Podcasts about GTM

You launched the experiments. You spent the budget. And now leadership wants answers. And suddenly every QBR feels like a fire drill.This is Stage 2 of the revenue leader's transformation—the moment when activity is high, effort is real, but impact is frustratingly hard to prove. You're working harder than ever, yet you can't confidently tie what your team is doing to pipeline, revenue, or real ROI.This episode is part two of a five-part series exploring the journey B2B revenue leaders go through as they move from reactive execution to full revenue visibility and executive-level confidence. Each stage represents a breaking point, where leaders either confront the real problem or stay stuck explaining away the same issues quarter after quarter.In this episode, we unpack Stage 2: The QBR Fire Drill—the phase where credibility, confidence, and career momentum are quietly put at risk.You're likely in Stage 2 if you've ever said, “Board decks take days to build and still don't tell a clean story.”What We Cover in This Episode:Why QBRs become fire drills and what that reveals about your data foundationThe hidden cost of stitching together spreadsheets, slide decks, and conflicting reportsHow legacy GTM data models quietly destroy credibility at the executive levelThe most common data architecture flaw preventing revenue visibility (and why it's so easy to miss)The moment leaders realize they can't survive another quarter operating this wayWhat it takes to shift from lagging, backward-looking metrics to forward-looking visibilityThis stage forces a hard reckoning.Not just with your systems, but with your willingness to challenge the status quo, speak uncomfortable truths, and admit that the current way of measuring GTM is no longer good enough.

What happens when AI becomes your most influential referrer?As consumers turn to ChatGPT for answers, James Cadwallader and his team at Profound help brands like Eight Sleep and MongoDB gain visibility and leverage inside AI models.On this episode of Grit, he explains why brand narrative has shifted away from content, and why Profound is scaling globally ahead of traditional SaaS timelines.Guest: James Cadwallader, co-founder and CEO of Profound and Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner PerkinsConnect with James CadwalladerX: https://x.com/thejamescad?lang=enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsca/​Connect with Ilya FushmanX: https://x.com/ilyafLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyafushman/Connect with JoubinX: https://x.com/JoubinmirLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/Email: grit@kleinerperkins.comFollow on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/kpgritFollow on X:https://x.com/KPGrit​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/

In this episode of the Thread Podcast, Justin Vandehey interviews Benjamin Roach, Director of Revenue Operations at Optio Incentives, to explore what it takes to build RevOps in the equity compensation and incentives space. Ben shares his “traditional” path from sales into RevOps, why he deliberately took a step back into a junior ops role, and how getting technical became a career unlock.They dig into the complexities of selling and operating in equity management—where revenue can include ARR, transactional fees, and services, and where buyers span CFOs, CHROs, legal, and finance. Ben also shares his point of view on AI: where it can help participants and admins get fast answers, and why data quality and human oversight still matter. The episode closes with career advice for aspiring RevOps leaders and how to learn the craft.Key topics coveredWhy Ben moved from sales → RevOps (and why he “took a step back” to level up)Equity compensation complexity: strike price, taxes, vesting, global complianceHow Optio's GTM motion sells “trusted partner + tech,” not just softwareMeasuring growth in equity management beyond traditional ARRAI in equity management: where it's useful today and where it's riskyCareer advice: become technical, stay curious, build a broader toolbeltMemorable moments / quotable lines“Stock options… were unknown to me. You get handed them and think, maybe one day I'll make money.”“AI is only as good as your data models.”“Don't be scared to take a step backwards.”“RevOps wears so many hats—you need a lot of tools on your toolbelt.”Chapters (suggested)00:00 – Welcome + Ben's intro 01:00 – From sales to RevOps (and why he took a step back) 02:10 – Why the equity/incentives space pulled him in 03:30 – Aligning finance, HR, and revenue metrics 04:45 – Why revenue isn't just ARR in equity management 05:30 – Simplifying a complex story for CFOs/CHROs/legal 06:55 – Global compliance + product readiness constraints 09:00 – AI in equity: what it can and can't do (yet) 11:05 – Career advice for aspiring RevOps leaders 13:45 – Plug: Optio + how to connect with Ben

Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Travis Volk, Vice President of Global Technology Solutions and GTM, Carrier at Radware, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the security landscape for telecom providers as the industry heads into 2026. The discussion focused on the accelerating pace of attacks, the shrinking window to respond to vulnerabilities, and why traditional, human-paced security models are no longer sufficient. Volk explained that telecom networks are now facing machine-speed attacks, where newly disclosed vulnerabilities are often exploited within hours, not weeks or months. “Recent CVEs are being exploited at breakneck speeds,” he noted, emphasizing that nearly a third of disclosed vulnerabilities are weaponized within 24 hours. This reality is forcing providers to rethink patching, maintenance, and runtime protection strategies—especially as attackers increasingly chain small flaws into large-scale, sophisticated attacks. A key theme of the conversation was the convergence of offensive and defensive security. As applications become more API-driven and agentic, service providers must adopt continuous, automated testing and inline protection that can detect business-logic attacks in real time. Volk highlighted Radware's use of AI-driven analytics and visualization to map API flows, identify abnormal behavior, and enforce protections such as object-level authorization at scale—capabilities that are critical for encrypted, high-value workloads. Looking ahead, Volk described “good” security in 2026 as a living, observable system that prioritizes risk, automates both pre-runtime and runtime defenses, and enables data-driven decisions without adding operational complexity. Radware is already delivering these capabilities through flexible deployment models—virtual, physical, containerized, and cloud-based—allowing carriers to implement unified policy frameworks today. As Volk put it, AI is no longer optional: it is essential to keeping networks secure, resilient, and available in an era where attacks move faster than humans can respond. Learn more about Radware at https://www.radware.com/. Software Mind Telco Days 2025: On-demand online conference Engaging Customers, Harnessing Data

Send us a textGuest: David Karandish, Founder & CEO of Capacity  --  Most SaaS companies don't fail because the technology is bad. They fail because they build point solutions, chase the wrong markets, and struggle to turn AI into real, scalable value.In this episode, David Karandish, Founder & CEO of Capacity, joins host Ken Lempit to share how his team scaled past 20,000 customers and toward $100M+ in revenue by evolving from an AI point solution into a full SaaS platform for support and contact centers.David breaks down the pivots behind that growth, why mid-market SaaS often stalls, and how the compound startup model is reshaping modern SaaS — not by doing more, but by integrating smarter.Key takeaways from this episode:Why many AI SaaS products fail before reaching enterprise scaleThe difference between “salad” vs. “brownie” AI projectsHow platform consolidation creates GTM and pricing leverageWhy GTM motion must align with deal sizeHow integration becomes the true SaaS moatIf you're a B2B SaaS founder, CRO, or CMO navigating AI adoption, platform strategy, or the leap from mid-market to enterprise, this episode offers a grounded playbook for building durable SaaS growth—without the hype.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch.

Jason Eubanks on Building Oracel: Raising $30M in 28 Hours to Disrupt the $236B Go-To-Market Tooling Market with AI-Native Sales AutomationJason Eubanks, CEO and Co-founder of Oracel, discusses how the company raised $30 million in just 28 hours—oversubscribed at $40 million—by solving a critical problem in the go-to-market industry. With a $236 billion market opportunity and only a "desert of innovation" since the late 1990s, Aurasell is building an AI-native platform to intelligently automate sales workflows and consolidate the 12-15 fragmented tools that plague modern sales teams. Jason shares how his experience scaling revenue from $1M to $100M+ across five startups—including Twilio (IPO), Meraki (acquired by Cisco for $1.2B), and Harness—directly informed the founding vision of AurasellEpisode Timestamps- 00:00 - Introduction and Jason Eubanks joins the podcast- 00:26 - Why Oracel raised $30M in 28 hours despite initial $40M oversubscription- 01:24 - The "desert of innovation" in go-to-market tooling since the late 90s- 01:42 - History of CRM evolution from mainframe to cloud to niche products- 03:12 - Founding vision: One intelligent GTM sales platform to replace them all- 03:39 - How pain as a CRO across five startups led to Oracel's creation- 05:58 - The X-Ray productivity assessment revealing tool sprawl inefficiencies- 07:59 - Sellers spending 28% of time selling and 70% on manual tasks- 09:03 - First principles AI-native approach with whiteboards in the kitchen- 09:29 - Five key personas: SDR, seller, IC manager, executive, ops team- 12:18 - AI-native architecture: multimodal interface, lakehouse, and 10,000 agents- 14:39 - Unified data model importance for contextualized AI automation- 15:45 - Current hat wearing: product focus and 50% building go-to-market engine- 18:43 - Platform features and customer experience design philosophy- 19:05 - Three wow moments per persona as success metric- 20:39 - Onboarding experience: automatic territory building and customer choice- 21:40 - 10,000 agents discovering ICP, personas, and competitors automatically- 24:07 - Automated account research and value hypothesis creation- 25:34 - Outbound prospecting content generation with propensity scoring- 26:32 - Outbound sequencer integration and email platform plugins- 27:00 - AI voice dialer coming in three weeks with closed-loop automation- 28:47 - What's missing: deep marketing and customer success automation- 30:49 - Ideal customer profiles: startups and enterprises with tool sprawl- 31:30 - Solution for heavily customized legacy systems coming in December- 34:24 - Dynamic change detection layer solving technical debt- 36:23 - Jason's career arc from BMC Software through Harness- 37:09 - Why: helping go-to-market operators solve problems he experienced- 39:55 - Meraki's disruptive cloud-managed network architecture- 41:51 - Three constants: great product builders, important problems, massive markets- 43:22 - Intrinsic motivation as foundation for hiring and culture- 45:31 - Hiring from first job onward to assess character and values- 51:24 - Understanding why someone wanted to work at 14 years old- 53:21 - Importance of formative years for work ethic and intelligence- 55:46 - AI adoption culture: using own product and building agents internally- 56:36 - All employees use AI daily across PMs, engineers, and operations- 59:25 - Ask AI features: analytics dashboards, data enrichment, natural language-

