An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti
Continuous learning and motivation support within the team.
When it comes to business leadership, challenges are omnipresent. From rapidly changing market dynamics to technological disruptions, executives today grapple with multifaceted issues that directly impact their decision-making and strategic orientations. What really keeps the leaders of today’s corporate world awake at night? How do they navigate through these turbulent times to ensure the growth and stability of their organizations? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ivan Rud.
CMO at Keitaro Tracker. Grew first $1M MRR without paid ads. Author &former media buyer, e-commerce pro. In 2016, he began his journey in marketing as a freelance media buyer. Following that, he expanded and took the helm of the technical support team at Keitaro. Since 2021, he has been the Head of Marketing, diligently advancing the product in the global market to the present day.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about communication, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
Previously, I successfully managed an offline business, a chain of grocery stores, but I always knew that the future was in IT, and I was incredibly curious about how and where money was made online. In 2016, I decided to sell everything, buy my first MacBook, and invest the rest of the funds. I chose affiliate marketing as my starting point, specifically focusing on e-commerce. I invested all my capital in the product, but, to put it mildly, things didn’t go well. I clearly lacked knowledge and understanding of the specifics of internet sales. This led me to decide to work as a copywriter for a media journal, which covered media buying and earning from affiliate networks. This experience allowed me to delve deeply and learn a lot about the field. After gaining enough experience and successfully selling my products, I met the founder of Apliteni, where I still work today, focusing on our sole product so far — the Keitaro Tracker. Back then, the company resembled more of a startup with huge prospects. I took a risk, and it paid off.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Firstly, it’s perseverance. I’m not talking about situations where you stubbornly stick to your path regardless of anything; that’s foolishness. I’m talking about situations where you purposefully achieve set goals and defend your interests through conducted research, arguments, experiments, and so on. There have been multiple instances where the CEO disagreed with me or saw a different path for the company’s development, but I managed to find the necessary arguments to explain and convey my point of view. Sometimes, I even had to implement something at my own forces to test a hypothesis, and ultimately, this approach worked out. Finally, it was a win-win for the company and our clients.
Next up — honesty. I always remain honest with my colleagues and my superiors, in this case, the CEO. I always voice my concerns about situations that I believe are inappropriate in the company or about methods of task execution that need to be changed or improved. This approach prevents the accumulation of resentments and misunderstandings and allows us to address emerging problems on the spot. They can grow like a snowball if not handled promptly. It also helps to avoid a disconnect between the executive level, which is inevitable, especially in remote work settings. Honesty is the key to growth.
The last one is the ability to take responsibility. It is one of the key character traits, and is essential when working in a company or running your own business. The larger your area of responsibility, the higher your work is valued. If you’re not afraid to make decisions and stand by them, you enhance your management and risk management skills and become a truly valuable employee.
Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.
Last year, with the release of the 10th version of our tracker, we changed our pricing plans and increased prices. From one perspective, our new pricing plans became less attractive to users since some features now require a larger investment. At that time, it seemed like no one in the company was ready for this, but I clearly understood that we needed this reboot. Our prices had become outdated, having remained unchanged for many years despite the dynamic market situation. It was a significant risk, one that could have jeopardized the company’s success, but it all went smoothly. Our calculations and research were conducted correctly, which allowed us not only to retain our clients but also to grow more than twofold over the previous year. This situation further reinforced in me the understanding of the necessity for continuous learning and a responsible approach to my work to ensure that I make the right decisions in the future.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What do you believe are the top five concerns currently preoccupying the minds of C-suite executives, and why?
- Adapting to change and technological progress.
The market is undergoing another transformation with the emergence of AI and the transition to new use cases. Everything is rapidly changing; new products capable of attracting a portion of your audience are released daily. The user profile is also changing swiftly. Users are becoming more technically savvy, their demands are increasing, they provide a lot of feedback, and separating the wheat from the chaff is crucial. It’s essential to understand whom to listen to, how their needs are changing, and which feedback to consider and which not. Deciding what modifications to make in the roadmap is critical to avoid wasting time developing features nobody needs. You know, when I finished high school, Nokia was the monopolist in the mobile phone market, and it seemed nothing could challenge their position. They were simply number one in mobile phones. But then Apple presented their first iPhone, and the world changed forever. That was one of the major lessons I learned for life, which I remember very well, how a single innovative product could dismantle an entire empire. And the thought that someone today, in a “garage,” is developing some super cool product that will achieve what we haven’t yet sometimes really keeps me awake at night. Of course, there are concepts like community, user loyalty, and our technical support team — all these are significant factors. However, the user’s interest always comes first. Persuading them to switch from one product to a new, innovative one might not be difficult with the right approach.
