Brad Doss

Meet Brad Doss (MBA ’13), Senior Director of Marketing at GitHub. Brad is a go-to-market leader who has built and led teams across sales, marketing, product, and operations during his tenure at GitHub. He currently oversees Revenue and Partner Marketing, driving business growth through customer engagement, pipeline generation, and product adoption. Before joining GitHub, Brad led Gartner’s fastest-growing sales and marketing consulting practice and helped shape strategy and operations for its professional services business.

Which Darden courses and/or activities have had the biggest impact on your career post-MBA? 

We laughed about it at the time, but Leading Organizations courses are the most relevant because all I deal with are people in almost every scenario across the work-day. The soft skills are essential when leading and motivating teams and making hard personnel decisions.

Bargaining and Negotiation was another one that I apply the learnings from quite often.

What advice would you have for prospective and current Darden students who are interested in pursuing a career in the tech sector? 

Have a good perspective on the size of the company you want to work for because the experience at a startup vs. big tech varies dramatically. There are also tradeoffs in terms of location, compensation, benefits and offerings, so depending on where you are in your life you might make a different decision based on risk factors as well. It’s best to have a good perspective and focus on that vs. trying to be everything to everyone.

What characteristics are most important to succeed in tech?  

I’ve often found that the general management skills from Darden are most applicable because it allows me to contribute in nearly all conversations and strategic decisions that are happening across the business from go-to-market to finance to operations to product, etc. Not everyone, particularly at smaller companies, has a well-rounded skillset that they can bring to the table and being able to add value in multiple domains is a great way to build an internal brand and continue to learn and move up in your career.

Also, you have to be flexible and think on your feet – the industry moves fast and so do many companies – you have to be able to pivot in the moment and be flexible vs. rigid in your approach.

What has been a challenge in your tech journey, and how do you manage this?

I’ve been through a few acquisitions as the acquirer and the acquiree and integration challenges can always pop up regardless of alignment and company fit. I’ve often found that assuming positive intent is the best path when engaging with new teammates and finding common ground on what you’re trying to achieve as a combined business has helped to eliminate some of the early tension. Much easier said than done of course, but the folks who have approached things negatively carry that reputation with them in the long run and the tech industry can be a small place when that happens!