What if your CEO asked you to double revenue without adding budget or headcount? Robert Chatwani, President and General Manager of Growth at DocuSign, believes not only is it possible - there's never been a better time to make it happen. In this conversation, Robert unpacks the frameworks and organisational changes required to achieve exponential growth with existing resources. From building agile growth squads that operate like engineering teams to leveraging AI agents for hyper-personalised prospecting, he reveals how DocuSign is transforming from an e-signature company into an AI-powered platform. If you're facing budget cuts but still expected to deliver results, this episode offers a roadmap. Guest Introduction Robert Chatwani is President and General Manager, Growth at DocuSign, where he leads the Marketing & Growth organisation to scale its digital strategy across marketing, product, technology and sales. Before joining DocuSign, Robert was CMO of Atlassian, where he helped scale the business to nearly $3 billion in revenue. He also spent more than a decade at eBay, ending his tenure as Chief Marketing Officer for North America where his teams supported $35 billion in trading volume. Robert is the 2023 American Heart Association Bay Area Heart Walk Chair and serves as a West Coast Board Member at the American India Foundation. Key Topics The 2x-10x challenge: Why companies expect exponential output increases without adding resources, and why Robert believes marketing teams can deliver.Thomas Barta's V-Zone framework: Maximising the overlap between customer needs and company needs to drive business impact and secure executive support.The harsh realities facing B2B teams: CAC is up 60% since the pandemic, traditional channels show diminishing returns, and most GTM models are obsolete - creating opportunities for teams willing to rethink their approach.Operating principles over company values: DocuSign's five core principles - "we before me," "dreaming big," "take action," "ignite the way," and "delivering customer delight" - that guide team behaviours and decisions.Growth squads and agile methodologies: Why effective GTM teams operate like engineering teams with two-week sprints, daily standups, and experiment backlogs instead of traditional campaign structures.Building a culture of experimentation: Robert's framework for systematic testing - generating ideas, prioritising experiments, executing with discipline, and scaling what works.AI-powered prospecting in action: How DocuSign used AI agents to turn tens of thousands of exhausted leads into millions in the pipeline, generating 60 replies and 15 meetings within 72 hours.Designing for the future you want: Why leaders must ask whether their current team structure and capabilities match what they would design from scratch to achieve ambitious growth goals. Resources & Links People Mentioned: Thomas Barta-Marketing leadership expert and author of "The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader"Jeff Bezos-Founder of Amazon, referenced for the "two pizza team" principle Companies & Platforms: DocuSign-Agreement management platformAtlassian-Collaboration softwareeBay-Online marketplaceAmazon-Benchmark for experimentation cultureNetflix-Benchmark for experimentation cultureAirbnb-Benchmark for experimentation cultureUber-Benchmark for experimentation culture Concepts & Frameworks: The V-Zone (Value Creation Zone)-Maximising overlap between customer and company needsThe 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader-Book by Thomas Barta and Patrick BarwiseTwo-Pizza Team-Amazon's principle for keeping teams small (5-8 people) Subscribe to the xG Weekly Newsletter for weekly insights on B2B growth across APAC: https://xgrowth.com.au/newsletter Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Robert Chatwani Produced by:  Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

In this episode of The Insiders, Richard Lane is joined by James Donaldson, Founder of Stakki to explore how AI is reshaping the sales tech landscape and what it means for sellers. James shares why tool overload has left sales teams distracted, why data quality is now the biggest barrier to predictable revenue, and how AI can help reps spend more time doing what they're actually hired for: speaking with customers. They also dive into the rise of CRM-embedded AI, the shift towards consolidated tech stacks, and how sales teams can balance human-first selling with smarter automation. If you're planning your GTM strategy for 2026, this episode is packed with clarity and practical direction. How AI entered the sales process and what's changed Why automation alone isn't solving pipeline problems The true bottleneck: unstructured, ageing CRM data Why it's “crazy to pay SDRs not to talk to people” The rise of revenue orchestration inside the CRM Predictions for 2026: consolidation, cleaner data, smarter coaching What leaders should prioritise before implementing new tools

Welcome to the CanadianSME Small Business Podcast, hosted by Maheen Bari, where we explore strategic insights and innovative solutions empowering businesses to grow with clarity and confidence. Today, we're stepping into the world of product marketing and cybersecurity, focusing on how human-centric storytelling helps businesses build trust in a threat-filled digital landscape.Our guest is Shruti Verma, Product Marketing Manager and GTM Lead at NULLZEC, the cybersecurity startup behind IsolateX, an AI-powered zero-trust browser designed to protect businesses from human-error cyberattacks. Shruti is also the host of Behind the Brief and a passionate storyteller committed to making complex tech simple and actionable.Key Highlights:Simplifying Cybersecurity: Shruti explains how shifting messaging from threats to trust reshaped Nullzec's product positioning. PMM in Startup Growth: She breaks down how product marketing drives a startup's GTM strategy even before a full marketing team exists. AI CISO in Your Browser: She discusses how IsolateX prevents human-error attacks while keeping workflows simple and seamless. Trust and Adoption: Shruti shares insights from leading the beta launch and engaging early adopters through story-driven communication. Future of PMM + AI: She outlines how AI is evolving the Product Marketing role and Nullzec's long-term vision for business security.Special Thanks to Our Partners:RBC: https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/dms/business/accounts/beyond-banking/index.htmlUPS: https://solutions.ups.com/ca-beunstoppable.html?WT.mc_id=BUSMEWAGoogle: https://www.google.ca/A1 Global College: https://a1globalcollege.ca/ADP Canada: https://www.adp.ca/en.aspxFor more expert insights, visit www.canadiansme.ca and subscribe to the CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Stay innovative, stay informed, and thrive in the digital age!Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as direct financial or business advice. Always consult with a qualified professional for advice specific to your situation.

Most sales reps are told the same thing every year:“Cold calling is dead.”But the truth is more uncomfortable — cold calling still works in 2026, if you understand timing, relevance, and buyer psychology.In this episode of Revenue Leaders, we break down the reality of modern cold outreach and why most reps fail before the conversation even starts.You'll learn:Why cold calling still works (and when it doesn't)What actually triggers buyers to take a meeting nowHow relevance and urgency beat volume every timeWhy generic email cadences are getting ignoredHow top reps use December to get a head start on next year's pipelineThe real difference between random outreach and strategic outreachThis isn't about scripts or hacks.It's about understanding why buyers say yes — and why they push you to “next year.”⭐ Unlock free resources (templates, frameworks & prompts):https://coachpilot.beehiiv.com/Join the community & access 157+ templates, frameworks and mega AI prompts used by top revenue teams.

Lou Shipley has led multiple startups to breakout growth ($100M+) and major acquisitions to companies like Citrix and Synopsys. He has taught some of the most in-demand sales and GTM courses at HBS and MIT. In this episode, we dig into the core traits behind Unlikely Entrepreneurs — the title of the new book he co-authored — and why unconventional founders so often win through curiosity, ambition, and determination. Lou breaks down “the problem with the problem,” why the sled only moves as fast as the lead dog, and the essential role founders play as keepers of culture. We explore the patterns he's seen across high-growth companies, the misunderstood craft of sales, and what Fortune 500 innovators can learn from Unlikely Entrepreneurs.

Rob Turano, Operating Partner at Bloom Equity Partners, breaks down the playbook he uses to transform lower middle-market software companies—from sharpening product focus to elevating talent and building repeatable go-to-market engines. He shares how Bloom integrates operating partners early in diligence, accelerates transformation in the first 12–18 months, and instills a performance culture rooted in data, speed, and ownership. Rob also gets personal, from his love of cooking to the practices he uses to think more clearly as a leader. It's a sharp, candid look at what real value creation in private equity demands today—hit play and take notes. Episode Highlights 1:31 – Growing up in New Jersey, Villanova roots, and the consulting-to-private-equity path 5:56 – Why food matters in Rob's life and how he became Bloom's unofficial in-house chef 9:22 – The three traits Bloom looks for: focus, management strength, and GTM maturity 14:38 – Selling value vs. selling features—and why every salesperson must think like a CFO 20:49 – How Bloom's deal, BD, and operating teams collaborate from diligence through execution 27:45 – The urgency of the first 6–12 months and the sequencing of transformation in PE 36:18 – Rob's top advice to PortCos today: talent first, disciplined KPIs, and repeatable GTM engines 40:25 – The book shift that made Rob more creative—and the life hack that helps him think clearly For more information on Bloom Equity Partners, go to https://www.bloomequitypartners.com/ For more information on Robert Turano, go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-turano

In this episode of The Metrics Brothers, hosts Ray “Growth” Rike and Dave “CAC” Kellogg provide a critical deep dive into the 2025 SaaS Benchmark Report published by High Alpha. Known for their analytical, and sometimes "crusty" approach, the metrics brothers dissect the data behind 800+ SaaS companies to separate real market trends from report commentary.Key Highlights & BenchmarksThe brothers break down the report's most significant findings with their signature skepticism regarding "correlation vs. causation."The AI Growth Premium: Companies with AI at their core are growing significantly faster than those using AI as a supporting feature. For instance, in the $1–5M ARR band, AI-core companies achieved a median growth of 110%, compared to 40% for their peersThe "Lean Team" Era: Efficiency is surging as headcount falls. Median revenue per employee has jumped to $129K–$173K, with top-tier public companies hitting over $283K. The hosts note that engineering and support have seen the largest headcount reductions due to AI automationVenture Rebound (with a Caveat): While quarterly VC deal value has returned to near 2021 levels (~$80B), the capital is highly concentrated. Over half of all VC funding is currently flowing into AI startups, often in massive "mega-rounds."In-Office vs. Remote: For the second consecutive year, the data suggests that in-office or hybrid teams are growing faster (42% median) than fully remote teams (31% median).As always, Ray and Dave offer practical advice for founders and GTM leaders:"Read the data, but watch out for the commentary." While the data is good, some commentary and conclusions in the report imply causation where there is at best some level of correlation, such as why companies stay private longer or how AI "drives" growth.Retention is King: The strongest growth outcomes are found where high Net Revenue Retention (NRR) meets short CAC payback periods.Outcome-Based Pricing: The brothers highlight the shift toward outcome-based and hybrid pricing models as a primary driver for best-in-class NRR in 2025.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the IoT For All Podcast, Barry Libert, Chairman and CEO of HiveMQ, joins Ryan Chacon to discuss moving past the pilot phase in industrial IoT and AI. The conversation covers viewing businesses as data streaming entities, the importance of understanding one's data collection processes, aligning different tiers of employees to achieve success, the shift from connectivity to AI data platforms, the role of agentic workflows, and the type of leadership required to navigate the evolving landscape of data and AI.Barry Libert is the Chairman and CEO of HiveMQ. He has spent 40+ years as a board member, CEO, and serial entrepreneur. He founded and exited several businesses, advised more than 350 CEOs, and served on more than 35 boards in his career. Most recently, Barry transformed Anaconda into a unicorn, adding $100M in new ARR in 18 months based on a proprietary open- source/open-core commercialization GTM playbook he co-designed and implemented.Barry is focused on AI platforms with network effects and data moats. He has co-authored 6 books, 20+ ebooks, and 500+ articles in the WSJ, NYT, HBR, MIT, and Forbes. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox, NPR, and delivered 500+ speeches to 250,000+ people globally. Barry began his career with McKinsey & Company, was a managing director of John Hancock's $2B Real Estate Equity arm, and was a partner at Arthur Andersen. Barry is a graduate of Tufts University (BA) and Columbia University (MBA).HiveMQ is the Industrial AI Platform helping enterprises move from connected devices to intelligent operations. Built on the MQTT standard and a distributed edge-to-cloud architecture, HiveMQ connects and governs industrial data in real time, enabling organizations to act with intelligence. With proven reliability, scalability, and interoperability, HiveMQ provides the foundation industrial companies need to operationalize AI, powering the next generation of intelligent industry. Global leaders including Audi, BMW, Eli Lilly, Liberty Global, Mercedes-Benz, and Siemens trust HiveMQ to run their most mission-critical operations.Discover more about IoT and AI at https://www.iotforall.comFind IoT solutions: https://marketplace.iotforall.comMore about HiveMQ: https://www.hivemq.comConnect with Barry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrylibert/Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2NlcEwmJoin Our Newsletter: https://newsletter.iotforall.comFollow Us on Social: https://linktr.ee/iot4all

