Career lessons from Lade Falobi - General Manager, EarlyNode
Chatting with Lade felt like an instant dose of inspiration. You know when someone’s so into what they do that their energy practically jumps off the screen? That’s Lade. As a marketer, she’s not just all about creativity; she’s about purpose—thinking deeply about what makes products stick, how to build an audience, and how to solve problems with flair. In this conversation, we didn’t just talk shop. We explored how she hires the right people, what fuels her on the tough days, and the story behind her wildly popular newsletter, 'Marketing for Geeks.'
Whether you're just starting out or already in the thick of things in your marketing journey, you're about to get practical tips, real talk on navigating challenges, and a glimpse into the mind of someone shaping the future of marketing. Let’s dive in.
Tell us about Lade: How did your marketing journey begin?
I first got into communications during secondary school, where I joined the press club and eventually became editor-in-chief of the school magazine. Journalism runs in my family—my dad, uncle, and aunt were all journalists—so it felt natural to follow that path.
When the time to enter university came, I didn’t have a clear career direction, but I knew I belonged in the arts. Science subjects just weren’t for me. People often suggested I study law, but I resisted because it felt too expected. At one point, I thought about becoming a diplomat—probably inspired by a movie—but when I learned I’d have to master a new language, I quickly dropped that idea.
When it came to picking a course, I was set on attending the University of Ibadan and leaned toward Mass Communication. That’s when I found out UI didn’t offer Mass Communication but had Communication and Language Arts, where I ended up majoring in Marketing and Advertising. It turned out to be the perfect fit. I also started working in journalism during my first year and explored other roles throughout the university, so by the time I graduated, I already had solid work experience.
That first job was as an intern reporter at Daily Independent in Lagos, working in the aviation section and dabbling in some photojournalism. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t just coffee runs or sitting in the office, I was put to work. I was writing articles, going out to get stories, sometimes resuming at the office as late as 3 pm just because I was chasing a lead on a story, and just fully immersing myself in the work. That hands-on experience built up my confidence, especially in my writing. Before that, I was still figuring things out, unsure of what I was actually good at. So, when my articles got positive feedback, I started to believe that I was good at writing.
Another big part of that role was working with the photo editor, who taught me a lot. I didn’t realize it at the time, but those skills were setting me up for what came next. My first "real" marketing job was at a marketing agency called Platinum Connect, and that’s where things really started to click.
We did all kinds of marketing, but what stood out the most for me was planning events for clients, and making things happen on the ground. It was exciting! I also got my first taste of social media management there, handling clients’ pages, doing photography at events, and turning that content into something engaging. It was a small agency, so I had to wear many hats, but that just made it more fun and challenging.
How I got the job was interesting too. I attended a seminar organized by my department, where alumni came to speak. I stayed in touch with one of them, and during a school holiday, I reached out, asking if there were any opportunities at an ad agency. I was thinking of going into advertising at the time, particularly copywriting. He connected me to the agency, and the interview happened right at an event I was volunteering at! The CEO saw me in action and told me to start in January. And just like that, I was in.
The job was paid too—NGN 40k, which was pretty decent for a student then. With transportation costs being low, I had some extra cash while doing work that interested me.
From left
Image 1 - In secondary school, She was a member of the press club (and later became the Editor-In-Chief). Her school published an annual magazine called The Home Editors. In that edition, Lade wrote the cover story for the magazine and got featured on the front page.
Image 2 - Lade and colleagues at JK&O (her 3rd job, which she got by applying). She worked there during the pandemic, from Q4 2020 (September) to Q1 2021 (February). JK&O was a strategy and advertising agency. And the first role where she didn't feel like an intern.
Image 3 - Lade and co-workers at Platinum Connect (the job that she got via networking). They organized a marketing conference in 2019 and took this photo at the end of the event. It was Lade’s first time being somewhat involved in planning an event.
You joined your first company after school in 2022 and you’re now managing a team at an international remote company, how did that scale happen so fast?
I started early – I had already gained about two years of work experience by the time I graduated. Most people finish school with maybe one year of experience, but I didn’t even need to look for internships after graduation. I felt like I’d already put in the time.
In fact, Enterscale, another company where I interned as a copywriter, reached out to me right after I graduated to ask if I wanted to come back as a Creative and Content Specialist. That early start not only set me up for immediate opportunities but also helped me figure out what I didn’t want to do. For example, my first job showed me that journalism wasn’t for me. By trying my hand at social media, event marketing, agency work, and traditional advertising, I was able to zero in on the things I enjoyed and wanted to pursue.
The freedom to experiment with different roles while still in school was a game-changer. Back then, quitting a job was low-stakes—there wasn’t much pressure because I wasn’t yet responsible for paying rent or feeding myself. That kind of freedom allowed me to explore without the same consequences you’d face after graduation. It’s definitely harder to take those kinds of risks when you have bills to pay.
