I recently went one-on-one with Gian Martinez, Co-Founder and CEO of Winnin.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Gian: I learned early in my career that there’s a science behind creative excellence, and that belief has guided me ever since. Back in the 1980s, my parents ran an educational business with a mission to nurture creativity from childhood called Creative Children. I was lucky to grow up in that environment; it taught me that creativity isn’t just a gift, it’s a skill that can be developed. At 21, I was invited to lead Coca-Cola’s creative department in Brazil, and a few years later, I took on a global role. At Coca-Cola, I discovered something that changed my perspective: cultural relevance isn’t luck, it’s a methodology. In fact, Winnin was born there, to systematize that approach. At the time, we called it Liquid & Linked, a philosophy designed to inspire brands to create ideas so culturally relevant they became “liquid” – viral and sparking conversations that spread organically. This approach became Coca-Cola’s global creative vision and helped the company earn recognition as Creative Brand of the Year in 2014. The setback? Realizing that this method wasn’t scalable beyond my own team. That tension between impact and scale ultimately drove me to co-found Winnin ten years ago. Winnin was AI before AI was a buzzword, built to become the world’s leading proprietary model for mapping culture through behavioral data. Today, we’re proud that Winnin has evolved into a global leader in cultural intelligence, serving brands like Unilever, Netflix, AB InBev, Google, and Mondelez, among others.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Gian:
- Solve a pain you’ve lived and experienced: This started with building what I needed at Coca-Cola.
- Make your methodology repeatable: Turn intuition into scalable systems.
- Let early wins compound: Our first enterprise clients became our best-case studies.
- Stay close to the problem: Culture moves fast – we have to move fast, too.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?
Gian: In today’s attention economy, brands win by understanding what truly matters to people – both at scale and at the speed of culture. It’s a whole new environment for brand building, yet many still rely on traditional research and declared data sources like social listening. We strongly believe that actions speak louder than words. That’s why our technology is built on behavioral data, rather than declared data. My advice: stop guessing at trends. Invest in cultural intelligence and align your brand growth and creative strategy with enduring cultural movements, not just buzzy trends of the week. If you build your brand strategy on strong cultural foundations, sales will naturally follow.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?
Gian: Build for capability, not just capacity. I hire people who can solve problems independently, then I get out of their way. We’re operating in a space that moves incredibly fast, so I focus on hiring adaptable problem-solvers and creating systems that empower quick decisions. The biggest mistake I see leaders make is building teams that need them to function. As a leader, your job is to make yourself less essential over time. Trust your team’s judgment, give them clear objectives, and let them own the outcomes.
Adam: What are the most important trends in technology that leaders should be aware of and understand? What should they understand about them?
Gian: AI isn’t coming; it’s here. Leaders who aren’t integrating it into their operations are already behind. We use AI to process and analyze massive amounts of cultural data at a scale and speed humans simply can’t match. The technology has evolved beyond being just a tool, it now integrates multiple data sources and delivers actionable insights directly into decision-making. My advice to leaders: stop waiting for perfect clarity on AI and start experimenting now. Give your teams permission to test, fail, and learn. The companies winning today are the ones who are already embedding AI into their workflows. AI won’t replace the role of humans in marketing, but humans who use AI will replace those who don’t.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
Gian: Cultural fluency: Understanding what drives people beyond demographics.
Conviction with flexibility: Strong vision, adaptable execution.
Bias for sharing: The best leaders make others smarter.
Putting people in the right positions: I’ve learned that being right matters less than making the team capable of being right without you.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Gian: In my perspective, leadership is less about control and more about creating the conditions for others to grow. The best leaders I’ve met don’t have all the answers; they ask the right questions and build environments that enable creativity, autonomy, and accountability to thrive. Further, the best leaders are incredibly self-aware. The more you understand your values, emotions, and blind spots, the more empathy and clarity you’ll bring to your team.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Gian: 1. Stay curious. Curiosity is the spark behind every breakthrough. The moment you think you’ve figured it all out, you stop growing. Keep asking questions, challenge assumptions, and learn from people who see the world differently than you.
2. Build with purpose. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, executive, or civic leader, clarity of purpose attracts both talent and trust. People don’t just follow strategies, they follow meaning.
3. Balance vision with execution. Dream big but ground your ideas in disciplined action. We talk a lot about the “and” mindset, being both visionary and pragmatic, creative and data-driven, ambitious and humble. That’s where real progress happens.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Gian: The best piece of advice I’ve ever received came from my father. Before he passed away, I asked him to share the most important lesson he had learned in life. He told me, “The more I know, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” That simple sentence changed the way I approach everything: leadership, innovation, and life itself. It taught me that true wisdom begins with humility and curiosity. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Gian: We’re living through the greatest shift in attention in human history. The brands that win today aren’t the biggest; they’re the most culturally intelligent. If you’re leading a company, a campaign, or a movement, ask yourself: Are we culturally relevant, or just hoping we are? The answer determines everything.