In this episode of the Grow Your B2B SaaS podcast, host Joran welcomes back Jacco van der Kooij, founder of Winning by Design, to unpack how AI-native SaaS companies are changing the rules of growth, pricing, and go-to-market in 2026. The conversation covers why real-time user-level data is becoming the defining competitive advantage, the pitfalls and promise of usage-based pricing for AI products, the existential challenge of inference costs for freemium models, and the enduring importance of subscriptions with smart hybrid elements. It also dives into how AI will replace the majority of sales tasks, the 30 percent of human expertise that remains essential, and why advocacy and community-driven growth loops will shape pipeline generation. From early-stage foundations to scaling to $10 million ARR, Jacco breaks down what founders need to get right now to thrive in the years ahead.Key Timecodes(0:00) - B2B SaaS podcast intro, AI native SaaS, pricing, GTM strategy 2026(1:01) - Jacco van der Kooij intro, Winning by Design(1:14) - 2026 success factors: real-time data, PLG, cohort analytics(2:31) - AI native buyer journey, user-led growth, usage patterns(3:48) - SaaS pricing: usage-based vs subscription, outcome-based pricing(4:23) - AI inference costs, freemium risk, monetization challenges(5:05) - Freemium in AI tools, limits, value gating(5:23) - Consumption-based pricing vs subscription, hybrid pricing(6:12) - Hybrid pricing example, membership + per-resolution fees(7:03) - Efficient growth, GTM efficiency, LTV:CAC, retention, outcomes(8:36) - AI for customer insights, demand gen, lookalike users(9:36) - Ad: B2B SaaS affiliate referral platform, AI-powered recruitment(9:47) - AI and jobs: replace vs enable, workforce impact(11:19) - GTM with AI: 70% sales tasks automated, CRM, scheduling, summaries(12:56) - Trust, human expertise, advocacy, risk mitigation(13:59) - Rebuilding GTM 2026: automation, expert touchpoints, events(15:00) - Growth loop: usage patterns, word of mouth, advocacy pipeline(16:26) - Community-led growth: user conferences, LinkedIn sharing, Clay example(17:02) - SDR strategy: activate users, customer success advocacy(17:11) - Early-stage advice: real-time data system, analytics(17:25) - Data stack recommendation: Snowflake, realtime data lake(17:32) - Scaling to $10M ARR: team alignment, closed-loop GTM(18:04) - Shared system understanding: recurring revenue, training(19:01) - Growth Institute by Winning by Design: courses, community, case studies(19:39) - Where to find: winningbydesign.com, Growth Institute(19:45) - Closing thoughts, optimism, AI era(19:54) - Outro: like, subscribe, sponsor, guest/topic requests(20:17) - Reditus mention, B2B SaaS affiliate program

This week on the EUVC Podcast, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Matthew Wilson, co-founder of Jack & Jill, and Peter Specht, General Partner at Creandum. Fresh off a $20M seed to take their AI recruiting agents global, they dig into how conviction is built in Europe, from founding insight to investor belief, and what it now takes to scale an agent-native company with speed, precision, and craft.Jack helps candidates find and optimize their careers. Jill helps companies hire brilliantly. Together, the two agents form a high-signal, two-sided network that aims to become the world's most networked AI-powered recruitment agency — without the classical incentive conflicts of human middlemen.Here's what's covered:02:35 | Why Creandum leaned in, conviction on voice-based interfaces and why recruiting is a massive, broken vertical for agent AI03:38 | The founding moment: leaving Omnipresent, 18 months in the wilderness, and the February insight that agents make talent marketplaces finally viable07:07 | Recruiting is broken (and AI made it worse): why first-principles thinking is needed to avoid “more noise, not more signal.”09:15 | Investor conviction: founder/market fit, why this moment is different, and the defensibility of a two-sided agentic marketplace12:22 | The user experience: the “coffee chat” with an AI recruiter: deep voice conversation → matching, prep, coaching, introductions16:30 | Solving the incentives trap: why Jack works 100% for candidates and Jill works 100% for companies (fixing agency conflicts)19:10 | Coaching as core: how AI unlocks career guidance, interview prep, and hands-on support that humans rarely get today22:47 | Building fast in the AI era: talent density, global expansion, and why a 20M seed makes sense for a dual-product marketplace26:35 | Two companies in one: scaling Jack (consumer) + Jill (B2B) simultaneously, across markets, with AI leverage34:02 | The GTM playbook: engineering-led marketing, AI-driven creative testing, instant value, and rethinking B2B buying entirely37:47 | The new AI go-to-market: speed, PLG dominance, virality-by-design, and why distribution now matters more than ever43:52 | Two GTM worlds: viral AI products vs. slow, enterprise-heavy AI deployments (and why both will coexist)47:15 | The “productization” of marketing — why engineering now powers growth, not headcount-heavy marketing orgs50:29 | Final advice (VC POV) — start with a unique insight, not a trend; think in 5–10 year arcs, not quick ARR bumps

Sales teams have more training, more tools, and more AI than ever — yet execution in the field continues to break down.In this episode of the OnBase podcast, Barry Flaherty and David Thomson explain why traditional sales training fails and how teach-back sales training and AI coaching help teams build real capability without burning out sales reps.Drawing on decades of experience across enterprise sales, scale-ups, and behavioural science, they explore why information alone never creates transformation, how onboarding and ramp time can be fixed, and why AI should act as a coach, not a cop.If you lead sales, enablement, or go-to-market teams, this episode delivers practical insight you can apply immediately.What you'll learn:why most sales training doesn't translate into performancehow teach-back sales training improves retention and confidencethe role of AI coaching in modern sales enablementhow to reduce ramp time and onboarding failurehow to scale sales teams without losing culture or empathyAbout Barry Flaherty Barry is a GTM and sales strategy Leader and Board advisor/member. He has 25 years of experience in Tech and Media that includes Enterprise Sales & Alliances in integration, cloud and automation. He is the Founder of All Good People and is now growing a portfolio of established Tech companies and scale up's and capital raising.Connect with Barry.About David Thomson Founder and CEO of Suada, David is dedicated to helping organisations unlock the full potential of their people through cutting-edge digital learning solutions. With over 25 years of experience in sales, technology, and business transformation, he lead Suada's global mission to revolutionise online learning by incorporating the science of retention and persuasion.Connect with David.

Building a Rock-Solid GTM in Financial ServicesIn this snippet, Pavan Bachwal, VP & Head of Financial Services at Ericsson, breaks down what it really takes to build a successful go-to-market strategy in the complex financial services ecosystem.According to him, the foundation rests on four core pillars:Technology- getting it right from day one.Organization- aligning legal, regulatory, operational, technical, marketing, and consumer-facing teams.People- motivating and bringing together like-minded talent.Licensing- ensuring every piece of compliance is locked in.Once these are in place, the GTM plan becomes clear:

In this episode of Marketing Dilemmas, Liam talks to fractional VP Marketing Brandon Redlinger about one of the biggest pressures facing GTM teams right now: “go do AI”, with no extra time, budget, or clear strategy. They dig into how to build a unified, AI-driven GTM motion when every team is at a different level of maturity, why foundations (data, ops, change management) matter more than shiny tools, and how to measure success with metrics like ARR per employee and containment rate. Brandon also shares where AI is actually working today, why you should listen to builders over hype-creators, and why most marketers should give themselves more grace for “feeling behind."

Turning down a $3B offer from Facebook is a bold move for any young CEO.Evan Spiegel shares how Snap's early dream was to stay independent and give its community an authentic voice, a bet that proved right.He also explains why they are now doubling down on AR glasses and why the anxiety around AI deserves far more attention from tech leaders.Guest: Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. and Bing Gordon, Advisor at Kleiner Perkins​Connect with Evan SpiegelX:https://x.com/evanspiegel?lang=enLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-spiegel/​Connect with Bing GordonX: https://x.com/bingfish LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/binggordon/Connect with JoubinX: https://x.com/JoubinmirLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins:https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ 

In this short segment of the Revenue Builders Podcast, we revisit the discussion with Jose Fernandez — former Head of Global Sales Development at Google and now CEO of Easy Comp — breaks down how compensation must evolve when companies shift from traditional SaaS licensing to consumption-based models. Drawing from his experience at Google Ads, one of the most successful consumption engines in business history, Jose lays out the structural advantages of consumption models and how GTM, onboarding, forecasting, and comp plans must align to unlock growth.John McMahon and John Kaplan then expand on how consumption changes seller behavior, deal sizing, renewal dynamics, forecast accuracy, and quota mechanics. This is a must-listen for revenue leaders, sellers, and anyone navigating the industry-wide shift toward usage-based pricing.KEY TAKEAWAYS[00:00:46] Companies transitioning to consumption models often copy SaaS licensing structures instead of designing comp that amplifies consumption-driven advantages.[00:01:34] Three core advantages of consumption models: lower barrier to entry, value-aligned spend increases, and product-led expansion.[00:03:07] Aligning GTM roles — new business, onboarding, and account management — enables scale and fairness in comp.[00:03:57] Forecasting in consumption models becomes an analytical discipline, requiring predictive models rather than rep intuition.[00:05:00] High-quality customer fit at acquisition can result in massive upside — one rep earned huge commission from a $15M three-month advertiser.[00:07:02] In consumption, churn can happen in a week — sellers must ensure rapid value realization, not just contract signing.[00:08:00] Sellers often intentionally downsize initial deals to ensure burn-down and protect compensation.[00:08:59] PLG and sales-assisted models blend; comp must account for small initial usage that grows rapidly.[00:09:48] Companies balance advance payments to reps with clawbacks to protect against churn.[00:10:10] Smart sellers can land small, prove value, and convert usage to multi-year, high-value commitments.QUOTES[00:01:10] “Companies take too much inspiration from the old model instead of designing comp that amplifies the advantages of consumption.”[00:01:56] “Customer spend is directly proportional to the value they get — and their understanding of that value.”[00:02:19] “If you have an amazing product, some of that growth is going to be product-led, regardless of the sales team.”[00:03:57] “Forecasting in a consumption model is an analytical exercise — not something you ask an account executive to guess.”[00:07:54] “In consumption, a customer can use it for a week, turn it off like a light switch, and move on.”[00:08:38] “PLG might start with $500 on a credit card and scale into a major enterprise deal.”[00:09:28] “Sometimes comp gives future credit for usage trajectory — but companies will claw it back if churn happens.”[00:10:33] “There's a lot of gold in this full episode — make sure you check it out.”Listen to the full conversation through the link below.https://revenue-builders.simplecast.com/episodes/driving-sales-behavior-with-effective-compensation-plans-with-jose-fernandezEnjoying the podcast? Sign up to receive new episodes straight to your inbox:https://hubs.li/Q02R10xN0Check out John McMahon's book here:Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/1K7DDC4Check out Force Management's Ascender platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Closed Circuit Selling: Why the Funnel Is Breaking Your GTMMost go-to-market teams aren't failing on effort. They're failing on architecture.In this episode, we sit down with Charles Needham (co-author of Cold Call Algo) alongside Adem Manderovic (CRO School) to break down why the linear funnel is the biggest sacred cow in sales, and why Closed Circuit Selling is the better model for modern outbound.We unpack incentives, silos, CAC payback insanity, and why “meetings booked” became a broken religion. Then we get practical. How to run outbound as market learning. How to capture timing signals. And how to build feedback loops that actually make marketing, sales, and customer success stronger together.Tune in and learn:+ Why buyer journeys are non-linear, and funnels create blind spots+ How to shift from meetings quotas to conversation-driven market validation+ Why intent data can't replace first-party conversationsIf you're a B2B marketer or revenue leader, this is the blueprint for building a GTM system that compounds instead of churns.-----------------------------------------------------

