Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nikki Lindgren. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nikki, appreciate you joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

I launched Pennock as a consultancy in 2018, shortly after being laid off while pregnant with my third child. Having spent 15 years in eComm growth marketing, I had a solid network and immediately pulled in former colleagues for projects. That worked well… until we grew. Once I exhausted my personal network, I turned to Upwork for help, but quickly realized the talent wasn’t up to par. That’s when I started looking for my first full-time hire.

I wanted someone local who could work in-person with me. I found an experienced marketer willing to take a risk on a new, tiny company, and for nine months, it was just the two of us. We worked in complete lockstep… and also drove each other totally crazy. We argued like siblings, lost sleep over one another, and created a dynamic that was honestly pretty toxic.

Looking back, I wouldn’t change it. That relationship taught me so much. It was my reputation, my money, my everything on the line, so everything felt hyper-personal. That employee eventually moved on to a large company where she could coast for a while, but later came back to refer clients and stayed in our orbit. There’s still a bond there because we went through fire together.

When it became clear that relationship had run its course, I began looking for her replacement—and for a junior hire as well. And even though I’d done a ton of hiring before, interviewing for my own company was a whole different beast.

I got lucky. I found a standout candidate on LinkedIn, and the interview just clicked. We spoke the same language, saw campaigns the same way there was instant chemistry. I knew I’d hire her before the call even ended. For the next 2.5 years, everything was magic: she grew with the business, clients loved her, the team loved her, she was a unicorn.

But as client growth ramped up, so did hiring. Building a team in the Bay Area was brutal competitive, expensive, and inconsistent. We often hired people who seemed great in interviews but lacked the skill set once in the role. To make it worse, we didn’t have SOPs. I was disappointed, overwhelmed, and instead of stepping up to properly train the team, I let my frustration leak into conversations. It wasn’t a healthy culture. At all.

And yet, we built something meaningful. The people we hired during that messy phase are still connected to each other today. Many even moved on to future roles together. So while it was chaotic and imperfect, it was foundational.

I love self-reflection and growth, but I can also be a little dense to the lessons in real time. The truth is, I needed to feel all those lows to learn how to lead better. There’s no shortcut around the pain if you want to build something lasting. I wouldn’t have arrived at where Pennock is today without those early bruises.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Nikki Lindgren, founder and managing partner of Pennock, a performance marketing agency that helps beauty, lifestyle, and wellness brands grow through strategic paid media. I’ve spent the last 20+ years in eCommerce and marketing—leading everything from paid social and search to influencer and affiliate programs—with one focus: helping brands scale efficiently and profitably.

My journey into this industry started at Cost Plus World Market, where I helped launch their eCommerce business. Since then, I’ve worked in-house at fast-growing brands like KiwiCo, where I led performance marketing through the company’s first $1M and $10M revenue months, and also on the agency side at Delivery Agent, where I helped grow the client roster and team 10X.

In 2018, after being laid off while pregnant with my third child, I founded Pennock with the goal of creating the agency I wished I’d had when I was on the brand side—one that’s not just focused on metrics, but deeply invested in the outcome for clients. Since launching, we’ve partnered with more than 50 brands, managed over $100 million in media spend, and consistently driven double- and triple-digit month-over-month growth.

What sets us apart is our ability to move fast without cutting corners. We don’t just run ads—we integrate with client teams, uncover strategic advantages, and build media systems designed to convert. We’re especially proud of the impact we’ve made helping women-led and values-driven brands break through the noise and win loyal customers.

The work is personal to me. I care deeply about the brands we work with, the stories they tell, and the lives they improve through their products. If you’re looking for a marketing partner who brings both strategy and heart to the table, that’s us.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I’ve come to realize I can’t (and shouldn’t) be great at everything, and one area that hasn’t always come naturally to me is fostering team culture. At Pennock, I’m strong on structure, support, and direction. My door is always open, and I love when team members take initiative to chat beyond our 1:1s. I steer the ship. But I’m not the natural cheerleader—the one who rallies the team with high-energy enthusiasm.

That’s why I’ve intentionally brought in people who are great at that. They’ve helped shape a culture that’s motivating, collaborative, and fun. It’s been one of the best leadership decisions I’ve made. By surrounding myself with teammates who complement my strengths, we’ve created a place where people feel supported, seen, and excited to do their best work.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ll give you two.

First—and this one surprised even me, I spent most of my 20s and 30s trying to bury the details of my upbringing and education. Which is ironic, because I named my agency after my hometown. Living in this Bay Area enclave of highly educated, highly articulate, and wildly accomplished people, I felt like I needed to blend in. I’ve always been a quiet introvert, and I thought the safest thing to do was to downplay where I came from.

It wasn’t until recently, what I like to call my “f***-it era”, that I realized how much value my story brings. I grew up in rural Minnesota, on a private lake named after my family, near a town called Pennock with a population of 400. I went to fashion school in California, then transferred to a very average state school. And that path? It gave me perspective, grit, and a differentiated point of view. I still get uncomfortable when people go on about their Ivy League degrees, but I’ve learned that those credentials don’t make me less valuable and my background has actually shaped a lot of what makes me successful today.

Second, my favorite boss of all time was, frankly, kind of a jerk, a brilliant, no-nonsense woman who didn’t do small talk, didn’t care about personal lives, and just wanted the work done right. I admired her and mirrored that approach for a long time. I believed that work and life should be kept completely separate. But over time, I’ve learned people want connection. They want to know who they’re working with. So I’ve started opening up more and building relationships beyond the task list. It’s been a big shift for me and one that’s made me a better leader.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pennock.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we_are_pennock/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkilindgren/

Image Credits

Sabrina Yavil for the intro!