The second thing is that I’m obsessive about whatever I’m working on. I don’t just dabble—I dive in. I read a lot, and I mean a lot. I’m not very visual, so I don’t watch or listen to much, but I consume written content relentlessly. For example, when I was into traditional advertising, I practically lived on Ads of the World, building a swipe file with over 10,000 ads, including commercials from decades ago. When I got into product marketing, I did the same thing—reading everything I could get my hands on, signing up for newsletters, taking free courses, and then applying everything I learned immediately.
And the companies I worked for, especially Enterscale, played a huge part in my growth. In the year and a half I spent there, I gained the kind of experience that could take someone three to four years elsewhere. I worked with big clients like Flutterwave, handling large budgets and campaigns that had a real impact. Enterscale had a strong learning culture—they had templates, playbooks, and frameworks, and I soaked it all up. That’s where I developed a structured way of thinking about marketing.
After Enterscale, I joined Motherboard, where I deepened my understanding of product strategy. One of the most interesting projects I worked on was building a product strategy from scratch. I had just finished a product marketing boot camp at Treford, and I used what I learned to create the strategy document for Motherboard. It took over three months, with weekly reviews from my boss. We scrutinized every aspect of it, refining and thinking critically about each part. By the end, it was hands down the best work I’d ever produced.
Now, I’ve taken those skills into my role as General Manager at EarlyNode, where I oversee SaaS products for B2B companies.
So yeah, starting early, being obsessive about learning, and working at companies that allowed me to grow at a fast pace—those were the key things that helped me move forward so quickly in my career.
You started in marketing and have now transitioned into a product management and growth-focused role, how did that happen?
This happened when I started working at Enterscale again after school. They were managing a portfolio of products from other companies, and we were also building our own products in-house. When I first joined, I was purely focused on content marketing, but over time, my role naturally expanded to include more strategic thinking.
It was around that time that I stumbled on a product marketing masterclass by Treford—I don’t even remember how I found it. I’m kind of a geek when it comes to learning, so I’m always attending random webinars and reading a ton of stuff. It was a free, two-hour session, and as I was watching it, I thought, This sounds really interesting. Some of the things they talked about were similar to what I was already doing, and others were completely new to me.
During the session, they asked a question, and if you got it right, you could win a discount of up to 50% for the full bootcamp. I ended up getting a discount which was great, but I still couldn’t afford the full price. So, I went to my boss and mentioned it. She asked me to send over the curriculum, and eventually, the company agreed to pay for the rest. That’s really how I got into product marketing.
From that point on, my boss started referring to me as a product marketer when speaking to clients, and I gradually took on more and more product marketing responsibilities. One of the biggest turning points came just a week after I had attended a class on go-to-market strategy. Suddenly, I was asked to develop a go-to-market strategy at work. It was crazy—I was literally learning things and then applying them in real-time. That accelerated my growth a lot.
In that role, I did a bit of everything—from writing ad copies, events, to helping to build products from scratch. It was a fast-paced environment, and I learned a ton. I remember my boss even suggesting that I’d make a great product manager, but I knew that wasn’t the path I wanted to take. And honestly, it still isn’t.
My transition to a full Growth Product Manager role began during my time at Motherboard, where I led sprints, wrote PRDs(Product Requirement Documents), and handled both growth and marketing strategies.
Left - A training organized by her team at Enterscale for one of their clients (Chapel Hill Denham) in 2022. It was her first time speaking in such a setting and getting paid. At this event, she spoke about creating a content strategy for your buyer's journey.
Right - A photo of Lade speaking at a Creator's Brunch that her team at Enterscale organized for a client (Disha). Here, she had a lot more ownership in planning the event.
With your experience managing a marketing team, what do you look out for when hiring a marketer?
For me, the most important quality any marketer can have is clarity of thought. This means being able to think things through and then clearly articulate your thought process. It’s crucial because it underpins good writing and communication skills, which are essential for effective marketing.
Clarity of thought often comes with a certain level of obsession. I believe obsessive people make great marketers because they tend to dive deep into things they don’t understand. They’ll consume endless resources, read, watch, and experiment until they grasp what they’re looking for. So, I always look for that obsessive curiosity in candidates.
Another key thing I look for is whether they light up when talking about their work. Are they genuinely interested in what they’re doing? Passion matters because if you enjoy your work, you’re naturally driven to improve and go above and beyond. Of course, it’s fine if someone views the job as just a paycheck, but that often means they might only do the bare minimum required rather than pushing themselves to excel.
On your LinkedIn profile, it says you’re a “tear-down queen.” Can you walk us through what that means?
Yes, sure! The concept of “tear-down” is something I started doing at Enterscale (shoutout to them again). It began somewhat randomly when we were trying to win a particular client called Sats. My boss asked me to do a product teardown and sent me a document that was essentially a teardown of an ad. I hadn’t done anything like it before, but from the document, I realized it was about breaking down a product, highlighting what was wrong, what could be improved, or what worked well.
