Meet the Marketer With Multiple Successful Exits: Maria Sirotkina on 9×90™ (#26)
9×90 Episode 26
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About this episode
For those of you who don’t know Maria Sirotkina, she’s a dynamic growth strategist who has successfully exited two startups and now serves as a fractional CMO, specializing in scaling FinTech and EdTech companies from 0 to 8 figures in revenue. Maria is known for building and optimizing high-performance growth teams and is a true powerhouse when it comes to community building—having grown one brand’s community to over 150,000 members in just a year. Her ability to blend strategic marketing with authentic brand engagement makes her a standout force in today’s startup ecosystem.
In this podcast episode, we dive into practical growth strategies with Maria Sirotkina, touching on:
- The power of user-generated content (UGC) and why video testimonials convert better than traditional formats
- Tools that simplify collecting and organizing testimonials—including tagging features that help marketers use the right testimonial at the right time
- Common mistakes junior marketers make, especially when it comes to leveraging social proof effectively
- How Maria uses UGC as a core growth lever, especially in conversion optimization
- A brief walkthrough of her favorite marketing stack that saves time and boosts performance
- Her LinkedIn viral post on email marketing, which Adi shares has already been sent to her email list
- How to follow Maria’s work via LinkedIn, her website, and her weekly growth blog on Substack
- A few personal moments, including the story behind a 2014 face mask selfie and how Maria’s skin still looks flawless
This episode is packed with smart tactics and thoughtful insights for founders, marketers, and anyone building brands in today’s noisy digital world.
Thank You to Our Sponsors

Heritage Real Estate Fund™
Orchestrating multi-million-dollar investment strategies with surgical precision, HREF’s insight and execution is virtually unmatched. This Invite-only CRE fund provides investors with exclusive access to off market opportunities, a 110 year legacy & all-star operators. HREF’s approach is built on five generations of real estate expertise and a consistent track record of success investing in real estate across the US.
Molo9™ – The Proven Path to Profit
The go-to software for founders and fractional CMOs ready to scale. Molo9™ maps your fastest route to revenue, helping you craft intelligent, high-converting marketing campaigns without wasting time or budget.


Tools of Marketing Titans™
A comprehensive guide featuring over 90 actionable marketing projects from global experts who have built and led renowned brands, generating billions in revenue. This resource offers practical strategies to accelerate growth, including insights on leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for sustainable revenue.
The Transcript
This transcript was generated by AI & edited by ChatGPT:
Adi Soozin:
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of 9×90. Today we have a very special guest—someone who found creative ways to keep me motivated in business school. We used to do Korean skincare together and then study these insanely dense documents.
But she didn’t just survive grad school—she went on to become a brilliant fractional CMO with two startup exits under her belt and one startup death story that she narrowly escaped. That story alone shows how sharp her PEST analysis game is. It also explains why I needed to study with her.
She specializes in building and leading growth teams, mostly for fintech and edtech startups, scaling them from zero to eight figures in revenue. And right now, her superpower is community building—she grew one brand’s community to 150,000 members in just one year.
So ladies and gents, please welcome the amazing Maria Sirotkina!
Maria Sirotkina:
Hi Adi! Wow, what an intro—no pressure now, right? Thank you so much. It’s so good to be here. And yeah… I’m kind of regretting not bringing a face mask today.
Adi Soozin:
Neither did I!
Maria Sirotkina:
I totally could have though! That part is 100% true—and honestly, without you nearby, I don’t do it as often.
Adi Soozin:
The face masks?
Maria Sirotkina:
Yes, exactly.
Adi Soozin:
Well, you’ve got a couple of kids now, a few company exits…
Maria Sirotkina:
Yep!
Adi Soozin:
…but still!
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly.
Adi Soozin:
So, you’ve got two exits and a startup death story. Which one do you want to start with?
Maria Sirotkina:
Hmm… everyone loves to talk about exits, but I don’t think we talk enough about failures—and the death story is actually one of my favorites. So let’s start there. It’s got momentum!
Adi Soozin:
Very Russian of you.
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly! It’s part of the theme. And honestly, you learn the most from those kinds of experiences. I’m not trying to bury that story—it’s a goldmine.