So, what does Marketing ops actually look like? Atlassian's Head of Lifecycle Marketing Ops Kelly Jo Horton joins Daniel to break down what ops actually is, why it's so complex, and how high-performing teams are evolving the function for 2026 and beyond. She explains why MOPS isn't “just sending an email,” why process is everything, and why marketers need to stop treating ops like a drive-thru and start treating it like a Michelin-star kitchen. She also reveals how Atlassian structures its ops organization and why she believes the MQL is officially dead. You'll also learn: >  What modern Marketing Ops actually does and why it varies by company > How AI can automate repetitive ops tasks (like list cleaning and lead investigations) > How Atlassian uses Jira, Confluence, Slack bots, and Loom to run ops like engineering This is for anyone in Marketing, rev ops, or GTM who wants to build a scalable system…and for every Marketer who's ever said “it's just an email.” Easily record and share AI-powered video messages with your teammates and customers to supercharge productivity at https://www.loom.com/ Follow Kelly Jo: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyjohorton/ Follow Daniel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing/ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: https://themarketingmillennials.com/ Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: https://workweek.com/

Glean started as a Kleiner Perkins incubation and is now a $7B, $200m ARR Enterprise AI leader. Now KP has tapped its own podcaster to lead it's next big swing. From building go-to-market the hard way in startups (and scaling Palo Alto Networks' public cloud business) to joining Kleiner Perkins to help technical founders turn product edge into repeatable revenue, Joubin Mirzadegan has spent the last decade obsessing over one thing: distribution and how ideas actually spread, sell, and compound. That obsession took him from launching the CRO-only podcast Grit (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiWZFltuYPF8A6UGm74K2q29UwU-Kk9k) as a hiring wedge, to working alongside breakout companies like Glean and Windsurf, to now incubating Roadrunner which is an AI-native rethink of CPQ and quoting workflows as pricing models collapse from “seats” into consumption, bundles, renewals, and SKU sprawl. We sat down with Joubin to dig into the real mechanics of making conversations feel human (rolling early, never sending questions, temperature + lighting hacks), what Windsurf got right about “Google-class product and Salesforce-class distribution,” how to hire early sales leaders without getting fooled by shiny logos, why CPQ is quietly breaking the back of modern revenue teams, and his thesis for his new company and KP incubation Roadrunner (https://www.roadrunner.ai/): rebuild the data model from the ground up, co-develop with the hairiest design partners, and eventually use LLMs to recommend deal structures the way the best reps do without the Slack-channel chaos of deal desk. We discuss: How to make guests instantly comfortable: rolling early, no “are you ready?”, temperature, lighting, and room dynamics Why Joubin refuses to send questions in advance (and when you might have to anyway) The origin of the CRO-only podcast: using media as a hiring wedge and relationship engine The “commit to 100 episodes” mindset: why most shows die before they find their voice Founder vs exec interviews: why CEOs can speak more freely (and what it unlocks in conversation) What Glean taught him about enterprise AI: permissions, trust, and overcoming “category is dead” skepticism Design partners as the real unlock: why early believers matter and how co-development actually works Windsurf's breakout: what it means to be serious about “Google-class product + Salesforce-class distribution” Why technical founders struggle with GTM and how KP built a team around sales, customer access, and demand gen Hiring early sales leaders: anti-patterns (logos), what to screen for (motivation), and why stage-fit is everything The CPQ problem & Roadrunner's thesis: rebuilding CPQ/quoting from the data model up for modern complexity How “rules + SKUs + approvals” create a brittle graph and what it takes to model it without tipping over The two-year window: incumbents rebuilding slowly vs startups out-sprinting with AI-native architecture Where AI actually helps: quote generation, policy enforcement, approval routing, and deal recommendation loops — Joubin X: https://x.com/Joubinmir LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/ Where to find Latent Space X: https://x.com/latentspacepod Substack: https://www.latent.space/ Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction and the Zuck Interview Experience 00:03:26 The Genesis of the Grit Podcast: Hiring CROs Through Content 00:13:20 Podcast Philosophy: Creating Authentic Conversations 00:15:44 Working with Arvind at Glean: The Enterprise Search Breakthrough 00:26:20 Windsurf's Sales Machine: Google-Class Product Meets Salesforce-Class Distribution 00:30:28 Hiring Sales Leaders: Anti-Patterns and First Principles 00:39:02 The CPQ Problem: Why Salesforce and Legacy Tools Are Breaking 00:43:40 Introducing Roadrunner: Solving Enterprise Pricing with AI 00:49:19 Building Roadrunner: Team, Design Partners, and Data Model Challenges 00:59:35 High Performance Philosophy: Working Out Every Day and Reducing Friction 01:06:28 Defining Grit: Passion Plus Perseverance

In this episode of the Thread Podcast, Justin talks with Tyler Will, VP of GTM Strategy & Ops at Intercom, about how modern revenue organizations are evolving in an era defined by AI, PLG-to-enterprise transitions, and go-to-market speed.Tyler shares his journey from economic consulting and Bain, to GTM leadership at LinkedIn, to now scaling RevOps at Intercom. He breaks down the key differences between operating at a 20,000-person giant and a high-velocity SaaS company, why balancing PLG and enterprise sales motions requires intentional system and process design, and how Intercom rebuilt its routing, sales assist, and pricing guardrails to accelerate ACVs and bring clarity back to the customer journey.The conversation digs into how AI is reshaping selling—not by replacing reps, but by giving them time back. From auto-generating QBR decks to enriching data behind the scenes, Tyler explains why AI actually makes sales more human, not less. He also shares why the next generation of RevOps talent will shift from narrow specialists to curious generalists who leverage AI, understand the full GTM workflow, and act as true co-owners of the business.This is a high-signal episode for anyone thinking about PLG evolution, GTM design, AI-powered sales, and how RevOps must evolve to meet the moment.Chapters00:00 — Intro + Tyler's Background Justin sets up the episode; Tyler shares his path from consulting and Bain to LinkedIn to Intercom.02:00 — Early Career Lessons: From Consulting to GTM How economic consulting and strategy work shaped Tyler's analytical and leadership approach.03:30 — Operating at Scale: LinkedIn vs. Intercom Why large enterprise GTM is committee-driven, and how smaller SaaS companies require speed, adaptability, and influence without authority.06:00 — PLG, Sales-Led, and the Middle Ground How Intercom balances self-serve PLG customers with enterprise sales—and why a “Sales Assist” motion has become critical.08:30 — Redesigning Routing, Guardrails & ACV Growth How simplifying and separating motions helped Intercom lift sales-led logos and drive higher ACVs.10:45 — AI as an Amplifier, Not a Replacement Why AI frees reps from low-value tasks (QBR decks, data cleanup) and makes room for more human selling.13:20 — The Real Risk: Overvaluing Human Busywork Why reps aren't losing points for doing things manually—and why AI should elevate the conversation, not eliminate the human.15:00 — The Future of RevOps Careers Why RevOps is shifting from specialists to generalists who use AI, understand systems, and act like business owners.18:00 — What RevOps Leaders Should Learn Next Tyler's advice to aspiring operators—how to become more valuable by being curious across the entire GTM ecosystem.19:30 — Closing Thoughts + Intercom Hiring Tyler encourages RevOps pros to embrace the field and shape the future; Justin wraps the conversation.

Una historia que comienza en un circo de los años treinta, donde un hombre pequeño, marcado por la burla y por la mirada de los demás, encuentra por fin un lugar… hasta que la llegada de una misteriosa tienda roja y blanca, y de la criatura que se oculta en su interior, rompe la frágil normalidad del campamento. Una historia de miedo, sí, pero también de identidad, de supervivencia… y de un enigma capaz de decidir quién vive y quién muere. Óscar Calleja pertenece al Taller Literario de El Vuelo del Cometa (con el que participó con un relato en el libro Ciberquimérico) y ha publicado relatos en revistas como GTM, El círculo de Lovecraft, El Yunque de Hefesto y en el Patreon de Ediciones el Transbordador. - Narración: Juan Carlos Albarracín - Locución Sintonía: Antonio Runa - Música: Epidemic Sound, con licencia Los Cuentos de la Casa de la Bruja es un podcast semanal de audio-relatos de misterio, ciencia ficción y terror. Cada viernes, a las 10 de la noche, traemos un nuevo programa. Alternamos entre episodios gratuitos para todos nuestros oyentes y episodios exclusivos para nuestros fans. ¡Si te gusta nuestro contenido suscríbete! Y si te encanta considera hacerte fan desde el botón azul APOYAR y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo. Tu aporte es de mucha ayuda para el mantenimiento de este podcast. ¡Gracias por ello! Mi nombre es Juan Carlos. Dirijo este podcast y también soy locutor y narrador de audiolibros, con estudio propio. Si crees que mi voz encajaría con tu proyecto o negocio contacta conmigo y hablamos. :) Contacto profesional: info@locucioneshablandoclaro.com www.locucioneshablandoclaro.com También estoy en X y en Bluesky: @VengadorT Y en Instagram: juancarlos_locutor CONVOCATORIA ABIERTA – Los Cuentos de la Casa de la Bruja. ¿Eres escritor o escritora y te gustaría escuchar uno de tus relatos narrado en el podcast Cuentos de la Casa de la Bruja? Estoy abriendo la puerta a autores emergentes que quieran compartir relatos originales dentro del tono del programa: historias de terror y ciencia ficción con atmósferas inquietantes, elementos fantásticos, oscuros o insólitos, y una cuidada calidad literaria. ¿QUÉ TIPO DE RELATOS BUSCO? • Relatos de terror y ciencia ficción • Con una extensión de entre 3.000 y 4.000 palabras • Con una narrativa sólida, buen uso del lenguaje y que se presten a ser narrados en voz • Textos originales e inéditos (o que al menos no estén vinculados a compromisos editoriales) ¿CÓMO PARTICIPAR? Puedes enviar tu relato en formato Word o PDF a info@locucioneshablandoclaro.com con el asunto: Relato para el podcast. Acompáñalo, si quieres, de una pequeña nota biográfica para que pueda presentarte adecuadamente. IMPORTANTE: La recepción de un relato no garantiza su publicación. La selección dependerá de criterios narrativos, temáticos y de estilo, siempre con el objetivo de mantener la atmósfera y el nivel que caracterizan al podcast. ¡No se trata de emitir juicios definitivos sobre ningún autor o texto! Yo no soy crítico literario, ni pretendo serlo. Se trata de encontrar aquellos textos que mejor encajen con el universo del programa. Si tu relato es elegido me pondré en contacto contigo. En caso contrario agradeceré igual tu confianza y el gesto de compartir tu trabajo. Gracias por hacer crecer esta casa con tu obra. ¡Espero leerte! Juan Carlos “Corman” Albarracín Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

