Function, the adaptive workplace and event infrastructure company, named Taj Alavi as its first Chief Marketing Officer this week. Alavi spent eight years at Spotify leading consumer marketing across core markets, then moved to Uber's rider acquisition team, and most recently directed brand and comms at Instagram. The hire is not incremental. It marks the moment Function transitions from founder-driven narrative to institutional brand architecture—the kind that requires discipline, consistency, and infrastructure that most growth companies build too late or not at all.
For principals and their operational teams, this matters because what Function does now, in the next eighteen months, will determine whether it becomes a named, imprinted asset in the institutional memory of its buyers—or remains a capable vendor that changes hands every three years. The move also signals that Function sees its future not as a software platform or service provider, but as a branded identity ecosystem. That distinction changes everything about how you engage with them, and what you keep from that engagement.
Why Spotify, Uber, Instagram Matter Here
These three companies manufacture attention and retention differently. Spotify owns recurring behavior—the weekly playlist, the discover feed, the habit loop. Uber owns transaction urgency and driver-side trust. Instagram owns narrative production and social proof. Alavi has spent his career building systems that make those properties stick. He has not marketed features. He has built behaviors.
Function's previous marketing was founder-voice: authentic, specific, tied to one person's conviction about workspace. That works until you need to scale beyond the founder's network. Alavi's appointment means Function is ready to produce a consistent, reproducible brand identity—one that travels, that works for new markets, that imprints across different buyer segments (corporate real estate, event producers, hospitality operators, sports venues). This is the infrastructure phase.
Where the Identity Layer Breaks Without Action
Most companies hire a first CMO and spend twelve months learning how to build brand systems. They discover, usually too late, that their physical presence—their events, their packaged objects, their spaces, the way they're noted in a buyer's calendar or contract—doesn't match the story they're trying to tell. The gap produces friction. Buyers notice. Trust erodes.
Function will avoid this if they build identity infrastructure that works at three scales: the corporate presentation and website (obvious), the buyer touchpoint (invitation, proposal, contract language, scheduling framework), and the physical and temporal imprint (the venue experience, the object a buyer receives, the way the space feels and photographs, the language on signage, the detail work that whispers rather than shouts). Most CMOs focus on the first. The best ones engineer all three. Alavi, given his background, likely knows this.
The opportunity window is now—the next six to nine months. This is when Function will be making decisions about brand guidelines, vendor partnerships, production partners, and identity systems. These decisions, once locked in, are expensive to undo. Operators and producers who move now—who position themselves as identity infrastructure partners rather than service vendors—will be written into that system. Those who wait will be replaced during the next RFP.
What Operators Do in This Window
If you produce events, sell premium tier services, or handle CMO-level briefings for heritage houses, this is the moment to approach Function with a specific proposition: not "we can help you build your brand," but "here's how we imprint your identity consistently across every buyer touchpoint, from the proposal to the post-event object." Bring examples of work you've done for similar infrastructure plays (hospitality brands, sports properties, corporate real estate). Show discipline, not creativity. Show process, not inspiration. Show how you keep things consistent across twenty different contexts.
Function's CMO hire also means they will soon be looking for partners who understand how to scale a brand identity without diluting it. If you've worked at that tier—if you know how to brief a production team on brand discipline, how to produce objects and experiences that don't feel like they were made to a checklist, how to make things feel inevitable rather than required—this is your moment to be in the room.
The way this gets handled is infrastructure-first, not message-first. That's where the house has always worked.
Questions buyers ask
what does it mean when a growth company hires its first CMO from Spotify or Uber
The company is moving from founder-led narrative to institutional brand architecture. They're ready to scale identity systems across multiple markets and buyer segments. Expect significant investments in brand guidelines, production partnerships, and consistent physical/digital touchpoints within twelve months.
how should event producers position themselves to Function during this CMO transition
Position as identity infrastructure partners, not vendors. Bring examples of work scaled across multiple contexts while maintaining brand discipline. Show how you produce consistent experiences and objects at different tiers. This window closes after six to nine months when systems are locked in.
what branded identity infrastructure does a company need when it hires a first CMO
Three layers: corporate presentation (website, guidelines), buyer touchpoints (proposals, contracts, language), and physical imprint (venue experience, objects, signage, photography). Most CMOs focus on layer one. Experienced ones engineer all three. Function will likely prioritize this immediately.
Editorial & Disclosure Notice: This article was written with artificial intelligence from public sources and is published without individual human review. Artificial intelligence and other digital tools are also used for research, analysis, editing, formatting, and production. Errors, omissions, outdated information, or inaccuracies may occur. References to companies, brands, products, services, organizations, or individuals are for informational and editorial purposes and do not imply endorsement, sponsorship, affiliation, partnership, or approval unless expressly stated. All trademarks and other intellectual property remain the property of their respective owners. Opinions, analysis, estimates, and commentary are informational only and should not be construed as financial, investment, legal, tax, medical, procurement, or other professional advice. Information may be corrected, clarified, or updated after publication. Corrections or removal requests: jenny@pops4.com.
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"Function hired a Spotify CMO. They're about to build identity systems that lock in vendors for three years. Are you positioned to be one."
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Function, the workspace and event infrastructure company, named its first CMO this week—Taj Alavi from Spotify and Uber. This signals a shift from founder-driven narrative to institutional brand architecture, which means significant decisions about identity systems happen in the next six months. Are your buyers and partners positioned to participate in that construction.
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