Leadership Lessons: Karin Stevens, CMO of Overhaul
Summary
Karin Stevens joined Overhaul very early as the first hire outside the founding team and helped scale the company from a handful of people to more than 600 globally. In this interview she discusses her unconventional path into marketing (from the music industry and working as a barista), the transition from wearing many hats to focusing on product strategy and marketing, and her practical leadership approaches: weekly check-ins, autonomy for direct reports, and an emphasis on learning and mentorship. She also reflects on company growth, experimentation with tools, and personal resilience following a breast cancer journey.
Author style: Punchy — this is a readable, concise leadership profile that saves you time by pulling the practical lessons out of a long interview.
Key Points
- Karin was employee number five at Overhaul and helped grow it to over 600 people worldwide.
- Her background spans music, brand/licensing and B2B agencies — she stresses knowing the customer and product.
- Early-stage roles required wearing many hats; scaling meant delegating operational duties and focusing on product strategy and marketing.
- Leadership practices include weekly “one win, one challenge” check-ins, promoting autonomy, and reading employee feedback closely.
- She champions hands-on learning (e.g. getting close to product and customers) and intentional mentorship opportunities in hybrid work.
- Karin emphasises experimentation — try tools early and iterate rather than waiting — and identifies freight protection and cold chain as market opportunities for Overhaul.
- Personal resilience matters: exercise, family time and employer support were key during her cancer recovery.
Content summary
The piece is an interview-driven profile. It traces Stevens’s international upbringing and varied early roles, then focuses on practical leadership tactics she uses at Overhaul today. She describes the operational realities of scaling a tech-enabled logistics company: hiring, structuring marketing, investing in product understanding, and creating cultural rituals that surface blockers and wins.
Stevens offers actionable advice for developing leaders — be curious, take risks earlier, create room for hands-on learning and mentorship, and intentionally build opportunities for junior team members to shadow and learn.
Context and relevance
This is useful for marketing and supply chain leaders navigating scale-ups, especially in logistics and tech-enabled freight protection. The interview highlights common scale challenges (process vs. experimentation), people practices that improve team performance, and market areas where Overhaul sees demand. It sits neatly within broader industry conversations about resilience, talent development and digital tool adoption in supply chains.
If you manage teams in high-growth supply chain or tech businesses, the practical rituals and delegation lessons here are worth borrowing.
Why should I read this?
Look — it’s a quick, human interview that pulls out sensible, usable leadership moves without the fluff. If you’re juggling growth, hiring or shifting from operator to leader, Karin’s tips on handing off operations, weekly check-ins and encouraging hands-on learning are straight to the point and easy to try tomorrow.
Source
Source: https://www.supplychain247.com/article/leadership-lessons-karin-stevens-overhaul