We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenna Marino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenna below.

Jenna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

Corporate America can’t get out of their own way. The 1950’s culture still believes a 40 hour work week is ideal and people need to sit at a desk in the office to be productive. And they’d rather make big cuts than take big risks. Oh and blaming AI for taking all of our jobs.

I spent over a year working as part of an incubator inside a fortune 500 company. We built a product that would have taken 1-2 years for their in-house team to brand, design, build and market. We tested the product market fit, with a fully working product, created a package design and landing page for new user sign ups, in 3 months with 100% success. We met our beta sign up goal and presented to the larger VP and C-suite, showcasing how the product benefited the company as a whole as well as their targeted audiences. Though the experiment was wildly successful, the product was canned, never to see the light of day without much logic or reason. The risk seemed small, and the innovation would have brought a stagnant but safe brand to the top of the game.

Our industry needs to experiment more, and fail fast to make progress but the larger the corporations, the harder it is to get out of their own way.

Jenna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

AGNT (pronounced agent) is a strategic design studio that specializes in the design, marketing, and delivery of great experiences.

Our founders come from design backgrounds and include specialists in product design, content strategy, marketing, and innovation. Diverse industry experience, successful exits, and a growth mindset has allowed AGNT to craft a unique approach that helps established brands move like startups and position startups for explosive growth.

AGNT focus on creating lasting customer experiences that strengthens the relationship with your audience.

Brands, agencies and VC firms partner with AGNT as a collaborative team to accelerate timelines, enhance current services, and support their teams. We deliver these results through our analytical leadership, cross functional talent, continuous innovation, and a focus on user experience* leading to superior products.

How’d you meet your business partner?

We worked together previously. So as the story goes I was interviewing for a job at a local product design shop in Rochester, NY and while one team felt I wasn’t a good fit for their role, they thought I’d be great for a design role in the product marketing department. I interviewed with one of my future partners and while the position wasn’t available just yet, we talked for over 6 months while he campaigned to get me hired.

Fast forward a year or so after working with him and another future partner of mine and we got to talking after a night of toasting the new year together. We decided that, while we really enjoyed our time working together, the company we worked for was not an ideal environment. And I moved my family to Covington, KY to be closer to my other 2 partners and we made it our mission to “do. better.”

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The connections I’ve made and doing good work. I spent a lot of my early career at design conferences and events and keeping up good relationships with those people I’ve made in those early years. Similarly, when we moved to Covington, we joined all the local groups and made friends wherever we went. We quickly made a name for ourself, and integrated AGNT as part of the Covington community. #lovethecov

Contact Info:

• Website: https://weareagnt.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weareagnt/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareagnt/
• Twitter: https://x.com/WeAreAGNT

Image Credits

Sybilka https://www.thestorietellerphotography.com/