According to the State of Sales Enablement Report, 2025, 29% of companies still rely on multiple disconnected GTM tools. So how can organizations leverage a unified platform to scale sales readiness and achieve GTM success? Riley Rogers: Hi, and welcome to the Win/Win Podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Heather Hubner, advisor distribution and agent relations at Priority Health. Thank you so much for joining us, Heather! I’d love it if you could just start by telling us a little bit about yourself, your background, and your role. Heather Hubner: Thanks for having me, Riley. Again, my name is Heather Hubner, and my role is a somewhat newer role in our company, but I came from the employee benefits side of the industry and then moved into sales. So I was a sales rep for several years for priority Health and that has evolved into the distribution side. Really my role is to ensure that our agent partners have a very aligned message as far as our products go, and just ensure that we are giving them the tools they need to represent our product in the field appropriately. RR: I kind of wanna double click into something you mentioned, which is that you started on the sales side of the house at Priority Health. So with that background in mind, can you walk us through some of the unique challenges that reps in the healthcare industry face, and then maybe a little bit about how enablement can help them overcome those things? HH: Yes, and I love this question. Being a sales rep in this industry—I think anyone who has worked in it understands the complexity—-is complex, it is fast paced, it’s somewhat seasonal, but we’re also learning that those seasons are no longer such. It’s just a high pace all year round. As a rep, one thing that I really learned was we have time wasters: we’re looking for a certain material that an agent wants, we’re reeducating ourselves on a product because maybe it’s something that we don’t delve into on a regular basis, we just need to reeducate ourselves as a rep. Before Highspot, so much time was spent digging around for that information and therefore less time was spent selling and building relationships and building trust with the agents. That was, that was very challenging. You know, I always thought: “Goodness, if I had everything at my fingertips, frankly, I could sell more for our company because I would be spending my time in a valuable way.” So I would say about four years ago, that’s when we first started using Highspot and it was an absolute game changer. I mean, it changed our world. We could get everything in one spot, and there was a lot of emphasis on making sure we had a source of truth. Reps know they know to go to Highspot, they can grab what they need when they need it, send it to an agent, reeducate themselves, and there isn’t any more guessing about where to look at our system, which drive, how do we find out who has the most up-to-date information. It really has been an amazing alignment tool. RR: I love that you’ve walked the walk so much so that you’re like: “I know what was hard, and I can now have the agency and also the tooling to go in and fix it.” I think that’s wonderful. And I think that’s always the goal of enablement, right? But when you have that background, you’re so much more in touch with what your reps need. So now that you’ve kind of made your way into this new role, I’d like to dig into what you’re working on now. So, what are some of those key initiatives that you’re focused on driving for the business this year? How are you hoping to decrease complexity like we just talked about for Priority Health's reps and agency partners? HH: To give you an idea of our journey so far, we started using Highspot for our reps and really went hard this year on ensuring that we had similar tools for our agents creating pages, specifically for our agents by market segment. We have created digital pages, so to speak. We call them engagement pages from an externally facing standpoint, and we have tailored the tools that those agents specifically need. This is important because, you know, if you are a small group agent, you generally don’t have all the complexities that large groups have, and therefore you don’t wanna weed through all those materials. So it really is the same principle applies, right? It’s giving them the tools they need when they need it, without having to sift through a lot of things that they don’t need. So creating very tailored pages for them has been really important. We’re going to take it a step further this year. So, to get to your actual question, we’re gonna focus on training. So when we get new agents in the field, they are the ones that we count on in order to sell our product, and oftentimes they are getting in the trenches, learning about all the carriers all at the same time. It’s a lot to digest. What we are gonna focus on is working on our training and our onboarding experience for our agent partners, and that way they can get in the field quicker with the right type of information, stay compliant with what our product actually is offering, and feel more comfortable. The hope there is truly we’re gonna sell more, more quickly, and they’re going to feel more comfortable repping our product. RR: I love the kind of internal enablement philosophies that are being extended out to the partner network—we know what you need and we want to give it to you in an easy, digestible way that is tailored to your workflow, because I’m not going to make you dig for something that you don’t even need. Keeping that in mind, I’d love to know what some of those other key building blocks for effectively equipping agents and building strong partner relationships are for you. HH: Gosh, the biggest piece is trust, right? They're building trust, um, spending time with them. Listening. Listening is the biggest piece. When agents are telling us things, we have to listen to them and act upon them. Otherwise what’s the point? The fact of the matter is in our industry—and anyone that works in health insurance knows our agent—partners are very direct. Sometimes too direct, but they’re very direct. So when they’re telling you something, they mean it and they are going to be truthful because their livelihood is also reliant upon the information we give. But I would say relationships are the strongest one. Trust, transparency. You know, being honest. If we are, you know, if an agent questions us on something, or frankly, sometimes they’ll compare us to other carriers: “Hey, this carrier does this. How come you guys can’t do that?” Be honest about it. But it really goes back to listening and forming those bonds to where they trust you. Because the more an agent trusts you, the more willing they are to say: “Hey, this group is a really good fit for your product. And I feel confident that you’re going to onboard them smoothly. I feel confident you’re going to take care of them from a customer service standpoint. And I feel confident that when there’s a problem, I’m going to call you, you’re gonna answer and you’re gonna help me solve it.” RR: So, you mentioned listening and building trust and transparency, and then using what agents are saying to kind of build your programs and how you support them. How are you kind of creating these channels to get in touch with your agents? Is it just getting on the phone and talking to people and then taking that information back to your strategy? How are you kind of creating that feedback loop? HH: So our team, I wanna give a little, um, shout out to the team a little bit. We are very unique, so we’re a newer team. There was not a distribution and training team before. We’re really working on the strategy for exactly what you said. How do we strategically get out? How do we make sure that our interactions are meaningful, and how do we enable our sales team to do the same? So what we have really come up with—and it seems to be quite successful—is we’ve created a premier partner program. What that means is we’ve got different levels, essentially of our partner groups: gold, silver, and bronze. For each one of them, we provide different levels of service, so to speak, but it’s really rewarding them for their business with us. With that, we’ve created a strategy on formal meetings. So formal meetings are when we actually go to the agency, we’re bringing our team of leaders and some of our reps, and we’re spending time with them in person and talking about our new products, some of the intricacies and nuances about what to expect, getting feedback about what they’re seeing in the industry and what they need in order to keep their clients in the space that they’re hoping to be for their employee benefits. We do that twice a year, and then we have kind of the other agency partners who we hit once a year. But on top of that, you’ve got kind of this less formal interaction, and that’s where we really come into play from an enablement standpoint. We want to make sure our sales reps have what they need when they need it. We help create some content for them so that when they are having more informal meetings—maybe they’re going to lunch, they’re going to breakfast, and they want to build a relationship, but they also want to bring some value and bring some meaningful messaging. That’s really where we’re focused. We understand that there’s different levels of that relationship building. You know, those individual reps, it’s so important that they have those relationships, but as an organization, as a whole, it’s important that we have those relationships and that vantage point in the market to where they’re saying, yeah, they have it together, they understand what we need. They are being formal when they need to be formal, but they’re being people when they need to be people. RR: That’s fantastic. I think one of my favorite things to hear about is programs that people are in the process of building and they’re so excited about. Thank you for sharing. We’ve talked a little bit about the strategy and kind of the philosophy. We’ve talked a little bit about how you’re creating feedback loops and embedding those relationships that you’re building with your partners into your programs. Could you talk to us a little bit about the role that a platform plays in kind of driving all of this for you? HH: I will be frank with you. Without the platform, this would be merely an impossible task. It is. I mean, it really would be. That was maybe the barrier in the past—having that source of truth for our materials, our education, and everything that our internal folks are using and our external folks in one place. On top of that, the tools that allow us to strategically tailor the messaging is amazing. You know, just sharing out links. The new digital pages, I’m telling you, these have been my favorite thing. We had a lot of feedback from our agency partners that it’s so hard to navigate where I get things. I mean, they were saying that to us for years and I couldn’t even disagree. I’m like: “It’s a hundred percent hard for us too, just so you know.” So this answer has been, you know, truly amazing. And then the Sales Plays: Our marketing team actually creates Sales Plays whenever we have a new product that’s going to market. Oftentimes, there are a lot of pieces of information that go along with that. We have member-facing materials, we have agent-facing materials, and then we also have things that are for our internal team only. But the Sales Plays really bring all those together so that when a salesperson is saying: “Hey, I need to learn about this product so I can go sell it right now,” it’s all in one spot for that product. Without it, I don’t know how we would do it. It feels as though our business would be so limited because the fast pace that we’re rolling out products and the fast pace of regulation changes would be very challenging to keep up with without having this platform. RR: That’s everything that we love to hear, is that the platform is helping you solve for those big problems. And it also kind of leads me to a question that I had for you, which is about how you’re driving alignment and consistency with Priority Health's strategy and message. You mentioned Sales Plays as kind of like an internal lever for keeping reps aligned, but what are your best practices for keeping agents and internal reps on message, on theme, and aligned to your strategy? HH: Really, that is our entire job as our team is to ensure what you’re saying is exactly what is happening. So we do it a few different ways as we are building what these for, what the formal agenda is going to be—which is what we formally take out to the market to each of our agency partners. At the same time we’re communicating internally to our sales reps what that’s gonna be and getting feedback from them about what it should be because they're the boots on the ground and they’re getting the calls from the agent saying: “Hey, you guys don’t have enough information on this. Tell me more about this.” That feedback loop coming to our team says: “Hey, we need to do more education in this area so that we’re aligned on the messaging.” Or if a rep says: “You know, we don’t know enough about this to go feel comfortable in the market with it,” we take that back and we know as our team, then we need to do better. And our marketing team, like I said, does a lot of that, but what we do is corral it together in a meaningful way for them. We need to do it better. I’ll be frank with you, you know, this past year has been a little bit of, you know, drinking out of a fire hose—creating new processes, creating new strategies. In terms of our communication to the market this upcoming year, we’re gonna spend a lot of time making sure that our reps have the same information as our agent partners in a more timely manner, so that there’s never a time where an agent is asking a rep something and the rep is saying “I didn’t know about that.” RR: I think it’s an endless task, right? Enablement. The business is constantly changing and so is your work too, but it does seem like, at least looking at the data that you guys are starting to drive, the impact that you’re really looking to. We’ve seen that you’ve achieved a really impressive 90% recurring usage rate in Highspot, which tells us that folks are in the platform, they’re using it regularly, and it’s part of their workflows. So what are some of your strategies for driving that adoption? How are you keeping people in the platform and excited to use it? HH: Being consistent with using this tool. So when we send out messages, we are very consistent in letting them know where they can find it, whether that’s providing the link or giving them teasers in the messaging to say learn more and then somewhat forcing them to the tool in order to learn everything they need to about it. This is a couple of things. One, you know, if they’re curious about the product, they’re gonna click in and then they’re going to potentially see what else is there, which is really great. But the fact that we’re using this really as our source of truth too for product information that’s been learned—because of the frustration of past years where they didn’t know where to go—it’s such a breath of fresh air that quite frankly, the user adoption, I don’t wanna say it’s easy, but it’s been easier because it’s been such a good problem solver. We didn’t know how we were going to solve for before we had this platform. RR: You know, you’re doing something right when just having folks land in the platform and realize “oh, this is so much better than what we had” is your main driver of adoption. That tells you you’ve built the right system, you’ve got the right structure, and you’ve built it exactly for them. So that’s fantastic. I always kind of love when I ask that adoption question, it’s like, I don’t know. They just like it and you’re like, you’ve done the right thing. That’s fantastic to hear. So, aside from that recurring usage rate that we just talked about, what other impact have you seen with the platform? HH: Yeah, I got chills when you just asked me that question actually, because there is a piece that I’m so excited about. We track the metrics, of course, of how much usage is being had on the agency side. So again, I keep speaking to this Digital Room, but that’s where we put all the large group information. And then we’ve also done the same for small groups. Seeing how much time has been spent there by our agent partners is a direct correlation of the time that doesn’t have to be spent by our reps. And in fact, I would argue even more when we first launched the pages, it was, we would look at the hours spent in there and we’re like, Ooh, three hours. Ooh, five hours. Ooh, 24 hours. And then we just started to get excited of: “man, people love this tool!” And then just getting the direct feedback from the agents too. They’re like: “This is a game changer. Heather.” I love not having to bother a rep with this information because that’s more time out of their day too, right? The agent then has to make a phone call. Or an email, which is more likely it’s adding to the multitude of emails that everybody’s getting every day. It takes that step out and creates a self-service environment that I think we all know and love. But I think that’s the most exciting piece RR: That’s so great to hear. I think that digital room example is such a masterclass in how you can bring the workflows of Highspot to an audience that maybe doesn’t live in your platform, but you can still create that consistency, that transparency, and I think definitely something to share with our audience. I’ve heard a couple of teams do that, and it always works out wonderfully, so thank you for sharing that. One last question for you: What advice would you offer to other health insurance organizations like yours that are hoping to build strong partnerships and drive consistent execution across their channels? HH: My advice would be to really listen to your agency partners. Don’t dismiss what they are saying. Also, listen to your reps. Relationships are everything—trust, transparency. When you give your agent partners or your customer, regardless of the industry, that, you build something really special. RR: Trust, transparency, good product. I think those are wonderful things to close on. Um, and I think it ties really nicely back to everything else that we’ve talked about. I do have to say before we close out completely, Heather, it has been so wonderful to chat with you. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and share a lot of really wonderful best practices, some tactical, some strategic of how to use the platform and how to run in this industry. HH: Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it too. Just the opportunity to really think about what this platform has done to us has brought some, a next level of appreciation from my end. RR: Amazing. To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win/Win podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

