Welcome to Behind the Flame, a series created to showcase our incidentios.
Meet Julia Pearson, our Head of Growth Marketing here at incident.io.
Q: What has been your favorite incident.io memory so far?
My favorite incident.io memory was our Revenue Kickoff that we had at the end of February. It was a time where Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success congregated together in New York to kickoff the year. It was an energizing time where cross-functional teams came together to align on goals and discuss all that we would accomplish this year.
Q: What value most resonates with you?
The value that resonates the most with me is Find a way. The world of startups is all about problem solving and this company is no exception, there are multiple problems to solve literally every day and for me, that is really exciting. I am fueled by the ability to solve problems individually and collaboratively, and I'm always pumped when I go to other folks and they're equally eager to solve problems with me too.
Q: What is your favorite benefit?
My favorite benefit that we have has to be having the last Friday of the month off. Before coming here, I had never experienced a similar benefit. It’s a great chance to do things outside of work like spending time outside, catching up on all of the things that end up getting backlogged on my personal to-do list, or simply recharging with a long weekend before resetting for a new month.
Q: What is your favorite Slack channel?
My favorite Slack channel has to be our #gratitude channel. It is a place where folks go in and enter gratitude for others within the company for tasks or projects, big or small. It's a great place to go and smile and see all of the people who are feeling really grateful for the folks that are working alongside them. I've particularly appreciated the intentionality around thanking people for going above and beyond, or for working with you on a hard project and then being able to be acknowledged for that.
Q: If you could go back to your first day here, what is one piece of advice that you would give yourself?
If I could go back to my first day, the piece of advice I would give myself is to drink lots of coffee and prepare to be a sponge! Obviously, starting a new job, you learn a lot throughout the interview process, but there's also so much that you don't know about joining a new company. One of the best things that you can do is remove any assumptions, absorb information and context at a fast pace, as I’ve found that that prepares for the best chance of success at onboarding and making an impact quickly.
Q: What advice would you give to any candidates interviewing with us?
If I was going to give advice to candidates looking to join us here at incident.io, it would be to review our values, find the ones that resonate with you the most, and then try to implement those throughout the interview process. I think it's a great way to identify how you might be a good fit, but also an opportunity to showcase that you're really excited about us as well.
Q: How would you describe the culture in three words?
Describing the culture in three words, I'm going with pace, ambition, and fun.
Q: Which incident.io employee would you like to be stuck in a lift with?
If I was going to be stuck on a lift with someone, I'm going to go with [our Events Marketing Manager] Adrienne's dog, London, because whenever I'm in the New York office and she is also there, every time the elevator opens, she tries to scurry in. So, if I was going to be stuck in an elevator with someone, it would be the dog London.
Q: What does last Friday of the month mean to you?
Last Friday of the month means to me an opportunity to recharge, unplug, and look forward to the success and opportunities that a new month brings.
Q: What are you most looking forward to this year with incident.io?
I’m most looking forward to SEV0, our first very own conference that we’re hosting in September in San Francisco. I’ve had the pleasure of working on many events and conferences over the years, and this is my second inaugural conference which I’ve had the pleasure to lead. We’re in the thick of preparing all of the details for it, and I can’t wait to make it magic for all of our attendees. It’s going to be a blast!
Q: What is it like being part of the Marketing team?
Our marketing team is very small compared to the rest of the company—we are three full-time people at the moment. It’s very fun, yet hard work and there are lots of problems to solve every day. It's an exciting challenge to be on a small team and have the ability to make an outsized impact.
Q: What is something that surprised you when you joined incident.io?
The thing that surprised me the most when I joined would be around pace. People would say “we move really fast here” and that sounded really great. One of our values is Raise the Pace, so I was aware of that, but I just didn't know how fast, and this is actually very much a differentiator. It's really amazing from a product perspective, which means it's amazing for our customers and keeps them happy. Additionally, it’s great for someone like me on the Marketing team to be able to keep up with that pace and then also to deliver that good news and message to our customers that we're delivering the things that they want at an impressive pace, which means we’re bringing value both for our existing customers and also the customers of tomorrow.
Q: What's been your favorite customer interaction?
I'm really blessed that as a marketer, I get to interact with customers— it's one of my favorite parts of the job. There was a customer who posted on LinkedIn that he really wanted one of our fire truck Lego sets and between Stephen, our CEO, and me, I slid into his DMs on Slack requesting his information to make his fire truck Lego set dreams come true. He said that I made his Friday, and those types of moments of living out our values - in this case Make it Magic - where you're able to do something seemingly small that can have a big impact on someone's day. Those are the interactions as a marketer that I think people remember compared to other vendors, it’s the companies that go the extra mile to make someone smile.
Q: If you were to work in another team for the day, what team would you join and why?
I would work with my friends in Sales because one, I used to be a seller as an SDR, so I am a seller at heart and I am constantly watching Gong calls so I can feel like I'm in their shoes. I think to actually be in their shoes for a day would make me just that much better at my job and supporting them.
Q: Why do you think companies need a reliable incident management tool?
Incidents have been around for a long time and they will continue to happen. The companies that will win will be the ones that figure out a way to make incidents a competitive advantage and to see them as an opportunity to learn from them, respond faster, and therefore have a more positive impact on their customers.
Q: What is it like being part of the Marketing team?
I think something a bit unusual about being part of the Marketing team is it's still early days. We've done a lot, but there's still so much to do. So if you're someone who is interested in joining a company where there's ample green space to build, I think this is an amazing opportunity to roll up your sleeves within your respective domain and have a huge impact on the future of this company.
Q: How would you describe the culture here?
I am a remote employee, I am one of the few and one of the proud! I am someone who loves to work remotely because I'm very focused at my little desk. But what's amazing about being remote is that particularly for this company, we are very Slack forward. It's very easy to feel like you are right in the office when there are things in multiple Slack channels. If you're wanting the next book recommendation or to know who received the latest gratitude, all you have to do is pop into a channel and to feel like you're part of the culture of people who are in the office.