Adi Soozin:
So you went to the Canary Islands and started this crazy forward-thinking venture. Back then, no one was doing this stuff—now it’s all over Bali and Miami. But you started this living-working-travel concept where teams could work remotely from paradise.
Maria Sirotkina:
100%. It was exactly that.
We grew really fast. I do think it was ahead of its time—this was before brands like Selina or Outside had really launched. We started with just one small property in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, and then quickly expanded to five.
We had a mix of co-living spaces and a co-working hub in the center. It grew into a pretty massive community. We hit 95% occupancy in our first year and ran around 70 events annually—which is a lot.
Adi Soozin:
Oh my gosh, yeah, that’s insane.
Maria Sirotkina:
It was! And while I wasn’t super hands-on with every detail, I was definitely leading the team. We ran it for about three and a half years. It was a good run.
Adi Soozin:
Then COVID hit—and you got out.
Maria Sirotkina:
Yeah… the timing was almost surreal. We had just been featured in all this national press. Things looked strong on the surface, but I was starting to realize that securing Spanish financing was going to be tough.
Adi Soozin:
Let me jump in here—for those who don’t know, she’s based in Europe. Unlike the U.S., where we can raise money relatively easily, in Europe it’s like… they’ll offer you $10 and ask for 90% of your company.
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly! I still remember this one accelerator that offered €10k for 20% equity. I was like, “I can bootstrap that myself.”
Adi Soozin:
Did you try pitching in the U.S.?
Maria Sirotkina:
No, I didn’t pitch in the U.S. directly, but I did speak with a few investors in my network. Still, it was hard for people to grasp the business—it was very location-specific, very physical, and heavily operational.
At the end of the day, it was a real estate business. Not the easiest thing to scale, especially without local financing. And I’m just not used to moving at that kind of slow pace.
Adi Soozin:
Totally fair.
Maria Sirotkina:
So I started working on my exit plan. Around the same time, my other business was starting to gain traction—more on that later—but I saw a clear opportunity. I ended up selling to a local travel company. I handed over the keys…
Adi Soozin:
Right before lockdown, right?
Maria Sirotkina:
Yep. March 12th. Literally days before the global lockdown. I didn’t know how bad it would get, but I had a gut feeling. My sister lives in China, so I had some early warning from her experience. She was already in lockdown months ahead of us.
Adi Soozin:
That’s wild.
Maria Sirotkina:
It really was. And while it wasn’t a glamorous, high-multiple exit—it was still a win. I avoided the mess of running a hospitality business through COVID, managing angry guests, closed borders, and all of that. Honestly? I was grateful.
Adi Soozin:
Yeah, I would call that a life-saving escape.
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly. It felt like one. I didn’t fully understand what was coming, but I knew I had to move. In hindsight, I was lucky to get out when I did.
Adi Soozin:
Luca thinks he should be part of this conversation…
Maria Sirotkina:
I’ve got you, Luca.
Adi Soozin:
This is Luca.
Maria Sirotkina:
Hi Luca!
Adi Soozin:
Say hi!
[Luca barks]
The little one wanted in. Nikita’s downstairs—she’s 80 pounds, so no way I’m picking her up. When I got back to the U.S., I got another Belgian, but here they’re huge. Remember the 50-pound one I had before?
Maria Sirotkina:
Yeah, of course.
Adi Soozin:
So I got her thinking she’d be 70–75 pounds max. Nope. She just kept growing. But yeah, Luca felt like he needed to make an entrance.
Thank You to Our Sponsors

Heritage Real Estate Fund™
Orchestrating multi-million-dollar investment strategies with surgical precision, HREF’s insight and execution is virtually unmatched. This Invite-only CRE fund provides investors with exclusive access to off market opportunities, a 110 year legacy & all-star operators. HREF’s approach is built on five generations of real estate expertise and a consistent track record of success investing in real estate across the US.
Molo9™ – The Proven Path to Profit
The go-to software for founders and fractional CMOs ready to scale. Molo9™ maps your fastest route to revenue, helping you craft intelligent, high-converting marketing campaigns without wasting time or budget.