If you're in B2B SaaS, you probably feel it already: the old way of “just hire more SDRs and send more emails” is broken.Everyone has the same tooling. Everyone is running the same sequences. Everyone is “personalising at scale” with the same prompts. Yet pipeline quality is down, efficiency is under scrutiny, and suddenly… go-to-market (GTM) design has become a first-class strategic problem.Few people are better positioned to talk about this shift than Harrison Rose.Harrison co-founded Paddle, helped turn it into one of the UK's fastest-growing software companies, and has now raised a $13M Series A (led by Notion Capital, with participation from Robin Capital, Inovia, Salicap, Common Magic, Andrena and more) to build GoodFit – an AI-driven GTM data platform.Here's what's covered:00:47 | What GoodFit actually does — mapping your entire market and scoring every account01:32 | Paddle origins → the first-principles GTM problem that later became GoodFit03:31 | From internal tool to standalone company — recognizing the “product inside Paddle”04:18 | Who buys GoodFit — why B2B tech is the first adopter (and why the market is much bigger)06:28 | Second-time founder advantage — credibility, networks, and selling before the product exists08:29 | Choosing investors — why Notion, avoiding echo chambers, and constructing a syndicate13:24 | Bootstrapping for four years — optionality, profitability curiosity, and knowing when VC is the right path18:34 | AI's real impact on go-to-market — why most teams are just automating bad outreach22:25 | The GoodFit vision — deciding who to sell to, why, and how (and leaving execution to others)35:34 | Leaving Paddle — identity, founder evolution, and learning to lead differently the second time around46:40 | Giving back — why Harrison opens his inbox for “weird, gnarly, unsaid” founder questions

Jeff sits down with Brandon Bienstock to explore how a strong operating cadence turns RevOps into the engine of a high-trust GTM. They unpack the four core rhythms and how democratising insights creates alignment across the entire revenue team.Brandon shares why scorecards should prioritise quality over vanity metrics, why simple comp plans drive the best behaviour, and why great RevOps leaders “walk the floor” to truly understand how reps sell.If you're tightening your GTM motion or refreshing your operating rhythm for next year, this episode is well worth your time.

Send us a textPrivacy stops being a niche feature the moment you realize it's not about secrecy—it's about control. We sit down with Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO and co-founder of COTI, to unpack why privacy is rapidly becoming critical infrastructure for Web3, how selective disclosure changes the trust equation, and what it takes to make privacy the default without sacrificing performance or decentralization.We trace the evolution from transparent ledgers to private transfers and into the next frontier: private apps. Shahaf explains why zero-knowledge proofs alone can't power complex, multi-party, confidential computation, and how garbled circuits enable fast, cost-effective privacy across inputs, logic, and outputs. From a private perpetuals exchange that resists front‑running to encrypted analytics that respect user consent, we explore how end‑to‑end confidentiality unlocks real-world adoption in DeFi, tokenization, healthcare, and supply chains.For marketers and founders, the message is clear: trust is no longer built on seeing everything, but on proving integrity while protecting users. We talk about MetaMask snap integration that brings private tokens natively into the biggest wallet, making onboarding simple and frictionless. We also cover practical GTM tactics—lead with outcomes, not crypto jargon; measure consent, not surveillance; and treat data as user‑owned. Looking ahead, enterprises are already signaling the shift with RFPs that mandate encrypted computation, regulators pushing for confidentiality, and tokenized assets demanding privacy by default.This episode was recorded through a Descript call on November 24, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/privacy-as-a-product-advantage/If you're building in Web3 or rethinking data ethics, this conversation offers a blueprint for turning privacy into a competitive moat. Subscribe, share with a friend who cares about trust and growth, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show...........................................................................

How will SaaS Companies scale in 2026? The next era of SaaS growth won't be won by adding more reps, more tools, or more noise. In this episode, go-to-market operator Koen Stam (Personio) breaks down why 2026 will mark a decisive shift from people-heavy scaling to process-first, data-driven, efficiency-led growth—and what founders must do now to stay ahead.Koen oversees international revenue operations across Benelux, DACH, the Nordics, Spain, and beyond, and he brings a rare operator's lens to the future of GTM. He unpacks how founder-led, sales-led, and hybrid motions will evolve; why RevOps is about to become one of the most strategic functions in SaaS; and why fixing the data layer is the non-negotiable prerequisite to making AI actually work.You'll learn why the biggest upside in 2026 will come from retention, expansion, and word of mouth, how to design motions that scale with simplicity and discipline, and what it really takes to build from 0 to 10K MRR and to 10M ARR with one product, one audience, and one crystal-clear process.A must-listen for founders, operators, and GTM leaders building for the next wave of SaaS.Key Timecodes(0:00) - Intro: B2B SaaS go-to-market 2026, RevOps, AI, retention, expansion(1:13) - Guest intro: Koen Stam, Personio, international RevOps, HR tech(2:04) - 2026 GTM strategy: process-first, data-driven, efficiency-led growth(2:47) - GTM motions: founder-led vs sales-led vs hybrid, authenticity, efficiency(4:02) - Efficiency in SaaS: bow tie model, customer journey mapping, root causes(5:35) - RevOps priority: data layer, metrics, RevOps to CRO(6:38) - AI in GTM: fix data foundations, process over people(7:26) - Retention & expansion: word-of-mouth, NRR, customer-led growth(9:20) - Sponsor: Reditus affiliate and referral platform for B2B SaaS(10:14) - Word-of-mouth playbook: product value, customer success, community events(12:06) - Build GTM from scratch: founder-led content, AI amplification, simplify(13:59) - Referrals & partners: partner ecosystem, trust, incentives, win-win(15:26) - Zero to 10K MRR: one offer, one ICP, focus, execution(16:54) - Scale to 10M ARR: one product, one market, process-first, data model(17:37) - Connect with Koen: LinkedIn, Substack, AI learnings(17:55) - Audience building: LinkedIn vs Substack, creator-led growth(18:27) - Outro: subscribe, sponsor, Reditus, Grow Your B2B SaaS podcast

Steven Fabre is the Co-founder and CEO of Liveblocks.Liveblocks builds ready-made AI copilots and collaboration for your product, and Steven is one of my smartest friends on how people are actually using AI on a day-to-day basis.We talk about what most people get wrong when trying to build AI-native software, how to treat it as more than just a copilot that sits on top of your product, and what he's learned about how large enterprises are actually buying and using AI right now.We also talk through Liveblocks journey of evolving from real-time human collaboration components into one that also incorporates AI, what he's learned going from a designer to a CEO, and how he rebuilt the company after his co-founder stepped away.Thank you to Numeral for supporting this episode. It's the end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance. Try it here: ⁠https://www.numeral.com⁠Timestamps:(2:17) Liveblocks: Infrastructure for people + AI(6:08) Wrong ways to add AI to software(8:05) Why humans and AI must collaborate(12:35) How AI will change software UI(18:58) AI search optimization(26:20) How to get #1 on Product Hunt(32:33) Liveblocks 1.0 to 3.0 evolution(36:40) Why collaboration software is so hard(38:38) How customers use Liveblocks(42:36) Hiring a coach to get better at sales(47:07) Steven's biggest enterprise sales mistakes(50:28) How AI changes GTM and funding milestones(57:57) Going from a designer to a CEO(1:01:06) How Liveblocks first started(1:04:56) Importance of design in company building(1:06:51) Learning to become a CEO(1:12:29) When his co-founder left 5 years in(1:15:49) Becoming stronger hiring a new Head of Engineering(1:22:10) Remote culture: what doesn't work(1:24:08) Remote culture: what does work(1:26:47) Importance of autonomy on remote teams(1:28:05) Most underrated basketball players(1:33:38) ACL injury that kickstarted his first businessReferencedLiveblocks: https://liveblocks.io/Careers at Liveblocks: https://join.team/liveblocksFollow StevenTwitter: https://x.com/stevenfabreLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-fabre-5510bb38Follow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

Product marketing is marketing at it's purest form (not our words) —but only if we redefine what marketing actually means. Garrett Jestice, founder of Prelude, explains why tech companies get marketing backwards, how AI shifts risk from building to selling, and why messy go-to-market isn't a channel problem—it's a foundational problem. We dive into the CPG vs. SaaS marketing divide, why founders don't get PMM, and the brutal truth about connecting your work to revenue. Spoiler: If you can't explain who you're selling to and why, more ads won't save you.More from this convo...Why product marketers are the "purest form of marketing" (but tech ruined it) • The CPG lesson that every SaaS company needs to learn • How AI is making "can we build it?" irrelevant • Why your messy GTM isn't a lead problem—it's a foundation problem • The Cheerios brand manager approach to product marketing • How tech companies segmented marketing into irrelevance • The brutal truth about connecting PMM work to revenue • Why early-stage companies are PMM paradise • The "small wins" strategy for proving PMM value • How to sell yourself internally (when founders don't get it) • Why more ads won't fix your broken positioningTimestamps 00:00 Introduction & First Redheaded Guest01:00 Guest Introduction: Garrett Jestice, Prelude Founder02:00 The Big Question: Are Product Marketers Actually Marketers?02:30 "Purest Form of Marketers" But Not Today's Definition03:00 The CPG Background: Cheerios at General Mills04:00 Brand Managers as General Managers04:30 CPG vs. Tech: Where the Real Risk Lives05:00 AI Shifting Risk from Building to Selling06:00 The Minneapolis Connection07:00 Physical Products vs. Digital "Ones and Zeros"09:00 The Segmentation Problem in Tech Marketing11:00 Product Team vs. Marketing Team Divide13:00 Why Founders Don't Understand PMM15:00 The Language Barrier with Engineering Founders17:00 Building in Public & Personal Branding19:00 Rapid Fire Round Begins21:00 Worst Marketing Advice Stories23:00 Budget Allocation Debates25:00 The AI Hype Cycle Discussion27:00 Personal Branding for PMMs29:00 The Newsletter Renaissance31:00 SEO in the AI Age33:00 Career Journey: CPG to SaaS35:00 Founding Prelude Agency37:00 Early-Stage Company Focus39:00 The Foundation Problem in GTM41:00 Working with Founders Who Don't Get It43:00 Getting Wins in Their Language (Revenue)45:00 Connecting PMM Work to Revenue47:00 Small Wins Strategy49:00 Messy GTM Execution Fix50:00 Channels vs. Foundations51:00 How to Sell Consulting Internally52:00 Closing & Where to Find GarrettHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Most reps think buyers ignore them because “the market is quiet” or “it's December.”In reality, buyers don't respond because your message has no clear purpose, no relevance, and no reason to care right now.In this episode, we break down:The #1 reason buyers ignore your emails, calls and LinkedIn messagesWhy generic outreach is killing your reply ratesHow top reps create urgency and context in under 30 secondsWhat would actually make you take a meeting right now (and how to use that)Why December is a hidden advantage for serious reps, not a dead monthHow to use intent, timing and personalization to book more meetings with big orgsSimple messaging shifts that turn “no reply” into real pipelineThis isn't another fluffy list of “sales tips.”It's a real conversation about buyer psychology, cold outreach, and what high-performing B2B sales teams do differently to win meetings.⭐ Unlock free resources (templates, frameworks & prompts):https://coachpilot.beehiiv.com/Join the community & access 157+ templates, frameworks and mega AI prompts used by top revenue teams.