2. Continuous learning and motivation support within the team.
In addition to the dynamic changes in the market, our product is also evolving. It receives constant updates and becomes more functional. This affects all aspects of my marketing team. The team needs to understand how the product has changed, how to present new features to users, what new strengths we have in partnerships with other companies, and so on. Furthermore, the overall marketing landscape is evolving: the tone of voice, the design and delivery of advertisements, and the type of content we need to communicate with our users are changing. All this underscores the importance of continuous learning for the team and, supporting their motivation for successful training and contributing value to the collective effort. After all, for an employee to grow and thrive, we need to consider their motivation. It’s important to consider all levels of their actual needs to understand how to maintain their work-life balance and keep them resourceful while continuing to achieve high efficiency. I think a lot about my team, sometimes even more than about the product because people are our main resource, whether they are our clients or our employees. The product is made by people for people.
3. Risk Management and Decision Making.
The unstable geopolitical situation in the world also introduces its own adjustments, adding risks and often creating the need to make essential business decisions. Increasingly, we have to forecast how working in a particular market may affect the company’s reputation, how a country’s economy might influence our clients’ market, which market we need to focus on for long-term success, and many other issues that sometimes raise stress levels and require deep analytics and long-term planning to preserve the company’s operational capacity and prosperity. One recent example is that after February 24, 2022, we added Ukrainian localization to our product, which not only showed loyalty to our users in Ukraine but also allowed us to strengthen our position in that market. This was one of the decisions made in a crisis with a positive effect after all. Global thoughts about the world, about who we are, where our company will be tomorrow, and who will be working in it, sometimes, indeed, keep me awake at night.
4. The ethics of product usage.
We have always strived to create a multifunctional product that meets the needs of most users. This is reflected in our slogan — Ultimate Ad Tracker. However, in our pursuit of extensive functionality, we occasionally face the negative consequences of unethical use of the tracker for setting up funnels to promote substandard products, spreading misinformation, or even for malicious software purposes. For instance, tools for conducting A/B testing and hypothesis verification can be used for content manipulation and more. These concerns often trouble me. Thoughts about how to develop the product, how to position it so as not to attract unscrupulous users while not limiting marketers in functionality. It’s like selling self-defense tools: some use them as intended for protection, while others might use them for aggression. We constantly strive to target an audience that will use the product for good and to enhance the efficiency of their marketing campaigns, but the question of ethics requires constant monitoring and improvement.
5. Choosing the Right Strategy.
The extensive integration of AI into our lives, especially over the last year, has significantly influenced long-term planning and the way we promote products. As the situation changes rapidly, predicting how far we will go with AI and how much adaptation will be required is challenging. This impacts how we envision our product in the next 3–5 years and beyond. Will it be a fully AI-driven system operating autonomously, or will AI capabilities be artificially limited and restrained shortly? This leads to the pressing task of devising and coordinating the right marketing strategy with the product manager and developers. Nowadays, many companies are forced to keep several development plans up their sleeves, directly dependent on the degree of AI integration into users’ daily lives.
In the face of rapid technological advancements and market shifts, do you find that you need to constantly recalibrate your strategies to ensure sustained growth?
I wouldn’t say that we constantly change our strategy because altering it is very resource-intensive for a company. Changing strategy is akin to relocating an entire house with its foundation to a new place. However, we keep a couple of strategies in reserve, always trying to anticipate the future by making forecasts and predicting trends to have room for flexibility and the ability to pivot when necessary.
With the emergence of AI, blockchain, and other transformative technologies, how do you determine which tech trends are worth investing in?
In my view, it all boils down to the benefit for the users. After all, users are the main characters, and the product is made for them. The integration of blockchain, for the most part, hasn’t simplified the user experience with products. Most people didn’t understand it and didn’t feel it; they didn’t see any clear advantages in performing their daily tasks. On the contrary, it even complicated use cases, necessitating the acquisition of wallets, skills to operate them, and so on. Meanwhile, the introduction of AI was felt by a much larger number of users, including those who are not technically savvy. This is definitely a story that will have a much greater impact. Therefore, the focus should be on the users and their benefit. If a trend clearly makes their lives easier, then it’s worth considering as an investment.
With increasing digital threats, how are you prioritizing cybersecurity, and what measures are you taking to protect your organization’s assets?