Tools of Marketing Titans™
A comprehensive guide featuring over 90 actionable marketing projects from global experts who have built and led renowned brands, generating billions in revenue. This resource offers practical strategies to accelerate growth, including insights on leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for sustainable revenue.
Adi Soozin:
Okay, so after Restation, you went on to J City?
Maria Sirotkina:
No, actually! J Study was a company I started before that. It was my first business.
Maria Sirotkina:
I eventually exited from that one. It was an educational company I co-founded with two of my business partners. I worked on it for over ten years—honestly, I’ve lost track of the exact number. But it grew pretty spectacularly and funded my MBA and much more. It was really my sandbox for experimenting with ideas.
Let me give you the rundown: J Study started when we were about 18 years old. It began as an educational consulting company helping students from Russia and CIS countries get into universities and boarding schools abroad.
Adi Soozin:
Oh my gosh—that’s the one you started in college?
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly.
Adi Soozin:
Wait, wait—you have to tell this story. Don’t just rush through it. Okay guys, her dad was scoffing at her, totally didn’t believe in her, and then she went on to launch this massive company that helped… what? Thousands of students?
Maria Sirotkina:
Yeah, that’s true.
Adi Soozin:
Tell the story!
Maria Sirotkina:
Alright, here’s how it started. One day, a friend of mine—who I’ve known since we were about 13—comes to me. We were living in dorms at the time. He said, “Hey, I went to London for an English course,” and he had this idea: “Why don’t we take commissions from schools and help other students from our college study abroad?”
And I was like, “Sure, why not?” So, we just started. We put posters around the college and reached out to schools willing to pay us commissions. We built this horrendous HTML website—it was red and blue and just awful—but we learned how to use Google Ads. And back then, it was easy: just two buttons, no optimization needed.
Maria Sirotkina:
We did everything ourselves—wrote all the ad copy, ran the site, and started making money. Then came a breakthrough moment. Typically, our clients were students wanting to improve their English for a week or two abroad. But one day, we got a strange request. This person said they wanted to go for three weeks—with a group of 45 students. They were a teacher.
We did the napkin math and couldn’t believe the numbers. That’s when we stumbled into our niche: student travel for groups.
Adi Soozin:
Oh my god.
Maria Sirotkina:
From there, we specialized in organizing group travel. We worked with teachers from different countries to plan complex itineraries—flights, visas, insurance, everything. We even dealt with parents, keeping them informed every step of the way.
Adi Soozin:
Yeah, the liability stuff alone…
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly. And we kept growing. For about 10 years, we organized travel and even started hosting local conferences for teachers to build an educational travel ecosystem. We doubled year over year, though it was very seasonal—most of the action was during the summer.
Maria Sirotkina:
We were still in college for the first three years. After graduation, the three of us had to decide: should we get “real” jobs?
Adi Soozin:
But it worked—weren’t you already in college when it was taking off?
Maria Sirotkina:
Yeah, and honestly, once you’re already making money, it’s hard to consider a “normal” job. We were like, “Why take a stupid paycheck and do something boring when this is working—even if we had no idea what we were doing?”
Adi Soozin:
But you made so much money from it—you shared this on LinkedIn!
Maria Sirotkina:
Yeah! I funded all of my siblings’ studies abroad. First my oldest sister, then the next. My dad was definitely not happy at first. I remember calling him and saying, “Hey Dad, I’m incorporating a company—I’m going to be the CEO.” He had run a business before, but he was adamant: “I expected more from you.” He thought I was throwing away my future. I was a top student on a full scholarship, so he was probably just scared for me.
Adi Soozin:
I totally relate. The other day I was telling my mom about 9×90. Someone asked for audience data, and I pulled it up: it’s playing in 56 countries, the demographic is ultra-high-net-worth individuals. And she goes, “That doesn’t matter. Megan Kelly’s show is #3 in the country. Why isn’t your show #2?”
Maria Sirotkina:
Oh my god… I’m so sorry.
Adi Soozin:
Right? When you were telling the story about your dad, I was like, we have the same parents.
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly! At some point, I just stopped trying to convince my family I was doing the right thing. They had their shot at life—I wanted mine. And I still think I made the better choice.
