Nakul Goyal

It's not "chief." It's "growth-minded." The job is to make marketing accountable, testable, and tied to the business.

Q: Biggest growth mistake you see? A: Treating growth like a campaign instead of a system. Q: One habit that compounds? A: Run a real experiment every week. No exceptions. Q: Most underrated CMO skill? A: Getting close to the P&L.

From the archives: talking in-house SEO for big brands. Still relevant — the hardest part of owning search isn't the tactics, it's building the team and the patience to let it compound.

Campaigns end. Engines compound. The best marketing teams run like product orgs — roadmaps, experiments, and a testing culture, not a calendar of one-off launches.

25 years in search have taught me: every era brings the same panic. The fundamentals — intent, trust, useful content — never change.

Mid-year question for any growth team: which of our bets are compounding, and which are just busy? Kill the busy ones.

The CMO job now: closer to the product, the data, and the P&L.

In-housing growth fails without executive patience. Someone senior has to protect the team through the quarters before it compounds.

Q: First look? A: Trend, not snapshot. Q: Next? A: Find the denominator. Q: Then? A: Ask what decision it changes.

Impressions feel good. Retention pays rent. When they disagree, follow the one that survives a board meeting.

Roadmaps, backlogs, experiments, a testing culture. The best marketing teams I've seen operate like product orgs.

From the archives: talking in-house SEO for big brands. Still true — the hard part isn't the tactics, it's building the team and the patience to let it compound.

If your marketing plan looks like a list of launches instead of a backlog of bets, you have a calendar — not a growth strategy.