Brand for Growth-Stage Leaders

4.8

(20 ratings)

·

4 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Take the growth-focused approach to Brand Leadership—with 25+ templates for getting buy-in, building campaigns, & proving your brand's value

Previously at

Notion
Brex
Gusto
Redbubble
Kiva

Course overview

Transform your brand org into one that leads, not follows

Brand operators, especially in growth-stage companies, are expected to ship new work and creative at the same time as developing the brand's core strategy and thinking on a long-term, strategic level. That's an extremely difficult balance—especially when alignment from the top and across the org is not a given.


The demands of your job mean coming up with winning creative, shipping brand campaigns, reporting on your results, and sourcing insights—all the while building a differentiated, consistent brand that can scale with the needs of the business... needs that are changing all the time.


Building and growing respected tech brands—especially through the most challenging, chaotic growth phases—is what I do best. I was Brex's #1 marketing hire and led Brex's successful rebrand. Most recently, I built out the global brand & integrated marketing team at Notion. I've coached hundreds of operators over my career, helping brands grow from $1B → $10B+ valuations and scaling from under 50 employees to over 1,000.


This cohort-based program is extremely tactical. It's built around real-life templates, pulled from my own experience, that you can use right away to:


1) Drive alignment and alliance across your entire org, through the brand


2) Revamp your internal processes around messaging, resourcing, launches and campaigns


and 3) Practically apply the hard-won methods of fast-growing, beloved tech brands,


helping you apply an executive mindset and elevate your position as a leader over just a few weeks.



Course material includes:


Self-paced course content, live 1:1 consulting/office hours, project critique and feedback from Kira, an always-on Q&A channel, and 25+ Notion templates & resources—for you to use and take with you long after the cohort is complete. You will have lifetime access to all course materials.

For Early & Growth-Stage Brand Leaders

01

VPs & Heads of Marketing at growth-stage startups developing your brand strategy and growth levers alongside founders & C-suite

02

Mid- to senior-level brand marketing ICs ready to find your path to leadership and up-level your org's Brand function

03

Experienced marketing leaders seeking to refresh and deepen your tactical approach to modern brand strategy and campaigns

04

Senior leaders who are experts in other areas of marketing, like PMM or Growth, and want to get stronger in Brand

05

⚠️ This is not a Branding 101 course—we're going beyond the fundamentals and deep into daily operating rhythms (read on for 101 resources)

What you’ll get out of this course

25+ real-life templates for scaling a world-class brand (that you can use right away) 

You'll get total access to my paid and unreleased Notion templates, created from the frameworks I've developed over 10+ years of operating brands at growing tech companies like Gusto, Brex, and Notion—plus my in-depth voiceover and context on how to get the most from them.

Create the buy-in & alignment you need to build a loved brand that drives growth

Apply actionable brand measurement strategies at all stages of growth, yielding insights you can actually use. Proactively navigate conversations with senior leadership so they invest in brand, keeping the brand front and center throughout organizational shifts & planning cycles.

Build award-winning, recognizable brand campaigns that also boost morale—not burn teams out

Analyze and level up your team's abilities in developing and executing global, brand-led growth campaigns that involve all key functions of marketing: PMM, social, content & community, and growth marketing—with or without agency support.

Confidence in surviving—and piloting—critical moments, like rebrands

Practice tactical approaches to leading through major moments of change, especially rebrands—that you can also apply in strategic pivots, brand refreshes, reorgs, or roadmap/audience changes. Change management is just one of the critical skills we'll practice.

This course includes

2 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

In-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

Projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

Sep 2—Sep 8

    Course Introduction

    4 items

    Brand Opportunities

    12 items

Week 2

Sep 9—Sep 15

    Sep

    10

    1:1 Consulting Session (1/2)

    Tue 9/103:30 PM—8:00 PM (UTC)

    Brand Alignment

    12 items

    🔓 Bonus: Leading a Rebrand

    4 items

    🔓 Bonus: Brand Guidelines Library

    1 item

Week 3

Sep 16—Sep 22

    Brand Resourcing

    9 items

    Brand Campaigns

    8 items

    🔓 Bonus: Makeover Your Marketing Calendar

    1 item

    🔓 Bonus: Access My Tech Vendor Roster

    1 item

Week 4

Sep 23—Sep 28

    Sep

    24

    1:1 Consulting Session (2/2)

    Tue 9/243:30 PM—8:00 PM (UTC)

    Brand Insights

    5 items

    🔓 Bonus: Interview Questions for Brand Leaders

    1 item

4.8

(20 ratings)

What students are saying

More from Kira's community

        Kira has proven to be an outstanding teacher, generously sharing her valuable insights with our cohort. Her templates and checklists on management and alignment will undoubtedly be instrumental, not only in crafting effective branding strategies but also in various aspects of my work. I look forward to applying these newfound skills and knowledge.
Tetiana B.

