Lindenmeyer, founder and former CEO of Proximity to Power and sales and marketing executive for brands such as Tech Wildcatters, is sunsetting her successful business consultancy to focus on the high-growth startup, Gig Wage, and its vision to transform the $2 trillion gig economy.
(Dallas, TX. July 8, 2021) – Gig Wage, the FinTech payroll platform for the 1099 workforce, today announced the addition of Clarisa Lindenmeyer as Chief of Staff to the CEO and Chief Brand Officer. In this latest addition to the Executive Team, Lindenmeyer will build the Office of the CEO and lead the growth and development of the brand image, experience and promise – both internally and externally. She will do this in support of the mission to build the bank of the gig economy and create a financial safety net for under and unbanked workers.
The brand also announced today that it has raised an additional $3.25 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) as a strategic financial decision to bring on additional financial flexibility at competitive terms that will be used to invest in key growth areas of the business. Lindenmeyer, who will help support this growth, has over 15 years of leadership experience in B2B2C marketing and PR, growth strategy and brand building. Her unique ability to work horizontally across organizations position her well to work alongside Gig Wage Founder and CEO, Craig J. Lewis, in support of his vision for rapid growth and eventual global expansion.
For the last five years her consultancy, Proximity to Power, has served an impressive list of long-standing clients in the venture/startup, healthcare, commercial real estate and government sectors as well as numerous non-profit roles including: Vice President of Community Engagement on Dallas’s The Family Place Board, Board of Directors for Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity and Executive Committee for the United Way Social Innovation Accelerator.
Lindenmeyer, a Mexican American wife and mother of three, is joining the shortlist of Dallas women holding C-level roles within the technology and innovation community. Furthering Gig Wage’s bold DEI goals, she is joining Gig Wage’s growing C-Suite alongside Ethan Austin, Chief Strategy Officer and formerly Managing Director of Techstars; Anna Enns, Chief Product Officer; Robert Belsky, Vice President of Finance and formerly of Bloomberg and J.P. Morgan and Rocco Stanzione, CTO; as well as newly hired go-to-market leaders — Brandi Utria, Senior Vice President of Business Development and former Vice President of Business Development at Asure Software; and Desmon Lewis, Senior Enterprise Sales Executive and former Director of Sales at Citi.
Gig Wage was founded in 2014 and has raised $16.45 million to-date from Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT), Silicon Valley Bank, Foundry Group, Continental Investors, Techstars, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and more.
1. How according to you can brand/marketing leaders create a better impact with their choice and implementation of marketing automation; an impact that drives more marketing and overall business ROI?
The answer to this question is and always has been: perform a needs assessment across the customer journey. Meaning, you can’t just compartmentalize into what Marketing needs or which platform does one task well. What does Marketing need? What do Pre-Sales and Sales need? What do Customer Success and Product need? How will a marketing automation tool integrate with others across the organization? Collaboration and a fierce commitment to achieving the big goals of the COMPANY should drive these decisions.
2. What were the key milestones in your career that helped you scale to this level?
Going to work in the Startup, Innovation and Venture Capital Space. I was hired by a visionary female CEO who paid me what I deserved, let me work from home two days a week and gave me the autonomy to help her build the business. Working around tech companies and founders is truly inspiring and made me realize that anything is possible.
3. Marketing leaders are either embracing data science or hiring data analysts for their operations. How do you think a CMO should plan/train with data science?
You can’t run a marketing organization today without relying heavily on data. Full Stop. At the same time, I believe a great CMO or CBO should be a phenomenal generalist. We should hire data specialists and partner with amazing agencies to fulfill this aspect of the role. It is very important to stay up to date with trends and strategy but surrounding yourself with experts who live in the tactics and execution every day is key.
4. As the need for deeper analytics and insights grows, what kind of business intelligence and data will become more crucial for marketers of the future?
This is easy! Payroll and payments data. Anonymized of course. There is much to be learned as we observe the entire flow of funds between employers and their workforces.
5. In your own words what do you do?
I solve problems that stand in the way of growth.
6. Can you describe your clients?
Our clients at Gig Wage are the most diverse group of companies I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving. Whether you identify as a gig economy company or a freelancer or contractor or independent economy – if you pay or get paid as a 1099 you can be our customer. We serve companies in: trucking, catering, food delivery, real estate, mortgage field service, Public Relations, event planning and even on-demand healthcare. By 2023, ½ of the US workforce will receive a 1099 and we want to help them all get paid.
7. What has been your biggest milestone/achievement so far?
Landing my new role as Chief of Staff to the CEO and Chief Brand Officer. It’s an amazing role and at an amazing company. I’m getting to do the work I was born to do and for an amazing CEO, building an incredible team for a company that is powering the future of work. I’ve worked hard to land the “dream job” and am beyond proud of it.
8. How has Covid-19 affected your work so far? How did you get your first clients and how did you grow this bigger? Any tips to share?
When Covid began I still owned and ran my boutique consultancy. At first, I didn’t know if we would survive. However, we thrived and I attribute that to a couple of things. First, we had cultivated a select, diversified and long-tenured client base. We had become an essential part of their business versus just a vendor. Second, I didn’t build a normal agency model. Most agencies have too much overhead and too much staff. So, when things change in the economy they have no margins to work with. We built a high-profit business that relied on our clients’ internal teams or helped them outsource the work. In the end these things made us resilient.
9. What has been your greatest accomplishment so far?
Launching my own business after a layoff and while 7 months pregnant with my 3rd child.
10. Do you work with influencers? Do you think this is a great marketing method? Why yes/no
I think working with the right influencers, especially in B2B2C, is extremely beneficial. People are PEOPLE. People make decisions. We talk a lot about building a very human brand. Third-party endorsements are a fast (and sometimes expensive) way to do this. You have to be strategic but it can result in exponential impact.
11. What is the best advice you have ever received? (advice that led to Proximity to Power)
To state the obvious and keep short accounts. You have to be able to navigate hard and awkward situations and conversations. By simply stating what you’re feeling or observing, you give others the chance to add clarity or even share how they are feeling about the interaction. This is incredibly powerful. Learn to read the room but be willing to speak about what you see!
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