Melissa Hollis is the CEO and co-founder of Taylor Street Collective, a marketing and go-to-market strategy firm focused on helping startups and startup-adjacent service providers clarify their messaging and accelerate their growth.

With a background as the “vicarious entrepreneur,” Melissa has built her career by becoming the first marketing hire at numerous startups, driving foundational brand strategy, and working directly with founders to bring their visions to life.

Key Takeaways:

• Clarity Above All: Melissa believes the most critical part of startup marketing is getting to the “why behind the why.” She helps founders distill their company’s core value down to a powerful, clear statement, ensuring the most important message always leads on the home page and in investor decks.
• Empathy-Driven Research: Taylor Street’s process always begins with in-depth customer research. By developing high-empathy marketing teams (even seeking out folks from acting/theatre backgrounds), Melissa ensures her team can truly step into the shoes of founders and their customers.
• Founders Shouldn’t Go It Alone: Melissa is passionate about building collaborative networks for founders and for fractional CMOs, stressing that partnership and shared expertise are key to survival and success.
• Evolving with AI: Though once hesitant, Taylor Street now transparently and actively integrates AI tools into foundational marketing work for startups, co-building AI-powered “marketing interns” tailored to each brand’s research, FAQ, and legacy content.
• Giving Back: Melissa highlights the impact of Girls Inc of the Pacific Northwest, an organization she supports for empowering girls to become strong, smart, and bold, and emphasizes the importance of mentorship and community for marketers as well as founders.

Melissa’s own “glow up” for the next year is to scale Taylor Street’s new AI-powered marketing foundation kits, enabling startups to hit product-market fit 80% faster by seamlessly blending human empathy and research with AI-driven efficiency.

About Melissa Hollis Co-Founder + Conversion-Obsessed Creative Leader

Melissa is a marketing communications professional and vicarious entrepreneur with 10+ years building brands and go-to-market strategies across industries such as accounting and tax, healthcare, real estate, finance, and tech.
Everyone who has worked with Melissa will tell you she is someone who truly listens when you tell her about your passions and, more than that, she hears and articulates what your heart is trying to convey when you might not have the right words. She takes the most pride in her proven ability to take subjects that are often overlooked and bring their most compelling aspects to the forefront with fresh perspective that are hard to resist.
A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself.
At The Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders.
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