Adi Soozin:
Same. If I had done what they wanted, I’d be working in a biochem lab right now. I wouldn’t have an international software company, a book deal, or a global show. I wouldn’t be going on a speaking tour next week. And I definitely wouldn’t have doubled Apple’s sales in a year—because I wouldn’t even have been picked to manage the Apple store.
Maria Sirotkina:
Totally.
Adi Soozin:
Our parents just didn’t understand the shift. In their time, if you wanted to be something, you had to get into a big corporation right after college. For us, it was the social media boom. You created a startup, scaled it fast, and then maybe went into consulting or a top company—if you even wanted to.
Adi Soozin:
I remember when my parents asked why I didn’t take this super low-paying job with Ernst & Young in Madrid. I ran the numbers for them: when they were my age, this percentage of their income went to student loans, this much to health insurance. Now? Those expenses are 4x higher. It wasn’t even financially viable.
Maria Sirotkina:
Exactly. At some point, I stopped explaining. I knew what I wanted and just moved forward.
Adi Soozin:
And look where it brought you. You built a successful company, funded your MBA, and changed so many lives.
Thank You to Our Sponsors

Heritage Real Estate Fund™
Orchestrating multi-million-dollar investment strategies with surgical precision, HREF’s insight and execution is virtually unmatched. This Invite-only CRE fund provides investors with exclusive access to off market opportunities, a 110 year legacy & all-star operators. HREF’s approach is built on five generations of real estate expertise and a consistent track record of success investing in real estate across the US.
Molo9™ – The Proven Path to Profit
The go-to software for founders and fractional CMOs ready to scale. Molo9™ maps your fastest route to revenue, helping you craft intelligent, high-converting marketing campaigns without wasting time or budget.


Tools of Marketing Titans™
A comprehensive guide featuring over 90 actionable marketing projects from global experts who have built and led renowned brands, generating billions in revenue. This resource offers practical strategies to accelerate growth, including insights on leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for sustainable revenue.
Maria Sirotkina: Yeah… exactly. I mean, I’m sure things would’ve turned out amazing in a different way, but it definitely wouldn’t have been this outcome.
Adi Soozin: No, yeah — not at all. And honestly, Apple was the only reason I got into IE.
Maria Sirotkina: Wow.
Adi Soozin: I didn’t meet the age requirement.
Maria Sirotkina: Yeah?
Adi Soozin: I also didn’t meet the years-of-experience requirement, but they said, “You broke the same record as Steve Jobs — yeah, we’ll make an exception. You can come in.”
So during my first month or term, everyone was like, “You’re so much younger — why are you here instead of in NIM?” And I said, “Well, I did XYZ at Apple.” They’d be like, “You did what?” I didn’t even realize it was a big deal at the time.
Maria Sirotkina: Same. A friend of mine invited me onto a podcast — originally we were going to talk about something else, but he asked about my first startup’s revenue. I was like, “Well, we did this and that,” and I gave him the numbers in rubles, since we were operating in rubles at the time…
Maria Sirotkina: …he converted it and was like, “Wait — what did you just say?” I told him again and he goes, “Are you saying you were doing that many millions per month?” And I was like, “I guess when you say it in dollars, it does sound like a lot more.”
Adi Soozin: What were your figures?
Maria Sirotkina: One year, we did over $10 million in revenue. And this was while we were still college kids. Of course, the margins were tight…
Adi Soozin: My God. If you were college kids working out of your dorm and doing $10 million a year… that’s insane.
Maria Sirotkina: Yeah — revenue is revenue. That’s something I really understand now. But back then, we had no idea what we were doing when it came to finances. I had zero clue. Now, of course, I’ve got the MBA, a lot of tech experience… and I’m extremely diligent about analytics and optimization. But those were very different times.
Adi Soozin: When people say, “You don’t need an MBA to run a business,” I’m like, “Sure, but I’d still rather invest in someone with one — just based on what I’ve learned.”
Maria Sirotkina: True. Absolutely.
Adi Soozin: Yeah.
Maria Sirotkina: It’s hard to measure the impact of a good education — or just education in general. I mean, when I have a bad day, I sometimes think, “This was a waste…” But the truth is, I make decisions now based on my current self. And that version of me understands things like P&L, what to focus on, and how to make decisions with data. Sure, you can be book-smart or street-smart, but getting a degree gives you an efficient way of understanding the fundamentals.