The first teardown I did was for a mobile app that was still in beta. They sent over the APK file, and I downloaded it. As I went through the app, I took note of everything I thought could be better: buttons that were too tiny, missing steps, or onboarding processes that were too long and tiring. I approached it as a regular user but documented my thoughts, critiques, and expectations honestly, taking screenshots of every step.
I put all my feedback into a slide deck and shared it with the team and the client. They were really impressed by the insights, which surprised me. After that, it kind of became a tradition; we did teardowns for every new client or product. It became part of my responsibilities, and I continued doing it for all the products we worked on.
During a teardown, I would navigate the product just like any other user but with a critical eye, identifying friction points, missed opportunities for upselling, or areas where messaging could be stronger.
I’ve even done some public teardowns, like the one I did for AfriChange, which I shared in the Marketing for Geeks series. That’s a good example of what my teardowns look like if you want to check it out.
Talking about Marketing For Geeks, your outstanding marketing newsletter. What inspired the idea? Why did you decide to start it? And what are your plans for it?
Before Marketing For Geeks, I actually had a different newsletter, but it was more abstract. I was sharing thoughts on identity, culture, emotions—stuff like that. It wasn’t focused, and I wasn’t very consistent, so eventually, I decided to start afresh.
I thought about what I genuinely loved, and it hit me—marketing! I was always geeking out over marketing anyway, analyzing ads and breaking down campaigns. So I figured, why not turn that into a newsletter? That’s how Marketing For Geeks was born.
I started small, using my existing MailChimp list of about 100-200 people. When I switched to focusing on marketing, I let them know about the shift and invited them to stick around if they were interested. Then, I discovered Substack, which was a much better platform for my needs, and I migrated the list there. Since then, I’ve tried to be more intentional about consistency, and even though there have been some gaps, it’s been going well!
Looking ahead, I think Marketing For Geeks will eventually evolve into a space with an audience that could potentially buy a product or service I sell in the future, but right now, I’m focused on sharing my ideas and testing them with my audience.
One of the benefits of writing the newsletter is that it’s a way for me to work through my thoughts. When I write, I’m often talking to myself, working out ideas, and sharing them to see how they resonate. It’s really a learning process for me, and the feedback I get helps me refine those ideas. So, for now, I’m focused on nurturing the community and learning as much as I can.
What advice would you give to the marketer reading this article?
My biggest piece of advice is to start early and immerse yourself in real-world projects. Don’t wait for the perfect job or the perfect opportunity—just dive in and start creating. If you’re interested in product marketing, for example, why not create a go-to-market plan for a product, even if it’s imaginary? Build it out and really get excited about the process.
One of the most powerful things you can do is make your work public. Share your projects, your thoughts, and your learnings. Early on, I didn’t have a big portfolio, so I participated in a 30-day ad challenge with friends. We created 30 different ads in a month. It wasn’t perfect, but it allowed me to build a portfolio, and that’s what landed me my first role at an agency.
So, build in public. Don’t keep your work to yourself—share it with the world. Get feedback, and learn from it. This process will help you grow far faster than working in isolation ever could.
And collaboration is key. Sometimes, it’s not about finding a mentor but working with peers who share your passion. In university, I had a group of friends who were as passionate as I was about marketing. We worked on projects together, even securing funding for one of our campaigns! So, find your community, stay proactive, and embrace the journey. Enthusiasm and dedication will always shine through.
From left
Image 1 - This is a screenshot from the 30-day ad challenge that Lade created and did with some friends which gathered over 40 participants. That 30-day ad challenge made up the first version of her portfolio, which helped her get her first non-intern role.
Image 2 - This image is a flier from one of the projects she did with friends in the university called 'Happy Trails'. It was a guerrilla marketing project for the University of Ibadan Zoo and they managed to raise funding and get it partially executed.
Image 3 - This is a photo of Lade and the group of friends who executed the Happy Trails project. They were also roommates or neighbors for most of university. They took their idea to a lecturer, who helped guide & support them. It took 2 years and 3 VCs to get the project finally approved
Looking ahead, what can we anticipate from Lade?
I’ve recently launched a new column called Funnel Vision in my newsletter ‘Marketing for Geeks’ which I’m really excited about. The first interview was with Daniel Orubo, and it was fantastic! I’ve done a couple more installments and so far, the reception has been amazing, look forward to more.
In my current role at Earlynode, we've recently pivoted to a new, more exciting project—a social tool designed to help B2B companies harness founder marketing and employee advocacy. This product, which we aim to launch in 2025, is moving faster than any project I've been part of, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about where we’re headed.
There are a few other things in the pipeline, but they’re still in the early stages. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share more soon! For now, I’m focused on these projects, and I can’t wait to see how they unfold.
Enjoyed Lade’s story? Join her for an AMA session exclusive to the Smarketers Hub community on the topic: Mastering Product Teardowns on the 18th of October 2024. To be a part of this, join us on Slack today.
You can also connect with Lade on Linkedin.
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