Podcasts about CRO

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Best podcasts about CRO

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Latest podcast episodes about CRO

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: The AI Bubble Is Wrong | AI Margins Need to Improve | Revenue Concentration Should be a Concern | Why People Over-Estimate Open Models But Enterprises Still Fear Frontier Models with Aaron Katz, ClickHouse

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 63:37


Aaron Katz is the Co-Founder and CEO of ClickHouse, the real-time analytics database powering companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla and Microsoft. ClickHouse just surpassed $350M in ARR and raised over $1B from investors including Dragoneer, Khosla Ventures, Coatue, 20VC and Benchmark. Previously, Aaron was CRO at Elastic, where he helped scale revenue from approximately $5M to $500M and led the company through its IPO. Before Elastic, he spent 12 years at Salesforce, working alongside Marc Benioff and helping transform it from a 200-person startup into a global software giant. AGENDA: 4:05 Are we in an AI bubble? 13:40 How does software change when agents—not humans—make buying decisions? 22:28 Will 90% of tokens flow through open models; can enterprises trust them? 31:09 Why did ClickHouse sponsor Fulham; and could sports teams become $20B assets? 35:49 When will ClickHouse hit $1B ARR?  38:31 Can startups still win elite talent from OpenAI? Biggest remote work mistake? 44:54 Is zero-to-$100M ARR now table stakes; or is durable growth what matters? 48:51 Is college still worth it;  which jobs will survive AI? 57:58 When will ClickHouse go public; and why not next year?  

Honest eCommerce
How Ministry of Supply Uses AI to Cut Return Rates and Scale

Honest eCommerce

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 33:40


Aman Advani is Founder and CEO of Ministry of Supply, a clothing brand using science to make the world's most comfortable clothing. The company was founded in 2012 with the mission to incorporate fundamental engineering and performance principles into clothing staples, ultimately building a wardrobe that both looks good, and feels comfortable.Prior to co-founding Ministry of Supply, Advani spent 4 years in management and non-profit consulting with Deloitte and TechnoServe. He holds a BSIE from Georgia Tech, and half an MBA from MIT, was a member of Forbes 30 under 30 list and BBJ's 40 Under 40 list, and has been featured as the cover of both ASB and Boston Magazine. Most recently, Aman was named to the NRF's 2023 "List of People Shaping Retail."In This Conversation We Discuss:[00:00] Introduction[01:58] First reactions to AI tools and Lovable[05:04] Co-founder's non-technical background[07:39] Sponsor: Klaviyo[09:45] Using Claude for CRO and analytics[13:07] Sponsor: IntelliGems[15:16] Build vs buy for AI customer service[19:12] How much human oversight remains[20:17] Sponsor: eFulfillment Service[22:04] More efficiencies from AI tools[24:22] Building an internal production system[27:05] Why AI makes agencies more valuable[29:42] Callouts[29:52] Getting teams comfortable taking the demo[32:08] Testing fast without overthinkingResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeMachine Washable Everything ministryofsupply.com/pages/home-2  Follow Aman Advani linkedin.com/in/amanadvani Book a demo today a intelligems.io/ Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Topline
How To Make Your ARR 20% More Valuable To Investors | Keenan, CEO @ A Sales Growth Company

Topline

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2026 78:20


Keenan, founder and CEO of A Sales Growth Company and the bestselling author of Gap Selling, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to make the case that two companies with identical revenue can be valued 3 to 4 times apart, depending entirely on how that revenue got made. Topics include the four sales org archetypes (heroic, random, peacock, and compounding), the valuation discount investors quietly apply to revenue produced by heroics, why quota attainment fell from 60% to 23% while enablement spend went up 7x, and the difference between a sales system and sales structure. Plus, what revenue leaders can learn from how Sequoia, Blackstone, and CAA actually run their people, why Keenan is done with the phrase go-to-market, and the story behind the one-name brand.   Key Takeaways: - How you produce revenue changes what the market will pay for it: investors are buying your ability to repeat the number, not the number itself. Keenan puts a figure on it in his paper Not All Revenue Is Created Equal: "the discount could be as much as 15 to 20% discount on the valuation." Heroics hides the cost; nobody opens a CRM and sees "we closed a $2 million deal and nobody saw that that $2 million deal started at $2.6 million." - Systems are not structure. A system defines the outputs it wants and stays agnostic about how each rep gets there, which is what separates it from a script. "Making people do everything the same is structure," Keenan said. He runs it through golf: "I focus less on what your swing looks like, and I'm asking myself, are you able to hit a draw when you need to hit a draw?" - Sales teams over-invest in training the behavior (structure) and under-invest in understanding the buyer, which Keenan calls sales physics: "nobody buys anything unless their current state is untenable and intolerable." A good system helps the buyer realize that state, which will allow a deal to close. - The spending trend is going the wrong way, and Keenan closes the episode with the numbers: "In 2012, depending who you ask, 60% of reps made quota… now 23%… And the spend has gone up 7x… But win rates declined by 29%. Sales cycles extended by 37 days… What we're investing in isn't working." It persists because no CRO gets room to rebuild: "It's the boat's got a hole in it… You got to fix it. But by the way, you cannot dry dock the boat." And yes: AJ Bruno is buying the book for the first 20 listeners who reach out. Send AJ a direct message on LinkedIn or in the Pavilion Topline Slack and he will buy you a copy of Gap Revenue Performance.   Connect with the Hosts & Guests:   Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Keenan, CEO & Founder at A Sales Growth Company - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkeenan/   Topline is more than a YouTube Channel:   Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack   Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Keenan And Gap Selling 03:08 A Dollar Of Revenue Is Not A Dollar 03:46 The Four Sales Org Archetypes 06:59 The 15 To 20% Valuation Discount 08:58 The MEDDIC Definition Problem 12:47 The Left Tackle Analogy 18:24 Can Heroics Be Predictable? 23:10 Structure Is Not A System 28:32 What VC Firms Get Right 42:09 The Physics Of Selling 50:16 Awareness First, Then Pipeline 51:55 Tired Of The Word Go-To-Market 1:00:23 AI, Product Velocity And Enablement 1:04:26 Is Sales A Power Law? 1:12:09 The Story Behind One Name

Honest eCommerce
CRO Is Broken: Alex McEachern of Intelligems on Growth Testing

Honest eCommerce

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 26:04


Alex McEachern is Head of Marketing at Intelligems, where he helps ecommerce brands unlock profitable growth through pricing and retention strategies. With a background spanning product marketing, product management, and brand development, Alex has led cross-functional teams and go-to-market efforts at high-growth companies.He is acclaimed for building strategic narratives, scaling brand visibility, and launching initiatives that align product experience with customer value. A graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University with a BBA in Marketing, Alex brings analytical depth and creative energy to the intersection of growth, user experience, and commerce. His work is informed by a passion for behavioral psychology, practical experimentation, and a belief that great brands earn trust over time, not just clicks.In This Conversation We Discuss:[00:00] Introduction[02:20] Disclosure on the Intelligems partnership[04:05] Mistranslating conversion rate optimization[07:50] Why CRO undersells what the work is[10:15] Different stakeholders, different trade-offs[12:00] CRO specialist vs Chief Revenue Officer mix-up[13:18] Callouts[13:28] Statistical significance and informed decisions[18:30] The truth about minor test tweaks[21:15] Where AI actually helps experimentation[25:50] Coining the term growth experimentation[28:10] AI in the wrong hands is dangerousResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeA/B Test Prices & Offers for Ecommerce intelligems.io/ Follow Alex McEachern linkedin.com/in/alexmceachern If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Go To Market Grit
Data Centers in Orbit by 2028: Baiju Bhatt on His Plans After Robinhood

Go To Market Grit

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2026 72:54


What kind of founder walks away from a multi-billion-dollar fintech company to start building rockets?Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood, joins Joubin Mirzadegan to talk about life after one of the most consequential companies in modern finance, and why he's now betting on Cowboy Space Corporation, an orbital infrastructure company building AI data centers that ride to space inside its own rockets."I still have that dog in me," he says.Baiju opens up about building alone for the first time in 15 years and what he learned about product-market fit while scaling Robinhood through its most chaotic years.Connect with Baiju:XLinkedInConnect with Joubin:XLinkedIn​Email: grit@kleinerperkins.comFollow Grit on LinkedInX​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Millionaire University
Want More Conversions Without More Traffic? Here's How to Fix Your Website | Matthew Stafford (MU Classic)

Millionaire University

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2026 42:26


Join the Millionaire University AI Mastermind at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/AI #1049 What if the fastest way to grow your e-commerce revenue isn't more traffic — but fixing what happens after customers land on your site? In this episode, host Kirsten Tyrrel sits down with Matthew Stafford, founder of Build Grow Scale, to unpack why most e-commerce businesses don't actually have a traffic problem — they have a conversion problem. Matthew shares how his journey from concrete work to building multi-million-dollar online stores led him to obsess over data, customer experience, and small optimization “hinges” that swing big revenue doors. The conversation dives into practical CRO insights like website speed, checkout optimization, micro-copy, and working backward through the funnel — while also exploring the often-overlooked role emotional intelligence plays in entrepreneurship, leadership, and decision-making. If you want to increase sales without chasing vanity metrics and build a business that works better for both you and your customers, this episode is packed with powerful takeaways! (Original Air Date - 12/23/25) What we discuss with Matthew: + Traffic vs. conversion problem + Optimizing existing visitors + Website speed & load time + Data-driven CRO decisions + Checkout page optimization + Micro-copy that converts + Working backward through funnels + Customer psychology & trust + Emotional intelligence in business + Removing ego from decisions Thank you, Matthew! Check out Build Grow Scale at ⁠BuildGrowScale.com⁠. Follow Matthew on ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠LinkedIn⁠, and ⁠Twitter⁠. Watch the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠video podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of this episode! Get your FREE 5 Minute Business Plan at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/Plan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/Sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topline
The Unwritten Rules of CRO Survival | Rick Smolen, CRO @ ShipHero

Topline

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2026 73:42


The Unwritten Rules of CRO Survival | Rick Smolen, CRO @ ShipHero Rick Smolen, CRO of ShipHero and sales advisor to Riverwood Capital's portfolio of more than 2 dozen enterprise software companies, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to argue that AI is leverage rather than a shortcut. Topics include why AI note-takers quietly degrade seller performance, why ShipHero has not raised a single quota despite real AI investment, and why the leading AI companies keep hiring classic enterprise CROs. Plus Rick's scorecard for judging revenue leadership beyond the number, an honest conversation about getting fired, and a bull case for HubSpot. In short... big episode! Key Takeaways: - AI widens the gap between the best and worst sellers instead of lifting everyone, and Rick Smolen, CRO at ShipHero, frames it in financial terms: "It's like debt... debt is leverage. It can make performance exceptionally good, or it can bankrupt you." His prediction is that the strongest performers get 10x better while the weakest become "unmistakable and hard to hide." - Outsourcing note-taking to an AI tool costs sellers the exact signal that closes enterprise deals. As Rick put it: "the computer can't capture the tone, can't capture the nuance, can't capture the content." His warning to any rep who treats it as time saved: "when a seller is going to say, oh cool, I don't have to do note-taking anymore, like their performance is going to go backwards." - The 3-to-5x rep productivity story does not survive contact with an enterprise sales cycle. Despite meaningful AI investment and measurable conversion-rate gains, Rick reports that at ShipHero "we have not raised quotas on anybody on the team," adding that "I don't believe that if I was to double somebody's quota that I give them any chance to be successful." - The AI-native companies scaling fastest are staffing go-to-market with the most traditional enterprise leaders available. Asad Zaman, CEO at STA, walks through the CRO hires at OpenAI, Cursor, Factory, and Anthropic and lands on the pattern: "we're back to like, let's just hire John McMahon's disciples and let them run at the market." Connect with the Hosts & Guests: Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Rick Smolen, CRO at ShipHero - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricksmolen/ Topline is more than a YouTube Channel: Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack Chapters:  00:00 Introducing Rick Smolen 02:37 AI Is Not Good Or Bad 05:19 The AI Slop Email Mystery 08:25 AI Note-Takers And Lost Nuance 12:01 The Best Get Better, The Rest Worse 15:24 The Soft Part Of Enterprise Sales 18:24 Can Reps Be 5x More Productive? 23:09 Have Quotas Gone Up At ShipHero? 26:48 Why AI Firms Hire Classic CROs 30:48 What Is Driving Pipeline Now 49:37 Leadership In A Confused World 56:44 Should A CRO Jump Ship? 59:35 Have A Plan, Not Excuses 1:06:08 Bulls And Bears: HubSpot 1:09:32 Vibe-Coded Demos And FDE Teams

synaigy insights! mit Joubin Rahimi
161 DXP, AI und der Personalisierungs-Mythos: Warum jetzt erst alles losgeht

synaigy insights! mit Joubin Rahimi

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2026 17:13 Transcription Available


In dieser Folge sprechen Joubin Rahimi und Sebastian Stang, CRO von Magnolia, darüber, was eine Digital Experience Platform heute wirklich leisten muss, warum der Begriff DXP gerade selbst von Analysten neu sortiert wird und wie AI die Content-Erstellung im CMS gerade fundamental verändert. Du erfährst, warum Bring Your Own LLM der pragmatischste Weg in einer Token Economy ist, warum die Personalisierung vor zehn Jahren ein Versprechen war und jetzt erst real wird, und warum GEO zwar wichtig, aber nicht überschätzt werden sollte. Ein ehrlicher Inside Talk für alle, die Plattformstrategie, Commerce und Content endlich zusammen denken wollen. 3 Key Takeaways 1. DXP ist kein Produkt, sondern eine Orchestrierungslogik. Wer eine Plattform baut, kombiniert CMS, PIM, DAM und Commerce mit AI als verbindendem Layer. Den einen DXP-Standard gibt es nicht, und genau das macht die Auswahl deiner Tools strategisch so wichtig. 2. AI gehört in deine Workflows, nicht in die Zwischenablage. Copy-Paste zwischen ChatGPT, Claude und CMS ist die Übergangslösung, echte Adoption beginnt erst, wenn Content-Erstellung, Übersetzung und Publikation nahtlos im System laufen. Bring Your Own LLM ist dabei der richtige Ansatz, weil Compliance-Prozesse selten verhandelbar sind. 3. Personalisierung war zehn Jahre lang Versprechen, jetzt wird sie eingelöst. Hyperpersonalisierung bedeutet, dass die AI Inhalte und Seiten je nach Daten und Kontext automatisch zusammenstellt. Wer jetzt nicht startet, optimiert in zwei Jahren noch immer auf Standard-Templates, während andere Unternehmen längst individuelle Customer Journeys ausliefern.

