Your Contract Will Not Make Clients Pay (Maia Benzimra)

Maia Benzimra is the Co-Founder and CEO of Benzimra & Co. Maia Benzimra started in marketing at 16, taking the apprenticeship route instead of university, and worked her way up to CMO by 27. She has spent around a decade marketing digital assets and on-chain financial products, including leading the go-to-market for the UK's first FCA regulated exchange at Coinpass and serving as CMO at MELD. After years of carrying in-house Web3 teams and handholding external agencies, she co-founded Benzimra & Co. with a full-stack developer as an embedded go-to-market team for early-stage founders, especially in decentralized finance. In this conversation, Maia explains how her team rebuilt its workflow around AI, how she balances caring for her people with the health of the company, what becoming a founder has taught her about getting paid, and why she refuses to sell a single go-to-market playbook. Expect to learn why AI should be an extension of your team rather than a replacement for creatives, how a 70/30 split of enjoyable and mundane work keeps a team engaged, why you need zero fear of rejection to ask a client for money, why a contract is worth little unless you are willing to go to court, why there is no one size fits all go-to-market strategy, and much more… - 0:00 Cold open 0:32 From Apprentice To CMO At 27 2:11 The Gap In Web3 Marketing Teams 4:53 Go To Market In The Age Of AI 5:22 Progressive Leadership And AI As An Extension Of The Team 9:14 Building A Team That Feels Safe 12:17 The Psychology Of Becoming A Founder 15:13 Free Work And Zero Fear Of Rejection 16:52 Why Contracts Will Not Get You Paid 19:55 No One Size Fits All Go To Market 23:59 Where To Find Maia Benzimra - 🔗 Guest & Resources Connect with Maia Benzimra:   / maia-benzimra   Website: https://www.benzimra.co - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... LinkedIn:   / mikulaszach   Apply to be a guest: https://consultingrainmakers.com/ Email: mikulas.zach@agenteedigital.com