Jenni Young VP Marketing, Circulor

Company

Circulor is a supply chain traceability business that is leading the way in ESG, solving a pressing global, environmental and societal challenge. With their blockchain-based software solution, businesses are empowered to fully manage their supply chains and underpin their sustainability efforts by tracing raw materials through the supply chain; customers can then track, measure and improve the supply chain, helping them to drive towards more responsible sourcing and recycling of materials. Circulor are industry leaders in ESG traceability, particularly for EV battery materials and are to date the only proven technology solution available to automotive manufacturers to track high-risk materials such as cobalt. As a result, they have been recognized in 6 Gartner hype cycles in 2019 and 2020 and have been named by Business Insider as a key climate change technology start-up of 2020. Founded in 2017, Circulor were self-funded until profitable before they completed a $15m Series A round from Salesforce Ventures and others in June 2021 and are now utilizing this investment to expand both internationally and across industries. They are headquartered in the UK with main offices in Ireland and Germany and are constantly expanding internationally with offices being set up across the US and Asia.

Search Background

In order to capitalize on their strong market positioning, and with the recent Series A investment, Circulor needed to make some key hires, one of which was a VP Marketing to establish a high performing marketing function from scratch. Up to this point, all brand equity had come from customers and investors public announcements with no real marketing efforts, hence they required an individual to build from this base up, taking full strategic ownership for all marketing activities. Lead generation was a key focus: with much of the sales pipeline being inbound up to now, the Marketing leader was crucial to building an effective demand and lead generation pipeline. They would also be a brand evangelist, building and establishing the Circulor name in the marketplace.

Requirements

Suitable candidates would have to be highly data-driven in their approach to lead and pipeline generation, understanding how to build a high performing demand generation engine from scratch, scaling this over time as the business grows. They needed to be strategically minded with experience of owning and implementing a marketing strategy within a fast-growth SaaS business, understanding the associated pressures that come with growing at pace and scaling internationally. Candidates would need prior experience building and advocating for a brand: with Circulor operating in a growing but nascent market, it would be necessary that the incumbent be comfortable presenting to both investors and customers about the merits of, and need for, supply chain traceability software. Whilst industry knowledge was not a requirement, an appreciation and interest in ESG was a clear advantage.

Result

Erevena conducted a search across the UK and Northern Europe for Marketing leaders with the requisite breadth of experience spanning across demand generation, brand evangelism, team leadership and strategic ownership. Jenni Young was placed in October 2021. She brings a strong reputation across start-ups, scale-ups, corporates and not for profits, and has most recently supported Tappit’s evolution from the ground up, leading marketing and communications through an intense period of business growth.