Unchurned
2 Months of Revenue in 8 Days: How Brex's CRO Fixes What Breaks at Scale ft. Garrett Marker (Brex)

Unchurned

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2026 38:22


Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.What does it take to run 60% of a company? Garrett Marker, Chief Revenue Officer at Brex, oversees about 700 people across sales, customer success, RevOps, partnerships, enablement, and support - and this year, his goal was to aggressively scale a sales team that industry data recently ranked the third-fastest growing in tech, without letting rep performance slip. It hasn't all gone to plan. Garrett is refreshingly candid with host Josh Schachter, grading the scaling effort a "B" - what held up, what broke, and how his team turned around a slumping segment in dramatic fashion. Along the way, he explains why the battle cards that used to last a quarter now go stale in about a week, why Brex bet on human SDRs while the market rushed toward AI ones, and why the hardest part of AI products isn't selling them at all.It's a look inside the operating decisions of a CRO whose remit spans the entire customer lifecycle - from first touch through renewal and expansion. ---What You'll Learn- How a struggling Brex segment did two months' worth of revenue in eight days and the AI-assisted diagnosis behind the course correction- Why battle cards that used to last a quarter are now stale within about a week- How AI role plays and automated call scoring turned weeks or months of rep ramp into hours or days- Garrett's build-vs-buy rule- What Brex's internally built "narrative platform" does that seller-productivity tools don't (mapping the full buyer's journey across sales, CS, and support)- The question Garrett asked at the end of every demo as a seller and the rep whose career it transformed in three months- How the TAP program works- Why adoption, not sales, is the bottleneck for AI products- How a shift in CS conversations (not product changes) grew book-closing adoption 20% in twelve months- What Garrett believes it will take to increase NRR by 30 points in the next couple of years---Timestamps0:00 - Preview & Intro1:52 - Meet Garrett Marker (CRO, Brex) 4:03 - Why founders buy like consumers5:28 - Scaling the third-fastest-growing sales team in tech7:28 - Solving today's AND tomorrow's problems9:25 - 2 months of revenue in 8 days after a segment course correction11:22 - How AI made competitive diagnosis faster14:37 - Rebuilding enablement around AI and ramping reps in days17:27 - How Brex decides build vs. buy18:35 - Mapping the full buyer's journey across sales, CS, and support21:38 - Success plans and buyer psychology25:56 - Why won't you move forward?27:53 - How SDRs earn on-the-spot promotions to AE32:52 - Post-sale priorities: cracking AI product adoption at scale35:11 - Why CS teams must understand the whole tech stack, not just their product (+20% book-closing adoption)---Josh is writing a book on building customer relationships. Follow his journey and insights at www.joshschachter.com---Where to Find the GuestGarrett Marker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmarker/---Where to Find the Hosts: Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/

Lombard Trucking
Manifold - The Travelocity of Spot Freight

Lombard Trucking

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2026 58:03


Trey Griggs is the CRO of Manifold, born out of the remnants of Convoy, Manifold presents itself as the Travelocity of spot freight. Geared towards fleets with 50+ trucks, a lot of fleets this size are generally hauling roughly 30% contracted freight, the rest, including backhauls will be pulled off the spot market from brokers or shippers they work with. Manifold comes in and lines carriers up with the best paying based off of their current business model.Trey joined the show to tell us exactly how Manifold works, how it will making trucking companies make more money, and how he thinks there is a future where a $100 million dollar brokerage is run by one person!You can book a free demo of Manifold by heading to this link! https://www.getmanifold.ai/lombardFor truck parking head to www.truckparkingclub.com and use the promo code lombard20 for $20 off your next bookingTo get involved with Project 61 and support driver health go to www.project-61.org

Topline
Sales Millionaires Are Back… Wasn't AI Supposed to Destroy This Job?!

Topline

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2026 70:39


Enterprise account executives are now signing for $200,000 salaries, $200,000 variable comp plans, and up to half a million dollars in equity at sign-on. Meanwhile, offer acceptance at the top AI companies sits at 45% and half of the 38,000 startup sales reps in San Francisco and New York have taken a new job in the last two years. In this episode, Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman go hosts-only on why the sales talent market broke, what QuotaPath's compensation data across more than 1,400 companies says about quota attainment splitting into a barbell, and why Paul Graham calling go-to-market bogus says more about Silicon Valley's blind spot than it does about sales. Plus, where young sellers still get their start, whether a CRO can be great without ever carrying a bag, why go-to-market cannot rescue a company that has lost product-market fit, and what HubSpot's 20% stock drop signals for every SaaS business trying to make the AI transition. Key Takeaways: - The AI buildout has drained the two talent pools it depends on, and compensation is repricing in real time. As Asad Zaman, CEO of STA, described the enterprise AE market: "Enterprise account executives now get paid $200,000 salaries, $200,000 variable comp plans, up to half a million dollars in equity at sign-on. That used to be $150,000 to $175,000 at the top end, just like a year and a bit ago." With 38,000 startup software sellers in San Francisco and New York and a quarter of them changing jobs in the last twelve months, the constraint on AI companies hitting escape velocity is no longer capital, it is people. - The jobs data cuts against the automation narrative. Sam Jacobs, CEO of Pavilion, pointed to the Philippines outsourcing sector, 8% of that country's GDP, where employment in IT and business outsourcing is up 20% to 1.9 million workers and industry revenue is up 30% to $42 billion since the launch of ChatGPT: "I just think, you know, it's Jevons' paradox. It is what happens with every new piece of technology. Everybody thinks the technology is going to wipe everybody out, and instead the economy adapts." Companies are leaner per dollar of revenue and still cannot hire fast enough. - Quota attainment is no longer distributed the way comp plans assume. QuotaPath's first-half numbers put 58% of AEs on track against annual quota versus 55% a year ago, but as AJ Bruno, CEO of QuotaPath, explained, the shape underneath moved: "the standard deviation is way higher this year. Meaning that the winners are going to be winning more … So it's more like a barbell than it is a bell curve." At some AI companies two reps out of ten are closing half the entire number, which breaks the capacity math most sales leaders use to set targets. - For individual sellers, the window matters more than the title. Asad Zaman's advice to reps weighing a step up into leadership: "this is the moment where you can make millions of dollars right now … So don't make silly choices … Become a leader later. Go make money right now." He now benchmarks offers on whether 300% of plan clears a million dollars, and warns that private equity portfolio companies that never gave equity to individual contributors are losing these candidates outright. Connect with the Hosts: Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Topline is more than a YouTube Channel: Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack Chapters:  00:00 Three Hosts, Three Topics 02:19 The Talent Market Has Gone Crazy 05:42 $200K Base, $200K Variable 09:00 AI Was Supposed To Kill Sales 15:16 Go Make A Million Right Now 16:53 Where Young Sellers Get Their Start 23:20 Build A University Inside The Company 31:58 Paul Graham Versus Go-To-Market 36:22 Why YC Misses Enterprise Software 40:55 Can A Non-Seller Be A Great CRO? 44:42 GTM Cannot Fix Product-Market Fit 49:30 One To Ten To A Hundred 53:38 Quota Attainment Is A Barbell 1:02:41 The HubSpot Nightmare 1:06:05 Falling Back In Love With The Business

Always Off Brand
Live from eTail - "Lets Get Minty!" with CRO Jeff Wender

Always Off Brand

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2026 35:02


  Ok, the first of many great eTail Boston conference episodes! Here is the first, with a great new friend of the program CRO of Minty, Jeff Wender. He explains how the cost of new customer acquisition is so high, we have to figure out a better way to get conversion and keep our current customers. Minty has a great way that they convert consumers already deep in the intent funnel and make the consumer happy and the brands money. Great solution that has been proven over the last 10yrs! The Always Off Brand is always a Laugh & Learn!   eTail episodes are brought to you by TALKOOT! Go to https://talkoot.com/ to find out how you can scale your content, copy, story telling. Faster Product Content Operations for the AI Era!     FEEDSPOT TOP 10 Retail Podcast! https://podcast.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/?feedid=5770554&_src=f2_featured_email   GUEST Jeff Wender  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwender/ Minty Website: https://www.minty.com/   Huge Shout Out to everyone at eTail for the great support and giving us the place to record at their great events.    QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfiremarketing LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/ Sports podcast Scott has been doing since 2017, Scott & Tim Sports Show part of Somethin About Nothin:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/somethin-about-nothin/id1306950451 HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 17 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 30 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Mr. Ohsman has been managing brands on Amazon for 19yrs. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Producer and Co-Host for the top 5 retail podcast, Always Off Brand. He also produces the Brain Driven Brands Podcast featuring leading Consumer Behaviorist Sarah Levinger. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/   Hayley Brucker has been working in retail and with Amazon for years. Hayley has extensive experience in digital advertising, both seller and vendor central on Amazon. Hayley lives in North Carolina.  LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brucker-1945bb229/   Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music "Office Party" available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   "Always Off Brand" is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.  

State of Demand Gen
Marketing Creates the Demand. But What Actually Builds the Revenue Engine? — with Aviv Canaani of Datarails

State of Demand Gen

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2026 46:01


The problem with marketing is that so many teams think their job ends when a lead becomes an opportunity. The highest-performing GTM teams know that's where the REAL work begins.In this episode, Amber sits down with Aviv Canaani, CRO at Datarails, to unpack how the company transformed from a 90% outbound sales motion into a scalable revenue engine powered primarily by inbound demand. Rather than optimizing marketing and sales separately, Aviv shares why the entire funnel should be treated as one connected revenue system and how RevOps, automation, and marketing architecture make that possible.In this episode:Why marketing and sales should operate as one revenue engineHow Datarails shifted from 90% outbound to 90% inboundWhy the best marketers take bigger creative risksHow RevOps can automate the revenue engine, not just report on itWhy attribution has limits, and what leaders should measure insteadHow AI is changing the future of GTM operationsIf you're trying to create more pipeline, improve sales efficiency, or better align marketing and revenue teams, this episode will absolutely challenge how you think about building a modern GTM organization.-----------------------------------------------------

The Rebooting Show
The portal's comeback

The Rebooting Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2026 17:18 Transcription Available


Rob Wilk, CRO of Yahoo, joined me in Cannes for TRB Conversations, powered by EX.CO ( https://EX.CO ), to make the case that 30-year-old Yahoo is in the middle of a genuine business turnaround, not a nostalgia play. Rob breaks down Yahoo's first-party ...

SaaS Fuel
414 | How to Sell in the Age of AI: A Founder's Guide | Bob Kocis

SaaS Fuel

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2026 48:56


Jeff Mains sits down with Bob Kocis, former President & COO of Aptean and former CRO of Continuum Managed Services, and author of The President's Club Mindset: Inside the Winning Strategies of Tech's Most Successful Salespeople. After interviewing 10 elite sellers who collectively won over 150 President's Club trips, Bob distilled what actually separates top 1% performers from everyone else — and it isn't closing technique. It's curiosity, agenda-free listening, disciplined meeting control, and a relentless focus on the customer's success rather than the contract date. The conversation covers the "Three Whys" deal-qualification framework, how to build a defensible unique value proposition, why founders should look past the close to the go-live date, and why AI will make skilled sellers more essential, not less.Key Takeaways4:29 — Bob joins the show; sets up his 30-year enterprise sales leadership career and why he wrote the book now.6:33 — The #1 trait shared by every elite seller he interviewed: relentless curiosity.7:35 — "Agenda-free listening" — why forgetting your own pitch is the key to understanding a prospect's real pain.11:48 — What genuine curiosity looks like in a real discovery call, and why the MEDDIC framework helps.13:15 — Introducing the Three Whys: Why buy at all? Why buy now? Why buy from us?14:22 — Why "no decision" — not the competitor — is the biggest deal-killer, especially for non-mission-critical replacement sales.17:39 — How to "set traps" for competitors by identifying and demonstrating your truly unique capabilities.19:06 — Seeing through the close: focusing on the customer's go-live/success date instead of the contract date.23:26 — Can empathy be taught? Bob's take on coaching curiosity and empathy into a sales team.27:30 — Deep dive back into the Three Whys, with a real story about almost losing (then saving) a deal over ROI with a skeptical CFO.33:21 — Why elite sellers run the meeting — controlling agenda and time is one of the most underrated trust-builders.39:49 — Will AI kill the sales job? Bob explains why complex B2B sales will need great sellers more than ever.43:44 — The one habit Bob wishes someone told him on day one: stay highly active and leverage your ecosystem.45:35 — Where to find Bob and get The President's Club Mindset.Tweetable Quotes"The elite sellers... they get the customer to envision the post-close scenario of success. That's where they're focused.""Put your head where your feet are." — Bob Kocis, quoting former MLB Manager of the Year Clint Hurdle"Stop tracking your close date. Start tracking their go-live date and work backwards from there.""The best sellers aren't the best talkers. They are the best listeners.""Sell like a partner who would still be in the room after the contract is signed, not one that vanishes like a ghost afterwards.""The harder I work, the luckier I get."SaaS Leadership LessonsCuriosity beats closing technique. The single biggest differentiator among 150+ President's Club winners wasn't pitch polish — it was genuine, agenda-free curiosity about the customer's pain.Fight the real battle, not the marketing battle. Go beyond feature checklists with your engineers to find the 2–5 capabilities competitors truly can't match — and build your sales process around them.Sell the go-live date, not the close date. Reframing the conversation around the customer's success timeline builds trust and quietly locks in the deal terms you need.Run your own meetings. Founders and engineers are subject-matter experts, not meeting facilitators — sellers must own the agenda, pacing, and time control or risk losing the room.Diagnose "why buy at all" before anything else. Most stalled deals aren't lost to competitors — they're lost to "no decision" because the compelling reason to change was never firmly established.AI raises the bar, it doesn't remove the seller. As buyers face more noise and options, skilled consultative sellers who can bridge business problems to ROI become more valuable, not less.Guest Resourcesbob.kocis@aptean.comhttps://bobkocis.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-kocis-1b0072a/Episode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/https://jeffmains.com/books/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

Türkiye'de Dijital Pazarlama
Astromarketing Sırlarıyla Güneş Tutulmasında Müşterinin Satın Alma Şifresini Çözmek

