Dana Gagnon
Chief Commercial Officer | Everee
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
What I’m most proud of is what I’ve built at Everee. When I joined, there was no real go-to-market function. We were still figuring out product-market fit. I got to build everything from the ground up: the brand, the messaging and positioning, the playbooks, the channel mix, the campaigns. Before Everee, I had a front-row seat to some big moments — a major rebrand, a user conference, an IPO — but there’s something different about being the person who has to figure it out from scratch with no template to follow. Understanding what truly differentiates a product, who needs it and how to reach them is hard work. But when it clicks, it changes how the whole company moves. That’s the part I love.
What’s your next big goal or project in your professional journey?
My next big goal is building the team and the go-to-market motion that takes Everee from momentum to dominance in our space. We’ve hit an inflection point, the kind where who you hire and how you operate in the next 12 months really matters. I want to bring in people who raise the bar creatively and move fast, without losing the scrappy, care-a-lot culture that got us here. The other thing I’m deeply focused on is AI — not as a buzzword, but as a genuine creative accelerator. The way I’m able to execute on ideas today versus even six months ago is remarkable. Things that would have taken weeks now take hours. I want to stay at the front edge of that, keep experimenting and push my team to imagine what’s possible in ways we genuinely couldn’t have a year ago. The marketers and sales teams who figure that out early are going to have an enormous advantage, and I want us to be in that group.
What key advice would you offer to other aspiring leaders?
Find your people. Don’t chase flashy titles or companies you think are “cool.” Those things never show up for you on a hard day. The people you work with are everything. They’re what make a hard job feel worth it and a great job feel electric. Optimize for them.
The other thing I’d say is, get comfortable being uncomfortable. Some of the best growth of my career came from taking on projects I had absolutely no business taking on. I didn’t always know what I was doing, but I said yes, figured it out and iterated from there. Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know. Just get it done anyway.
And finally, have perspective. Work is serious, but you can’t take it too seriously. I used to tell my team that nobody is going to die if we don’t send that email today. Most of the moments that feel catastrophic in the moment end up being completely fine. The ability to zoom out, laugh a little and keep moving is usually underrated.