Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Chicotsky.
Hi Brandon, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in Fort Worth, which had plenty of old vestiges from our previous Cowtown era. The city has since welcomed new developments, new residents, and new enterprises. The city has also welcomed me back after I spent 16 years in industry prior to returning recently. I attended UT-Austin for undergraduate studies and then entered a “top 3” Congressional lobby firm” focusing on military aid appropriations for the United States and allies.
This provided professional inroads in the Middle East enabling a subsequent appointment in the private sector. My entry into private equity was in Tel Aviv, Israel through an externship with New York University as a graduate student in business management, which involved capital fundraising for a portfolio of technology startups from investor communities in Europe and Asia.
This deal flow led me into Chief Marketing Officer roles in early-stage, and later, venture-backed endeavors, which began a decade of company building, capital fundraising, and more recently, angel investing and marketing advisorships. Portfolio work has extended to real estate syndication in the Fort Worth area with the Chicotsky Real Estate Group at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty.
Along the way, I earned a doctorate in Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. As a doctoral student, I was advised by one of the world’s leading sports media scholars, Dr. Andrew Billings, who was part of a dedicated cohort of senior faculty who helped prepare me to synthesize scholarly insights to inform my future pedagogy and industry work.
I subsequently served on the business faculty at Johns Hopkins University and then returned to New York University as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Integrated Marketing. At NYU, my programming and advising work went into “hyperdrive,” which further propelled my exposure to convergence spaces for academia and industry. This helped make it possible to return home to join the business faculty at Texas Christian University Neeley School of Business.
I now guide students through market-applied learning with course clients and consultancy projects that are based on relevant scholarly frameworks while incorporating technology-forward processes (e.g., AI generative tools). My curricula often include “deep dives” with tech stack building, platform demos, segmentation analyses, experiential marketing simulations, customer lifetime value calculations, product-market fit assessments, product innovation, and branding campaigns.
My service in my hometown, “Cowtown,” honors a century-old family tradition. My great-grandfather Morris J. Chicotsky arrived in Fort Worth in 1913 and immediately began volunteering. My family and I serve as trustees for the local charitable fund, The Jobe and Helen Richards Foundation, which gives to faith-based volunteer communities, elderly care, education programs, and veteran support programs. Each student, and each citizen of my city is a constituent of consequence. While I demand hard work and self-efficacy from everyone with whom I advise or instruct (a Texan “tough love”), I also dedicate my advocacy and spirit to their success. When anyone comes through Fort Worth, they should leave, or hopefully remain, more enriched and inspired than before.
Connect on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/chicotsky
Follow on X (Twitter) @Chicotsky
Purchase my most recent book, Sales Millionaires, at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At every stage of my career–especially in private equity or building value in companies in stage-financed deals–there was a pacing and never-ending string of challenges that necessitated relentlessness. Failure with others’ vested interest or livelihood at stake has never been an option. We had to capture market share, increase our value, and power through.
From a lifestyle standpoint, having lived and worked in Manhattan and the Middle East, I remember looking at daily logistics as a near-comical battlefront. When coupled with business hardships, a particular resolve began to build. This intensity is what I knew until academia, where work is collegial, patient, macro-assessed, and often generous. It helps that I genuinely enjoy my colleagues and share a mission of impacting rising professionals while contributing to the tree of knowledge. We can be found often reading in our offices and then consulting on our syntheses for the marketplace.
In my Texas dealings, I don’t have to activate the hardening or coarseness forged from previous industry endeavors. Ultimately, I aim for everyone to win around me, and Texans–particularly our companies in DFW and North Texas–seem to understand how to come to workable terms to make that happen. Unsurprisingly, we’re one of the best growth markets in America.
Every business faces existential risks, and then there are sometimes internal risks such as cash flow or the lack of ability to sufficiently invest in new growth areas as a company. I’ve experienced these constraints in extreme ways where an enterprise sale would determine if a business went belly up or would enter a new growth phase. I have also seen competitors with better financing instruments outpace my operation, which left an imprint.
Part of what makes my current advisory work meaningful regarding capital lending is that I can better direct clients and help align liquidity solutions. As an advisory representing lending capital directed to Texas companies, I look back on how such resources would have helped years ago.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work includes advocating for the TCU Sales Center, which has become a national leader in market-applied learning through live selling benchmarks informed by corporate partners. The center’s graduates rank among the highest in the nation regarding target earnings with an average of three job offers and a 100% placement upon completing the program. I’m proud to have helped establish the center as a founding faculty member alongside its director, Dr. Zach Hall, and extraordinary executive faculty. This work inspired my latest book, Sales Millionaires, which is available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
I also support the marketing department overall by having the largest enrollment under one professor at TCU, with 375 students this semester and likely more next semester. My enrollment has steadily grown since joining the TCU Neeley faculty in 2019. Our department produces some of the nation’s most formidable and impacting research which inspires this approach to lectureship.
Outside of professor work, I offer advisory services representing lending capital from private equity sourcing that is directed to Texas companies in the energy, real estate, and technology sectors. I also work closely with the Texas Blockchain Council to help ensure DFW and Texas win the future.
I represent the convergence of business and academia which has created some distinguishable markers. I enjoy bringing stakeholders together when value aligns and deals can advance. An example is my support to ensure TCU helps attract high-impact stakeholders to the North American Blockchain Summit in Fort Worth, which has over 1,000 attendees from the public and private sectors coming together.
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Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Course Clients:
If a company is established but has opportunities for growth that could be supported by marketing solutions, the company could become the focus of my students to unlock those opportunities. I have course clients each semester.
Advisory Services:
If a company is in need of liquidity or wants to win its sector through strategic allocations, my advisory’s private lending sources are more competitive and expedient than any regional bank can offer in this environment.
Speaking:
If an event, association, or company leadership seeks a timely study or presentation with actionable insights, my colleagues and I have proven to be useful, especially in the areas of marketing and emerging technology.
Share my latest book, Sales Millionaires, with your teams which can be purchased at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Pricing:
- Course Clients: $5,000 which goes directly to TCU.
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Advisory Services: Standard service fees for any placed capital.
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Speaking: Stipends or consulting fees vary based on objectives and value deliverables.
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Book: $20 at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Contact Info:
- Portfolio site: https://bchicotsky.com
- University profile: https://neeley.tcu.edu/
chicotsky - Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/
chicotsky - Instagram: @bchicotsky
- Facebook: facebook.com/bchicotsky
- Twitter: @chicotsky
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/
chicotsky - Other: https://angel.co/u/chicotsky
