A Compassionate Angel with Skin in the Game

Malinda Gagnon is CEO and Co-founder of Uprise Partners, a consulting firm / investment firm that provides full-cycle go-to-market and deep technical delivery. Uprise can help launch and grow a business fast: whether they are a startup, launching a new product, or entering a new market. Whatever it is, Uprise teams can help companies "just blow it up" into something bigger.

Anchoring on a company's brand promise, Uprise brings in efficient, results-driven SWAT teams of focused experts who have fast-growth, go-to-market capabilities: to build anything; to implement sales and marketing programs; to do branding; and to build, select, compile, and integrate technical solutions. Uprise applies agile methodology to everything it does, always asking: "What can we launch that makes the most impact, as quickly as possible?"

Uprise may not have traditional agency/client relationships—its focus is on a mission to help business founders from areas that are underserved – minority founders, women founders, founders in rural areas or markets lacking a vibrant entrepreneurial culture and support system. If Uprise finds a small company they want to invest in, they will put "skin in the game," take equity in the company, and bring on the skills that will help the company grow.

Malinda spoke at Hubspot's Inbound 2019 on the topic of compassionate commerce – "the art of selling what truly helps the customer." The challenge? To be able to "talk about compassion in a way that people feel comfortable about it in a professional setting."

Malinda describes the more-commonly referenced empathy as the first step toward compassion: empathy is the ability "to walk a mile in someone's shoes, see the world through their eyes." The next step toward compassion is "to understand the most fundamental motivator a customer has – their emotions. Critical to getting to that level of understanding? Map emotions to every stage of that customer journey and address those emotions, both positive and negative. You only reach compassion when you understand the customer and "have a deep desire to help."

Malinda can be found on her company's website at uprisepartners.com of by email at: malinda@uprisepartners.com. She and her husband/co-founder also have a tech-oriented podcast called Data Myths, available "everywhere."