Executive Spotlight: Jim Marshall

BrightAI is proud to have some of the best minds in tech innovation behind our AIoT platforms. But it takes more than brilliant engineers to successfully innovate custom solutions for enterprise businesses.

We talked to Senior Vice President of Customer Success, Jim Marshall, about the power of building strong relationships, how he delivers on big promises, and the mindset every company should embrace if they want to grow their business. 

How did you discover BrightAI, and what made you want to join the team?

I've known BrightAI’s co-founder Nathan Hanks for 16 years. I was one of his first customers at ReachLocal. 

Reach built a technology platform that interfaced with all the leading search engines at the time. It optimized an algorithm to maximize your ad spend for paid search advertising. I ran B2B eCommerce at Florist Transworld Delivery, or FTD, when I teamed up with Nathan. Together, we built a successful multi-million dollar business. 

So, when Nathan introduced me to Alex and Robert, and shared the vision for what we could build here at BrightAI, I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I jumped at the chance to help build a truly world-changing company. When you team up with the right people, you create lifelong relationships that lead to huge opportunities. 

One of your main responsibilities is to ensure BrightAI delivers on the promises you make to your customers. How have you been able to create such a successful track record doing this?

It really comes down to proactive communication. We listen deeply to our customers and look at potential solutions through their eyes. 

Then there’s a lot of internal coordination and teamwork within BrightAI’s different departments. Product teams, engineers, design, finance, quality assurance—we all pull together to create custom solutions that transform our customer’s business. 

One of the ways we do this is to invest heavily in site visits. Our site management teams, our engineers, and our executive leadership team all go see the real-world environment we’re trying to impact. Each of us has different perspectives, different lenses through which we look at the same data. So when everyone is involved from the start, we can come back to the customer with a much more holistic solution.

From there, it’s important to keep all the stakeholders informed as we roll out changes. I make sure they understand the mission, and the why, behind the systems we create. People don’t like change for the sake of change. But if they understand the reason new processes are put in place, and they feel looped into each stage of transformation, you’ll win their support. 

You’ve been a growth-driver your entire career—long before you joined the BrightAI team. What have you noticed about brands that are able to successfully scale their businesses quickly?

To really grow a business, you need to figure out how to pivot and be successful—no matter what challenges come up. You have to have a commitment to do whatever it takes to adjust your business to the current environment. 

The companies I’ve seen create explosive growth all have a relentless competitiveness, and a continuous improvement culture. They have grit. They’re willing to make changes. They’re willing to take risks. And they’re willing to invest in their own growth. 

So having a culture where you are organizationally committed to success means everything. Because at the end of the day, it’s the people who shepherd all of this activity that make a difference in the world - whether you're talking about a tech business or another industry. 

Your current customer portfolio is very diverse. Have you seen any commonalities in what enterprise businesses are struggling with right now?

Our current customers are all in different industries, with different types of use cases. But they are all challenged with labor management and their operating environments are widespread, so it is difficult to know what is actually happening day to day in those environments. 

BrightAI helps our customers use resources more efficiently and identify untapped opportunities for growth. Ultimately, we bring them intelligence and insights, and the ability to command and control big, remote environments. The ways we see their day-to-day operations change is really amazing. It’s unlocking all this value for them, and it’s transforming their business. 

Interested in hearing more from BrightAI’s thought leaders? Discover how our other founders are helping transform multiple industries through next generation AI. If you have any questions, or if you’d like to schedule an interview with any one of our founders, email us at info@bright.ai.