Türkiye'de Dijital Pazarlama

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2026 18:13


İstediğin o vurucu, filtresiz dili ve kampanya detaylarını bozmadan, metni Spotify algoritmasına uygun şekilde gereksiz kelimelerden arındırarak 3500 karakter sınırının altına (yaklaşık 3200 karakter) indirdim. Doğrudan kopyalayıp kullanabilirsin:M.Ö. 585'te Lidyalılar ve Medler kanlı bir savaşın ortasındayken gökyüzü karardı, gündüz geceye döndü. İki ordu kılıçlarını bırakıp diz çöktü ve barış ilan edildi. Thales'in kaydettiği bu ilk güneş tutulması, koca bir tarihi tek hamlede değiştirdi. Bugün 12 Ağustos Çarşamba. Sıradan bir gün değil; muazzam bir Güneş Tutulmasının altındayız. Gökyüzündeki şalterin indiği o kritik gündeyiz."Faruk, sen CRO ve nöropazarlama anlatan adamsın, astroloji ne alaka?" diyebilirsiniz. Bugüne kadar size e-ticaretin sadece Meta panelindeki yeşil butonlardan ibaret olduğu söylendi. Excel'deki yaş verilerine taptınız. Oysa asıl veri, insanın evrensel döngülerle olan bağıdır. 99. bölümde, ajans sunumlarını yırtıp atıyor ve masadaki parayı kasanıza sokacak yepyeni bir stratejiyi konuşuyoruz: Astromarketing.Neden 99. bölüm? Nümerolojide 9 bitişi ve bilgeliği temsil eder. 99 ise eski ezberlerin kapandığı, 100'e yani büyük uyanışa geçtiğimiz eşiktir. Bu eşik, 12 Ağustos Güneş Tutulmasının "eskiyi yık, yeniyi inşa et" enerjisiyle tam örtüşüyor. Kârlılığınızı eriten klasik pazarlama alışkanlıklarınızı bugün tamamen yıkıyoruz.Bu Bölümde Hangi Ödünsüz Gerçekleri Deşifre Ediyoruz?Gökyüzündeki Şalter ve "Lunar Effect": Astroloji mistik bir inanç değil; binlerce yıllık insan davranışı veri tabanıdır. Wall Street'te dolunayda borsa getirilerinin düştüğü bilimsel bir gerçektir. %70'i su olan insanın, devasa gelgit yaratan kütle çekiminden etkilenmemesi, amigdalasının buna tepki vermemesi imkansızdır.Tutulma Enerjisi ve FOMO: Tutulmalar insan psikolojisinde kadersel değişimleri tetikler. Müşteride "hayatımı değiştirmeliyim" dürtüsü uyanır. Kampanyalarınızı bu evrensel takvime ayarlayıp, teknik özellik yerine "dönüşüm vaadi" sattığınızda kasanızın nasıl dolduğunu konuşuyoruz. Bu dönemlerde FOMO kancaları 3 katı etki yaratır!Merkür Retrosu ve Bilişsel Yük: İletişim gezegeni geri hareketteyken tüketicinin odaklanma süresi düşer, tahammülü sıfırlanır. Bu dönemlerde karmaşık formlarla müşteriyi yormak yerine, neden sadece "Remarketing" yapmanız gerektiğini anlatıyorum. Eski müşteriye dönmek, retrolarda altından değerlidir.Takvimi Evrenin Matematiğine Uydurmak: CPM'lerin tavan yaptığı maaş günlerini unutun. Yeni Ay'ın coşkusunda lansman yapmayı, Dolunay'ın gerginliğinde ise "risksiz iade ve güven" kancalarıyla satışı nasıl kapatacağınızı öğrenin.Kampanyalarınızı bu duygusal döngülere göre optimize etmek ve masadaki parayı rakiplere bırakmamak için kanalı hemen takip edin. İşin mimarisini profesyonelce öğrenmek için sizi Joy Akademi'ye bekliyoruz. Biz orada insanlara butonlara basmayı değil, zihin haritalarını çizmeyi öğretiyoruz.12 Ağustos Tutulma Sürprizi:Eskiyi yıkıp yepyeni bir vizyon inşa etmek isteyenler için muazzam fırsat! Joy Akademi eğitimlerinde ödeme ekranına PODCAST yazarak anında 1.300 TL net indirim kazanın. Bu kod 30 Ağustos'a kadar geçerli. 30 Ağustos'ta bu kapı kapanıyor. Dönüşüm için ilk adımı atın, eğitime katılın veya ajans hizmeti için joykek.com üzerinden bize ulaşın; kasanızı doldurun!00:00 - 03:00 - İlk Güneş Tutulması ve 99. Bölüm03:00 - 04:34 - Astromarketing Nedir? (Lunar Etkisi)04:34 - 05:40 - Merkür Retrosu ve Remarketing05:40 - 07:00 - Güneş Tutulmasında FOMO Etkisi07:00 - 09:02 - Joy Akademi İndirimi (Kod: podcast)09:02 - 12:20 - Standart Kampanya Günlerinin Zararları12:20 - 15:50 - Yeni Ay ve Dolunay: Amigdalayı Yönetmek15:50 - 18:12 - Kapanış ve Sosyal Farkındalık

Resilient Cyber
Building a System of Truth for the CISO

Resilient Cyber

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2026 31:04 Transcription Available


CISOs have a stack of tools but no system built to run the security program itself. Mike Armistead wants to fix that.In this episode I sit down with Mike Armistead, co-founder and CEO of Pulse Security AI and a longtime security founder behind Fortify and Respond Software. We dig into why the security leader has never had a system of truth the way the CFO has an ERP and the CRO has a CRM, and how an agentic layer on top of the existing tools can finally close that gap. Mike is measured about where AI gets to decide and where the human stays in the seat, and he shares what surprised him most from research with more than 80 senior practitioners and corporate directors.In this episode:- Why two exits later Mike came back to build a third company around the AI wave- The silos that left CISOs with an acronym soup of tools and no way to run the program- What a system of truth for the CISO actually means and how it layers on top of existing structured and unstructured data- Where agents do the heavy lifting on regulatory monitoring, vendor intelligence, and status reporting- Governing the guardrails, not the keystrokes, and why closing the loop still involves people- What corporate directors actually want to hear in the 15 to 20 minutes a CISO gets each quarter- The findings that stood out, including that 55% of boards have never defined the cyber risk they are willing to accept, and only 12.5% of CISOs are very confident the board leaves with a true picture of the risk- Institutionalizing the tribal knowledge every security program runs onChapters:0:00 Intro0:18 Mike's background and two prior exits1:08 Why the AI wave pulled him back2:21 Why the CISO has no system to run the program4:09 Starting at the program level, not the SOC or AppSec5:28 What a system of truth for the CISO means8:19 Speaking the language of the business9:09 Where AI does the heavy lifting on a typical Tuesday11:57 Govern the guardrails, not the keystrokes15:44 Bringing deputies into the conversation16:46 What the research with senior practitioners found20:37 Boards, risk tolerance, and the reporting gap24:57 AI as a double-edged sword for security leaders25:35 Joanna Burkey and institutionalizing tribal knowledge27:31 A year from now for the security leaderGuest links:Mike Armistead on LinkedInPulse Security on AIMore Resilient Cyber:Substack: https://www.resilientcyber.ioSubscribe for more conversations with security practitioners and leaders.

ILTA
#0213: What to Expect at ILTACON with Dawn Hudgins and Daryl Fitzpatrick

ILTA

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2026 8:34


Join Dawn Hudgins, ILTA's CXO, and Daryl Fitzpatrick, Intellek's CRO, as they dive into what to expect at this year's ILTACON 2026!

Marketing Operators
Employee Number Four to a $1.2B Unilever Exit: Katie Cirulli's Story

Marketing Operators

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2026 72:21


“It was the most fun role I think I'll ever do”. How do visionary founders build teams to protect their time for big ideas? Katie Cirulli (Chief Emerging Brands Officer & fmr. President, Grüns) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road). She joined Grüns as employee four and rose from Chief of Staff to her current role. Before that, she spent years at McKinsey and Meta. She explains why founders need integrators, and how AI powers Grüns. She walks through the chief of staff role she built with Chad Janis. The CPM arbitrage test was an early swing that never scaled, unlike the LTO strategy that followed. Grüns now runs five emerging brands through dedicated marketing pods. Paid media, creative, and CRO, all guided by the same paper wall mindset. Powered By Motion https://9ops.co/motion-runneth Haus https://www.haus.io/operators NeonPixel https://9ops.co/neonpixel Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops Proppel https://9ops.co/weareproppel Aftersell https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ 

Go To Market Grit
Booking.com CEO on AI and the Future of Travel

Go To Market Grit

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2026 50:50


"Our mission is to make it easier for everybody to experience the world."From the dot-com crash to AI, Glenn Fogel has spent nearly three decades helping Booking Holdings evolve through every major technology shift while staying true to that mission.He also shares with Joubin Mirzadegan why "you're always selling," and how Booking is using AI to amplify what every employee can accomplish.Guest: Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking HoldingsConnect with GlennLinkedInConnect with Joubin:XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comFollow GritLinkedInX​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Scale Your Sales Podcast
#317 Cheryl Parks - Why Most CROs Never Spot Hidden Revenue Leaks

Scale Your Sales Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2026 28:33


Most deals aren't lost at the end they're lost in the moment you miss what buyers really need. In this conversation, Janice B Gordon sits down with Cheryl Parks, a revenue growth advisor and fractional CRO, to reveal how leaders can eliminate revenue leaks, build buyer confidence, and layer authenticity into go-to-market strategy. What you'll learn: a) Why "inspect what you expect" is the essential motto for sales-focused CEOs b) How to spot and recover deals that stall in real time c) Practical ways to strengthen buyer confidence and clarify ROI Today, Janice B Gordon is joined by Cheryl Parks, a fractional CRO with 25 years of enterprise B2B sales experience and over $25 million in closed revenue, known for pinpointing team misalignment and restoring sales momentum. Timestamps: 05:15 Converting inbound leads to meetings 07:52 Understanding and meeting buyer expectations 11:19 Understanding branding and market perception 17:12 Using social media platforms effectively 19:33 Building an Online Presence 21:21 Staying focused in meetings 25:11 Respect for the sales role   Connect with Cheryl Parks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ai-value-advisor/   Connect with Janice Book Janice to speak at your next sales or leadership event: https://janicebgordon.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/janice-b-gordon/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicebgordon Scale Your Sales Podcast: https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/podcast Enjoy the episode? Share your takeaway in the comments and leave a review on Apple Podcasts to help more leaders discover the show.

Sales Is King
213: Kevin Bognar | Stripe

Sales Is King

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2026 18:04


Episode SummaryDan sits down with Kevin Bogner along the Chicago River for a candid conversation about his 30+ year sales career: from 18 years at Microsoft to Philips, a CRO stint at a Vista Equity portfolio company, leading global sales at Outreach, and now building the SMB and commercial sales organization at Stripe.Key Topics & TakeawaysThe "How" vs. The "What" in SalesKevin's longtime mentor Geoff Nyheim (now a sales professor at DePaul) instilled a foundational principle: the what you do is table stakes. It's the how you do it that differentiates you and advances your career.What the Best Sellers Do DifferentlyCuriosity – Always-on learners who use technology, listen to Gong calls, and constantly sharpen their craftCross-functional orchestration – The best AEs are "resource brokers," pulling together CSMs, specialists, professional services, and executives to deliver valueMulti-threading with sequence in mind – It's not just who you involve, but in what order. Kevin shares how he sent daily stakeholder updates on his biggest deal, scripting who talks to whom and whenAuthenticity over improvisation – Thinking on your feet includes being comfortable saying "I don't know, but I'll find out"Motivating a Team of 125 Early-Career SellersKevin created a program called "Time to Shine": a weekly one-on-one walk to a shoe shine station near the Chicago Merchandise Mart with a top performer nominated by managers. He records a short best-practice interview, shares it on Slack every Friday, and fosters healthy competition. Simple, creative, and effective.The Challenge of Staying Present as a LeaderKevin is candid about his personal challenge: carrying energy from one back-to-back meeting into the next. He's actively working on showing up fully in every conversation, whether it's a FY27 strategy discussion, a deal close, or a career conversation.AI in Sales – Where It's Making the Biggest ImpactStrategy and ICP targeting – Using AI to monitor deal patterns in real time (fastest activation, highest usage, fastest close) and identify emerging verticals like GLP-1 distributors, cannabis, and gamingLookalike prospecting – The best sellers use AI to find the next customer that looks exactly like their last great winInterview signal – Kevin asks every candidate how they're using AI, both to assess their skills and to learn from themStructure vs. Freedom in Sales MethodologyKevin's take: structure matters, especially early in a career. But AI tools like Gong and Outreach are surfacing MEDDIC elements naturally from calls and emails, freeing sellers from checklist-style questioning and enabling more human conversations.Value Selling at StripeStripe has a proprietary methodology called The Stripe Way, rooted in value selling. It includes AI-powered tooling that scores calls, emails, and decks against value-selling criteria, generating deal health scores and seller performance dashboards.Notable Quotes"The how we do what we do as sellers is what really advances your career.""The best sellers are resource brokers. They bring all the best people to the table.""I value authenticity. Thinking on your feet includes being able to say 'I don't know.'""Football teams don't hit the field with just the first play. They hit the field with the entire drive."Note from the Host: This was Sales is King's first on-the-go recording. The iPhone ran out of storage and cut the interview short. Dan plans to reconnect with Kevin for a follow-up episode!

Vamos de Vendas
#95 - Venda Complexa B2B vs. Venda PLG: o modelo híbrido funciona?, com Ricardo Gottschalk (Conta Simples)

Vamos de Vendas

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2026 53:05


Neste episódio do Vamos de Vendas, Gustavo Pagotto recebe Ricardo Gottschalk, cofundador e CRO da Conta Simples, para uma conversa sobre o futuro das vendas em um mundo cada vez mais impulsionado por inteligência artificial, automação e modelos Product-Led Growth (PLG).Ao longo do episódio, Ricardo compartilha a trajetória da Conta Simples, desde um modelo totalmente self-service até a construção de uma operação comercial estruturada para atender empresas maiores. Ele explica por que, mesmo em negócios altamente digitais, existe um momento em que a atuação humana se torna essencial para acelerar adoção, aumentar conversão e gerar mais valor para os clientes.

