Anna Furmanov

Furmanov Marketing Consulting

Positioning and messaging that's backed by customer research. 

Most positioning and messaging is driven by assumptions (Assumption Marketing). FMC is a customer insights and strategy firm that helps B2B startups translate their confusing business jargon into simple and clear positioning and messaging that your buyers will understand.

So you get:

👉 deeper engagement with customers and prospects
👉 consistent, memorable messaging
👉 increased inbound to demos
👉 better sales conversations
👉 differentiated positioning
👉 increased word of mouth
👉 faster sales cycle
👉 closed deals

Founder

Building With Buyers

47k+ downloads + rated Top 5% podcast globally + very close to 5 stars

Host

Navattic

Navattic lets people get hands-on with your product earlier in the buying journey through no-code interactive demos.

Marketing Advisor

Riverside.fm

Riverside is your all-in-one podcast and video platform, and they just launched Magic Clips which is their AI powered video clips maker for social media.

Ambassador

Alumni Ventures

Limited Partner

MKT1

FuelK12

Helping edtech companies build scalable revenue engines to drive meaningful growth. Customers include Seesaw, Branching Minds, Pear Deck, Yoga Ed, Thimble, Graspable Math, Marker Learning and more.

Marketing Instructor

Forum Ventures

Startup Mentor

SignalFire

GrowthMentor

Growth is tough, and sometimes, you just want to talk to someone. Get unstuck quickly with 1:1 advice from vetted startup mentors. Check out my 5-Star reviews: https://app.growthmentor.com/mentors/anna-furmanov

Mentor

I start up marketing at startups using the MaaS Method | host of Modern Startup Marketing podcast

Most early stage startups face the same problem: 

People who need your product don’t understand what it is or why it matters, so they end up not caring.

Why?

We stuff our websites with business jargon to sound like we know what we're doing. We assume we know our customers and how to talk to them about our differentiating value. We end up over-explaining what the product can do (company-focused) instead of what problem it solves (buyer-focused).

And as the company grows, the focus moves further away from customers and more towards building the product and sales activities. As a founder, you FEEL like you've gotten plenty of customer signal already.

Big mistake.

The most successful startups are *obsessed* with their customers.

We are dismissing our customers, yet customers are the key to unlocking the next round of growth for our company. They bought your product when nobody else would. Do you know what makes them unique and what motivated them to buy?

A superficial understanding of your customers causes buyer indifference, team frustration, and slow growth. I help solve these problems by conducting and analyzing customer conversations to create positioning and messaging your buyers will understand and act on.

So you get:

👉 deeper engagement with customers and prospects
👉 consistent, memorable messaging
👉 increased inbound to demos
👉 better sales conversations
👉 differentiated positioning
👉 increased word of mouth
👉 closed deals

★★★★★
“We had a 4X increase in sales and I 100% attribute that to those learnings I had with Anna.”
—Founder, EdLight

★★★★★
“Highly recommend Anna to any startup looking to up their marketing game."
—Head of Growth, Navattic

★★★★★
"I especially appreciated the work she did up front to get to know us, our product, and our customers. Strong recommend for any startup." 
—Founder, Copybara

Book a call here: https://calendly.com/furmanovmarketing/45min

Helping venture-backed startup founders and marketing leaders implement marketing programs that drive revenue. Industries include: e-commerce, ed tech, higher ed tech, food tech, security tech, sales tech, martech, innovation tech, developer tech and more.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

👉🏻 Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising. I’m like your fractional Head of Marketing (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com

👉🏻 Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'll make you chuckle/smile/both guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 

👉🏻 Sponsor my Top 5% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov

Nike

At Nike, I currently lead the design, development, and implementation of global external workforce (procurement) strategies, specifically for independent contractors and freelancers. The amount of global procurement budget/spend within the programs that I guide is in the billions-plus range per year.

• Led the execution of a multimillion dollar IC compliance services contract, spanning the entirety of NIKE brands globally (billions in procurement spend), including visibility from the Nike C-Suite
• Under the new global implementation program (above), drove 100% more requisition volume, improved IC pass rate from 47% to 96%, and acquired 15% more savings per IC engagement
• Drove $3.1M in IC compliance MSP contractual savings for the first 12 months while producing $450k in savings through 360+ IC engagements in the first two months of the new program
• Drive best-in-class compliance practices and adhesion across the global Independent Contractor category for all NIKE brands 
• Partner management: develop a deep understanding of the varying requirements of NIKE brands and geographically distributed teams (75k+ workforce)
• Support the procurement team's goals of DE&I ($1B+ diverse supplier spend), spend savings, cost reduction and avoidance, talent delivery SLAs, program implementations, innovation strategies, and mentorship initiatives
• Synthesize industry trends, import external insights, conduct effective benchmarking, develop enterprise strategies for optimized sourcing of products and services from various sources, and deliver global category strategy that fits global and regional category needs
• Lead development and presentation of C-Suite facing deliverables for global expansion of programs

Manager, Global Category Lead

Independent Consultant

I provide independent consultancy services in the areas of customer/user experience, executive search and coaching, external workforce strategies and implementation, growth management, leadership consulting, operations strategy, product strategy and roadmapping, program and project management, talent acquisition, talent management, talent retention, and talent solutions.

I've worked with company intelligence and information services global firms throughout my time as a consultant. My insights and strategies arise from a career focused specifically on the startup and enterprise (Fortune 500) spaces. I've worked alongside and within companies like 3M, Airbnb, Astra Zeneca, Baxter, Bloomberg, Budweiser, Citrix, Coca-Cola, Facebook, GE, Google, J&J, Leica, Microsoft, NASA, Nestle, Novo Nordisk, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Samsung, Stride, Uber, and Unilever.