Adi Soozin: Yeah, absolutely. So after IE, you had Restation… and then Art Heroes?
Maria Sirotkina: Yeah — so the story goes: while I was letting Restation run its course and planning my exit strategy, I had this internal decision tree of negotiation tactics. I wanted out, and I accepted a very low offer just to wrap things up. But it didn’t matter — because we were already starting a new company at the same time.
My business partner was a 3D artist with a significant online following, so we built the company around his knowledge and network. I came in as the marketing co-founder and built out all the business processes. We started by teaching 3D art to aspiring video game artists — and it turned out to be a strong niche.
Maria Sirotkina: We recruited more mentors, built out systems… and before long, we had a thriving community across multiple channels.
Adi Soozin: Was all your content in English?
Maria Sirotkina: Yep — Art Heroes operates entirely in English. We have communities on Discord, Instagram, a huge mailing list, etc. The whole thing is geared toward the international market because the most lucrative jobs in this industry are in English-speaking countries.
Adi Soozin: Russian? Spanish?
Maria Sirotkina: Nope — all English. We could’ve expanded into other languages, but this industry is mostly based in LA, Montreal, or London. It’s more remote now, but when we started, those were the key hubs. Some students aren’t based in the U.S., but they still land jobs in English-speaking companies. And outsourcing studios are now an option too, with pretty decent salaries.
Maria Sirotkina: So yeah — we teach very industry-specific skills.
Adi Soozin: That’s really cool.
Maria Sirotkina: And I still don’t know 3D.
Adi Soozin: [laughs] Same. I’ll be like, “I don’t understand XYZ tech thing,” but I do understand humans and neurobiology — so give me five minutes and I’ll make something killer for your marketing campaign.
Maria Sirotkina: Yes! Exactly. There are so many transferable skills — especially when it comes to understanding human psychology. Once you get that, the rest — sales, marketing, tools — all become faster to learn.
Maria Sirotkina: And really, you just have to keep learning. Everything evolves so quickly.
Adi Soozin: Marketing is definitely for people who like to keep learning — and who enjoy keeping their brains active.
Adi Soozin: If you don’t enjoy scientific experimentation or blending art with neurobiology… honestly, marketing might not be for you.
Maria Sirotkina: Yes. So what are you learning right now?
Adi Soozin: Honestly? Lately I’ve just been buried in this 400-page marketing book I’ve been writing for the past few years.
Maria Sirotkina: [laughs] Okay… I’m going to call BS on that.
Thank You to Our Sponsors

Heritage Real Estate Fund™
Orchestrating multi-million-dollar investment strategies with surgical precision, HREF’s insight and execution is virtually unmatched. This Invite-only CRE fund provides investors with exclusive access to off market opportunities, a 110 year legacy & all-star operators. HREF’s approach is built on five generations of real estate expertise and a consistent track record of success investing in real estate across the US.
Molo9™ – The Proven Path to Profit
The go-to software for founders and fractional CMOs ready to scale. Molo9™ maps your fastest route to revenue, helping you craft intelligent, high-converting marketing campaigns without wasting time or budget.


Tools of Marketing Titans™
A comprehensive guide featuring over 90 actionable marketing projects from global experts who have built and led renowned brands, generating billions in revenue. This resource offers practical strategies to accelerate growth, including insights on leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for sustainable revenue.
Adi Soozin: I didn’t really get to learn as much this past year. I used to love reading one marketing book a week.
Maria Sirotkina: That’s interesting, because when you’re writing, you are learning — it’s just a very different kind of process.
Adi Soozin: True. When I signed on to write the book, I was super excited. I thought it would motivate me to read five other books on each topic, then write my chapter based on what I learned from them and what I’ve seen work. But the publisher said, “We’re not paying you to quote what other people are doing. We want you to share what you do.” So they shut that idea down fast.
Maria Sirotkina: Wow.
Adi Soozin: So I guess what I’ve really learned this past year has been about relationship-building and strategic alliances — especially around motivating people to collaborate. I brought in a number of contributors for the book to expand its reach — including a Wall Street exec and the president of an international bank. I’ve learned a lot about managing those kinds of collaborations.