This episode goes deep into the mechanics of scaling a company from steady growth to breakout velocity. Peter shares how Spreedly quadrupled ARR growth in his first year without increasing OPEX, why the “right people pointed at the right problems” is everything, and how to decide which problems are existential versus learn-as-you-go.We dissect how go-to-market organizations evolve from $20M to $100M ARR, the power of focus and role separation, and how to keep silos aligned around one customer story.Peter also explains the shift from “payments orchestration” to “open payments” and how Spreedly's position as the original player in the space gives them unique leverage. We walk through the future of agentic commerce, Google's new agent-to-agent payments protocol, and what it means when agents can transact faster than any human could ever shop.We close out with the Dodgeball acquisition, a primer on fraud orchestration, and a wild story about working an entire night shift at a nightclub during a meltdown launch.Topics Covered:How Peter defines the journey to presidencyThe “right person, right problem” frameworkOne-way vs two-way doors for staffing big problemsHow to scale a GTM org from $20M to $100MWhy open payments replaces orchestrationSpreedly's unique market position and 15-year head startAgent to agent commerce and Google's new payments protocolHow AI changes the velocity of money movementFraud orchestration and Spreedly's acquisition of DodgeballBalancing profitable growth vs growth at all costsPerception vs reality in leadershipPeter's wildest “I never thought I'd see that” story 

This week, Jeff Clark, former Forrester Research Director, and our host Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B, celebrate Jeff's last episode of the year, before he takes off for the holidays, and discuss five things that stood out for them from their conversations on the show in 2025.  The five things they selected: #1 - The buyer's AI assistant #2 - Brand is back #3 - Unifying marketing and sales as a revenue department #4 - The rise of fractional #5 - CMOs need to be the C-suite's market analyst As always, we welcome your feedback. If you have a hot topic you'd like us to discuss, please get in touch using the links below. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: This week's Beat newsletter Back to Brand - Rockstar CMO Blog What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It podcast Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web, Twitter, and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: Stienski & Mass Media - We'll be right back Coldplay - Fix You (Official Video) You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Seller Master Class episode, the team digs into readiness: the unsexy work that makes or breaks your deal.Last time, they explored the decision to sell. This week is all about getting your house in order so buyers can move quickly and confidently through diligence.We cover why “time kills all deals” and how the vibrancy or cadence of a deal is driven by how fast you can deliver clean, accurate information.Financial readiness basics:Clean P&L with defensible add-backs and clear, normalized EBITDAMoving from cash to accrual accounting and resolving open issuesUnderstanding your revenue mix (recurring vs. one-time vs. resale, deferred revenue)Showing consistency over years, not just monthsPeople & leadership readiness:Reducing over-dependence on the founder across sales, operations, and deliveryDemonstrating a leadership team that can scale and executeSuccession planning — including “who's in the tent” during a transactionUsing data (e.g., sales leadership forecasting growth from customer intimacy) to prove leadership impactOperational readiness:Tool stack hygiene, systems that actually work, and useful dashboardsPSA/ticketing discipline and clarity on what makes up your gross marginTransferable contracts with clean renewal and termination languageCustomer satisfaction metrics buyers will want to seeCustomer & contract hygiene:Clear target market and GTM strategy (vertical, size, geography, problem-based, etc.)Demonstrating long-term, renewing, high-intimacy customer relationshipsMaking sure contracts and your chart of accounts tell the same story buyers see in the dataLegal and compliance housekeeping:Corporate and regulatory filings (e.g., secretary of state docs, LLC details)Clean cap tableFixing misclassified contractors, missing signatures, and expired MSAs before diligenceIf you only have 90 days to get ready:Prioritize financial readiness and third-party-vetted numbersTighten up contracts and leadership accountability (“who's who in the zoo”)Start building a data room with financial, contract, and operational data buyers will expect to seeTying it together with strategy:How “selling in” vs. “selling out” ties to your readiness storyShowing that your differentiation, GTM, and organization are well thought out — and executable with or without the founder in the seatThis episode is perfect for:Founders and leaders of IT services and MSP firms who see an exit on the horizon and want to avoid value-eroding surprises in diligence. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

In this episode of the OnBase podcast, host Paul Gibson sits down with Kate Mackie to unpack why humanizing B2B marketing is no longer optional—and how brand resonance directly impacts modern go-to-market success. Kate shares her journey from agency to EY, revealing why the traditional separation between brand and demand no longer works in today's complex, elongated B2B buying cycles.She explains why trust is a brand's most valuable currency, how buying groups have doubled in size, and why marketers must deliver consistent yet human experiences across every GTM motion. From aligning sales and marketing, to building creative consistency without losing personalization, to proving brand impact on revenue, this episode is a masterclass in modern enterprise marketing.Kate also explores the disruptions defining today's market, how AI will accelerate personalization, and why human differentiation will matter more as buyers increasingly use AI as part of their research process.Key TakeawaysBrand and demand work as one spectrumBrand builds broad awareness and trust; demand converts that trust into action. Separating them weakens both.Buying groups have doubled in sizeEnterprise decisions now involve 15 people, meaning brands must influence far more stakeholders, many of whom never speak to sales.Human-centered branding drives trustEmotional relevance and clear purpose help companies stay top-of-mind through long, nonlinear buying cycles.Overconsistency reduces relevanceRigid, one-size-fits-all branding prevents teams from tailoring messages to different roles, needs, and motivations.Alignment across brand, GTM, and sales is criticalDisconnected campaigns and target lists create massive audience wastage and inconsistent buyer experiences.Customer expansion offers the quickest winsBuilding brand trust with existing clients is cheaper, faster, and often more impactful than new-customer acquisition.Measurement must combine brand and demand signalsBrand salience requires tracking awareness, consideration, social listening, and pre/post lift, not just revenue metrics.AI accelerates personalization but needs guardrailsAI can tailor creativity at scale, but only when backed by strong segmentation, a clear brand truth, and human oversight.Human differentiation will matter more as buyers use AIAs customers rely on AI for research, human experience, emotion, and trust become the true competitive advantage.Marketers must speak the language of the C-suiteTo secure buy-in, brand value must be tied directly to commercial outcomes, not marketing jargon.Quotes“Brand and demand are one and the same. It's just the difference between talking to a mass audience or a targeted one.”“When buyers use AI as part of their research, the human experience becomes the biggest differentiator.”Resource RecommendationsB2B Marketing Fundamentals, a book by Kate MackieWiredShout-OutsJennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professo at Stanford University Graduate School of BusinessCaroline Day, Global Director, B2B Institute at LinkedInDenise Persson, CMO at SnowflakeAbout the GuestKate Mackie is a Partner (EYGP LLP) and the Global Marketing Lead at the global EY organization. She is a transformational global leader who drives innovative marketing strategies and helps the business embed lasting change. Her passion lies in transforming the narrative around B2B marketing and driving a humanized approach to growth. She is the author of 'B2B Marketing Fundamentals: Drive Impact Across Brand, Reputation, Relationships, and Revenue'.Connect with Kate.

What does it take to go from advising founders to becoming one?On this week's special Reverse Grit episode, we flip the script and put our Grit podcast host Joubin Mirzadegan in the guest seat.Joubin recently founded Roadrunner, where he is now co-founder & CEO. Roadrunner is building an AI‑native CPQ to modernize the quote‑to‑cash stack, drawing on years of conversations he's had with enterprise revenue leaders.Stepping into the host role, Mamoon Hamid joins Joubin to talk about his transition from sales leader to founder, how Roadrunner came together, and why it became our first incubation since Glean.Roadrunner is hiring! Check them out: https://www.roadrunner.ai/Guest: Joubin Mirzadegan, Partner, Kleiner Perkins​Connect with MamoonXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

In today's episode, I'm joined by Ian Timmons and Billy Knox, founders of Beefy, and one of my favorite new snacks—featured in our Winter Foodbevy Insider Box.We talk about:what went wrong (and right) in early R&Dthe complexity of manufacturing and scaling a brand-new product formatthe GTM strategy that got Beefy their early tractionwhere they're headed next as they expand beyond DTCStartup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy, an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their business. Visit us at Foodbevy.com to learn about becoming a member or an industry partner today.

Shailesh Hegde is the CEO of Hubilo, a Bangalore-based webinar software company that initially started during COVID as virtual events tech and raised $150M in VC funding before the market shifted. Originally joining as head of product, he stepped into the CEO role during a chaotic downturn and led the company through a full strategic reset after returning all the remaining capital to investors.  When the virtual events boom collapsed, Shailesh and the team rebuilt Hubilo into a mid-market webinar platform serving B2B marketing teams. They shifted from large in-person event organizers to marketers running frequent webinars, emphasizing differentiated AI-driven content repurposing. Hubilo stabilized revenue, rebuilt its GTM motion, and reached a 50/50 split between new webinar revenue and legacy customers.  Earlier this year, Hubilo was acquired by BrandLive, a U.S. enterprise video platform seeking a complementary webinar product. About 80% of Hubilo's team moved over, and Shailesh now leads product integration and customer continuity during the transition. He shares hard lessons on pivots, returning capital, leading through uncertainty, and executing a practical exit when the original VC-scale vision is no longer realistic.  Key Takeaways Refounder Mindset – Shailesh stepped into the CEO role and reframed the mission from hypergrowth to survival, focus, and a practical exit. New ICP Reality – Moving from event organizers to B2B marketers required a complete repositioning and GTM rebuild that took longer than expected. AI as Differentiator – Hubilo used AI-generated content and repurposing tools to stand out in a crowded webinar category with entrenched incumbents. Practical GTM – LinkedIn thought leadership, SEO content, and product-led demos outperformed outbound or expensive Google ads in this competitive space. Strategic Fit Wins – BrandLive acquired Hubilo for complementary capabilities, product acceleration, and access to a strong India-based engineering team. Quote from Shailesh Hegde, CEO of Hubilo "Now that I just sold our company, I'm thinking about what's next for me. It comes down to, Will I be able to find a viable problem that people are willing to pay for and will I be able to use sort of all of this experience that I have in order to solve it really well and kick off a company off the ground?  "Now is probably the best time to start a company where there's so much action, there's so much happening in AI, and it's super exciting to be in this space. It's also a great time to not have like revenue pressure on your shoulders and just think out loud, have open conversations and just be free, before you really dive in and choose a focus. "The same types of business pressures will come back as you start a company. But now is a great time to just help with transition, make sure the team is good, but at the same time, start thinking about the types of problems I want to solve in the future with a new startup." Links Shailesh Hegde on LinkedIn Hubilo on LinkedIn Hubilo website Brandlive website Podcast Sponsor – Fraction This podcast is sponsored by Fraction. Fraction gives you access to senior US-based engineers and CTOs — without full-time costs or hiring risks. Get 10 to 30 hours per week from vetted and experienced US-based talent. Find your next fractional senior engineer or CTO at fraction.work. You can start with a one-week, risk-free trial to test it out. The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding.  A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.