THE Effing Terrible Podcast
As the Cro Flies

THE Effing Terrible Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2026 70:45


Our monthly sit down with Cro as we chat about is summer back home and returning to Deeside for another great season !

flies cro deeside
Spark of Ages
The AI With 160,000 Friends That Networks For You/Andrew D'Souza - Boardy.ai, Cold Start, Team ~ Spark of Ages Ep 69

Spark of Ages

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2026 42:01 Transcription Available


Rajiv Parikh talks with Andrew D'Souza about building Boardy, an AI superconnector that scales warm introductions while protecting its own reputation and the network's goodwill. We dig into why Boardy rejects SaaS norms, how the team trains an autonomous AI to say no, and what it takes to hire imaginative builders for an AI-native company.Boardy.ai: https://www.boardy.ai/• why reputation-weighted introductions beat open messaging• how Boardy works through phone calls, WhatsApp, and email instead of dashboards• using the film Her as a model for shared AI presence• go-to-market lessons from cold start growth and a crafted personality• training Boardy to preserve goodwill and push back on bad asks• combining ML engineers with character design to make the persona feel real• hiring framework focused on imagination, agency, and ambiguous problem solving• monetization paths through Boardy Pro and deeper funnel support beyond intros• managing disagreement when an autonomous AI brings data-backed recommendationsYour next breakthrough might be one introduction away, but most networking platforms confuse access with trust. We sit down with Andrew D'Souza, founder and CEO of Boardy, to unpack what it looks like to build an AI superconnector that behaves less like software and more like a principled relationship driven matchmaker. Boardy operates through live phone calls, WhatsApp, and email, making double opt-in warm introductions across a massive professional network while putting its own reputation on the line.We get specific on product design and go-to-market: why Andrew rejects the usual SaaS playbook, why he thinks the “agentic AI” label misses the point, and how the movie Her helped shape a shared AI that can be deeply present with thousands of people at once. From the cold start grind of getting the first 1,000 users to the craft of an Australian-accented persona, this conversation breaks down what actually creates adoption when the interface is simply a conversation.Then we dig into the hard problem: network goodwill. Andrew explains how Boardy learns to say no without alienating users, how it reasons about mutually beneficial outcomes, and how Boardy Pro pushes beyond introductions into real follow-through like scheduling, prep, and closing the loop. We also talk hiring for imagination over pedigree, treating AI like a teammate in standups, and what a symbiotic future with “a new species” could require from all of us. Subscribe, share this with a builder who cares about real connection, and leave a review so more founders can find the show.Andrew D'Souza: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdsouza/Andrew D'Souza, the Founder and CEO of Boardy, an AI "super-connector" which recently raised its own $8 million seed round through autonomous pitching and even launched its own AI-led venture fund, Boardy Ventures.  A serial entrepreneur, Andrew is perhaps best known as the former Co-Founder and CEO of the fintech unicorn Clearco. Before building his own unicorn, he served as the COO and CRO of Top Hat, President of Nymi, and an advisor to major tech players like Wealthsimple and Kik.  Born in India before moving to Chicago and eventually the Toronto area, Andrew began his career as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company after earning his degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo. #ai #professionalgrowth #networking #entrepreneur #growth #sales #technology #innovatorsmindset #innovator #product #revenue #revenuegrowth #management  #founder #entrepreneurship #company #process #processimprovement #value #valuecreationWebsite: https://www.position2.com/podcast/Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/Email us with any feedback for the show: sparkofages.podcast@position2.com

Content Amplified
Why a perfect five-star rating sells worse than a 4.2

Content Amplified

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2026 21:10


A product with nothing but perfect reviews converts at about the same rate as one averaging 3.25 stars. In this episode of Content Amplified, Todd Caponi, author of The Transparency Sale and former CRO of PowerReviews, explains the research behind that number and what it means for how you market and sell. Todd walks through the study his team ran with Northwestern University: roughly 96% of buyers read reviews, 86% go looking for the negative ones first, and an average score between 4.2 and 4.5 is the sweet spot for conversion. He makes the case that naming what you give up to be great at your core speeds up sales cycles, raises win rates, and pre-qualifies leads before anyone fills out a form. Along the way he pulls from a 1910 sales book warning that "buyers know more nowadays," Arthur Sheldon's 1911 line that true salesmanship is the science of service, and the IKEA, Costco, and Slim Jim playbooks. If your messaging still says you are perfect at everything, this one will change how you write it.About ToddTodd Caponi is a longtime sales leader, speaker, and author who describes himself as equal parts passion and nerd. He was chief revenue officer of PowerReviews in Chicago, the engine behind the review collection and display on retailer sites, where the buyer-behavior research that became his first book was born. He has written three books, The Transparency Sale, The Transparent Sales Leader, and Four Levers Negotiating, and now teaches companies of all sizes how to turn transparency into a revenue advantage. He also keeps a sales museum in his house stocked with books, magazines, and artifacts from the late 1800s through the early 1900s, which fuels his solo show on the history of the profession.Show NotesConnect with Todd on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddcaponi/Todd's website: ToddCaponi.comThe Sales History Podcast (solo, no interviews, available on all platforms)Todd's books: The Transparency Sale, The Transparent Sales Leader, and Four Levers Negotiating (released January 27)Historical sources Todd quotes in the episode:Thomas Herbert Russell, Salesmanship Theory and Practice (1910)Arthur Sheldon, The Art of Selling (1911)Arthur Dunn, Scientific Selling and Advertising (1921)Text us what you think about this episode!

Clare FM - Podcasts
CROÍ Announce Partnership With Michael Guinee Charitable Foundation To Support Important Community Health Initiative

Clare FM - Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2026 9:08


Heart disease and stroke remain two of the biggest health challenges facing people in Ireland, but early detection can make a significant difference.   Next Tuesday (11th August), the Croí Mobile Health Hub will be in Ennis offering free blood pressure, pulse and cholesterol checks as part of a new community health initiative supported by the Michael Guinee Charitable Foundation. To tell us more about the service and why knowing your numbers is so important, Alan Morrissey was joined by the Chief Executive Officer of Croí, Mark O'Donnell. Image (c) Croí

Navigating Sports Business
150. Baltimore Orioles - Don Rovak

Navigating Sports Business

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2026 34:53


It's the 150th episode of Navigating Sports Business! We're joined by our client, Don Rovak, to discuss to the latest with Camden Yards and the Baltimore Orioles.   Don Rovak - CRO at the Baltimore Orioles - has helped modernize and grow the Orioles' commercial operation. He and Jeff Nelson discuss the Camden Yards renovation and how the definition of a great fan experience is always changing.   They also explore some of the recently announced premium partnerships, the keys to hiring great sales people, and how success on the field impacts the business side.   Timestamps: 1:20 - Differences working in NFL and MLB 3:15 - Responsibilities of the C-Suite 5:55 - Is hiring salespeople more difficult than ever? 12:00 - How the team's success impacts the CRO role 15:10 - Camden Yards Renovations 24:50 - Bringing non-baseball events to Camden Yards 28:15 - Rapid Fire Questions     For more insights, visit our LinkedIn page or learn more about Navigate at https://nvgt.com/.

CRO Spotlight
From Top-Down Sales to AI-Led PLG with Matthew Darrow

CRO Spotlight

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2026 69:43


In this episode of the CRO Spotlight podcast, Warren Zenna hosts Matthew Darrow, CEO at Vivun, to discuss why slapping artificial intelligence onto legacy software is a dead end. Recognizing that specialized revenue teams will no longer work inside static SaaS portals, Vivun pivoted to build something entirely new. This bold move reflects a hard reality: revenue execution demands an expert teammate, not just surface-level automation.Generic foundational models fall short in complex enterprise deals because they lack domain-specific reasoning. Standard AI tools frequently produce mediocre outputs that fail in high-stakes selling. Darrow explains that true operational leverage requires an engine capable of modeling how top-tier experts evaluate deals, rather than relying on broad systems that merely regurgitate basic product documentation and text.Replacing human sellers with autonomous avatars is a flawed strategy that misunderstands buyer behavior. The real competitive advantage occurs live during actual customer calls, where execution makes or breaks a deal. By embedding real-time guidance directly into these critical moments, revenue leaders can discreetly assist sellers with accurate insights. This approach scales institutional knowledge without damaging organic human connections.This technological evolution alters what is required of the modern chief revenue officer. Executives can no longer rely solely on traditional top-down sales methodologies to drive growth. Success now requires partnering closely with product leaders to construct a cohesive motion that combines product-led accessibility with enterprise strategy. The future belongs to leaders who successfully augment their teams to accelerate execution at scale.

Crossing Thin Ice
Implementing ERM (Part 2)

Crossing Thin Ice

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2026 18:46


Successful ERM implementations develop over time through iterative refinement, building organizational buy-in before layering on complex modeling structures. Here is Part 2 of "Implementing ERM".   In part 1, we covered the foundational core: balancing risk exploitation with downside protection, navigating the five phases of the risk control cycle, and applying four primary measurement methodologies to quantify exposure. Now, in Part 2, we're moving from operations to Strategy. We will be diving into setting actionable risk appetites and tolerances, communicating effectively with senior leadership, and positioning the CRO as a strategic business partner rather than 'Doctor No'.

Fire From the North
Gladiator vs Machine

Fire From the North

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2026 47:46


The games heat up as it's man vs machine! Cro, Zander, and Fate watch to see which of their fighters come out on top. This episode contains graphic violence, and adult language. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DTC Podcast
Ep 634: 10,000 Orders in 6 Months Selling Protein Couscous: Bar Bruhis on Launching Boostcous

DTC Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2026 34:24


Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupBar Bruhis spent ten years building SaaS for Shopify brands. He helped start one of the first email capture tools in 2015, then co-founded KnoCommerce, the post-purchase survey tool 6,500 brands use. In December he finally took his own leap: Boostcous (boostcous.com), the first protein couscous. Six months later he's about to cross 10,000 orders, bootstrapped, with a team of two.Try it: boostcous.com. The tagline says it all: "Finally a carb that pulls its weight." (An AI copywriting agent wrote that. More on this below.)If you're sitting on a product idea you haven't launched, or you're a CPG founder trying to turn DTC numbers into retail meetings, this episode is the working playbook.What's inside:Why couscous: protein pasta has Banza, Brami, and Goodles. Couscous had nobody. Chickpea, lentil, and pea flour, gluten free, protein and fiber naturally derived from the legumes themselves.The launch: a front-page story in the local Carbondale paper and free pickup from his garage. The first 400 to 500 orders were handed over face to face, and he asked every customer why they bought.First-order profitable on Meta with a product almost nobody has ever bought online. "That doesn't really happen" in CPG.The KnoCommerce lessons applied to his own brand: "what almost prevented you from buying today" for CRO, and "which retail stores would you like to see Boostcous in" as ammo for buyer meetings. The pitch: in the last 30 days, this many of our customers asked for your store by name.The first one-star review, after 155 five-stars. He emailed her, got on a call, learned she was cooking it wrong, and updated the packaging. She rewrote the review herself as a five-star essay.Where AI actually helps a two-person brand (product seeding draft orders, static ads, most of the website photos, sell sheets built from survey and review data) and his warning: "we swung the pendulum a little too far at first." Calling customers stays human.Expo West on a $0 badge. He got the ticket by pitching his podcast, and the Gelson's deal came from walking the floor.His read on the protein trend: protein soda and protein sprinkles exist now. Naturally derived protein in foods you already eat is the part that lasts.Who this is for: founders sitting on a long-gestating idea, CPG operators heading into retail, and SaaS people wondering what their skills are worth on the brand side.What to steal: add two questions to your post-purchase survey today. "What almost prevented you from buying?" fixes your site. "Which retail stores would you like to see us in?" fills your retail pipeline with proof buyers can't ignore.Try Boostcous: boostcous.comTimestamps:00:00 Building a First-Order Profitable CPG Brand07:24 Launch Strategy That Validated Product-Market Fit11:50 Using Post-Purchase Surveys to Drive Growth18:08 Turning DTC Success Into Retail Expansion31:12 Advice for Launching Your First Ecommerce BrandSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Revenue Builders
Where AI Is Actually Working in Revenue Teams with Alex Bilmes

Revenue Builders

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2026 11:03


In this clip, Alex Bilmes, CEO of Endgame, joins Revenue Builders to share what his team learned from analyzing more than 30,000 real AI workflows across go-to-market teams. The data shows AI gaining traction in account intelligence, conversation readiness, deal acceleration, pipeline inspection, and team enablement. But the larger lesson is that the strongest teams are not just using AI to generate decks, briefs, or follow-ups faster. They are using it to create shared understanding across reps, managers, executives, RevOps, and cross-functional teams. For revenue leaders, the opportunity is not simply more automation. It is connecting the organization around the same account context, methodology, and customer truth. Alex Bilmes is the CEO and founder of Endgame, a revenue intelligence platform built for go-to-market teams. His work focuses on helping revenue organizations centralize customer, methodology, and account knowledge so both humans and AI agents can operate from a consistent foundation. Connect with Alex: LinkedIn Listen to the full episode: Revenue per Employee Is the New Endgame with Alex Bilmes Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management

In Depth
What startups get wrong about enterprise | Lindsey Scrase (COO, Checkr)

In Depth

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2026 68:12


In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Lindsey Scrase, COO of Checkr. Before joining Checkr as CRO and later stepping into the COO seat, Lindsey spent nearly a decade at Google Cloud as global managing director for SMB, mid-market, and startups. In this conversation, she breaks down why moving upmarket into enterprise trips up so many startups looking to scale, how Checkr rebuilt its sales compensation model to keep pace with growth, and where AI is already reshaping her operations and go-to-market teams. In today's episode, we discuss: Why operators who thrive at massive-scale companies often struggle when they join a startup The hard-won lessons from Checkr's early enterprise push that nearly failed Why Checkr's C-suite meets every morning with no specific agenda The surprising challenges moving from CRO to COO How Checkr turned AI experiments into operating systems References Amazon: https://www.amazon.com Checkr: https://checkr.com Claude: https://claude.com Daniel Yanisse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanisse/ DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com Google: https://www.google.com Lovable: https://lovable.dev Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com Where to find Lindsey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-scrase-0702442/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Lscrase Where to find Brett LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:06 Why big-company executives often struggle in startups 02:18 What Checkr's first CRO needed to accomplish 03:33 How to take on an entrenched category leader 06:58 Why leaders underestimate how hard the jump to enterprise really is 10:23 Separating a true deal-blocker from a customer's nice-to-have request 18:30 Why Lindsey hired enterprise-scarred sales leader over a market leader's résumé 22:08 The biggest challenges of moving from CRO to COO 28:03 Why Checkr names a single decision-maker for every major decision 34:42 Why Checkr rebuilt their sales compensation model 40:39 What actually separates a team's best seller from everyone else 45:03 Inside Checkr's daily, no-agenda, c-suite meeting 50:23 How following data can sometimes lead you in the wrong direction 57:27 Why hitting 130% of a goal isn't always a good thing 58:57 Where AI has changed how Checkr's teams operate day to day 1:04:33 Advice for all aspiring COOs

The Liquid Lunch Project
Mark Roberge's Formula for Smarter Sales and Safer Growth

The Liquid Lunch Project

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2026 47:25


Most sales problems start when the seller won't stop talking. Mark Roberge (HubSpot's founding CRO, Harvard Business School lecturer, and co-founder of Stage 2 Capital) joins Matt and Luigi to challenge the loudest myths in sales and startup growth. His take is simple: great selling is not about pressure, slick pitches, or talking someone into a bad deal.    It's about asking better questions, finding the real problem, and knowing when to walk away. The conversation also tackles a mistake that kills promising companies: scaling before customers are getting real value. Mark breaks down why rising revenue can fool founders, how to test product-market fit, and what must be true before a business earns the right to grow faster.  

Buzz Dental
What's The Best Day Of The Week For In Office Seminars?

Buzz Dental

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2026 11:04


The Best Dental Marketing Podcast, powered by Dentainment, delivers cutting-edge strategies to help dental practices attract new patients, grow revenue, and thrive in today's competitive digital landscape.

