► About this Video In this episode of Growth Talks, Krystina Rubino sits down with Mike Lackman, former CEO of Trade Coffee and PetFlow and current board member, advisor, and investor at various ecommerce brands. Mike shares his journey through various C-suite roles, the importance of creating and maintaining a vision, and how to balance growth with profitability. He also provides insights into effective marketing strategies for the ever-evolving landscape of DTC and subscription models.   🗝️Key Takeaways: Moving between C-suite roles often involves filling voids within a company and leveraging one's unique skill set to address specific needs. Successful leadership involves setting a clear, long-term vision, and ensuring regular, clear communication to keep everyone aligned and connected to the company's goals. Effective CEOs must balance making informed decisions with the need to act quickly, often without having all the desired data. Growth should always contribute to making the company better. Marginal gains in customer acquisition and retention are essential for sustainable profitability. Leverage a framework like RED—Relevance, Ease, and Distinctiveness—to build a foundation for a strong product and achieve marketing success. Subscriptions can be effective when they align with consistent value creation for customers. Misalignment can lead to high churn rates and ultimately, failure.   ⏰ Timestamps 00:00 Introduce Mike Lackman and his career journey 06:18 The importance of setting and maintaining a vision 22:30 Balancing growth and profitability 32:26 Subscription models and DTC trends 48:13 Evolving marketing strategies in a competitive landscape 51:30 Final thoughts and conclusion   #GrowthMarketing #MarketingStrategies #MarketingAnalytics #DTC #CEO #CMO #Executive #Ecommerce #Profitability   🔗 Mentioned in this episode: PetFlow: https://www.petflow.com/ Phillips Pet Food & Supplies: https://www.phillipspet.com/  Trade Coffee: https://www.drinktrade.com/  Health-E Commerce: https://www.health-ecommerce.com/ Thriftly: https://www.inpersondonations.com/ Wayfair: https://www.wayfair.com/  Chewy: https://www.chewy.com/  ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com/    🤝Connect with Right Side Up Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals. Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt  ‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD  ‣ Subscribe to our marketing newsletter: https://rightsideup.com/resources/growth-marketing-newsletter/  ‣ Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightsideup/  ‣ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RightSideUpCo/  ‣ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rightsideupco