But in terms of keeping up with what other marketers are doing or experimenting with it myself? I haven’t had much room for that because I’ve been in “teacher mode.” That said, now that the book is done, I’ve had more time to be active on LinkedIn — and I finally feel free to explore and try out other people’s ideas again.
Maria Sirotkina: That’s amazing!
Adi Soozin: I love experimenting — that’s the fun part of marketing for me. I saw your LinkedIn post about adding a top menu to your site, and I tried it. I also added social media links at the bottom and made it more personal. And wow — I got way better results than just “Join the Q&A” or “Buy this.” It reminded me how powerful small changes can be when they come from other marketers sharing what actually worked.
Adi Soozin: I’m like the younger sibling yelling, “Pick me! I want to try it too!”
Maria Sirotkina: Haha, same. Whenever I stumble across a new growth hack, I have to try it. It’s distracting — but it gives me that dopamine hit. Last year, for example, I got really into programmatic SEO. You basically set up a tool to auto-generate SEO-optimized blog posts. Everyone was talking about it — so of course, I had to test it. It was one of those shiny-object moments. Not sure what this year’s trend will be yet.
Adi Soozin: Everyone keeps telling me they’re obsessed with Clay right now.
Maria Sirotkina: Yes, Clay is a big deal. It’s a powerful tool — but tools alone won’t fix your business. If your funnel’s broken or you’re not the right type of business for the tool, it won’t help. The tool has to fit your business and your systems.
Adi Soozin: Exactly.
Adi Soozin: So here’s how my software came to be: During COVID, a CEO told me, “We can’t afford to hire you, but the only way we’ll survive is if we have access to your playbooks.” So I published my marketing playbooks. 300 people bought them. Then I got flooded with questions on LinkedIn like, “Can I skip this part? Do I need this section?” That’s when I realized they didn’t want playbooks — they wanted a recommendation engine. A marketing strategy generator.
So, I taught myself to code and built it. A few thousand people bought it. But I realized most of them didn’t want to learn marketing. They wanted to know what to assign their marketer. So they’d generate the strategy, print it off, and hand it to their new hire or Upwork freelancer.
That’s when I pivoted it to help people build and lead their marketing teams. Then the fractional CMO trend hit — and I was like, thank God. Now I don’t have to teach people how to use Molo 9™. I can just give it to fractional CMOs who assign the output to their teams. I built the tool hoping smarter users would eventually come — and now they’re here.
Now we’re building the next layer: agency owners and fractional CMOs want to not only generate the guides but also manage the execution in one place. So we’re building a project management portal where they can upload deliverables directly within the system.
Maria Sirotkina: That makes total sense. Project management always adds so much overhead — copying and pasting things into Notion or Basecamp is such a time suck.
Adi Soozin: Yes! Or people say, “Use Basecamp,” and then you have to create a whole new process for each team. With Molo 9™, I want to let users just say, “Run this SEO play,” and the tool generates it and assigns it to the right person.
Maria Sirotkina: That would be a dream. Right now, that part takes me forever.
Adi Soozin: The content’s there — but the UI keeps breaking. Sometimes the colors randomly stop working, and I can’t figure out why. White text on a white background is not helpful. I think I need to split the platform into two separate builds.
Maria Sirotkina: Tech is a journey. You’ll get there.
Adi Soozin: Right? I’ll launch something and say it’s a beta — and my husband will be like, “It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday and you’re still in the office.”
Adi Soozin: But I have friends who are really good at breaking things, so our beta launches are… thorough.
Maria Sirotkina: Haha, love that.
Adi Soozin: So tell me — outside of Art Heroes, what are your current favorite tools or tactics?
Maria Sirotkina: Funny you ask — I’m actually wrapping up a LinkedIn post right now about my favorite tools of 2025. I’m breaking them down into categories: content, analytics, and so on. There are tons. It really depends on what you’re trying to do.
Some tools are great for video editing — especially if you’re managing content across platforms. Face-on-camera videos can get boring fast. Just switching to a different tool can make your video pop in a new way. That’s my general advice: swap tools now and then. You’d be surprised how much of a difference it makes — even if the core content stays the same.