Topline
SPOTLIGHT: AI Is Making Sales Reps 60% Faster to Revenue | Justin Shriber, CEO & Co-Founder @ Terret AI

Topline

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2026 24:12


AI isn't just changing sales. It's completely rewriting how revenue teams operate. In this episode of Topline Spotlight, Sam Jacobs sits down with Justin Shriber, CEO of Terret AI, to break down how modern revenue organizations are using AI to improve forecasting, shorten sales cycles, ramp reps faster, and operationalize winning sales behavior in real time. Justin shares: Why traditional sales enablement is broken How AI helped reduce rep ramp time by 40% The "answer-to-action" engine powering modern RevOps The hidden dangers of decentralized AI adoption Why companies are struggling with inconsistent AI-generated data The real debate: build your own AI stack vs buy from vendors How leading teams are using AI agents today One of the most interesting conversations in GTM right now. If you're a CRO, RevOps leader, founder, or GTM operator trying to understand where AI is actually delivering value, this episode is worth your time. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:40 Meet Justin Schreiber and Terret 04:17 How AI is changing sales productivity 06:07 The biggest problem in revenue execution 09:37 Why great strategies never get executed 11:01 Building AI that's secure, accurate, and scalable 13:32 Buy vs. build: The future of enterprise AI 16:25 Why AI needs centralized governance 17:35 Jurassic Park, AI agents, and organizational chaos 20:15 Justin's biggest inspirations for building great companies 22:58 Where to find Justin and Terret Try Terret: terret.ai

RIMScast
Reeling in Risk with Inland Fisheries Ireland CRO Colette Cummins

RIMScast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2026 45:16


Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this episode, Justin interviews Colette Cummins, Chief Risk Officer of Inland Fisheries Ireland and a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner, on what it's like to be a CRO in an organization whose mission is protecting a national natural resource. Justin invites Colette to share her career journey, and she tells how she developed in credit risk management, audit, and enterprise risk management, and how she landed in the public sector, protecting the environment while guiding Inland Fisheries Ireland toward building a solid risk framework. Colette speaks of the surprises she found in the public sector, and the impressive risk mindset and commitment she finds at IFI.   Listen for principles of building out risk registers and a risk framework, whether in the private sector or a public sector agency.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:16] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest today is Collete Cummins. She is the Chief Risk Officer for Inland Fisheries Ireland and a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner. We're going to have a great dialog. But first… [:42] RIMS-CRMP Workshop. We are delighted to announce that on August 27th and 28th, RIMS President Manny Padilla will be leading the two-day in-person workshop at St. John's University at 101 Astor Place in New York City. A link to the registration is in this episode's show notes. [1:02] RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops. RIMS will partner with PARIMA for the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on September 1st and 2nd. Registration links are in this episode's show notes. [1:12] On the webinars page, you will see a two-part series hosted by the RIMS Membership Department. The "Classroom to Career" webinar series highlights how RIMS equips students with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to thrive in risk management careers. [1:28] Participants will gain insights into industry trends, career pathways, and practical tools that help them confidently step into the evolving world of risk management after graduation. These sessions will be hosted on September 1st and 9th. [1:41] These sessions are member exclusives and are complimentary for RIMS members, of course. So, if you are interested in becoming a member, this would be the time. Visit RIMS.org/membership. [1:51] RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today! [2:08] On with the Show! Our guest today is Colette Cummins. She is the Chief Risk Officer for Inland Fisheries Ireland. The IFI is the dedicated state agency for protecting, managing, and conserving Ireland's inland fisheries and sea angling resources. [2:26] Colette is the agency's first CRO, but she's not new to risk management. We're going to hear about her career journey and why she feels that this position was custom-made for her, combining her love for environmental awareness with her risk management knowledge. [2:42] Colette is also a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner, and on September 24th, you can hear from her directly, along with Elliott Long, another RIMS-CRMP Commissioner, in the informational session, "A Conversation with RIMS-CRMP Commissioners Who Hold the Credential." [2:58] That's a free informational session. Visit RIMS.org/CertificationWeek for more information. A link is in this episode's show notes. But we're here to talk with Colette about her fascinating career and risk philosophies. Let's get to it! [3:13] Interview! Colette Cummins, Welcome to RIMScast! [3:28] Colette was told once that she is excessively optimistic. She's very positive. She took it as a compliment. [4:18] Colette started fresh out of university in credit analysis and credit risk management. She worked in a few financial services organizations. It gave her a taste for risk management at a high level. It was around portfolio analysis and the credit history of customers. [4:51] The role Colette was in wound down, and she was looking to move into a different area in the company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, in the financial services subsidiary. An opportunity came up to work in internal audit. She decided to try it for a year. She stayed in it for 15 years. [5:32] In the middle of those 15 years, Colette had an interim stint in Operational Risk Management for a year and a half, and she loved it. [5:47] Colette says, in Operational Risk, you're seeing down at a tactical level how to manage and monitor risk. It was very much around risk monitoring. [6:01] Colette explains why she stayed in internal audit for 15 years. Ten years were spent in various internal audit management roles in the financial services subsidiary. It was a tough time for HPE in terms of meeting the new regulatory challenges in Ireland and Europe for financial services. [6:41] Colette was asked to take on the Head of Internal Audit role. She did that for five years. She went into Internal Audit for one year in 2008. In 2015, she worked in Operational Risk. In 2017, she was asked to come back to take over as Head of Internal Audit. [7:11] It was a challenging situation because new EU regulations were coming in for banks and financial services businesses. It was a lot of pressure to meet these. There was a lot of scrutiny from Irish regulators. It was a challenging environment for Internal Audit. [7:53] When Colette moved in as Head of Internal Audit, it was a pivotal role in terms of steering the organization through that regulatory time. It was a great learning experience and very helpful now that she's in a public sector role. [8:09] Colette says, the whole time she was Head of Internal Audit, she was thinking, "How do I get back to Risk? How do I get out of here?" She loved Operational Risk. [8:27] Colette networked heavily within the organization. She got the opportunity to move out of Financial Services up into the global HPE organization as an Enterprise Risk Manager. She got that role through networking. She enjoyed that ERM role and did it for about five years. [9:26] Colette says it was a strategic role. She was working with the heads of each business unit, reviewing their risks. It had a very heavy emphasis on reporting to the audit committee and the board on what was happening in risk management in the business units. [9:58] Colette didn't feel as if she was effecting change or driving new strategies within the organization, but she learned a huge amount about negotiating with senior management and a lot about the fundamentals of risk management. [10:18] For the last year or two of her role, Colette wondered what she was doing there. She had a sense of wanting to stay in risk management but wanting to do something different, maybe something more value-add and less commercially driven. [10:39] Colette says towards the end of 2025, HPE announced it was cutting resources and implementing cost-cutting initiatives. As part of that, her role was made redundant. At first, it was a big upheaval and quite a shock after 22 years with the organization. [11:03] Colette says that upheaval turned into a great opportunity. It was the push she needed to ask herself where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. It was an opportunity to try something completely different. [11:28] Colette says she didn't know anybody in the public sector. She had no contacts. But in Ireland, you cannot in any way canvass for jobs in the public sector. Everything is heavily regulated with very strict anti-corruption regulations. [11:54] Colette says she had no knowledge of the organization. She had no intention of applying for a role for at least six months. But she started looking at what was out there. She was going to put some time into development and building out her CV and getting some qualifications. [12:33] Colette says she had been thinking she would like to do something in the public sector; something more meaningful and less commercially-driven. She wanted to do something with more autonomy, more impact, and more control over risk at the organisation. [12:54] Colette says, one Wednesday afternoon, she was looking, and she saw this job that had just come up. It's in exactly the right location, it's public sector, and it's IFI, an environmental body. Colette said, "Wow! This is it!" Forgetting her six months off, she had to go for it. [13:19] Colette interviewed for the job when she hadn't yet finished her old role at HPE. She was hugely busy, trying to wrap up her role and interviewing. The interview process for the public sector in Ireland is extremely rigorous and tough. She was successful in the role. [13:43] Colette says she just had a couple of weeks off and then went straight into it in March of 2026. She has been CRO at Inland Fisheries Ireland for four months now. [14:06] Colette says IFI is the state organization that is responsible for protecting the fish stock in Ireland. Ireland is a country with a lot of waterways. IFI is responsible for protecting the fish in 45,000 miles of rivers, 128,000 hectares of lakes, and 3,500 miles of shoreline. [14:43] It's doing everything to protect and restore the fish stock in those areas. Historically, the organization was very much about protection, preventing fishermen from overfishing and from fishing illegally, especially protected species. IFI has a substantial staff who patrol the rivers. [15:17] Now IFI is working on pollution, reacting to any pollution episodes and ensuring that they're investigated and stopped. Colette says that prevention measures sit with a different state body. The Environmental Protection Agency works on the prevention of pollution.  [15:41] Colette says because the IFI has staff on the ground, it will see pollution coming in, react to it, and get in touch with the EPA to say, We've seen something coming into this river at this location. We need your team out here to source and stop it. [16:08] The IFI staff on the ground takes samples of the water and has them ready for when the EPA team comes to look at it. Another huge element of what the IFI does is restoring the habitat and creating the perfect environment for the fish. They research how the stock is developing. [16:35] The IFI research teams go out and do things like electrofishing, where they stun the fish for a few seconds to take a scale from the fish, test it, and work out the genetic trail of the fish and where they've come from. There's a huge amount of information they take from that. [16:58] The IFI works on the rivers, as well. Salmon, in particular, always go back to where they spawned. You need to keep that route open for them. If a barrier, like a dam, has been built, the IFI team works with construction companies to remove those. [17:19] The IFI has a wide series of activities: patrolling, protection, pollution, habitat restoration, and research. Colette is sure risk professionals hearing this are saying, That's a lot of risks! [17:37] Justin points out that the IFI covers thousands of miles. It's not just the particulars of the job but also the volume and area it has to cover. [18:03] Colette says the other element is that fishing or angling is part of Ireland's tourist industry. The IFI promotes fishing, without overfishing, obviously, and supports and partners with the local fishing organizations. [18:28] A Quick Break! Many fantastic RIMS events are coming up in 2026. You can register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, which will be held from August 10th through the 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. [18:44] Visit RIMS.org/Events for registration information. The hotel cutoff date was July 10th. Reservations may still be made after the hotel cutoff date, subject to availability; however, the negotiated group rate is no longer guaranteed, so reserve now. [19:00] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information. [19:11] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. The agenda is live, and registration is open. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information. [19:28] Save the dates: October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are open, and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Advance registration is open now. [19:44] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni. [19:59] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 19th and 20th in Columbus, Ohio. Registration is now open. [20:08] An announcement seeking nominations for the RIMS Global ERM Award of Distinction will be made public in July. Visit RIMS.org/ERM2026. [20:19] We're already looking to RISKWORLD 2027, which will be held over four days in New Orleans, Louisiana, from April 18th through the 21st! The call for session proposals is now live and will stay active through August 21st. [20:34] RIMS members can exclusively register by September 4th for the best rate. And get first access to the hotel block. Hotel reservations open on October 28th, ahead of public registration. Sitting this out is the real risk! The link to registration is in this episode's show notes. [20:54] Let's Return to Our Interview with Inland Fisheries CRO and RIMS-CRMP Commissioner Colette Cummins! [21:05] Justin comments that fish is a critical food source, so IFI has to make sure that they're clean, healthy, and they keep repopulating. Colette agrees but says that it's less about food and more about environmental protection. [21:23] Colette says some species have been reduced a huge amount in the last number of years because of things like pollution, habitat destruction, etc. It's really about environmental protection, restoring that stock, and bringing it back to where it should be for a natural balance. [21:42] Colette says her CRO role is new at IFI. That's what made it even more exciting for her. She says, when she came in, it was basically a blank sheet. IFI had dealt with risk by using a third party to give them a risk management model and some training. [22:10] Colette says the IFI was trying to work with that in-house, without any risk management expertise. It brought in a bit of a risk mindset, but essentially, Colette had a clean sheet to start with. She came in in March, and now she's building out the risk register. [22:36] Colette's first task was to design the risk framework. Colette loves risk management and has done lots of various elements of it, but she's never had complete autonomy, where she was driving change in the organization. [22:55] By full autonomy, Colette means she owns everything. Anything that happens to do with risk comes to her. [23:01] Up until now, Colette's role has been designing the framework: establishing how the organization is going to manage risk, building that out, getting people on board with that framework. It's split into six departments within the organization. [23:29] Each head of that department, or ELT member, will own their risk register, or their list of risks. Colette is working closely with them to ensure they have all their risks listed within that register and that they fully understand them. [23:48] Colette is looking at their controls and helping them devise new controls, looking at how the risk matches the risk appetite of the organization, and working with the next level of management beneath them to help them develop their risk registers to report up to the ELT. [24:40] Colette says IFI had been trying to recruit a CRO for some time. She wishes she had known! She would have applied last year. She just happened to see it. The existing model wasn't working. There was a real need. [25:00] The audit committee and board were saying they weren't happy. They said they needed to see risk management alive in the organization. Colette had to dive straight in, hit the ground running, and start building it out straightaway. It was exactly the challenge she was looking for. [25:18] Colette says it's so good to have that autonomy and responsibility, but also accountability. She is completely accountable for everything that happens with risk. Colette gets each member of the ELT to develop their risk register and report that up to the audit committee. [25:45] If anybody is doing anything where they want to think about risk, they talk to Colette. It's not complicated. They don't go to somebody else. Everybody knows, if it's got the word "risk," they come to Colette. Colette says the full visibility of everything is great. [26:19] Colette says she's starting with a very simplistic model to build the registers. She says it's drawn more from ISO, but it's a very simplistic model to get the organization started. Colette moved from a private-sector global IT company to the public sector. [26:56] The one thing that is challenging is that things move much slower in government. It moves much slower, and that's probably even more so in Ireland than in Europe and maybe than in the U.S. [27:16] You could come in and see this is the change that is needed, and think you could go ahead and effect that change within a couple of weeks? Oh, no you don't! You need to take everything slowly and get the right approvals and authorizations, etc.  [27:29] Colette says she is starting with a really simplistic model: set out your risks, set out your controls, set out your mitigating actions, and then, we're going to get the organization working on that with that framework. [27:43] Colette hopes to do it within six months, but knowing the public sector, it could be a year. Then start building in other elements to it to make it a more mature and sophisticated framework. [28:19] Every change has to be approved by the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC). If Colette wants to make a small tweak in the existing framework, it goes back to the Audit and Risk Committee, which meets every three months. [28:51] Colette presented to the ARC in June. She presented how she wanted to move forward. There was no question. She knew they were going to approve it. She couldn't just go ahead and put the framework in place. [29:08] It needs to go through the protocols and have the conversation with the ARC and just take it nice and slow to effect any change. That is one challenge that's different for Colette. But otherwise, she can bring all of her experience from different areas and use every bit of it. [29:37] One More Quick Break! RIMS has launched RIMS, The Foundation for Risk ManagementTM. The Foundation is dedicated to shaping the future of the profession. Contribute to strengthen the global risk management community and invest in the future of the industry. [29:57] The Foundation also supports the Spencer Educational Foundation but has a different mission. The Foundation focuses on providing opportunities for those professionals who have already decided to enter risk management and are just getting started. [30:11] You can learn more about the Foundation by visiting RIMS.org/FRM.  While you're there, be sure to check out information about the Susan Meltzer Scholarship Fund, which was established to honor Ms. Meltzer, who was RIMS President in 1999 and 2000. [30:30] Susan Meltzer was a cherished RIMS President and contributed so much to RIMS and the greater risk community. Learn more at RIMS.org/FRM.  [30:39] Let's Return to Our Interview with Colette Cummins!  [30:53] Colette Cummins is speaking with us today from County Kildare, about 30 miles outside Dublin, Ireland. The IFI offices are on the edge of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Colette says the land is actually greener and more beautiful than the travel brochures could describe. [31:30] Colette says Ireland is full of rich waterways, which keeps her in a job. She lives near Dublin but is originally from the Southwest of Ireland, which is by far the most beautiful. The coastline is stunning. It's where most Irish go on holidays. It's gorgeous. [32:00] Colette says the accent in the Southwest of Ireland is different. Colette's husband from the middle of Ireland requests subtitles when he visits her family in the Southwest. Colette describes the difference between the accents in the South and North of Ireland. [33:05] Colette says the IFI Corporate Risk Register has generic risks around AI, cyber, training, and resources. [33:33] One of their biggest risks is health and safety. Staff are going out and patrolling rivers. They will sometimes come across fishermen who are happily overfishing and not keen to meet a patrolling officer who tells them they shouldn't be taking all this fish and depleting the stocks. [34:08] There is a health and safety risk with the patrolling officer being out on a river on boats. There is a health and safety risk in meeting an acrimonious and adversarial fisherman. [34:28] Because IFI does research, they have staff in labs, using high-tech equipment, with a health and safety risk. They have engineers looking at the rivers and habitats and maybe some constructions in the rivers that need to be removed. They have a health and safety risk. [34:37] These are new risks and things for Colette to get her head around. How do we do this? How do we manage that? And the other side is regulation. There are a lot of different regulations that impact IFI. [35:22] Colette says, In the public sector, your reputation is critically important, because you're the face of the state. Reputation is an impact factor you need to build into every risk. If IFI does something wrong, it could end up in the national media the day after. IFI uses taxpayers' money. [36:15] Colette says another huge category of risk for IFI is procurement, ensuring they are using taxpayers' money in the right way and not misusing it. [36:50] Colette says that prioritizing risks comes back to the goals. In procurement, there is the risk of spending money in a way that's not compliant. There is also the risk that there are too many procurement controls and the business can't move fast enough or do what it needs to do. [37:24] Colette says it comes to the organizational goals. What is the impact on the organizational goals? Which risk is going to have a greater detrimental impact on the organization's mission? One caveat: the health and well-being of the staff override everything. [37:55] Health and safety risk trumps everything. IFI would be completely averse to any risk that will impact the health and safety of the staff. Health and safety trumps every other risk. [38:16] Justin says he and Colette met recently for the RIMS-CRMP series where everyone can see her on September 24th. Justin says Colette is very positive and upbeat and speaks about her role with a lot of enthusiasm and joviality. [38:39] Colette says there are 330 people in IFI. It's not commercially driven, so a lot of people are at IFI because they love the work. For some people Colette works with, it's a vocation. They would nearly do the same job without being paid because they have such passion for it. [39:11] Colette met with the research team on site at the rivers to get a better understanding and just to see the passion they have for the job. Using her risk knowledge to help them do their jobs better and to help them protect themselves from risks was rewarding and enjoyable to Colette. [39:45] Colette says being able to use her experience across the organization is just fantastic. Colette has a lot of different experience, and to bring it all together and use it every day when she is challenged with a new task is fantastic and very rewarding. [40:27] Colette says this is the field staff's very busy time because this is when all the fishing is happening, this is when pollution is more likely to happen, and when the temperatures go up, the fish are under pressure, so you have to try and protect the waters. [40:42] Colette says the research staff was delighted to hear that someone was coming down from the head office to go out and make the time to really understand the organization. They were very anxious to show her everything. There is such pride in the organization. [41:!5] Justin says a lot of the risk professionals listening are in the private sector, and he asks Colette what would most surprise them about risk management in a public environmental organization. [41:40] Colette says a lot of the differences in the public sector are what you would expect: things move slower, and the protocols. [41:49] What surprised Colette the most is what a strong risk mindset they have. There's a good understanding of risk already, even through the layers of management. They can look at what's going on, the processes, and the activities and ask, "What are the risks here?" [42:16] There is also a commitment to risk that Colette was not expecting. She was expecting to meet a research manager who wanted to research and leave risks to Colette. She hasn't had that anywhere. They all ask her to talk with them about their risks. "Am I managing them right?" [42:39] Colette says there is knowledge and commitment, and that has been the biggest surprise for her. It obviously makes her job a lot easier. [42:48] Justin says this is excellent. It has been such a pleasure to meet you these last couple of days. We're going to see you during RIMS Certification week on September 24th. [42:57] Justin says, You will be co-hosting the informational session, "A Conversation with RIMS-CRMP Commissioners Who Hold the Credential." You're such a breath of fresh air. We really appreciate your contributions, and I learned a lot speaking with you today and yesterday. [41:12] Justin says, You have a fascinating job, and I hope that you have a chance to attend a RIMS event, maybe lead a session, and connect with our live audiences, as well. Colette says she would love to at some stage in the future. [43:32] Special thanks again to Colette Cummins of Inland Fisheries Ireland for joining us here on RIMScast. [43:38] You can hear Colette again on September 24th during RIMS Certification Week for the special informational session, "A Conversation with RIMS-CRMP Commissioners Who Hold the Credential." [43:49] That session will be held at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Visit RIMS.org/CertificationWeek. The link is also in this episode's show notes. We've got sessions on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of September. We look forward to seeing you there. [44:05] Plug Time! Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [44:22] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [44:39] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [44:52] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org. [43:05] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!   Links: RIMS Certification Week: Sept. 21‒24 | Complimentary For All RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 | Aug. 10‒12 in San Antonio | Register Now! Spencer Educational Foundation's 2026 Funding Their Future Gala | Sept. 17, 2026 RISKWORLD 2027 Registration | RIMS members can lock in 2026 rates now through Sept. 4 | Education Content Submission ChicagoLand Risk Forum | Sept. 24, 2026 RIMS Western Regional Conference — Oct. 4‒7, 2026 | Seattle, WA | Register Today. RIMS Canada Conference — Oct. 18‒21, 2026 | Quebec City | www.rimscanadaconference.ca | Advance Registration Open | Sponsorship Opportunities Available RIMS ERM Conference 2026 | November 19‒20 in Columbus, Ohio | Registration Now Open! | www.rims.org/ERM2026 RIMS, the Foundation for Risk Management Spencer Educational Foundation — Scholarships and Grants | Open Calls and Timelines. RIMS Now RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) | Insights Video Series Featuring Joe Milan! The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center RIMS Diversity Equity Inclusion Council RIMS-CRMP Stories RIMScast Canada — Episodes Now Live RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMScast on YouTube! RIMS Risk Management Magazine | Contribute | Q2 2026 Issue Now Available Sponsor RIMScast — Sales@RIMS.org Fisheriesireland.ie/ Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops: RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Workshop — Live In NY — Aug 27‒28! RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep with PARIMA | Sept 1‒2 Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops   Upcoming RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars "RIMS Student Series: Classroom to Career Part 1" | Sept 1 "RIMS Student Series: Classroom to Career Part 2" | Sept 9   Related RIMScast Episodes: "Reputation and Defense with Jeff McKissack" "Choosing the Challenge with Johnell Holly" "Supply Chain Integrity and Sustainability with Nicole Sherwin of EcoVadis"   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: "48 Hours From a Storm: What to Do Before A Hurricane Strikes" | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company (New!) "AI-Scale, Risk Ready: Engineering Controls for the New Data Center Boom" | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company "Facing Into Risk: Navigating the New Risk Landscape" (New!) | Sponsored by AXA XL "Secondary Perils, Major Risks: The New Face of Weather-Related Challenge" | Sponsored by AXA XL "The ART of Risk: Rethinking Risk Through Insight, Design, and Innovation" | Sponsored by Alliant "Mastering ERM: Leveraging Internal and External Risk Factors" | Sponsored by Diligent "Cyberrisk: Preparing Beyond 2025" | Sponsored by Alliant "The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience" | Sponsored by AXA XL "Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance" | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company "Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs" | Sponsored by Zurich "Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding" | Sponsored by Zurich "What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping" | Sponsored by Medcor "How Insurance Builds Resilience Against an Active Assailant Attack" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips" | Sponsored by Alliant   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Manny Padilla!   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Manny Padilla!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guest: Colette Cummins, Chief Risk Officer, Inland Fisheries Ireland RIMS-CRMP Commissioner   Production and engineering provided by Podfly.

Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold

Partner with Jay: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/contactㅤPre-order Jay Schwedelson's new book, Stupider People Have Done It (out June 9, 2026).All net proceeds are donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, let's kick cancer's butt: https://www.amazon.com/Stupider-People-Have-Done-Marketing/dp/1637635206ㅤSubscribe to Jay's newsletter for weekly marketing tips and tactics: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/newsletterㅤRegister for GuruConference (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.guruconference.comㅤCheck out Eventastic (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.eventastic.comㅤConnect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/Check out Jay's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@schwedelsonCheck out Jay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayschwedelson/Ask Jay anything: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/askㅤLeave a comment and follow the show, it really helps us out!ㅤFollow Daniel on LinkedIn and check out The Marketing Millennials podcast for sharp, no-fluff marketing insights. Subscribe to Ari Murray's newsletter at gotomillions.co for sharp, actionable marketing insights.ㅤYou have a file sitting inside LinkedIn right now with every connection, every DM and every comment you have ever made, and it takes about four clicks to get it. Jay Schwedelson walks through what happens when you drop that export into Claude alongside your CRM data and tell it to think like a chief revenue officer, while Daniel Murray shares the prompt he uses to pull clips, hooks and subject lines out of podcast transcripts he already recorded months ago. The whole thing wraps with the two of them pulling up their Uber passenger ratings on air, which does not go the way either of them planned.ㅤBest Moments:(00:11) The Uber small talk question nobody wants to answer honestly(02:06) Why AirPods are the polite way to opt out of any conversation(02:49) Daniel's prompt for turning old podcast transcripts into clips, hooks and subject lines(05:00) Feeding your full LinkedIn history into Claude and asking it to think like a CRO(06:14) The exact desktop click path to export your LinkedIn connection data(07:51) If your tool has no API connection, it might be time to find a different tool(08:41) A live Uber score showdown, including where to find your one-star count

Go To Market Grit
Ex-Twitter CEO on Why AI Needs a New Internet | Parag Agrawal

Go To Market Grit

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 61:27


"The answer to every problem is a model."Parag Agrawal shares the ideas behind Parallel: products that continuously learn, and teams designed around versatile problem solvers.He also shares why he built an AI agent for himself, anyd why AI's biggest opportunity is expanding what people can achieve.Guest: Parag Agrawal, founder and CEO of Parallel, and former CEO of TwitterConnect with ParagXLinkedInConnect with MamoonXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comFollow Grit on: LinkedInX​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

No Hacks Marketing
228: OpenAI Killed Its AI Browser

No Hacks Marketing

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2026 17:57


I came back from a month off the grid to find OpenAI had killed Atlas, its most glamorously launched product, nine months after the keynote. It barely matters, though. The automated, non-human visitor Atlas was sending to your website is still coming, through whatever shell comes next. Build for the visitor, not the browser.Timestamps00:00 - Back from break, and the bad news01:17 - Atlas: the most hyped browser ever launched02:27 - Watching it work is a demo, not a workflow03:29 - Killed with no keynote: the browser was never the product04:35 - The visitor isn't dead, so build for it05:24 - The real agentic web: background agents you don't watch07:52 - Silent failure: a human recovers, an agent doesn't09:41 - OpenAI's side quests, and the name that gave it away12:48 - My Cloudflare data: AI traffic is 5-10x human14:24 - What No Hacks is nowKey NumbersAI assistant traffic (ChatGPT and Claude users) is running 5-10x my human traffic on nohacks.co (my own Cloudflare AI analytics)Atlas: launched October 2025, shuts down August 9, 2026, nine months oldEight months in, Atlas never shipped beyond macOS, no Windows, iOS, or AndroidKey TakeawaysThe visitor outlives the shell. Browser, app, extension, cloud: the wrapper keeps changing, but the automated visitor arriving at your website is the same one every time. Build for the visitor, not the browser.Watch-it-work AI browsers were always a demo. If you have to sit and watch it, it is not a workflow. The real agentic web runs in the background, which means its failures are silent, and you never see the lost signup or sale.Being cited is not the whole game. The agent does not only mention you, it comes to your website and tries to act. Optimizing to appear in a prompt misses the harder work: a website a machine can actually use.What to DoSimplify the paths a human muscles through but an agent will not: coupon-box bugs, cookie banners, console errors. The agent hits the wall and leaves, silently.Check your own logs and bot analytics for AI-assistant traffic. You are probably getting more than you think.Stop optimizing only to be discovered. Make the website something an agent can finish a task on.More on this every week in the No Hacks newsletter: nohacks.co/subscribeSources & LinksThe storyOpenAI is shutting down Atlas (TechCrunch)My companion take and dataAI Browsers Are Backward Because Agents Never Needed the Visual LayerCloudflare Radar: bot and AI trafficNo Hacks is a publication about the agentic web. Articles, a weekly podcast, and a newsletter for SEO, CRO, and web professionals who want to stay visible, trusted, and findable as agents take over. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.Subscribe at https://nohacks.co/subscribe

Chutando a Escada
A nova onda da direita radical na América Latina

Chutando a Escada

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2026 38:38


Keiko Fujimori em comício de campanha, Peru, 2026. Foto: Renato Pajuelo/EFE. O que a vitória de Keiko Fujimori no Peru e a de Abelardo de la Espriella na Colômbia têm em comum com mais de duzentos anos de política externa americana para a região? Para Carolina Silva Pedroso, professora adjunta na Unifesp e pesquisadora vinculada ao Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Estudos sobre os Estados Unidos (INCT-INEU), a resposta está na ideia da América Latina como “quintal dos Estados Unidos”. Neste episódio, produzido em parceria com o Observatório da Extrema-Direita, David Magalhães e Guilherme Casarões recebem Carolina para discutir a nova onda da direita radical na região, os mitos que cercam a Venezuela chavista, entre eles a suposta fraude sistemática nas urnas eletrônicas, e a forma como o apoio explícito de Washington tem funcionado como variável interveniente no fortalecimento dessas lideranças. No bloco de notícias, David percorre seis frentes do avanço da ultradireita global, da disputa entre Jordan Bardella e Marine Le Pen pela candidatura do Rassemblement National na França à defesa do gás russo feita por Alice Weidel, da AfD alemã, passando pela viagem transnacional da senadora australiana Pauline Hanson ao Reino Unido, pelo mainstreaming dos Democratas Suecos, pelo fracasso de um projeto de perda de nacionalidade em Portugal e pela relação entre futebol e o passado ustacha na Croácia. E ainda tem, no último bloco, dica cultural com a minissérie O Complô Contra a América, de David Simon. Aperte o play! Quer apoiar o Chutando a Escada? Acesse chutandoaescada.com.br/apoio Mande um café usando nossa chave PIX: perguntas@chutandoaescada.com.br Comentários, críticas, sugestões? Escreva pra gente em perguntas@chutandoaescada.com.br Participaram deste episódio: David Magalhães (UFU/OED), Guilherme Casarões (FIU/OED) e Carolina Silva Pedroso (Unifesp/INCT-INEU). Inserção musical no final: “The Day They Died”, de Sarah Hester Ross. Capa do episódio: Keiko Fujimori em comício de campanha, Peru, 2026. Foto: Renato Pajuelo/EFE. Escute também no Spotify, no YouTube ou Apple Podcasts. Citados no episódio ROTH, Philip. The Plot Against America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. SIMON, David (criador). The Plot Against America [O Complô Contra a América]. HBO, 2020. Minissérie. LEWIS, Sinclair. It Can’t Happen Here [Isso Não Pode Acontecer Aqui]. Nova York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1935. Capítulos: 00:00 — Introdução 04:00 — A direita radical na Venezuela e a diáspora de Miami 14:00 — O “espantalho perfeito”: mitos, narcoestado e urnas eletrônicas 26:00 — O quintal dos Estados Unidos e a política de Trump para a América Latina 36:00 — Peru: a quarta tentativa de Keiko Fujimori 45:00 — Colômbia: o Uribismo 2.0 de Abelardo de la Espriella 54:00 — Boletim OED: França, Alemanha, Reino Unido, Suécia, Portugal e Croácia 1:11:00 — Dica cultural: O Complot Contra a América The post A nova onda da direita radical na América Latina appeared first on Chutando a Escada.