Tetiana B.

Marketing Specialist
        As Kira's former direct report, I can say that her brand strategy expertise and commitment to our team's growth were invaluable. Kira's mentorship was pivotal in shaping my career and fostering a culture of excellence.
Ryan P.

Ryan P.

Sr. Brand Manager
        Kira’s openness in sharing her thought process with vulnerability at work set her apart from other live event presenters. She didn’t just give a summary of what happened, but included what worked and what didn’t, which made her presentation the most relatable and compelling.
Leigh R.

Leigh R.

Brand Marketing Lead, Reforge Student
        Kira is a great presenter. She's honest and authentic, she talks in natural language that's easy to understand, and it was easy and interesting to follow her case examples.
Kseniya S.

Kseniya S.

Brand Marketing Manager, Reforge Student

Meet your instructor

Kira Klaas

Kira Klaas

Former Head of Brand at Notion, Director of Brand at Brex, Brand Strategist at Gusto & Redbubble

Kira has over a decade of experience operating respected B2B & B2C tech brands and advising various early-stage startups. Her campaigns have been featured on AdWeek, Digiday, Business Insider, The Drum, and even ABC7 news.


She also partnered with Reforge to develop the 6-week Brand Marketing Program for early- to mid-career brand marketers, and serves as a mentor with First Round's Fast Track program.


Why this course:


"Leading brand orgs, teams, and project isn’t easy—most playbooks are out of date, don’t go deep enough, or don’t provide specific lived examples. Once I became a manager, I focused on taking what I’d learned over the years and turning it into scalable frameworks and playbooks that would help my team. Just like building a brand, nothing is ever "done"—it's an ever-changing landscape that we get to define together."

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Brand for Growth-Stage Leaders

Course schedule

4-6 hours per week

  • Self-paced lessons

    2-3 hours per week

    Each week features 1-2 modules plus bonus content. Each module includes a mix of projects, lessons (long-form and video), and templates that you can use right away.

  • Practical projects

    2-3 hours per week

    Each module pairs with a handful of practical projects, worksheets, or reflections to help bring the course content to life. Every project is an opportunity for discussion and feedback from Kira.

  • Office hours

    Sign up each week

    Join Kira for two live, 1:1 consulting sessions to ask questions about the course or get real-time feedback or advice. Kira will also respond to questions and provide feedback throughout the cohort async.


    🕘 Tuesdays, between 9am-12pm PT / 12pm-3pm ET

Free resource

Download my Strategy Frameworks Library | Notion Template ($27 off)

In this course, you'll find several of my paid frameworks. You can preview a few over at notion.so/@kira!


I love this strategy framework library in particular. When you need to communicate an idea, a strategy, or a goal, use one of these tried-and-true strategy and communications frameworks, easy to pop into any product launch doc, campaign brief, or other project where you need to get a point across. This template contains 9 pre-built strategy frameworks and examples for how to use them. I use these in conjunction with my Brand Campaign Framework.

Get the Notion Template

Learn from a real expert and peers

Learn from a real expert and peers

Hands-on, personalized learning

Take advantage of personal, one-on-one consulting with the course instructor to dive deep into specific challenges you're facing

Live feedback on projects

Get real-time feedback on any project you submit—projects are designed to be applied to your real work, right now

Learn with a cohort of peers

Meet a community of like-minded brand leaders who want to learn and grow alongside you

Course FAQs

Can I enroll late?

Do you offer team discounts?

Can my company pay for this course?

What happens if I can’t make a live session?

I work full-time—what is the expected time commitment?

Can Maven send my company an invoice for the course?

How does this course differ from Kira's brand course on Reforge?

I still have questions. Can I talk to the instructor about the course?

It's too expensive for me, but I still want to take the course.

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Brand for Growth-Stage Leaders