Meghan Hanson ‒ ClickFunnels

In an increasingly crowded online marketplace, having a good idea without cutting-edge infrastructure and back-end support is like a car without wheels: It might look good, but it won’t get you very far.

These days, digital sales and an engaging online presence are essential to a business’ bottom line—whether you’re selling a service, software-as-a-service or a fidget spinner. But without a team of designers and strategists behind the scenes, how can companies get the most out of their online presence?

Meghan Hanson | Chief Legal & Administrative Officer | ClickFunnels

Enter ClickFunnels, a company that enables business owners and entrepreneurs to grow their companies through the creation of sales funnels.

According to Meghan Hanson, the company’s chief legal and administrative officer, while today’s websites might look modern, they often aren’t optimized for the current online sales environment. ClickFunnels can help, transforming your web assets from static and staid to dynamic and adaptive.

“There are loads of technologies and sites that can help even novice users build a website. That’s neither new nor disruptive,” Hanson says. “ClickFunnels takes its users to a whole other level and leads them on a strategic journey to achieve the outcomes they desire. We don’t just build templates; we funnel sales.”

Funneling efficiency

Based in Idaho, ClickFunnels currently works with more than 100,000 customers, deconstructing websites into curated “tracks” that anticipate users’ needs and “funneling” them to create informed and actionable sales.

Through a combination of custom-built and templated options, cutting-edge tools and responsive live support, ClickFunnels makes it easier for users to customize their website and create funnels that can help them meet (and exceed) their sales goals—and grow their network and business in the process.

“Funnels are ideal for driving traffic into your digital storefront,” Hanson explains. “This isn’t just site architecture. Selling products, generating strong leads, boosting upsales, increasing conversions: Funnels does it all, and in an incredibly seamless way. Your customers will think, ‘This is easy!’ But in reality it’s incredibly complex on the backend.”

Hitting the ground running

Since joining ClickFunnels as its first general counsel in September of 2019, Hanson’s responsibilities have included everything from compliance and insurance to human resources, training and managing the company’s intellectual property portfolio: patents, copyrights, trademarks—all of it.

She’s also helping spearhead the company’s data privacy strategy, overseeing the implementation of a new initiative to integrate all applicable privacy regulations and best practices—including but not limited to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act—into one overarching compliance strategy.

It’s a job that’s been both challenging and rewarding, with new regulations popping up all the time—not to mention the never-ending task of anticipating what’s coming down the pike.

More broadly, Hanson serves as a subject-matter expert and advisor, providing advanced legal and strategic advice for all aspects of the business and the global operations groups.

“I’ve been really busy since I arrived, but being able to build the department from the ground up has been rewarding,” Hanson says. “I really love being a generalist who can impact so many different people and areas of a global business every day.”

Being first provides creative opportunities

Indeed, Hanson’s career has included plenty of trailblazing: She was the first assistant general counsel for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the first chief compliance officer at TechSoup Global, an international NGO specializing in technology solutions for 1.2 million nonprofit organizations in every corner of the map.

During her six years at TechSoup, Hanson advised program and operations teams on compliance and commercial issues, human resources, intellectual property, data privacy and more.

So when the opportunity came to do that again at ClickFunnels, with the added opportunity to build a program, she jumped at the chance.

“I truly value the opportunity to affect change and build efficiencies, while balancing an organization’s priorities against the legal risk and enabling the business to meet its goals,” she says.

Since she started, Hanson has established legal processes and policies and trained employees on how to discern whether a problem needs legal attention. She’s also developed tools and streamlined how the company executes contracts, manages and protects IP, and adheres to data privacy regulations.

According to Hanson, no matter how buttoned-up an IT department is, data privacy can keep a general counsel up at night.

“At ClickFunnels, we take compliance seriously, and that means having lawful and transparent data collection,” she says. “We had a good strategy when I started, and since my arrival we’ve taken a more aggressive approach which looks at all of the applicable regulations more holistically.”

Always working to help others

Whether she was interning at the juvenile courthouse in San Diego, working for the Gates Foundation or volunteering for myriad organizations, a common theme throughout Hanson’s career has been her desire to help others and leverage technology to create positive change in her community.

It’s a perspective wholly aligned with ClickFunnels’ twin mission: “Liberate & Educate.” The company primarily partners with two charities: Operation Underground Railroad (liberate), which helps free victims of human trafficking; and Village Impact (educate), which helps ensure education opportunities for villages in Africa, builds schools and provides supplies.

“The Company’s commitment to these charities was definitely a key factor in my decision to join the team,” Hanson says.

Marketing herself and building a career

Hanson’s enduring drive to make the world a better place has served her well—a hallmark since before her career even began.

While attending Cornell University (“Go Big Red!” she exclaims), Hanson studied communications with the dream of helping small-scale farmers have a voice in the economy. After graduating, she spent time as an editor and public relations associate, a role in which she continued her work empowering small entrepreneurs.

Still, she knew that furthering her education would allow her to impact even more people. While pursuing an LLM (tax) at the University of Washington School of Law, Hanson assisted with asylum petitions and offered pro bono tax assistance to some of the community’s most vulnerable citizens.

At the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Hanson continued to hone her craft—particularly on issues relating to the tax code. After more than a year at a small employment litigation firm, Hanson was recruited to join the renowned Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“I’ve never met such smart, intelligent and driven people,” Hanson reflects. “It was an incredible learning experience.”

New horizons

By 2013, Hanson was ready for the next challenge: working for a global nonprofit. She spent almost seven years as deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer at TechSoup Global—an international network of NGOs that provides technical support and tools to other nonprofits—before taking the opportunity to join ClickFunnels.

While there’s never enough time in the day—between work, family, her community involvement and an intense running regimen—Hanson says the company’s motto never fails to motivate her.

“What we do matters,” she says. “I try to remember that no matter what I’m doing.”

Like the marathons she so often runs, Hanson has come to see life as a long and winding road—where no matter how many miles she’s gone, it’s the ones ahead that matter most.

“It’s all a journey,” she says. “And a joy.”