We are thrilled that Laura Taylor, the Chief Marketing Officer of Crayon, recently joined the MassTLC Growth Community as a Co-chair.
Get to know Laura through our Q&A below.
What is your current role?
I am currently the CMO at Crayon. For those unfamiliar with Crayon, we provide a SaaS solution that serves as a Competitive Intelligence backbone and enables enterprises to see and seize opportunities that create sustainable advantage. In May, we closed a $22M Series B round led by Baird Capital.
What is your professional background
These days I spend my “free” time chasing around my 15-month-old son, who is a force to be reckoned with. Because he was born just as the pandemic broke out, I’ve had the opportunity to work from home and spend the first year of his life with him in a way that I’d never imagined. It’s truly been an upside of a very difficult global tragedy.
Professionally, I started out in consulting, focused on helping businesses harness the power of the internet—which, believe it or not, was a new concept at the time. (Yes, I am dating myself.)
I like to describe myself as a “stayer.” I’ve had 3 employers over the course of my 25+ year career, including Crayon. This is usually met with blank stares from those early on in their careers—folks who, at some point in their lives, picked up the expectation that you should work at a company for 1-2 years and then move on. I have found that the relationships you build and the experience you get from executing strategies throughout their full multi-year lifecycles is incredibly valuable. When you stick with a company for more than a few years, you truly learn how to ride the waves and stay on board throughout all sorts of conditions.
My first two employers both had great exits, and Crayon is growing like gangbusters—so I have high expectations for our continued success.
Why do you like what you do?
I love that my job allows me to flex my creative muscles one minute and my math/analytical muscles the next. Not many roles allow you to straddle those worlds, and I get jazzed about them both. And, frankly, I think a CMO needs to work both sides of their brain in order to be successful today.
I also enjoy growing businesses in the post-Series A stage, where there is a solid product in place yet ample opportunity to shape the brand and the go-to-market strategy. The energy at a startup like Crayon is amazing, and I love that we have the ability to get close with our customers—it inspires me. In turn, it enables me to inspire my team, and that circle of inspiration keeps flowing.
What do you like about being part of the MassTLC community
Right from the start with MassTLC I was impressed with the community of sharing, discovery and learning. We all want validation that we’re “doing it right” and the ability to connect with others in your space, share tactics and observations and bring new ideas back into your organization is SO valuable.
