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OhHello - Alex Grant
73 Plays2 years ago
Alex Grant is an award winning sales executive with over 20+ years in media and content. He has built the monetization foundation for some of the worlds most successful startups including Twitter, Snap and Overtime.
Prior to his career in media, Alex attended the Grainger School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Alex is a native of Minneapolis, MN and enjoys playing ice hockey and is avid amateur cyclist with thousands of km left to explore.
Alex resides in New York with his wife author/entrepreneur, Barri Leiner Grant, the founder of The Memory Circle. He is a proud step-dad to daughters Emma and Quinn, and pop to their pup, Bean.
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Transcript
Introduction: Alex Grant's Media Sales Journey
00:00:10
Speaker
All right, hello Alex. Thank you for being part of the Oh Hello community. Thank you for being a guest on this podcast. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself. Yeah, hey everybody. My name's Alex Grant.
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm coming to you today from the Westchester County and, you know, the outskirts of New York, which is where I live. You know, a media sales professional and sales leader for the past 20, 25 years. And, you know, I like to say that I've been fortunate enough to build the monetization foundation of some of the world's most well-known and successful startups, including Twitter, Snap, and even a company most recently, some of you may know called Overtime Sports. I'm excited to bring
00:00:52
Speaker
you know, a lot of that career, the pains and the gains, and also the tough learned lessons to the, to the, oh, hello community. And yeah, couldn't be more excited to be here. I love that. Thank you, Alex. Yeah, we're so excited to have you be part of our network and part of the community. How would you
Leadership Insights and Community Engagement
00:01:10
Speaker
characterize that skill set of leadership and how you're going to be able to share that with the community? Walk us through just some of your experiences and some of your top skills.
00:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think, look, I'm a pretty introspective person and so I think a lot about the experiences that I've had and I've learned a lot and I've had a lot of people who have taught me things and then I've just had a lot of life experiences and I've had the opportunity then to look back and kind of figure out what went well and what didn't. And, you know, I think that's what, you know, it's really all about. Like, I'm sure there are a lot of folks listening to this who are really, really intelligent.
00:01:44
Speaker
and can figure out and maybe know a bunch of the stuff that I know, but I've had so many experiences in so many different environments that I'm able to put those pieces together. And so that's what I hope to bring to the community is just being able to lean on some of those and really be able to help people sort of anticipate might be what will be coming next or even make sense of what just happened. That's such a good way to explain just how
00:02:07
Speaker
how you are excited about mentorship and how you look at things. If you looked
Advice to Younger Self: Authenticity and Adaptation
00:02:11
Speaker
back and thought, all right, how would you, what would you tell 25-year-old Alex looking back, you know, five, six years ago? Five, six years ago, you're a funny guy. Yeah, I didn't catch that. I got that. I got it now. When I think about what sort of characterizes me, it's really about authenticity and sort of being who I am. And I think the world that we live in today, we're often encouraged to be somebody else.
00:02:37
Speaker
But in the business world as well, I think what's really worked for me is eventually, over a period of time, figuring out what makes me tick, what excites me, you know, out of sort of like the other things that people think excite you.
00:02:51
Speaker
and then really leaning into those things and finding opportunities for, you know, whether it's personal or professional relationships or environments to do those things. So I think, you know, that's the thing I would tell myself is like, look, you know, just be you. Because a lot of times we think I can't, I can't be me, I have to be something else. And sure, maybe you need to take a lesson that you learned or a way of doing something that, you know, a boss or a company wants you to do. But what's really important, I think, is being able to make that your own
00:03:18
Speaker
and that way sort of like combine who you are and what matters to you with what somebody else is sort of asking you to do. And so that's probably the advice I would have given myself. Authenticity is so, so important. I love that you just share that with the community.
Impactful Leaders: Credit to Adam Bain
00:03:35
Speaker
looking back just over the over your career, over your experience, who are who's a mentor of yours, who are a couple mentors of yours, feel free to just drop some names would love to hear just who's made an impact on you. I'll make sure they see this too. You know, there was a guy that I worked for at Twitter named Adam Bain. I was fortunate to be a part of the crew that opened the Chicago office in the really early days of monetization.
00:04:00
Speaker
And Adam was just an exceptional leader in that he was very authentic. He was very real. He was very approachable. He's also just very smart and very clever. And so he had the combination of all these things that I think I aspire to be, which is a compassionate leader, being able to really connect on a personal level with people, see the whole person. At the same time, he understood business. He understood business needs.
00:04:26
Speaker
you know, the need to fulfill desired outcomes of our partners. He knew how to create great partnerships. And then he was just funny. He was funny and, you know, a guy from Cleveland and he just felt like you could really have a, you know, a very like authentic, real conversation with him. And so it wasn't just, I always often say that life isn't just one thing. I think if it was one thing, we would have all been done a long time ago because we would have figured it out.
00:04:51
Speaker
It's just a bunch of little things. And he had a bunch of little things. But they were some of the ones that I mentioned, plus a whole lot more. It's awesome. It's awesome. It sounds like Adam made a profound impact.
00:05:02
Speaker
was fun to work with, which is so important as we're going through this journey, you want to work with like minded people, people that are just going to be transparent and just fun. A lot of fun is fun is important. Sorry to interrupt you, Jeremy. But fun is not right. That's, that's the other part that I think you know, we've just sometimes lose and and and for me personally, that that was important to be
00:05:23
Speaker
We're going to work hard, we're going to do things we need to do, but you don't want to lose track of the finite. Adam would find really creative ways to make sales meetings fun and just do, yeah, so that's an important component. I think that's also have fun. Maybe that's what I also tell my 25-year-old self is like, don't lose that piece. I think we have it a lot more when we're younger, we start to get older, maybe a little more jaded, a little more cynical. Don't lose that part either.
Supporting Alzheimer's Association: Personal Motivations
00:05:48
Speaker
Have fun. Words well-spoken.
00:05:52
Speaker
With that, Alex, something that's really important to the Oh Hello community and that has to deal with having fun is also giving back a sense of altruism, a sense of just making an impact. You understand what we're doing. You are so excited to be part of the Oh Hello community. Of the different charities that we have integrated within our platform, what's one that's near and dear to you?
00:06:16
Speaker
Yeah, the Alzheimer's Association is near and dear because my wife and I are going through it right now. We recently moved to New York State because her father is suffering from Alzheimer's. It's a hard thing to watch. For him, for others who may go through it, I want to be able to support
00:06:38
Speaker
that cause and hopefully finding a cure and a solution. It's because I love my father-in-law, he's a great guy. It's a pretty harsh thing to watch somebody go through, but also when we think about like,
00:06:51
Speaker
the importance of like, you know, significant others in your life. My wife has been a huge supporter in my career, right? So it's one, and so she's enabled me to do a lot of the things that I've done and a lot of the successes that I've had and even some of the risks that we've taken. So as you talk about Full Circle, it's a way that I can also, it's near and dear to my heart, but it's also a way to support her and give back. And I wouldn't be here without her. So it's exciting to have that part of the Oh Hello community and the chance to contribute to the community, but also, you know, to the greater community.
00:07:22
Speaker
Thank you, Alex. Well, we're so excited to have you be part of our network. I really appreciate your time. With that said, thank you. Oh, hello. Oh, goodbye. Thank you, Alex. Appreciate you, my friend. Thanks, everybody.