In the previous question, you touched upon blockchain, and one thing it has definitely taught us is the decentralization of data as one of the main security postulates.
Decentralizing data, encryption keys, generation of validation tokens, and distribution of responsibility zones are fundamental techniques for safeguarding data. This approach enhances security and promotes transparency and trust among users, which is crucial in today’s digital landscape. By decentralizing, we distribute the risk and make it more challenging for unauthorized access or breaches to occur, thereby ensuring a higher level of data protection for the company and its users.
As a top executive, how do you manage stress and maintain mental well-being? Do you have any personal practices or routines that help you stay centered?
Handling stress isn’t too difficult for me, as I regularly engage in sports, go to the gym, and occasionally do boxing. These activities are excellent for shedding negativity and clearing a “heavy head.” But if I feel that I’m facing a deadlock and can’t find a solution, I switch my focus to my beloved family and spend time with them. This fills me with positive emotions and love. Afterward, I’m able to look at the problem with fresh eyes, and sometimes it even becomes easier to compromise.
What habits or practices have been most instrumental in your personal and professional growth?
I want to mention Continuous learning.
It’s a personal conduit to growth and new heights. I remember, back when I was working in the technical support department, being frustrated when users came with technical questions I couldn’t answer, necessitating the involvement of developers. (Our product is complex, allowing users to use custom macros or scripts). I wanted to become a strong and versatile employee capable of addressing all tickets, which led me to decide to start learning programming languages to understand user code and always be ready to help. Ultimately, this led me to the position of head of technical support.
The business world is evolving faster than ever. How do you ensure you’re constantly updating your knowledge and staying ahead of the curve?
Oh yes, we live in an era of information overload, where constant filtering is essential to obtain quality content without cluttering the mind. I have a little life hack for this. I have a separate Instagram page where I’ve fine-tuned my feed with specific queries to suit my needs. On this page, I track competitors, receive regular ads for new products, see what industry leaders say, and get filtered news relevant to our main theme. In a way, Instagram’s algorithms work for me, and this model suits me perfectly. Today, even from Instagram, one can gather tons of information “from the field,” as all information is now replicated across social networks, and Instagram is no exception.
The importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace has been emphasized more than ever. Do you have any initiatives promoting diversity and inclusion in your organization?
Absolutely, diversity and inclusion are not just buzzwords for us. They’re integral to our ethos. We understand that a diverse team brings many perspectives, fostering creativity and innovation. We’ve established a mentorship scheme pairing employees from different levels and backgrounds, promoting knowledge sharing and mutual understanding. We also conduct anonymous internal surveys to understand better the challenges faced by our teammates and address them proactively.
Moreover, we celebrate cultural events from around the world inside the company, not just as a token but as a deep dive into different cultures, fostering an environment of learning and respect.
Lastly, our hiring process has been revamped to ensure inclusivity, from the job description to the interview panel, ensuring we don’t unconsciously favor a particular demographic. We’re committed to making our workplace reflect the global village we live in, where every voice is heard and valued.
Can you share a piece of feedback or advice you received that significantly altered your leadership approach or philosophy?
Regrettably, I’ve already mentioned honesty earlier, which would have been very fitting here. But if we’re talking about an approach to leadership, I can offer this advice: treat your employees not just as your subordinates but as your partners. They should feel your support and understand that they are valuable and collectively contribute to the company’s outcomes. If you form a team united by a single dream, where each employee feels the significance of their role, you can conquer any external challenges. You will always be confident that your rear is securely covered by loyal people you can rely on.
This approach goes beyond mere task delegation. It involves cultivating a culture of mutual respect, open communication, and collaborative goal-setting. When employees feel they are part of something bigger and their input is valued, they are more motivated and committed. That is my main advice in terms of leadership philosophy.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Good question, thank you. You know, I increasingly notice how the world is growing angrier day by day, and people fail to appreciate what they have, simply not understanding the value of the things around them. If I could convey a message to everyone on this Earth, I would ask everyone to first take care of themselves, bring order to their home, family, affairs, and so on. Think about what exactly each person can do to make their life better, and to become kinder and show love to their neighbor. And, of course, immediately after reading this message, do one good deed, no matter if it’s for a loved one or a stranger. At the very least, go express feelings or words of love to your spouse/child/parent. Let’s be kinder and learn to appreciate our home, Earth, and humanity as a whole.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I actively maintain my LinkedIn profile, and you can always find me there. Thank you:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanrud/
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
C-Suite Concerns: Ivan Rud On The Top 5 Issues That Keep Executives Up at Night was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.