Melinda Byerley

Melinda Byerley

MBA

CA, US

The secrets of Silicon Valley style Growth Marketing, without the hype. Learn how to use digital marketing effectively for any business, anywhere.


Melinda Byerley is a serial entrepreneur and the founding partner of Fiddlehead Marketing, a data-driven digital marketing consultancy, and one of the first fractional CMO consultancies. Founded in 2014, Fiddlehead is based in San Francisco, but is entirely virtual. Previously, she founded Vendorsi.com and was the CMO at Poll Everywhere, one of Y Combinator's top ten revenue generating startups. Melinda is a pioneer of growth marketing in Silicon Valley, where she's held marketing and e-commerce leadership roles at companies such as PlantSense (sold to Parrot), Linden Lab/Second Life (head of Virtual Goods, Virtual Currency, and Ad Sales), eBay, PayPal, and Checkpoint Software. In 2020, the Digital Analytics Association invited her to create and chair its first ever Task Force on Data Privacy and Ethics, a topic Melinda is deeply passionate about since her work with eBay and PayPal's earliest trust and safety teams. Her lifelong experience with ADHD inspires her to coach her fellow marketing, high IQ, and/or neurodiverse executive colleagues on personal productivity and mindful journaling. 


Melinda's professional specialties are marketing analytics and strategic decision making, campaign attribution, and budget allocation. She is also a storyteller and content marketer who contributes to VentureBeat, GrowthHackers.com, and The Growth Marketing Conference, as well as a guest lecturer at Cornell University's Tech MBA and Core MBA programs, and Babson College's Summer Accelerator. Melinda holds an MBA from Cornell University in Finance and a BFA in Drama from Illinois Wesleyan University and combines her training in storytelling with her passion for actionable metrics. 


In 2022, Melinda was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, which required a complete overhaul of the seven figure, 20 person company she founded and ran for eight years. The experience gave her the opportunity to refocus her career on Artificial Intelligence for Marketing Analytics. She is beginning to develop a talk about the experience of having cancer as an entrepreneur. In the wake of cancer, Melinda started "Let's Get Real," a Substack focused on making marketing AI more accessible and practical. Her podcast, "Stayin Alive in Tech," is the first and only long form oral history of Silicon Valley and is now entering its fifth season with a focus on AI. 


When she's not working, Melinda enjoys learning to play bridge and snorkeling, as well as asking ChatGPT about everything. 



Melinda Byerley is a serial entrepreneur and the founding partner of Fiddlehead Marketing, a data-driven digital marketing consultancy, and one of the first fractional CMO consultancies. Founded in 2014, Fiddlehead is based in San Francisco, but is entirely virtual. Previously, she founded Vendorsi.com and was the CMO at Poll Everywhere, one of Y Combinator's top ten revenue generating startups. Melinda is a pioneer of growth marketing in Silicon Valley, where she's held marketing and e-commerce leadership roles at companies such as PlantSense (sold to Parrot), Linden Lab/Second Life (head of Virtual Goods, Virtual Currency, and Ad Sales), eBay, PayPal, and Checkpoint Software. In 2020, the Digital Analytics Association invited her to create and chair its first ever Task Force on Data Privacy and Ethics, a topic Melinda is deeply passionate about since her work with eBay and PayPal's earliest trust and safety teams. Her lifelong experience with ADHD inspires her to coach her fellow marketing, high IQ, and/or neurodiverse executive colleagues on personal productivity and mindful journaling. 


Melinda's professional specialties are marketing analytics and strategic decision making, campaign attribution, and budget allocation. She is also a storyteller and content marketer who contributes to VentureBeat, GrowthHackers.com, and The Growth Marketing Conference, as well as a guest lecturer at Cornell University's Tech MBA and Core MBA programs, and Babson College's Summer Accelerator. Melinda holds an MBA from Cornell University in Finance and a BFA in Drama from Illinois Wesleyan University and combines her training in storytelling with her passion for actionable metrics. 


In 2022, Melinda was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, which required a complete overhaul of the seven figure, 20 person company she founded and ran for eight years. The experience gave her the opportunity to refocus her career on Artificial Intelligence for Marketing Analytics. She is beginning to develop a talk about the experience of having cancer as an entrepreneur. In the wake of cancer, Melinda started "Let's Get Real," a Substack focused on making marketing AI more accessible and practical. Her podcast, "Stayin Alive in Tech," is the first and only long form oral history of Silicon Valley and is now entering its fifth season with a focus on AI. 


When she's not working, Melinda enjoys learning to play bridge and snorkeling, as well as asking ChatGPT about everything. 


Opening the Purse Strings: How To Get A Bigger Digital Marketing Budget

If you want to gain credibility with engineers or finance, marketing data is the way to get it. This presentation can help any audience learn what metrics to measure, how to make the right decision about the digital channels to pursue, and what they can do today to make progress in their digital efforts. No matter what size their company is, and no matter what stage of growth they are in, I can help.

My presentations are clear, practical, and not full of fluff or hype.  With...
Educational / InformativeTechnical / Specific

Finding And Hiring A Growth Hacker


Growth  Hacking is all the rage now.  But what is it, really? And how do you make sure you get the right one for your company? 

With over 15 years' experience in Silicon Valley Digital Marketing, I can teach your audience how to cut through the piles of gravel in interviews and online profiles to find the gold miner that can accelerate your business. 

I'm known for practical, down to earth, actionable advice that your audience can take...
Entertainment-basedTechnical / Specific

Digital Marketing Analytics for CMOs and Decision Makers

You know you need to know Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics, but you're embarrassed to admit you don't.  Or you want a refresher, or to help your team add to their skills. 

I can help you learn to get what you need from GA, how to use it to make decisions, and also, importantly, how to spot when there's a problem with your data. We'll work with your GA data, or we can use a demo account if you don't have one. 

Knowing GA's limitations is critical to...
Audience ActivityEducational / InformativeTechnical / Specific

Marketing Messaging For Technical Teams

Every company needs a strong message to be successful.  Technical teams often struggle with this process since they often can't afford to hire a full-time marketer. 

I can help your team create their branding and messaging strategy in 1-2 focused days. Together, We'll analyze your market and your customers. Then we'll walk you through a series of focused discussions to determine how to structure your marketing message. We'll provide you with templates and frameworks to...
Audience ActivityEducational / InformativeTechnical / Specific