Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown

Business Transformation Change Agents, Popular USC Professors of Entrepreneurship

Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown are known for their unexpected and entertaining approach to purpose-driven leadership and performance that blurs the line between personal and professional development. Their inspirational keynotes and workshops are packed with actionable takeaways that will ignite culture shifts in organizations and empower audience members to scale growth, find purpose in their work, and profoundly impact their teams, their customers, their partners, and themselves.

At the foundation of Colin and Garrett’s philosophy is the idea that the most successful leaders and teams employ a mindset that empowers them to stop merely doing what they’re “supposed to do” and instead turn even the most transactional encounters into transformational experiences.

After decades of collective experience as sales professionals, leaders, and executives, Colin and Garrett’s paths crossed at enterprise software company Bitium, where they played key roles in growing the business from startup to a prominent acquisition by Google. They currently serve as adjunct professors of entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, where they teach the hugely popular, first-of-its-kind course they created, “Sales Mindset for Entrepreneurs.” They are also authors of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, The Unsold Mindset (HarperCollins), which draws from extensive research and interviews with some of the world’s most successful people to demonstrate how anyone can achieve incredible results in their field, become the leader they wish they had, inspire and move others to action, and find more purpose and fulfillment in their work.

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Colin and Garrett are a high-energy and hugely entertaining duo who hook audiences in with their relatable and informative banter paired with memorable real-life stories and actionable takeaways for gaining support for ideas, creatively solving business challenges, becoming catalysts for transformational change, and leveling up — both collectively and individually. As they reveal, the common trait all great leaders and high performing teams and individuals possess is what they call an “Unsold Mindset,” as well as an unrelenting commitment to showing up as learners, creators, and their most authentic selves in everything they do.

Colin Coggins has deep experience working as an executive commercial leader and theorist and is known for his unique and proven approach to scaling revenue by cultivating sales IQ across entire organizations. He is currently an SVP and GM at Chegg, where he leads the Chegg Skills organization. He previously held senior leadership roles at several emerging technology companies, including Bitium (where he met Garrett), Mobile Roadie, and Fabric. He continues to serve as an executive sales leader and advisor, as well as a mentor at Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition fund and Techstars.

Garrett Brown began his career as a corporate lawyer representing startups and entrepreneurs, which inspired him to enter the exciting world of startups, where he climbed the ranks as a sales and business development executive. He joined Bitium in its early days as the company’s chief revenue officer and oversaw all revenue functions until the company was acquired by Google. After the acquisition, Garrett joined Google in a revenue management role, learning countless lessons about the inner workings of one of the most recognizable companies on the planet.

Colin and Garrett are also active investors, mentors, and startup advisors, as well as the founders of Agency18, a consultancy that helps mission-driven companies adopt growth strategies that are equally revenue-forward and aligned with their values.

Together, Colin and Garrett are on a mission to inspire people to show up as who they are — not who they think they should be — and perform beyond their best every day.