Employee Spotlight: Isaiah Fitzgerald, SDR Team Manager
Isaiah Fitzgerald joined Bedrock Analytics as the first member of the Sales Development Team in 2020, and since then has moved into leading a full team of Sales Development Representatives. Beginning his career as an Account Executive at Yelp, Isaiah was able to develop his sales skills founded in tech. This corporate big-tech environment helped him translate those experiences into his role with Bedrock and helped him shape his own team here and accelerate company growth.
Isaiah’s spotlight serves as an under-the-hood look at his background and the depth of knowledge he brings to the Bedrock team.
What initially drew you to Bedrock Analytics and made you want to join the team?
Isaiah: Joining Bedrock was one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. After my first meeting with Will Salcido, Bedrock CEO, and Michael Tallia, VP of Sales, I realized that I would be joining a team with some of the best minds in CPG analytics and CPG as a whole. More than that, I saw that Bedrock was one of the most advanced products in the industry and was going to be groundbreaking. Within a year into the role, I knew I had made an incredible decision and felt confident I was going to contribute to the company’s growth while the veterans I work with every day were helping me grow as well.
What makes you excited about your role with Bedrock?
Isaiah: So far, I have been the most excited about the growth I’ve witnessed and helped contribute to over the past two years. When I started in the fall of 2020, I believe we had around 12-15 employees. Fast forward to today, we’ve nearly tripled our headcount throughout a global pandemic and a recession.
Alongside our company growth, it’s been even cooler seeing the product evolve into what it is today. Don’t get me wrong, when I started here we had an unbelievable product, but looking at how it’s evolved over the last few years has been incredible. Working at Bedrock brings a new challenge everyday and being one of the leaders on our all-star sales team is something I take a lot of pride in. That, and consistently breaking records every month/quarter/year is what really gets me hyped up about my role here.
How do you describe your job to someone outside the industry?
Isaiah: “Think of the products you see and buy every day at the grocery store. They track all kinds of data on sales, promotions, competitors, etc. With that data, I help those brands: 1) Get their products on those shelves and 2) Keep their products on those shelves with AI-driven analytics.
What is one experience in your career that has helped shape who you are?
Isaiah: My first day at Bedrock somehow lined up with my first day of grad school at DePaul University here in Chicago, where I graduated with my Masters Degree in Marketing just a few months ago. Balancing a full-time job while going back to school, all in the midst of COVID-19 and nationwide lockdowns might just go down as the hardest thing I’ve challenged myself with. That being said, I doubted my decision many times but I’m very happy I did it. Since day one, I’ve found countless applications of the intersection between my work and my studies and I believe it’s made me the manager I am and more importantly – a better human.
What elements of the work you are doing at Bedrock Analytics do you think will make the most impact in the market?
Isaiah: Data harmonization and democratization is the biggest one. We’ve cornered a unique spot in the market where we’re one of few, if not the only platform that harmonizes standalone datasets while putting the power of data into the hands of entire corporations,as opposed to the old-school way of doing things in CPG where only analysts and category managers can use and understand data.
Giving sales, marketing and leadership teams the ability to use their data at a high level has given our customers a HUGE competitive advantage and it’s insane that CPGs have been functioning without doing so for decades. This one goes out to our Founder and CEO, Will, for being the innovator that he is and recognizing this ginormous niche in the market, and executing on it!
Where can we find you in your free time?
Isaiah: Depends on what season it is! There’s always something to do in Chicago, and we’ve got it all here; beaches, a big city atmosphere, seasonality of the weather, an amazing restaurant and entertainment scene, and I could go on.
On the weekends you can normally find me riding my bike by the lake, trying new restaurants with my friends, going to ALL of the street festivals which are just about every weekend, and pretty much just doing my best to experience every part of this city and the wonderful people within it.
