies

  I've built and run growth programs for Bootstrapped SaaS companies to Consumer companies with over $1M in monthly budget. I've worked across a wide variety of industries. I can help you maximize your ROI regardless of your budget, and implement the set of tools you can use across all paid channels.

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  Product management

  I've built over 100 sites and apps in my 20 year career, and am currently Chief Product Officer at Sandboxx. I'm a regular speaker at Product School events, and run a Product Bootcamp for entrepreneurs looking to get their product to market. I believe great products need great growth, and I tend to look at product development from a growth mindset from the start. I also generally advise on building market testable features, and launching early to get feedback from real users.

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  Product market fit

  Having PM fit is critical before you start trying to scale your business. If you try to grow fast before you have product market fit, you'll likely waste time and money. Or worse - you may never get off the ground. I've learned this the hard way after trying to scale a startup before we had PM traction, luckily figured it out in time, and grew slower but smarter - eventually scaling.

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  SEO

  I look at this as more than just SEO, and include referrals, SEO and content marketing as a comprehensive organic plan. Organic channels can be immensely powerful for your company regardless of stage, amount of capital raised, or revenue. I can help you define what levers you can pull to drive more organic traffic, what it takes from a time and team standpoint, and how to determine which areas to focus on first.

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  Sales

  Need help building an outbound strategy from scratch? I've built outbound strategies for B2B, B2C and eCommerce companies that have enabled inside sales teams (with some help from marketing) go from zero to millions in revenue. I've built sales lead processes from scratch, and have scaled sales orgs from just me though handing off to a team of sales reps.

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  Venting frustration

  As a 6 time founder and advisor to dozens of companies I understand the ups and downs of startup life. If you need an ear to vent into, I'm here to help. Cash flow issues? Team challenges? Co-Founder quit? Market shift under you? Competitor steal your idea? Been there! Happy to be an ear or provide guidance - or both.

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  Basecamp

  18 years of experience

  I've been using the platform for a number of years, and have run projects ranging from small bootstrapped company work though mid-market and up market planning, roadmapping, and task allocation.

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  Google Data Studio

  10 years of experience

  I've been using Google Data Studio for a while, and have experience with Data Studio data pulls, reporting, and integrations with various 3rd party data feeds.

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  Hubspot

  14 years of experience

  I've used Hubspot a couple times in high growth startups to help with inbound, outbound, and full funnel / CRM based marketing programs. I also understand some of Hubspot's limitations, and areas to steer clear of.

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  Looker

  10 years of experience

  I've been using Looker for a while, and have experience with using Looker for tracking analytics, retention, for data pulls, reporting, and integrations with various 3rd party data feeds and more.

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  Mailchimp

  17 years of experience

  I've been using MailChimp for a very long time and know all about their moves into marketing automation as well. From creating and segmenting lists to running split tests on subject lines, I understand the ins and outs.

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  Mixpanel

  13 years of experience

  I leverage Mixpanel for event tracking, cohort and retention analysis, funnel analysis and more. I've helped both consumer startups as well as gaming companies, and even SaaS platforms scale by leveraging Mixpanel. I'm comfortable setting it up, optimizing it, and creating the reports you need to make sure you're on the right track.

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  Internet

  I run a digital marketing agency with clients ranging from small to large across USA, EMEA and other markets. The areas of services include SEO, Performance Marketing, and Lifecycle and Conversion Marketing.