Private Equity Funcast
From Sales Rep to $4B GTM Leader: The Playbook for Building Sales Teams (w/ Sam Levy of NetSuite)

Private Equity Funcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2026 68:58


Sam Levy's first sales job involved a phone book, a rotary phone, and 200 cold calls for one yes. He was still in college when he started a telemarketing gig with no playbook, no CRM, no email. Eighteen months in, the company went public, and the telemarketing kid was sipping champagne in the boardroom. This episode reveals everything that happened between that room and the one he sits in now: head of go-to-market strategy and execution at Oracle NetSuite, running a business that's grown from $250 million to $4 billion. Sam walks Devin through how to build a career in software sales, rung by rung: how to pick your first sales job and your first boss; why hustle gets you started but cadence gets you promoted; why the top rep usually makes a rough first-time manager. He tells us when to leave a job, when to let a rep go, and what to do with the lone wolf who crushes quota but poisons the room. Plus, a prediction: 90% of the next generation of software CEOs will come out of sales and marketing, not engineering. Whether you're an operating partner, an SDR in your first seat or a CRO wondering what's next, this is the insider's guide to success. Discover more at NetSuite.ai

Perpetual Traffic
3 Ways AI Is Quietly Replacing Traditional CRO

Perpetual Traffic

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2026 35:07


Stop losing revenue after the click! Get your free conversion audit at https://www.tiereleven.com/cro/service Are you optimizing your ads but ignoring what happens after the click? Most brands obsess over traffic acquisition while leaving massive revenue opportunities hidden inside their websites, forms, and customer journeys.In this third episode of our CRO series with Ned MacPherson, head of CRO at Tier 11, we get into why CRO is really revenue optimization and why copying a competitor's "pretty" site is a dangerous shortcut. Ned introduces the AI feature we built that scours the web every couple of hours to show high-end shoppers exactly how the price compares to the market, without them having to leave the page.We also get into something wilder: an AI agent that runs live pricing experiments across thousands of SKUs on its own. We talk about generative engine optimization (GEO) and how to structure your site so LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT actually recommend your website. In this episode:- Why conversion rate optimization is really revenue optimization- How data-driven CRO beats design-based assumptions- Optimizing landing pages, PDPs, forms, and post-click experiences- How lead generation forms create massive conversion leaks- The role of AI agents in the future of CRO strategy- Why generative engine optimization (GEO) matters for future visibility- Improving e-commerce performance with AI-powered pricing experimentsMentioned in the Episode: Previous Episodes With Ned MacPherson: https://perpetualtraffic.com/podcast/episode-796-stop-redesigning-start-diagnosing-the-cro-method-that-actually-works/https://perpetualtraffic.com/podcast/episode-797-what-a-live-cro-audit-reveals-that-your-design-agency-never-shows-you/ Listen to This Episode on Your Favorite Podcast Channel:Follow and listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-traffic/id1022441491 Follow and listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/59lhtIWHw1XXsRmT5HBAuK Subscribe and watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@perpetual_traffic?sub_confirmation=1We Appreciate Your Support!Visit our website: https://perpetualtraffic.com/ Connect with Ralph Burns: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphburns Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ralphhburns/ Hire Tier11 - https://www.tiereleven.com/apply-now Mentioned in this episode:https://perpetualtraffic.com/advertise-with-us/

Topline
SPOTLIGHT: The AI category GTM teams are about to converge on | Adam Liska, CEO & Co-Founder @ airspeed

Topline

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2026 24:52


A rep says "follow up on that" on a call, then buries it under five more calls and a late-night inbox. Three days later the deal's gone cold, but the CRM still says it's live. The manager forecasts off that.  The CRO forecasts off the manager. The board asks the CEO if anyone actually has a grip on the number. The whole thing was built on a promise nobody kept.  Adam Liska worked on the early Gemini models at Google DeepMind before leaving to close that gap. His company, airspeed, just raised a $20M Series A on a bet that "revenue execution" is the next real category, not another tool that logs calls and calls it intelligence.  Sam Jacobs traces the full arc with him: DeepMind to founder-led sales to the unglamorous work of turning a founder's instincts into a system a team can actually run.  What we get into:  Why "follow up on that" breaks the forecast chain from rep to CRO to board What "revenue execution" means, and why it isn't revenue intelligence with a new label  Whether you own the interface or hand it to a chat model and live as middleware  The Nashville lunch that became airspeed's first six-figure deal  The real sequence from founder-led to scalable: capture the data first, then build the playbooks  Owning your data instead of renting Salesforce's architecture  The modern Turing test, AI-native orgs, and where the back office is headed Chapters:   00:00 Intro 00:44 From DeepMind to airspeed, and the $20M Series A  01:30 "Follow up on that" — the execution gap that breaks forecasts  04:00 What category is this? Revenue execution, defined  05:40 Headless vs. owning the interface  08:00 The origin story: leaving DeepMind in 2022  11:39 Founder-led sales and the Nashville lunch that closed a six-figure deal  13:18 The hard part: turning founder-led into a repeatable system  14:14 Why they recorded everything from day one  16:35 Owning your data, and where the source of truth lives  19:03 The playbook: data first, then hierarchical playbooks  20:52 Influences: the modern Turing test and AI-native orgs  23:37 Where to find airspeed  Try airspeed: goairspeed.com

SheerLuxe Podcast
Lando Norris & Alix Earle Caught In The Act?! Zendaya's Best Looks & Can You Really Find Love On TV? | The LuxeGen Group Chat

SheerLuxe Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2026 34:13


This week on the LuxeGen Group Chat, we're catching up on everything that's taken over our feeds. From Jay-Z's surprise tour announcement (and the possibility of Rihanna joining him) to Alix Earle and Lando Norris, Zendaya's incredible ‘The Odyssey' press tour looks and the reality TV show we genuinely can't wait to watch, there's a lot to unpack.We also dive into a bigger conversation around Gen Z and aesthetic consumerism – are we buying into products because we genuinely want them or because we're chasing a lifestyle? From Stanley cups and Labubus to luxury gym sets and social media marketing, we discuss why aesthetics have become such a huge part of our spending habits.Plus, we're sharing everything we're loving right now, including our latest fashion finds, jewellery discoveries, beauty favourites and TV recommendations. Think jelly ‘Firkin' bags, Kiko lip glosses, Gisou haircare, the return of ‘The O.C.' and the independent brands currently on our radar. If you're looking for trend predictions, shopping inspiration and a good catch-up with friends, this one's for you.Loved this episode? Show your support by voting for the SheerLuxe Podcast in the British Podcast Awards Listeners' Choice Award. Voting closes 23rd July: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/votingGet SheerLuxe Straight To Your Inbox, Daily | http://sheerluxe.com/signup PANELSaroop Sangha | @saroop.k.s | https://www.instagram.com/saroop.k.s/ H&M Fringed Dress | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72912260 Aligne Barrel Leg Jeans | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72912595 Smoothie London Earrings | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72914517 Vixii Polki Necklace | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72912699 Harriet Brooks-Francis | @harrietbf | https://www.instagram.com/harrietbf/ ASOS DESIGN Zebra Shorts | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72914669 Zara Flat Leather Sandals (Similar) | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72914829 Croía Azur Earrings | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72915007 Angelina | @angelina.esi.m | https://www.instagram.com/angelina.esi.m/ Pull&Bear Yellow Striped Shirt | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72915231 Adidas Originals Firebird Shorts In Navy Pinstripe | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72915485 Adidas SL72 Trainers | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72915622 THINGS WE'RE LOVINGVixii Polki Necklace | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72912699 Many Many Clothes The Bluebell Dress | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72915855Kiko 3D Hydra Lip Gloss | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72915979 MAC Lip Liner (Chestnut) | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72916329 Bedouin's Daughter Sweet Talk High-Shine Lip Balm | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72916443 Gisou Honey Milk Leave-in Conditioner Spray | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72916515 Huda Beauty Lip Blush Lip Stain | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72916772 Azure Archive Jelly Firkin Bag | https://go.shopmy.us/p-72916836

AWS for Software Companies Podcast
Ep215: Insight to Action: AI Agents Transforming Sales Operations

AWS for Software Companies Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2026 30:00


Domo and AWS reveal how AI agents freed sales reps from 20 hours of weekly busywork, turning scattered data into real-time coaching and forecasting.Topics Include:Domo and AWS teams introduce today's session on AI agents in sales.Topic: using AI agents to transform sales operations, from insight to action.IT teams increasingly asked to turn data into actionable outcomes, not just access.Domo's CRO wanted AI agents to boost sales rep efficiency significantly.Reps act like "archaeologists," digging through scattered systems for basic context.This digging eats roughly 20 hours weekly, half of reps' time.Goal: personal AI agent per rep, understanding their book of business.Live demo begins: agent app surfaces urgent items needing attention.Agent tracks deal milestones, timelines, and forecasts from call and email data."Deal coach" feature grades rep performance and suggests next actions.Agent tone can be tuned from gentle to direct, aiding tough feedback.Architecture overview begins: building an AI-ready data foundation first.Data from CRM, calls, and emails flows into a cloud warehouse.Two agents built: automated deal analysis and personalized deal coach.Agents write insights back to CRM, preserving human edit control.Recipe: build foundation, activate with agents, distribute to people.Governance must be embedded throughout, not bolted on afterward.Second example: Fogo do Chão uses AI to analyze restaurant reviews.AWS architecture explained: Domo runs on Bedrock, defaulting to Anthropic models.Q&A: sales team adoption was immediate and enthusiastic post-rollout.Participants:Jason Longhurst – Head of Product Marketing, DomoAman Tiwari - Sr Solutions Architect, ISV, Amazon Web Services See how Amazon Web Services gives you the freedom to migrate, innovate, and scale your software company at https://aws.amazon.com/isv/

Blissful Prospecting
Scaling Rippling's 400+ BDR org with Ashley Kelly

Blissful Prospecting

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2026 66:21


In this episode, Jason and Ashley Kelly from Rippling, talk about how Rippling scaled from 40 to 400 BDRs in under four years, the "go and see" value that runs from Parker on down, and the SDR-to-CRO program that keeps reps around. Check out more free content and get help with outbound at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://outboundsquad.com.⁠

Dental A Team w/ Kiera Dent and Dr. Mark Costes
#1,176: The Perfect Method to CEO Madness

