David Gaspar, Partner and Head of Innovation at Gather
What if you could fundamentally redevelop the agency experience? Better yet, what if you could radically redevelop how marketing teams plan, build, and scale their impact? I introduce Gather, an…
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Leaders,
What if you could fundamentally redevelop the agency experience? Better yet, what if you could radically redevelop how marketing teams plan, build, and scale their impact?
I introduce Gather, an independent creative partner that builds better marketing teams by using an independent network, double opt-in incentives, and a team-as-a-service model. In this episode, we meet David Gaspar, a Partner and Head of Innovation at Gather. Before that, David was part of the innovation team at GE and a CFO and investor in multiple ventures.
Part of Gather’s secret sauce is his founder-market fit. Specifically, David and his co-founder came from Corporate Innovation teams, so they knew what worked and what was lacking across the Fortune 500 landscape. He discusses that the core of every good innovation leader was a small, trusted network they would always lean into. Gather set out to solve the problem of scaling this trusted network to all innovation and business leaders.
In their 15+ year journey, Gather has championed many best practices. One of these is a double-opt-in matching process, where both the client and the independent opt in to the engagement. This results in much higher motivation, productivity, and results. Another best practice of Gather is serving the thinking and doing within teams. Rather than just nice presentations and recommendations or just execution, Gather independents provide both the thinking and doing.
The last topic we’ll discuss is the secrets of change for every internal change maker. David made a great point: Anyone doing something new within a large organization can have a target on their back. That is 100% true. However, they can navigate this, and David recommended two things immediately: first, make more significant asks, and second, ask for help.
Key takeaways:
- Being the “day one” phone call has been a critical component of Gather’s success
- Gather uses a TaaS (team as a service) model
- Gather uses a high-touch client relationship
- Independents on Gather are fiercely independent
- Independents don’t have the caution or bureaucratic thinking on who and how to talk to people across the company
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Context Setting
02:23 Dave Gaspar’s Journey and Background
05:40 The Future of Work and Innovation
09:44 Building Trust in Corporate Innovation
12:42 The Double Opt-In Model Explained
15:41 Client Engagement and User Experience
18:52 Choosing a High-Touch Model Over a Marketplace
21:59 The Hybrid Model of Thinking and Doing
22:58 Profitability Through Independence
25:28 The Independent Practitioner Landscape
29:08 Career Growth for Independents
35:21 Client Relationships and Expectations
40:56 The Role of Change Makers in Organizations
Follow Up Material & Links
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