Then there’s a tool I love for testimonials — it’s called Sanja. I think it’s useful for almost any business.
Thank You to Our Sponsors

Heritage Real Estate Fund™
Orchestrating multi-million-dollar investment strategies with surgical precision, HREF’s insight and execution is virtually unmatched. This Invite-only CRE fund provides investors with exclusive access to off market opportunities, a 110 year legacy & all-star operators. HREF’s approach is built on five generations of real estate expertise and a consistent track record of success investing in real estate across the US.
Molo9™ – The Proven Path to Profit
The go-to software for founders and fractional CMOs ready to scale. Molo9™ maps your fastest route to revenue, helping you craft intelligent, high-converting marketing campaigns without wasting time or budget.


Tools of Marketing Titans™
A comprehensive guide featuring over 90 actionable marketing projects from global experts who have built and led renowned brands, generating billions in revenue. This resource offers practical strategies to accelerate growth, including insights on leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for sustainable revenue.
Maria Sirotkina:
Sanjay is a great tool—ideal for contractors, companies, really anyone. It helps you collect testimonials and embed them seamlessly anywhere, without needing to take screenshots. You can even request video testimonials. I’ve tested a lot of tools, and this one stands out. It’s a smart SaaS platform that handles branding, sends out the requests, and even follows up automatically if something’s incomplete. Super smart tool. You can tag testimonials too.
Adi Soozin:
Okay, this is actually the biggest struggle I’ve had with junior marketers. When I tell them, “Add testimonials to this piece of content,” they just grab five random ones. They don’t pick testimonials that actually speak to the feature we’re highlighting in that content. Does this tool help with that?
Maria Sirotkina:
Yes—so you can manually create tags and categories. There might already be some AI features for that, though I’m not sure. But yes, you can tag testimonials by things like offer or price point. For one of the companies I work with, we’ve grouped them that way. On the pricing page, testimonials are displayed based on pricing categories. It’s super useful because user-generated content is incredibly effective—especially when it’s real.
Adi Soozin:
Yeah, absolutely.
Maria Sirotkina:
UGC is a powerful growth lever. It’s not your traditional marketing like paid ads, but I lean heavily on it whenever I can. It always improves conversions, regardless of the channel. Honestly, I just use tools that save me time and make life easier.
Adi Soozin:
For those of you tuning in, we’ll include a link to Sanjay in the LinkedIn post once it’s live so you can check it out.
Maria Sirotkina:
I’ll send you a link. I’m planning to put it up on Gumroad, so I’ll get that over to you.
Adi Soozin:
Perfect. I’ll also embed your LinkedIn post about email marketing—that one was incredible. I actually already sent it to everyone on my email list.
Maria Sirotkina:
Aw, thank you so much!
Adi Soozin:
It was just so good. Now, what’s the best way for entrepreneurs to get in touch with you if they want to learn more about working with you or Deal?
Maria Sirotkina:
The easiest way is to DM me on LinkedIn—that’s the platform I’m most active on. I also have a website, which is linked on my LinkedIn. And I publish a weekly blog with growth notes on Substack. It’s called Marketing Co-Founder. So depending on your preference—LinkedIn for short-form, Substack for long-form content, or my website—all are great options.
Adi Soozin:
Awesome. We’ll link to all of those in the show notes.
Maria Sirotkina:
Thank you!
Adi Soozin:
Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. Let us know if there’s someone else you’d like to see on the show. And Maria, thank you so much for joining us.
Maria Sirotkina:
Thank you! Now I’m off to do a face mask.
Adi Soozin:
That’s how your skin stays perfect! I need to dig up that photo from 2014 when we were both wearing face masks. My daughter found it the other day and said, “Who is this? She looks like a younger version of my mom.”
Maria Sirotkina:
Oh my god!
Adi Soozin:
She actually asked if you were one of my cousins in Russia! I said, “Nope—but she’d definitely blend in.”
Maria Sirotkina:
That’s amazing. Thank you again!
Adi Soozin:
Thank you! Take care. Bye!

This interview was conducted by Adi Soozin of Molo9.com. If you enjoyed this interview and would like to see more like this: follow Adi on LinkedIn or drop your email in below to receive regular updates.
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