Dental A Team w/ Kiera Dent and Dr. Mark Costes

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2026 20:06


For the CEOs out there, how are you planning out your weeks to keep your business humming for the short and long terms? Kiera talks about what it means to plan and delegate as the leader of your company, as well as three tips that CEOs of multi-million-dollar practices live by when it comes to success. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and I hope you are having an awesome day today. I hope that you're loving your life. I hope that you remember that we just are so lucky to live this life, that we are so lucky to work in dentistry, that we get to have our life calling. I am just so excited to podcast with you. I am coming in off the road. You guys know that when I've been on the road, it's a great time. I love seeing offices in person. I love working with teams. I love seeing how very simple.   pieces can actually help out a practice. And it was really, really fun. So I'm just excited. I'm I'm lit up and I hope you are too. So today I wanted to go through just a fun ⁓ I realize a lot of people listening and a lot of our clients and even myself included, a lot of what we're trying to accomplish as business owners is how do we become the CEO of our business and how do we block that CEO time and how do we actually work on the business? Like everybody says like you got to work on the business and not in the business. And I just get annoyed with that. I'm like, okay, but great. Like   Tell me what that actually means. Tell me what I'm supposed to do. And so today I wanted to break it into very much a what exactly does that mean? How do I actually do it myself as a CEO? Giving you guys some tips of what do you do on Sundays or when you block your time? How do you set up your week for success? So I think a lot of time it's ⁓ there was I think it's like if you fail to plan, you set yourself up for failure, something like that. Like there's a quote, I'm sure I could have done a better job on that.   But it's so many times people come in and they feel like they're just very reactive instead of proactive. And early in my career, there was a great client of mine who was like, Kiera, do you know how I prep for coaching calls? And I was like, How? He's like, I go to a coffee shop, I spend 30 minutes preparing for a call, I sit there, I ponder, I make sure that I'm very intentional. He's Do you know how sometimes you feel like you come into calls? Mind you guys, this is like Kiera, like two weeks into owning her own business. And I was like, He's like, You feel like you just rush to the call and ⁓   At that time he wasn't wrong. And it was a really great thing for me to recognize and I think about that often of what are we doing with our weeks as CEOs? Are we running into them haphazardly, not even prepared? Or are we like the client was where we take the time to plan, to prepare, to see what we can actually delegate to our team, to other team members on it, or are we just in reactive mode? I think it's more the how proactive are we versus how roactive are we. So I want to just walk you guys through specifically what I personally do, things that have worked well for my success, things that have worked well for clients that we work with.   To hopefully give you just some good tips of how you can set yourself up as a CEO and maybe start doing things a little bit differently. Like they say, success leaves clues. So let's give everybody clues and tools and different things that we all can do together. So that's what I wanted to do. ⁓ and also just realizing like you genuinely don't find time to work on your business. You don't find time to be a great leader. You don't find time for this. You have to create and make that time. So ⁓ one thing that I noticed is like,   we're going to work on how to stop reacting and be a bit more proactive. So I think when I look at it, you're trying to be a doctor, a manager, HR, scheduler, problem solver, like just answering all the problems and you're trying to do it in real time rather than sitting there focusing. And I will say when I look down the line, I can tell when I've been proactive and I can also tell when I've been very reactive. So I just wanted to kind of give you like three tips how specifically I do it, what I do, and what I've seen other offices do and other doctors do that are very successful. And like I said,   The my elite practices who are the multi-millions, who have multi-offices, who have their lives where it feels like they just have it together, these are things that they all do too. Now, how you do it, when you do it, that's gonna be up to you. But all of us do a lot of the same things. So ⁓ number one for me, I block my time on Sundays. So you can do it whenever. I do not like having the Sunday scaries. I don't like walking into my week. I also don't like to plan on Fridays. So whatever it is, I'm usually downright tired on Friday. And so   that's not usually my best day. So for me, it's on Sunday. So it takes me about I usually plan 30 minutes to an hour, is how long it takes. ⁓ and I still have a physical planner. So, however, it's gonna work well for you. But I like to see physical space. I'm a very visual person, and so I like to see my physical space. So I actually walk through and I go through my entire week. I map out exactly what is there, what's on the calendar, and I I go out four weeks. So I'm looking ahead to see.   What things are on the books, what meetings do I have? You could be looking at your production. So you could be looking to see what do you have coming up? What projects are coming up? What pieces are coming up. ⁓ like right now, mid-year, I'm looking at my taxes. So I'm looking in the different buckets of from as a CEO in the business, like what's my profitability, what's my culture, where are we headed? It's about to be mid-year. So I'm looking to see what what pieces do I need to get done there. I'm also looking for me, I've got podcasting, I've got meetings, I've got   Bookkeepers. I've got different people that I'm meeting with. And so where is that at? And I always am looking four weeks out. Now, office managers should also be doing this as well. So this is for doctors and OMs. What do I have coming? Like what's coming up on the schedule? What are the team challenges? I'm looking to see what team things need to get done. What projects are we doing? What initiatives are we rolling for this week, for the next week, and the following? What I found is when I'm on a four week run, I'm able to catch things, I'm able to ha better utilize my time.   I'm able to see like, gosh, we've got vacations coming up. Do we need to do more production right now? So I really, I personally, Kiera Dent loves looking four weeks out. So looking to see where it is. ⁓ and then I look at this week. So by looking four weeks out, I'm able to say like, where am I maybe put in meetings that I don't need to be a part of? ⁓ where am I missing? What team members are going to be out? What things do I need to proactively plan for? So I'm really looking and like overseeing a lot of those scheduling pieces. Now managers should be doing this as well, looking to see.   Do we have our schedules covered? Do we have different pieces? For me, I'm looking to see who can I delegate, who on my leadership teams in and out, consultants being on the road for you when our associates out. And I think when we proactively can look at this, we can look at our production. We can look at where am I working on the business? What big projects and initiatives do I want to get done? So for me, I just noticed that where it's at. I really do think doctors who are looking at their production a week out, two weeks out, three weeks out, four weeks out, you're going to be a lot more proactive and   I know a lot of dentists get into the rut of just kind of being robotic. Like we go and we do our exams. When you're constantly looking at your week, what is my production? What's my dollar per hour? How am I looking? What were my cases? Reviewing my cases last week, which closed, which didn't close, looking at my PL, looking at my numbers, looking at my meeting with my office manager, what things are on my plate that I could delegate to my office manager. I'm always looking. I also have a list of things that I write down. you can have it as a a digital version or you can have it as a paper version. I technically do both.   ⁓ but really looking to see what is my game plan. So that way when I walk in on Monday, it's very much prepared. I also am planning my leadership meetings. What things does my leadership team need to have in place? What do my consultants need to have in place? ⁓ what do I need to be relaying to our COO and our CFO and what things do I need to have them working on as the CEO? Like at the end of the day, the CEO, we are orchestrating. Yes, we do have a lot of people that work for us and with us. ⁓ but I'm orchestrating of   Who do I need? What meetings do I need to have? Where do I need to make sure that I'm running these pieces? So maybe you're looking at what do I need to get my lead hygienist to be working on? What things if my dental assistants could take over would help me out? How are our supplies? What are our budgets? This isn't saying you're managing the practice. And I hope that you're hearing of you're looking at to me, I feel like I'm kind of doing an inventory. It's almost like I'm going to go grocery shopping. Like what's the inventory of my business? Where are things and what do I need to have the different departments do? Because if I can proactively just   get people working on one or two projects throughout the week that don't rely on me, we're able to make a lot of movement and momentum. And I've actually found my friend and I, really, really successful CEO. We were talking about that. And he said, Kiera, could your business sustain without you being there for a month? And I thought about it and I was like, actually yes. Like I'm very proud of our team. I'm very proud of what we built. They could last a month without me being here. I've tried it, I've tested it, I know for a fact they can, I know they could go for longer than a month. But he said, but will they grow without you there?   And I've thought about that a lot. And so for me, when I'm taking my CEO time and I'm blocking my week, it's I believe we're almost like the wind in the sails. Our team is the boat. Our team is the sails. You as a CEO need to be the wind. So how are we going to grow? How can we work through our team and not have everything sitting on our shoulders? I'm very, very cognitive of what meetings am I in, what what projects are being assigned to me, what projects are assigned out there, what things have I not followed up on.   Who do I need to follow up on to make sure things are moving? And I will say it just it takes that load ⁓ off of my brain and allows me to really be present and to step into Monday in that week very confident, but also not just the week. We're looking at the month. And so we're always in this proactive piece. So really looking at the financials, looking at the business acumen, looking at what my OM should be doing, and then who can I delegate to? So the next piece to this is once I have it all mapped, once I've looked at it, once I've removed it.   Then I'm gonna be delegating. So I literally have a list of here's all the items Kiera has on her. Are these things really for me? Or who's better at that, who's more equipped, and who actually has the time to do it? So I will delegate out projects or tasks. Or if I know I have a big project coming up, so maybe we're working on operations manual, or maybe you're working on an Invisalign promo, or maybe you're working on ⁓ getting your hygiene period protocol written.   Are there people that can help you with this project that are just as good, if not better than you, that you could delegate out tasks to them? So I'm I'm really thinking in it's not even project management. It's more like, okay, I need to get these projects done. Who has time? Who's available to do this? And also whose responsibility is this? If Kiera's not the only one who can do it as a CEO, it doesn't sit on my plate. I'm going to pass it to somebody else. If it truly is only something me as a CEO can do, and that's not out of pride, ego, or things that I like.   I need to delegate it and make sure it's followed up with. So I look at my personal assistant, I look at my EA, what things can they take on? I look at our marketing team, our sales team, our rev team, our CRO, our CFO, our COO. Which ones of those can take these projects on? Who do I need to follow up with? So like truly, you delegate out to the team around you and you make sure that you're utilizing each of them. And so ⁓ I really think it's just a valuable thing. I think it sets you up for success. I know it sets you up for success.   And it's also working through your team. ⁓ we've been talking about this a lot in our leadership meetings and on our leadership team of how do you work, like how do you get everything done? And I think there's different types of leaders. There's those who want to just do it all themselves, and then there's those who work through their team. And working through your team is delegation, it's elevation, it's not abdication. It is really working through your team, meaning all of us are working together, all of us are getting the projects done. One person's not carrying the weight, and the rest of us are just sitting there.   on the boat alongside them, but we are working through the team. And this is how you prevent burnout. This is how we prevent having things stack up. This is how you're able to again be that like wind that pushes through the sales. So how do I work through my team? Because there's always a lot more that needs to be done that can't get done. How do I look at my systems? How do I review different pieces? I got to scratch those itches like maybe our finances aren't as tight. Maybe our billing's not as tight. Like let me look through this. It doesn't mean I need to do a deep dive. I can delegate and say, hey Sarah, I'm curious about our EOBs.   Can you take a look through the last three months and give me an assessment of where we're at? Like should take you about an hour. Do you have time to do that this week? I'd love that. And I'd love a report back by Friday. Absolutely got you. I make a note of the things I should follow up on as well because I don't like to delegate. I don't like to ask and then not follow up. And that's something that I will say I'm not naturally gifted at and something I have work really hard at. But really, it's a how do I plan my week? How do I work through my team? And then the next piece is when I do delegate, delegate outcomes not.   tasks. I think that this is such a a beautiful, different frame of mind to think of. ⁓ so with a team instead of calling overdue patients, it would be like you own the schedule, ⁓ I need you to call as many unscheduled or recare patients to get it full and to report your progress weekly. That's a different thing. So now it's a it's an outcome of owning the schedule rather than calling undue pay like overdue patients. Instead of working on our AR, it's we need to have our collections at 98%. We need, ⁓   are over 90 to be less than 15%, ⁓ or like go down the line of one month's worth of of production or and collections. So this way they're able to work on these items, report back to you, and to really have ownership over an outcome rather than a task. ⁓ this year's theme in our company is outcomes over activity. I'm really big on people owning an outcome, driving metrics, ⁓ and being owners over that and to really shine in their own direction. And so for you to   To give that ownership, ownership creates accountability. Delegation really will work when responsibly has a name attached to it. So what are we delegating? ⁓ and look to see what is that task? Does it align, making sure you have a really clear accountability chart too or organizational chart? Who does what in your organization? For me, I pull that out every single week and I'm like, okay, I've got these tasks. Who's the right person in the right seat to do this task and requirement? And who can I give ownership to this? So as we're looking at it, I think it's a   Can I block my week, my month, the next couple of weeks and look at it? Am I looking at my production? Am I looking at my overhead? Am I looking at my profitability? Am I game planning for that? Then am I taking that game plan to leadership? What are the issues that are outstanding? What things still are sitting on my mind that are taking up a mental load? Can I add that to my leadership team's agenda so that way it's off my mental load and it's there and then it's delegated, it's followed up on, it has accountability for it. Truly, like where are the parking lots for your brain? So it doesn't sit there and churn. Like,   I love our leadership meeting where we're able to put these items on there. What about in our hygiene department and our dental assistant department with my OM? Do I have agendas for those? So as I'm going through my week, these items that need to get done and resolved, is there a parking lot so I can relay this information? Do you have the meetings in place for me? I really love like every week. And people are like, you have so many meetings. And ⁓ I'm a proponent of less meetings, but meetings that are very effective. And I do run off the model of traction. So it's an every single week, it's a 90 minute.   leadership meeting and then we do have department meetings and I used to feel like it was so much. ⁓ but when meetings are run and they're run very effectively, which I believe the L10 model is one of the most effective meetings that are always productive as long as you're actually running them, calling out metrics and focusing on the most important things. We parking lot these issues that come up. That way there feels like it's a space for it. For me as a CEO, a lot more could move forward because I'm not having it sit on my brain, sit on my plate. There's a space where things can get delegated and discussed through.   and then having those direct reports, report back and having the follow-through follow-up. I found so many dentists get stuck because I feel like we have this churn in our brain, but there's nowhere to put it. There's no follow back loop from our office manager or management team back to us to say where are things at. So having those set cadence of meetings where I can delegate out, we can report up, we can work through our team, really allows the entire organization to move quicker and faster. There are some departments that might not need a weekly meeting. I found that hygiene.   Once your hygiene department's running and they're hitting their metrics and they're doing a great job, they're usually like once a month. And what they really prefer in hygiene is they're going to want to have trainings in CE and looking at our metrics and seeing how do we work as a department. But really, hygiene oftentimes is a self-sufficient department. Doctors, once month calibration is usually sufficient unless I've got an issue where I'm onboarding a new doctor. ⁓ dental assistant department, depending upon how they are, a lot of times they do need weekly training. ⁓ full team training oftentimes can be once once a month, and that's very effective and efficient.   Doctor and OM meetings every single week, non-negotiable. Leadership meetings every single week, non-negotiable. Those are things that I'm absolutely meeting with. ⁓ those things then can move forward. Billing meeting every single month. So that way you've got places, you've got agendas, you've got set times are set. And then we need to have some type of project management software where you as a CEO know all the projects moving forward have deadlines. They've got people assigned to them so it can loop back to you.   So hopefully that's just helpful for you ⁓ to stop like putting out constant fires, to stop having it churn in the back of your brain to have some structure, to be able to get that leadership structure in place. Because I found that ⁓ if you're trying to be the superhero and do it all, that's where burnout happens. that's where a lot of teams feel less empowered. That's also where you're actually enabling your team to not be there. Like you solving all their problems feels like you're helping them out, but it's actually creating dependency and it's creating burnout on you.   So what should happen is when teams ask questions and they immediately get answers, we gotta have it to where they can solve their own problems. If you as the owner are jumping in to solve patient issues or problems within the practice all the time, you have an empowered and lifted a leadership team. If the office manager is coming to you solving every single problem, like they've got to really be empowered to do this. And so really also teaching our teams to come up with their recommendations. What are three solutions to this problem? what options have you considered? What do you think we should do?   But really start helping your team and expecting them and rolling that culture out so that way as problems evolve and resolve, it's not just sitting on you. So hopefully that was helpful of prepping it on Sunday, how far out I look, what things I'm looking for, what we teach our doctors to do, what we help our leadership teams with our offices do, to really be able to scale, to have stability, to have like consistency. I think that that's one of the greatest things we're looking for is we want this structure, we want scalability, and we want it to be able to have great stewardship over our practices. So   If this is something you're struggling with, if you're like, my gosh, like this is my life, I feel like it's on that constant hamster will loop in the background where I never can let go. I feel like I don't know how to prep. Try it. Try prepping Sunday. Try prepping your week out. Reach out. ⁓ I think a lot of you are great clinicians and you do an amazing job. You have a very creative mind, maybe not a management mind. And so ⁓ I think sometimes that management skill needs to be taught, it needs to be trained, and it needs to be given to you in organization and structure. So reach out. I'd love to help you.   We help create those leadership systems and help build in accountability and help you delegate with confidence and how to help your team elevate to that level because they might not know either. So if you're looking for answers, great news, today's the day. Reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. But I really just encourage and implore each of you to try and whatever it is, if it's a fr Friday for you, if it's a Sunday for you, look down the line, look at your emails, look at your tasks, look to see how you can work through that team.   Look one week out, two weeks out, four weeks out. Look at your production, look at where we're at, look at our billing, look at our collections. Really start to get into the mode of being a CEO. And right now you might be like, I don't even know what to do. Fantastic. Block the time. And I promise you, the more you do it and the consistent you are at it, the more it will start to become a habit, the more you're starting to see things because it's a consistent piece. Get those meetings, get those agendas lined up so you've got a parking lot for those ideas. Really start to build that structure. And I promise you, things will be so much easier for you. As always.   We are here. This is what we do. We're experts at it. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team  

Go To Market Grit
The Sales Framework Every Founder Needs | Mark Roberge

Go To Market Grit

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2026 82:39


"There's 20 fires going on at every moment in the office and you have enough water to put out four."Mark Roberge shares what it takes to build and scale a company, from finding product-market fit to knowing when it's time to grow.He also shares the framework behind his new book, The Science of Selling, and why founders should scale based on their own data, not another company's success.Guest: Mark Roberge, Founding CRO of HubSpot, HBS Professor, and Co-Founder at Stage 2 CapitalConnect with Mark: XLinkedInConnect with Joubin:XLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comFollow Grit on: LinkedInX​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins