Chris Harrington, the newly appointed CEO of CreatorIQ, shares his remarkable journey through the tech industry, his transition to CreatorIQ, and why he believes the creator economy is just getting started.
Chris, we are so thrilled to welcome you to CreatorIQ as our new CEO. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Who is Chris?
Thank you for having me. I’m thrilled to be here.
I'm a father of four, stepfather of two, and grandfather of two. I've been in the SaaS space for three decades, ten of those years in subscription businesses before SaaS was coined, with a large focus on data and analytics. I really enjoy sitting with customers, being curious about what they need, and translating what I learn into solutions that we can provide. That's a real honor.
Three decades is an amazing tenure, especially while technology and SaaS evolved so quickly. What has your career journey been like to date?
I’ll start from 2002, when I joined a web analytics company in Utah called Omniture. If you think about 2002, marketers didn't have a lot of tools. When a CMO and her department would put together a program, analytics was at the top of their list, but data was always delayed because the analytics providers at that time would process logfiles overnight — so at best analytics were 24 hours old. Leveraging cookies (I know that’s a bad word today), Omniture created an opportunity to provide those analytics in real time. As president overseeing global sales and client services, I helped grow that business over the next seven years while we took the company public and managed acquisitions, until we sold to Adobe in 2009. I stayed with Adobe for the next two years, where I eventually oversaw all Adobe enterprise products over the Americas. It was an amazing time.
From there I joined Omniture co-founder Josh James at Domo, a cloud-native business intelligence platform. In my time there as president and board member, I helped grow that company from $7 million to $150 million. In 2018 I had the opportunity to serve as CEO at InsideSales, where we served enterprise customers like Groupon, Dell, Sage, Caesars Entertainment, Fidelity, American Express, and more.
In 2021, I joined another Utah-based company called Entrata, which was like an enterprise resource planning platform for all things multifamily. When I joined, we closed our very first fundraising round at $507 million, the largest A-round in Utah history. And that brings us to today and CreatorIQ, where I’m excited to embark on this journey with you all as CEO.
You have accrued so much experience in the marketing data and analytics space. What has drawn you to the creator economy?
Well, I want to work for an industry that is going to grow dramatically, for something that is going to have that spike of adoption and growth. I know everyone talks about the creator economy and where it's going, but I feel like we’re still just at the cusp of this incredible opportunity. The purchasing power of Gen Z is astronomical. They're not buying from commercials on TV, and many others aren’t either. They're buying from communities, they're buying from people they trust. Brands and their agency partners continue to pivot to address that reality, but I still think we have yet to see how big this shift is going to be.
I also have some up close and personal experience with influencer marketing. My wife Angie is an influencer, and my daughter has built an amazing brand, JessaKae, all on social media. So I get to see it from the creator’s view in addition to the business side, which for me has been illuminating.
I love that you have that perspective of the creator economy. What drew you to CreatorIQ specifically?
CreatorIQ is already a leader in this space, and I am honored to be here as we accelerate growth and innovation, ensuring we are the best fit for our customers and agency partners. CreatorIQ has a great sense of the vibration of the industry, and that's really important. The fact that CreatorIQ has a very informed perspective on the creator economy, and great relationships with the leading brands, agency partners, and platforms in the space, is a unique thing.
Beyond that, at every turn of the candidate process, I felt more and more at home. Every team member I met was engaged, understood their business, and had thoughtful questions. You look for a leadership team and managers like that. And then you've got two powerful brands in CreatorIQ and Tribe Dynamics coming together, and the two founding CEOs in this new space coming together, which gives us the team an incredible amount of lift.
CreatorIQ team members celebrating with Chris Harrington and his wife Angie.
As you're joining the company, what are your biggest business values that you want to bring to CreatorIQ?
First, the creator economy is growing at lightspeed. I want to make sure that we’re moving intentionally to serve this fast-growing space.
Mutual respect is important to me. My viewpoint for coaching the folks you manage is to praise publicly and give feedback privately. If you’re coaching an individual, they deserve the respect of doing that behind a closed door.
‘The customer is always right’ is another important value. Customers inform our vision, and we have to communicate that vision. That doesn’t mean our customers and agency partners control our product roadmap, but we have to keep our ears tuned to where they’re going, because they are the ones pushing this industry forward. We'll use a lot of that information to make sure we continue to go to market in a way that fosters a partnership mentality.
Do you have any tried-and-true leadership approaches?
This applies even outside of leadership, but first and foremost, be curious and ask questions. The more you learn and listen, the more you can leverage.
Second thing, I want to surround myself with people who are very good. You've often heard this, but if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. The fact that I'm able to surround myself with people who are better at what they do than I am at what I do is very powerful.
Last thing I'd say is that performance management matters. Leaders need to ask themselves, how do I create an environment that is educational, informative, and that allows people to escalate their leadership capabilities? If team members want to stay, the collective team longevity continues to escalate. Expertise compounds, relationships compound, and we all benefit.
What are some of the brands doing influencer marketing today that inspire you?
Actually, I snuck into the CreatorIQ Connect Europe event while I was interviewing, before most people at the company knew who I was. The keynote from Kory Marchisotto, the e.l.f. CMO, was amazing. She has said 'no one should miss a meal to be able to buy some makeup.' The power they have unleashed in the brand goes back to that commitment to customers. And then there’s the reinvestment that they've made back into their employees, let alone their performance on the stock market over the last five years. I could not think of a more exciting opportunity than to learn from that mentality.
And then certainly brands like Coca-Cola and Walmart have the power and innovation to propel this industry forward. They will be absolute shakers in this community, and I love that.
You also have the really cool brands in your homes and on your phones like Peloton, Red Bull — Red Bull is a passion of mine. They’re beyond cutting edge in terms of drawing you in. When I retired from Adobe, they gave me a Red Bull machine and an ounce of Red Bull for every dollar of revenue I'd ever generated — a massive pyramid of Red Bull!
Do you have any advice for the customers we serve, and brands in general on this creator marketing journey?
If you're a historic brand and you’ve been in people's cupboards for five, six, seven decades, you might find that you need to pivot to reach audiences in this decade. Who do you have in your organization to help you do that? Hiring young people with expertise becomes a launching pad. Their voice at the creator economy table is probably the loudest, and it's definitely the most informed.
Beyond that, the creator economy is still at an inflection point. And success is not just about running great campaigns. Data is going to be king. The more information you have about the campaign, and about individual creators, the more that educates your business down the road, so that in your next engagement you know what to tweak and where to double down. So make sure you're partnering with someone who has that capability.
Don't wait to start or expand creator marketing. There's no wrong answer other than waiting. Your consumers are going to buy from brands that have a social media presence, and that doesn't just mean an Instagram page—that means activity, that means others are talking about you. I don't want to know if you've got a presence, I want to know that you are present. People buy from people they trust, and your ability to secure that trust is highly dependent on reaching the people that these creators have relationships with. In my opinion, creator marketing is the most effective marketing dollar you're ever going to spend, and it will only compound over time.
Aside from your professional experience, tell us a little bit about your life and your family.
The thing I’ve learned as a 55-year-old man is that life teaches you lessons all the time. I grew up in a very poor environment, and we bounced around a lot. I spent a couple of years in foster care. That backdrop created an environment where work became an opportunity to get on a different path that ultimately steered me towards a better life.
Fast forward to today, I have the most incredible family. My beautiful wife Angie and I share a blended family of six kids. I’ve got three adult children, Jessa, Oliver, and Hunter. I have two stepchildren, Rome and Cole. And then our five-year-old boy, Hart. I also have two grandchildren, Gatsby and Jazz. I'm incredibly blessed to be called dad, stepdad and grandfather.
The Harrington family. Photo: Nicole Hill Gerulat
Each of these kids is amazing in their own right. Jessa is an amazing businesswoman, and she made me a daddy and granddaddy. Oliver is a defender of everyone whose voices aren't heard. He’s transgender, and continues to teach me how to be a better man. I’m honored to have a son like Oliver. Hunter is 24 and has stepped right into my world of tech sales and is sharp as a tack. Rome, my oldest stepson, is 6’5” and has the heart of a lion. Cole is 16 and an incredibly talented athlete. And then Hart is the caboose, my five-year-old son. Hart is special for a lot of reasons. He was diagnosed with autism in 2022, and as a parent of five other neurotypical human beings, Hart has opened my eyes to a world I didn't know existed. He's literally the heart of the family, and he’s an amazing human who teaches me every single day.
I love that your family and history have influenced you to be a vocal advocate and activist. Can you share a little bit about the causes you support?
One of the things that's most important to me is foster care. In my opinion, in many ways it underserves those who are aging out of the system. One of the most important things I’m able to do is spend time with some of these kids, listen to them, and share my experiences with them. I want them to know that they have the power to be whatever they want.
With a son who’s transgender, LGBTQ+ rights and protections are also really important to me. And with our son Hart, autism is also a big drumbeat for us. Angie and I joined the board of Utah Valley University’s program called Wolverines Elevated. They help children with intellectual disabilities who are graduating high school continue their education in college courses. When some of these children graduate, much of their social lives and interactions come to a screeching halt, so enabling them to continue their growth is really important to me.
Chris and Angie Harrington at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Photo: Getty Images
We have to ask: what did you learn from your experience on reality TV?
Reality or unscripted TV is a format that’s not going anywhere. I think more and more people are drawn to programming that has less predictability to it. There’s that sense of authenticity or community that fans love, which is in many ways similar to what’s happening with creators and their fans.
Another thing I’ve learned is that the fan base is very passionate. The fans are unbelievable, and if you can unlock them, man, they’ll go to hell and back for you. So that's the kind of thing that's so fascinating about this industry. For Angie, it was a ton of fun and education. It gave her a platform that elevated causes that are really important to us, like being able to talk about autism, and have a publication like People Magazine cover it in a feature. That kind of awareness is tough to come by and has been a big blessing.
The Harrington family in People Magazine. Photo: MANICPROJECT
Thanks so much Chris for sharing, and for joining the CreatorIQ team.
Want to learn more about Chris? Check out his Earned podcast episode.