Hugo H. Macedo

Marketing executive and Advisor

This is my digital place. Mostly professional, slightly maverick and experimental.
Open to possibilities, opportunities and learning experiences.

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© Hugo H. Macedo. All rights reserved.

Now

Wondering what I'm up to? Well aren't you a curious one!I'm working on different horizons with increasing levels of uncertainty.Horizon 1
I'm a Consultant, Advisor, Speaker, and Trainer on Marketing, Product Marketing, and Go to Market for Startups from 0 to $100M.I'm a mentor at ADPList and GrowthMentorI'm building an editorial project about Marketing and Strategy called "It's the Strategy"I run a Mastermind Group of Product and Marketing executives called Farol Collective.I collaborate with Ground Capital a new VC firm.I'm also interested and thiking about Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) model.Updated: Feb 2024This is a "now" page inspired by the Now page movement

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About

His name is Hugo H. Macedo, and this is his professional website.Why
A central digital place to connect all professional projects. You can find what he is up to now. Next, you'll find who he is.Who is heFor decades, he* has been obsessed with the intersections of people, the new, and the change in between - in other words, marketing, innovation, and transformation. He has spent his career examining the ways in which these forces shape and are shaped by the world around us.He has a wealth of experience and knowledge in marketing, digital business, product development, strategy, and leadership. He has led teams and delivered results in new product launches, new ventures, and organizational growth.But he is not content to simply accept the status quo. He is drawn to the road less traveled, the path that leads to a deeper understanding of the forces that shape our world. He always seeks new perspectives, challenging the assumptions of those who believe they have all the answers.For him, leadership is about empowering others to achieve their goals. He has spent decades building and enabling teams, recognizing that no opportunity is worth pursuing alone.With +25 years of diverse business experience across different markets, types of organizations, and functions, he has the ability to connect the dots and the people between different areas, unlocking new and sustainable value for all those involved.He is awesome.----
*
It's a shame, really, that even the greatest of us are criticized for our modesty. But fear not, for I have discovered the ultimate solution: presenting myself in the third person. Voila! Problem solved. No more humility, no more criticism. Just pure, unadulterated awesomeness.

TRACK RECORD

From 0 to 300 000 customers

I launched and lead an independent business unit of a telecom operator that achieved 300 000 customers in 3 years in a saturated and mature market dominated by the historic incumbent. As General Manager I was responsible for marketing, sales, operations, customer service and product.

10x an Agency business

From 2008 to 2011, I was an executive partner at the digital advertising group ActualSales. Over this period, revenue grew from $1M to $13M with operations and customers spanning 4 countries in 3 continents. From the first performance-marketing agency in Portugal to a group of diverse digital agencies, I co-lead the group that grew from 10 to 85 people.

10x a AI B2B SaaS startup

At Unbabel, as VP of Marketing, I helped the company scale from $1M to $10M ARR in 3 years. I created and scaled the Marketing function from 2 to 25 people covering different channels and disciplines: product marketing, brand, PR, Event, Content, Demand Generation, Social, Customer Marketing.

Build Product Marketing Unicorn

At PandaDoc, a unicorn on its way to IPO, I built the Product Marketing function to deliver 2 main goals: augment the product story and build the Strategy muscle to inform Product and Go to market strategy. During my tenure the company raised at $1B valuation, the revenue grew 2x in an adverse economic environment and we announced a new product strategy 2023-2035.

Product Marketing Influencer

Elected Top Product Marketing influencer by the Product Marketing Alliance, speaker at Product Marketing Summit London and Amsterdam

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Advisory

As a digital and marketing strategy advisor, my primary focus is to help company leaders grow their businesses. Every company is unique, with its own history, culture, people, market, and product, and as a result, every approach must be tailored to their specific situation.My approach to advising is based on sparing sessions, where we work together to isolate the challenge at hand and come up with a custom approach to address it. Through these sessions, I provide guidance on how to navigate the complexities of the digital and marketing landscape, and create a strategy that drives growth for your company.Working with an advisor has many benefits. With my expertise, you'll have a fresh perspective on your business, identifying opportunities and challenges you may not have considered. I'll work with you to create a comprehensive strategy that's not only practical but achievable, providing guidance on how to implement it successfully.My approach is flexible, and I'm committed to providing a tailored solution that meets the specific needs of your business. I take the time to understand your unique situation and work with you to create a strategy that's designed to deliver results.If you're looking to grow your business and are interested in working with an experienced advisor, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Let's schedule an introductory sparing session and start building a strategy that will help you achieve your business goals.

Approach

Maximum pressure point
Winning in the market is difficult. In mature or new markets, all present challenges that don’t have an easy or formulaic solution. That’s why not everyone is successful, and the prize for the winners is big.
And that’s why to maximize our probabilities, we need to maximize our pressure point.
Minimum viable niche: focus on a niche, reduce the problem, the variables, and the unknowns. One geography, industry, use-case, product, and technology. Or all of the above. The smaller the niche, the easier to crack, the easier to win, and move on to the next one.
Win a market one niche at a time.Win the market one niche at a time
Credibility and momentum compounds, and build a flywheel of going from niche to niche. Find the flywheel - how one niche feeds the other: reputation, channel, partners, technology, learning curve, cost curve,…
Build on top and leverage current streghnts and unfair advantage: a technology, a partner, a customer, an integration, an innovative framework, a channel.Pain driven Expansion
“Pain” drives more urgency then “nice to have”’s. If we can identify the Customers that have the “Pain” and the personas that feel the “pain” that the product solves, we maximise the probability of success and the speed of reaching our roles.
“Pain” drives higher conversion rates, faster decisions and lower costs of acquisitions.Don’t move diagonally
When you move diagonally, you’re moving two dimensions at the same time. In the market means changing too many things at the same time, and making your life more difficult. Remember, growth is already difficult. Maximize your probability of success by expanding “one axis” at a time, i.e., change as few variables as possible.
Minimize the unknowns

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