Lindsey Madison – Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at HipLogiq

[quote style=”boxed”]Be open to change, knowledgeable about the direction the market is moving, and focused on the goal you are working to accomplish for your company and your clients.[/quote]

Lindsey Madison is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at HipLogiq, a marketing technology company that focuses on changing how businesses and brands interact with customers. Lindsey has an extensive background in sales and marketing with several large corporations, including the University of Phoenix and Eli Lilly and Company.

Where did the idea for HipLogiq come from?

HipLogiq started in 2008 as an interactive agency called Root & Madison, LLC, which my co-founder, Adam Root, and I started. Soon after we started the agency, we noticed a movement happening with social media. To capitalize on the movement, we came up with the concept of “intent-based marketing,” a phrase we coined to describe how we mined Twitter conversations for buying signals from consumers.

We spent over a month building a proof of concept and showed it to one of our advisors, Bernie Perrine — who is now our CEO. After a few iterations, we knew we had built something special.

What is your business model?

We use monthly recurring subscriptions driven by free trials.

What does your typical day look like?

I really don’t have a typical day. Every day is different, and that makes my job interesting. I oversee the product team, so I get to work with multiple departments within the company, our customers, and our value-added resellers. Some days, I gather feedback from sales and marketing about how our agency partners are using our product to find new customers for their clients.

Other days, we come up with new ideas or features to integrate into our product to make it even better. The best part of my day is working with very intelligent, forward-thinking people who help make our product the best it can be.

After work, I usually finish my day at the gym working out, doing a boot camp class, or going to dance classes. After working out, I enjoy eating dinner, watching TV shows, and hanging out with my husband.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I gather qualitative feedback from sales, agencies, and users, and I review quantitative feedback to see what changes need to be made in the software. Based on the results, feature requests, updates, and edits in the software that need to be made, I meet with our leadership team to finalize decisions and discuss what needs to be or not be in the software.

I then meet with my user experience/information architect and visual designer to come up with wireframes and prototypes. After the prototypes are finalized, we send everything along to the engineering team to code it.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

I’m excited by integrating machine learning into applications to give users their desired experiences.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

When I was first out of school, I worked for a major corporation as a telemarketer. I would call prospects to educate them on our product after they requested more information. Although it was challenging to deal with frustrated customers, I learned the valuable lesson that marketing, sales, and the product team need to communicate a consistent message to potential customers to achieve the best user experience with the product. I use those experiences every day when I make decisions for our products at HipLogiq.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Be open to change, knowledgeable about the direction the market is moving, and focused on the goal you are working to accomplish for your company and your clients.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Working with people who have the same goal in mind has helped grow our business. Be open to feedback from everyone you work with — whether internally or externally — and that will help your business grow successfully.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?

I would love for women to have an equal voice to men in the workplace. By encouraging open conversations in meetings that allow everyone to be heard, we can accomplish this.

Tell us something about you that very few people know.

I graduated from college in three years with a degree in psychology. I loved working on my degree. I have a passion for helping people who are hurting. It brings me true joy to help people!

After I graduated from college, I went to cosmetology school and found out quickly that it was not for me. I’m still a girly girl who loves doing hair and makeup for any of my friends and family, but it ended up not being my choice for a career.

What are your three favorite online tools, software, or resources and what do you love about them?

I use InVision for concepting and prototyping product features. I also use Kanban to manage features deadlines for our products and Balsamiq to wireframe product concepts.

List the experts who have helped you as an entrepreneur and why?

Both of my parents are entrepreneurs, so it’s in my blood to come up with ideas and solutions to bring to the market.

What did you have for breakfast?

I’m terrible about eating breakfast! If I do have breakfast, I will eat bacon, sausage, and eggs or drink a protein shake if I’m in a hurry. Most days, I have a Diet Coke or a sugar-free Red Bull for breakfast.

Connect:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lindseymadison
Twitter: @lindseyamadison or @hiplogiq
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