We recently sat down to chat with Maayan Bar, CSM (Customer Success Manager) Team Leader at Keywee. We talked about her career progression at Keywee, career advice to new graduates, and tips for time management and getting things done.

The interview is part a series highlighting alumni of the Keywee Greenhouse program – our prestigious training and certification program for new grads looking to get into the worlds of digital marketing and fast-growth startups.

Hi, Maayan. Tell us how you found yourself at Keywee.

I’ve been here for a year and a half now. Before that, I was a project manager at one of Israel’s largest telecommunication companies. I wasn’t looking for a new job, but a relative who works at Keywee told me about the opportunity. I checked it out and the field seemed super interesting, and I was attracted to the opportunity to learn and grow in a new company. Once I started meeting Keywees, I really wanted to be a part of the company – it felt like a dynamic company with a fun atmosphere, nice office, and lovely people.

What do you do now?

I lead the onboarding team. Our team manages all new customers and the process they go through until they “graduate” to the customer success team. We manage all customers, globally – currently our team is working with Greenpeace Australia, MTV Europe, The Boston Globe, and Singapore International Foundation, among many others.

Tell us about your career progression at Keywee – sounds like you came in with no prior experience in the industry, and got promoted really fast. How did it happen?

I started as a CSM (Customer Success Manager) and initially only ran campaigns – didn’t even get on the phone with customers. After about ten months I started managing customers end-to-end, and got promoted to a team lead a few months after that. I also got to visit the Keywee NYC office twice, and meet some of the customers I’ve worked with in person.

How did you learn so fast? What sort of training did you receive?

When I joined, I went through an extensive training program that every new CSM goes through. My manager also directed me to complex campaigns from early on, so I got a lot of experience with various use cases.

As time went by, I got a chance to run diverse types of campaigns: Video, Instagram, Facebook, Yahoo!, Branded content, email subscriptions.

There’s really strong knowledge sharing and and a lot of mutual help on the team. If one person knows something, they will gladly share with others. People work on their assigned customer campaigns, but I know I can always count on other team members for help when I need it. It’s pretty amazing, the team is really tight knit and there is always someone who knows how to answer your question.

What do you like most in your role?

My customers. They’re fascinating. Every campaign is different, and I need to understand their exact needs and think outside the box to hit campaign goals.

The industry is very sophisticated, so it requires me to always be on top of my game and keep up to date. It’s really fun to communicate with people who are so knowledgeable.

Every time I meet customers I find how important Keywee is to their strategic planning and paid distribution, and it’s really rewarding.

What did you learn at Keywee?

Wow. Professionally, I learned a ton. I came with zero knowledge and today I have a really good knowledge of the industry and our product.

There are things I’m doing now that I didn’t think I’d be able to do – for example, give a full presentation about strategy and using our product to one of our most important customers. When I just started at Keywee, I didn’t even do customer calls. Now on the onboarding team, I connect with every new customer and go over Keywee’s dashboard and our product features. To make this kind of progress in a year and a half is incredible to me.

You also shared that one of the biggest things you learned was how to work quickly and efficiently. Can you share with us some of your tips for getting things done?

Sure. Here are a few pointers:

  • Plan ahead – schedule time for all of your tasks, sometimes even minute-by-minute.
  • Be on top of all of your tasks, and ruthlessly prioritize – must-haves should be done first, and other priorities should be pushed back. You’ll always have more to-do’s than time in the day, so prioritization is key.
  • Don’t spend your precious time on stuff that doesn’t really need your attention.

Do you use any task management or organization tools?

I actually don’t use any special tools. I have a to-do list and I love checking things off of it. So every single task I have goes on my list – both so I remember, and also so that I get to check it off!

What was your most exciting moment at Keywee?

I think it was when I went to visit the Boston Globe just a couple of weeks ago. It’s a customer which is very important to Keywee, uses a lot of product features, and has strong collaboration with us – we’ve worked with more than ten members of their team so far.

It’s obviously one of the most respected publishers in the world, and I was very excited to travel to Boston to meet them at their offices, and show them everything Keywee – and I – have done for them so far. I was quite nervous beforehand, and I was surprised by how well the meeting actually went – both for me personally and for Keywee. They had a lot of questions, and later on wanted our presentation deck so they can share with others on the team.

When comparing yourself now to the Maayan who started at Keywee a year and a half ago, what are the main differences?

Lots! Keywee is a big part of my life, I’m a better person thanks to it in so many ways. As a person, my character is the same, but I’m more professional, sharper, and more efficient. My communication and analytical abilities have vastly improved.

I’ve always thought of myself as someone gravitating more towards humanities, but since joining Keywee and running some of our CPA campaigns, which are very performance-driven, I realized I like analytical and quantitative analysis as well.

What kind of people would succeed in your role?

Super ambitious.

People who really want to succeed, and who love (or would grow to love) digital marketing. People who want to move forward in their career, make a large impact as opposed to being a small cog in the machine, will succeed here.

I believe that almost everything we do at Keywee is teachable. None of the tools we use is something I knew when I joined, and I was far from amazing when I started. The only thing I had going for me initially was motivation – and lots of it!

Looking at all the team leaders at Keywee, the only similarities we share are our motivation to succeed, and our desire to contribute to the success of the company – which in turns leads to our personal success, as well.

What advice would you give someone who’s just graduating from college / university and looking to break into tech or digital media?

Aim big and dream big. A lot of times people settle for mediocre jobs just to get some experience. They don’t think about tech or startups, as they think these companies require a computer science degree or prior tech experience, and hence they don’t even try. My advice would be to go ahead and try! If you’re ambitious and motivated, and want to contribute to a company and make an impact, joining a startup can help you grow and change you for the better.

I’d recommend any friend of mine in a similar situation to check out Keywee Greenhouse. We’re looking for good people who are team players, but also competitive and ambitious.

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Thanks for sharing Maayan!

As Maayan mentioned, Keywee Greenhouse is accepting applications from recent college / university graduates, both for Keywee’s Tel Aviv and New York offices. To learn more and apply, check out Keywee Greenhouse.