The Gartner debate keeps resurfacing on LinkedIn. Skeptics vs. pragmatists vs. the "it depends" crowd. Same arguments. Same camps. Same circular conversation. Everyone's missing the point. After having hundreds of direct conversations between vendors and CISOs, I've come to a controversial conclusion: The analyst relations industry exists because marketers don't want to do the hard work of actually understanding their buyers. In this episode, I'm going deep on what no one's willing to say: How buyer insight gets distorted through seven (at least) layers of interpretation before it reaches your strategy. By the time Gartner's "insight" hits your roadmap, it's a game of telephone. Vendors expect Gartner to generate pipeline. It generates awareness. That awareness doesn't convert. And the "justification" use case? I don't buy it anymore. I'll tell you what CISOs actually say. Gartner has become a shortcut to avoid the uncomfortable work of direct buyer relationships. More surprisingly, the analysts aren't doing the deep work either. You are the product, not the customer. AI is commoditizing surface-level insight. But the deep nuance, the psychology, the politics, the unspoken objections, that still requires human connection. The differentiator is becoming more human, not less. What to do instead. How to build buyer intimacy as a core competency. Why the vendors who win will be the ones who stop outsourcing the most important work in marketing. This episode isn't about whether Gartner is good or bad. It's about a harder question: How well do you actually know your buyer? If the honest answer is "not deeply enough", Gartner isn't your problem. If you're a cybersecurity founder, marketer, or GTM leader wondering who has even the smallest inkling or intuitive feeling deep down inside that your Gartner investment isn't worthwhile, this one's for you. Connect with me on LinkedIn Learn more about CyberSynapse

How can deep customer understanding drive more effective B2B marketing strategies?This special Hard Corps Marketing Show takeover episode features an episode from the Connect To Market podcast, hosted by Casey Cheshire. In this conversation, Casey sits down with Greg Perotto, VP of Global Marketing at Poggio to explore the power of deep customer understanding in shaping successful B2B go-to-market efforts. Greg emphasizes the critical need to move beyond surface-level personas and truly understand customer needs, priorities, and challenges to drive meaningful marketing and sales alignment.He shares how AI technologies can be leveraged to continuously update and deliver relevant, real-time context about customers, helping teams create more personalized and impactful experiences. Greg also reflects on his own career journey, offering advice on mentorship, self-awareness, and finding purpose in your work.In this episode, we cover:How to move beyond static personas and gain real-time, contextual customer understandingThe role of AI in scaling personalized marketing and keeping insights fresh and actionableWhy product-market fit is a moving target and how to stay aligned with evolving customer needsHow to use customer context as a strategic advantage in sales conversations and GTM planning

Aydin sits down with Mike Potter, CEO and co-founder of Rewind, to talk about how AI is changing both the risk and opportunity landscape for SaaS companies. They cover how AI agents are now deleting real customer data, why backup is more critical than ever, and how Rewind became an AI-native org with dedicated AI ownership, monthly Lunch & Learns, and real internal workflows.Mike walks through the exact N8N workflows he uses to:Auto-triage his Gmail into multiple inboxes using AIGenerate a daily AI brief based on tasks, calendar events, and past email contextAnalyze churn, win/loss, and internal product data using Claude and MCPThey close with Mike's “dream automation”: a full AI-generated business review that looks across financials, CRM data, and benchmarks.Timestamps:0:00 — Welcome to the show0:31 — Mike's intro & what Rewind backs up across SaaS ecosystems1:40 — AI agents as a new failure mode and how Rewind “saves you from your AI”4:05 — Turning Rewind into an AI-native company early on4:53 — First attempt at AI-built integrations (why it failed then, why it might work now)7:23 — Developers trading tedious integration maintenance for more interesting AI work9:45 — Code vs architecture: the Shopify webhooks story and handling 1.1B+ events14:03 — Hiring an AI Engineer: scope, responsibilities, and why background mattered15:33 — How Rewind drove AI adoption: Lunch & Learns, “use it in your personal life,” experimentation20:53 — How AI Lunch & Learns actually run across multiple offices and remote folks23:10 — Examples: CS tools, Alloy prototypes, AI video voiceovers, end-to-end workflows25:13 — Churn workflows: combining uninstall reasons from multiple marketplaces into Claude27:06 — Win/loss and internal analytics using Claude Projects + MCP server into an internal DB29:14 — Choosing between Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini depending on the task (and re-testing every few months)31:23 — Mike's Gmail system: multiple inboxes + N8N + AI classification36:07 — Inside the email-classifier prompt and AI-powered spam that beats Gmail filters41:34 — The “Daily AI Brief”: pulling tasks, meetings, and prior email threads into a single morning email45:02 — Letting AI write and debug N8N workflows (and how assistants in tools are getting better)48:58 — Wishlist: automated AI business review across finance, Salesforce, and SaaS benchmarks51:23 — Closing thoughts: so many useful tools are possible, but GTM is the hard partTools & Technologies MentionedRewind – Backup and restore for mission-critical SaaS applications.Claude – LLM used for analysis, projects, agents, and internal tools.ChatGPT / OpenAI (GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini) – LLMs used for code, prompts, and workflow JSON.N8N – Automation platform used to build email and daily-brief workflows.Gmail – Email client where AI-powered labels drive multiple inboxes.Google Calendar – Calendar data powering the daily AI agenda.Google Tasks – Task list feeding into the morning brief email.MCP (Model Context Protocol) – Connects Claude to Rewind's internal databases.Alloy – Tool for building interactive product UI prototypes.Salesforce – CRM used for pipeline, churn, and win/loss analysis.Gumloop – Workflow tool with an embedded AI assistant.Zapier – Automation platform referenced for plain-English workflow creation.Fellow – AI meeting assistant for summaries, action items, and insights.Subscribe at⁠ thisnewway.com⁠ to get the step-by-step playbooks, tools, and workflows.

If you're planning your 2026 biz dev strategy without real market data, you're guessing. In this episode, I talk with friend of the show Nicholas Petroski, founder of Promethean Research and creator of the Digital Agency Referral Playbook, about what the numbers actually say—and how top agencies are using referrals, account growth, and GTM clarity to build next year's plan. This is the clearest look you'll get at what's really moving the needle heading into 2026.

Most sales teams think they have a strategy problem — but what they really have is a targeting problem, a culture problem, and a misalignment problem that quietly kills pipeline long before a rep picks up the phone.In this episode, we break down:• Why your ICP is unclear (even if you think it's fine)• How high-performing teams build a 10-year roadmap• Why most above-the-line campaigns fail• What sales transformation actually requires• How to fix internal resistance and create momentum• The biggest mistakes leaders make in GTM execution• And the $100M analogy you'll never forget.This isn't another “tips & tricks” sales conversation.This is the real blueprint behind culture, alignment, and strategic execution in modern revenue teams.

Databox is an easy-to-use Analytics Platform for growing businesses. We make it easy to centralize and view your entire company's marketing, sales, revenue, and product data in one place, so you always know how you're performing. Learn More About DataboxSubscribe to our newsletter for episode summaries, benchmark data, and moreMost marketers are told: “Tie your plan to revenue.” But how?In this fast-paced live episode, Sam Kuehnle (VP of Marketing at Loxo) breaks down a practical, no-fluff process for building a marketing plan that earns buy-in from leadership, aligns with sales, and actually hits targets.No vanity metrics. No fake forecasts. Just real talk on what's working, what's not — and how to plan smarter.In this episode, you'll learn:How to calculate marketing's share of company revenue goalsWhat “bottoms-up” and “top-down” planning really look likeWhy most funnels leak at the demo-to-meeting stageHow to avoid wasting budget on channels you haven't proven yetThe spreadsheet Sam uses to model all of thisThis is your playbook if you're tired of MQL theater and want to lead with strategy, not guesswork.

Most sales orgs brag about being data-driven, then bury SDRs under forty-seven KPIs, endless meetings, overlapping territories, hope-based quotas, and tool sprawl. That's not accountability. It's anxiety by design.In this episode, Brandon Bornancin breaks down the five GTM design flaws quietly crushing performance and shows you what elite VPs do instead. You'll learn how to cut to five controllable KPIs, replace meeting bloat with async updates, assign single-account ownership, rebuild quotas from real capacity, and collapse your stack so the next action lives in the CRM.Brandon lays out the templates, rules of engagement, and compensation tweaks that turn chaos into throughput... without burning out your best reps. 

Fifteen years in, it can still feel like “we're just getting started.”Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of Cloudflare, returns to Grit with Joubin Mirzadegan to share how Cloudflare secures the internet for millions, with a vision built to last generations.She also shares why staying close to reality and to customers becomes harder as success compounds, and how Cloudflare is helping content creators regain control in an AI driven internet.Guest: Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder and President of CloudflareConnect with Michelle ZatlynXLinkedIn​Connect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com​Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Jeanne DeWitt Grosser built world-class GTM teams at Stripe, Google, and, most recently, Vercel, where she serves as COO and oversees marketing, sales, customer success, revenue operations, and field engineering. She transformed Stripe's early sales organization from the ground up and advises founders on GTM strategy.We discuss:1. Why GTM is becoming more strategically important in the AI era2. The rise of the GTM engineer3. A primer on segmentation4. How to build a sales org that engineers and product teams respect5. The changing calculus of build vs. buy for go-to-market tools in the AI era6. Why most customers buy to avoid pain rather than to gain upside—Brought to you by:Datadog—Now home to Eppo, the leading experimentation and feature flagging platform: https://www.datadoghq.com/lennyLovable—Build apps by simply chatting with AI: https://lovable.dev/Stripe—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue: https://stripe.com/—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-the-best-gtm-teams-do-differently—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/179503137/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Jeanne DeWitt Grosser:• X: https://x.com/jdewitt29• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannedewitt—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Jeanne DeWitt Grosser(05:26) Defining go-to-market(08:43) The evolution of go-to-market roles(11:23) The rise of the go-to-market engineer(14:21) Implementing AI in sales processes(15:28) Optimizing sales with AI agents(23:47) Defining sales roles: SDRs and AEs(26:04) When to hire a GTM engineer(29:04) Hiring and scaling sales teams(30:50) The ideal go-to-market engineer(34:24) The go-to-market tool stack(40:39) Advice on building a great sales bot(44:34) Vercel's unfair advantage(46:37) Go-to-market as a product(47:04) Innovative sales tactics at Stripe(52:38) Effective go-to-market tactics(01:00:37) Segmentation strategies(01:09:31) Building a sales org that engineers love(01:14:00) Thoughts on PLG and pricing(01:16:44) Sales compensation and hiring(01:19:24) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Vercel: https://vercel.com• Stripe: https://stripe.com• Rosalind Franklin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin• Ben Salzman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensalzman• SDK: https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/introduction• Gong: https://www.gong.io• Lyft: https://www.lyft.com• Instacart: https://www.instacart.com• DoorDash: https://www.instacart.com• “Sell the alpha, not the feature”: The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-enterprise-sales-playbook-1m-to-10m-arr• A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting• Kate Jensen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateearle• Lessons from scaling Stripe | Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tactics• Atlassian: atlassian.com—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com