Episode 449: Doug McNary - CEO & Chairman, commercetools

Episode 449 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Doug McNary, CEO of commercetools.

11 exits as a CEO or board member.

That is an incredible and extraordinary number, and that is Doug’s track record. You would be hard-pressed to find another executive with the same history of success, not only in the Boston tech scene, but also beyond.

He came up through the sales ranks to leading go-to-market organizations at high-flying tech companies like Tivoli and Motive before taking his first position as CEO of Onaro and he has been a magnet for success ever since.

Fast forward across multiple CEO roles and board seats, today Doug is the CEO of commercetools, the global digital commerce AI company that helps enterprises transform commerce for the AI era. More than 500 global brands, retailers, and enterprise companies rely on commercetools to power their digital commerce. 

In this episode, we cover:

* Key advice on building a vertical AI company and why you must know your customer well enough to do their job. * Advice for operators with aspirations to become a CEO and how boards evaluate candidate readiness. * Lessons learned scaling software companies through major inflection points to successful exits. * The evolution of eCommerce and AI’s impact. * All the details about commercetools and how its API-native architecture positioned it for the AI era. * The primary responsibilities of an effective board member and how to get on the radar for board seats. * Crucial advice on building a repeatable enterprise GTM function, mastering outbound sales, and hiring top sales leadership. * And more!