About
Polymath marketing and growth leader.
I write and talk about two topics:
- SaaS growth and marketing strategies.
- What it means to work and live today. You can live life full of adventure while still being ambitious and productive.
Work
Most recently I led growth at Lokalise, a fast-growing B2B SaaS. I was one of the first marketing hires (employee #20). During my time at the company, revenue grew from $2m ARR to $20m ARR, and the marketing team grew from 1 to 30+ people.
Over 9 years in marketing and growth, I've had the privilege of working with wonderful startups around the world: Ahrefs, Quimbee, Isolta, Baseballism, Athletic Greens and more.
I specialise in early-stage B2B SaaS:
- GTM growth strategy (find a balance between product-led, sales-led, and marketing-led)
- How to win with innovation and placing smart bets.
- How to gain clarity by knowing your strengths, weaknesses, how you grow and where your growth stops.
You can check my full resume on LinkedIn.
My professional journey began in a completely different field (see "how I got here").
Live
12 years ago I was doing unfulfilling work for a big corporation. My work was dull and was 80% automated. Most of the time I didn't even need to be in the office.
I love being outdoors, exploring and adventuring. I feel strongly that your memories and experiences dictate the quality of your life - not office hours. And having a few weeks per year to explore a different part of the world felt horrible.
At the same time, I was ambitious. I wanted to make money and build a business. My gut told me that it was possible to combine adventure and ambition.
My first attempt at combining the two was building my first product called Thrill Engine. It was a simple website where you could book adventure trips at better prices (surfing, snowboarding, kitesurfing and more). I failed but it was the starting point of my career in tech, marketing, growth and remote work.
Soon I realised that it is possible to build a successful business, and build a successful career from anywhere in the world thanks to the internet.
To be clear, I don't preach digital nomadism as a way of life. There are downsides and it's not for everyone. In fact, I don't even like the word. I don't like jumping from place to place all the time so I travel slowly.
It's about flexibility and optionality.
- If you have a family and you live where the winters are long, cold and dark. You can escape it by moving to a beach town somewhere warm.
- If you have dreamed of living somewhere (e.g. New York City), you can go and do it for a few months without leaving your whole life behind or changing jobs.
- If you don't want to travel, you can just spend more time doing things you love around you. Or with the people you love (instead of being stuck in a commute or office).
It's about building the kind of life you want that's full of experiences and memories you'd like to have when you are older. Make the most of the days you have on this planet.
For me, it's about making the world your playground. I'm originally from Latvia but I've spent the last few years slowmading around the world.
Here are some of my recent memories:
How I got here
- Studied finance. Got my first job as an analyst for a large global brewer. Later, I was promoted to procurement manager.
- I was bored. Came across the world of startups and got inspired.
- Learned how to code, design and market in the evenings. Launched my first product in a year. It failed.
- Started freelancing on the side. From building websites to digital marketing.
- Got laid off. I used the severance money as a pre-seed investment to break into tech and become an entrepreneur.
- Launched a CRO agency working with e-commerce brands around the world.
- Pivoted to solo growth consultancy, working with great SaaS brands.
- I wanted to build together with other people. Joined an early-stage B2B SaaS startup. Helped it scale to $20m ARR (also made it through series A and series B).
- Now, working on some new stuff. Will announce it soon.
More about me
My name in my native language is Emīls but in English it's Emil. In Spanish and Portuguese it's Emilio. It's derived from the Latin word Amelius which means “to strive,” “excel,” or “rival" (I'll take that).
Yes:
- Non-zero sum games
- Long-term games with long-term people
- Palm trees
- Italian food
- Surfing
- Remote work
- Aesthetics
- Humour
- Prosperity
- Experiences and adventure
- Authenticity
No:
- Zero-sum games
- Shopping malls and suburbs
- Tribalism
- Over-optimization
- Conventional wisdom
- Mindless consumption
- Accumulating stuff