A former Google CMO shares how breaking corporate rules, focusing on impact, and taking bold risks accelerated his rise and led him to build a $71M startup.

Former Google regional Chief Marketing Officer Alon Chen recently revealed that his quick rise within the organization was easy due to his decision to challenge traditional corporate rules and the status quo.  At the age of 23, Chen joined Google in 2006 without any prior contacts or marketing expertise. At the age of 28, he was in charge of marketing for Greece and Israel, overseeing a $2 billion product range.

He credits this rapid growth to ignoring the status quo, focusing on impactful work, and making bold moves that avoided corporate processes. By his late twenties, his strategy had produced a seven-figure stock package in addition to a high six-figure wage.

Chen quit Google despite receiving a multimillion-dollar payout, saying he was "optimizing inside someone else's system." He found Tastewise, an AI platform for food and beverage intelligence that currently provides services to well-known companies including PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Mars. Chen claims he has no regrets about giving up corporate reputation to start his own business, and the company has now raised over $71 million.

Chen launched Google Partners in foreign languages and markets without informing anybody in North America when a senior team at headquarters opposed his plans to do so. He said, “Once we proved it was extremely successful, they asked us, 'Oh, can you also launch it in North America?'”

Waiting at least two years before requesting for a promotion was standard procedure at Google. He said that the majority of staff accepted that timeframe without question. Chen completely ignored it, went to his management within a year, and presented an undeniable argument. He told his manager, what he has been able to achieve was way more than anyone else. He said “We’re going to put me up for promotion now” and his manager accepted it.

Chen highlighted that business standards are frequently merely formalities for great achievers. Working on the "right things" and making sure senior leadership saw the results were his main priorities.