Contact me for more information related to how I can help your business expand and innovate in industries like fintech, healthcare, medicine, CPG, IT, internet, retail, startup, tech, and more.

Executive Consultant

Upwork

In this role, my job was to lead (first team hire) Enterprise and Fortune 500 clients’ talent-centered projects and programs, in partnership with our internal Enterprise Talent Solutions and cross-functional teams, to build successful relationships and curate talent innovation and solutions strategies around the world in global, remote, consultative capacities. My specific talent supply and delivery funnel focused on high-value project opportunities exclusively, up to and beyond seven-figures. I was a full-cycle staffing solutions partner and worked in coordination with global clients and top-tier talent in the most competitive Enterprise and Fortune 500 spaces around the world.

• Led the strategy, development, and execution of the EVT and TM programs, which generated $1.5M in talent customer earnings per week, resulting in $15M in revenue per year
• 2020-2021 YoY Stats: Talent Supply Increase: 23% | Earnings Increase: 271% ($14M to $52M) | Weekly Earnings Peak: $1.5M
• 2022 forecast: $110-170M in talent customer earnings and $16-24M in revenue
• Led all cross-functional efforts for strategy, development, insights gathering, data and analytics evolution/progress, reporting, and tracking as it relates to the EVT and TM programs for departments and teams like Design, Development, Engineering, Marketing, Operations, Product, Sales, and Sales Enablement
• Recognized as top-performing cross-functional leader by C-Suite team, SVPs, VPs, and Directors for having led the innovation implementation for high-visibility projects related to Branding, Marketing, Operations, Product, Sales, and Talent Solutions (encompassing roadmapping, strategy, and implementation)
• Led a group of up to five direct team members (various positions, international and domestic, onsite and remote), including flexing up as-needed
• Served as a Sales Leadership Team member and go-to ambassador for Talent Solutions teams
• Served as a leading stakeholder and consultant for company-wide initiatives

Senior Program Manager

• Developed project and program strategy for the EVT and TM programs, attaching its north star, mission, and vision to other arms, teams, and departments for expedited growth (hands-on leadership and management)
• Relied upon as the leading cross-functional partner to uplift and correlate EVT and TM programs into high-visibility initiatives with senior leadership
• First Talent Manager and Operations team member hired in Chicago for ETS, led, grew, and mentored team to two within six months of hire (immediate ROI)

Talent Manager, Enterprise Talent Services

MATRIX Resources

• Top-tier, company-wide grossing activity for candidate interviews, internal submissions, send-outs, and client interviews (75% submission-to-interview ratio)
• Hybridized Staffing Manager working in nationwide and local (Chicago/Midwest) placements for contract, contract-to-hire, and direct-hire job requisitions
• Adept at developing trusted, transparent relationships with creative and IT candidate perspectives for placements, leads, referrals, and new job orders
• Trusted emerging-technology-related internal employee for developing new platform strategies, outreach and communication ideation, and content writing methodologies

Staffing Manager/Recruiter

Adecco

* Worked under the Paladin Staffing brand, owned by Adecco at the time *


• Led all Adecco Group F&O recruiters nationwide (thousands of colleagues) in total revenue in 2019 prior to departure
• Held the 12-month record for GP (total revenue $130k+) brought in by a first year Paladin employee nationwide, regardless of job function (sales, recruiting, or executive search)
• Quickest-ever promoted Junior Recruiter to Staffing Manager at Paladin
• Total LinkedIn InMail response rate of over 35%, spanning thousands of unsolicited cold-messages
• Responsible for candidate and client management (including working with Fortune 50 organizations)
• Ran end-to-end job requisition, from intake to post-onboarding of candidates
• Placed associates nationwide while helping clients around the country
• Maintained ever-revolving communications with top-tier candidates, resulting in job placements only a few hours after intake

Staffing Manager 

* Worked under the Paladin Staffing brand, owned by Adecco at the time *

• Over a six-month period, interviewed more candidates than any Paladin employee nationwide, totaling over 600 and maintained a job order fill ratio of over 35% (including handling VMS/non-retail accounts)
• Quickest-ever promoted Junior Recruiter to Staffing Manager at Paladin

Staffing Recruiter

I am an award-winning Global Enterprise Talent Solutions, External Workforce, and Program Management leader at Nike. Previously, at Upwork, I led Enterprise & Fortune 500-focused talent program initiatives (spend: $100M+).

Throughout my career, regardless of position, industry, or function, I have thrived and succeeded in high-pressure, competitive, fast-paced environments. With an empathetic understanding of people and businesses, I utilize an intelligent, unique approach to bringing out the best in the professionals I interact with. As a versatile cross-functional partner and stakeholder, I am adept at learning and synthesizing organizational responsibilities to propel ROI, generate best-in-class user-experiences, develop product strategy and roadmapping, innovate sales leadership, and progress operational excellence.

I specialize in taking on complex market niches, programs, business process innovations, and clients, becoming an ally and advocate to those who need it most.

Clients: 3M, Airbnb, Astra Zeneca, Baxter, Bloomberg, Budweiser, Citrix, Coca-Cola, Facebook, GE, Google, J&J, Leica, Microsoft, NASA, Nestle, Novo Nordisk, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Samsung, Stride, Uber, and Unilever

Awards: Nike Milestone Award Jan 2024, Upwork UpClub Winner 2022 & 2021, Upwork OneUpwork Award 2021, Upwork Top Talent 2019, Paladin Rookie of the Year 2018

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Although I am a NIKE employee, the views expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

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