Podcasts about Martech

Marketers need to stop overusing "AI" in every campaign and keynote presentation. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, explains why artificial intelligence should be treated as standard marketing practice rather than a buzzword. She advocates for eliminating jargon like "democratize" from marketing vocabulary and treating AI-powered personalization as fundamental to modern ecommerce strategy. Cole also discusses how Bloomreach's platform integrates customer data to deliver individualized experiences without relying on trendy terminology.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI marketing buzzwords obscure real business value. Amanda Cole, CMO of Bloomreach, explains why marketers should stop using "AI" and "democratize" in presentations. She advocates for focusing on practical customer data unification and real-time personalization strategies. Cole discusses how modern ecommerce platforms should seamlessly integrate predictive models without the marketing hype.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marketing teams obsess over vanity metrics instead of customer happiness. Amanda Cole, CMO of Bloomreach, explains why effective marketing strategy mirrors baking perfect cookies. She outlines how AI-powered personalization platforms unify customer and product data for real-time individualized experiences. Cole also discusses moving beyond "AI marketing" buzzwords to focus on embedded intelligence that drives actual business outcomes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marketing teams obsess over vanity metrics instead of customer happiness. Amanda Cole, CMO of Bloomreach, explains why effective marketing strategy mirrors baking perfect cookies. She outlines how AI-powered personalization platforms unify customer and product data for real-time individualized experiences. Cole also discusses moving beyond "AI marketing" buzzwords to focus on embedded intelligence that drives actual business outcomes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on Leader Generation, Tessa Burg welcomes back Linda Owens, Global Vice President of Digital Customer Experience at Sherwin-Williams. Six years after becoming the podcast's very first guest, Linda returns to discuss how B2B leaders can navigate rapid changes in technology, AI and buyer behavior while staying focused on what matters most: the customer. Linda shares practical advice for separating meaningful trends from hype, creating trust earlier in the buying journey and designing customer experiences that reduce friction across every touchpoint. She also explains why customer obsession should drive every decision, how to use experimentation without losing sight of scale and what leaders need to do to successfully manage change across their organizations. Whether you're leading digital transformation, evaluating AI initiatives or looking for ways to create more value for customers, this conversation offers actionable insights you can apply immediately. Tune in to learn how today's most effective B2B leaders are building customer experiences that drive both business growth and long-term loyalty. Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. About Linda Owens: Linda Owens is the Global Vice President of Digital Customer Experience at Sherwin-Williams, where she leads initiatives that advance digital customer experiences, scale eBusiness capabilities and drive enterprise transformation. With more than 20 years of experience spanning marketing, sales, ecommerce and digital customer experience, she has helped organizations modernize customer engagement and accelerate growth across B2B and B2C markets. Throughout her career, Linda has led cross-functional teams and developed digital strategies that improve customer experiences across channels and global regions. Her expertise includes ecommerce strategy, digital marketing, customer journey optimization, CRM lifecycle programs, Martech and digital innovation. She is passionate about simplifying complexity, empowering high-performing teams and creating customer-centric solutions that deliver measurable business impact. Linda can be reached on LinkedIn. About Tessa Burg: Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at Tessa.Burg@ModOp.com.

What's up folks, welcome to our 4 part series of Crawling THROUGH THE DUNGEON OF MARTECH ARCHITECTUREYou've arrived at Part1 : The Fall of CRM Gravity (00:00) - Intro (00:57) - In This Episode (01:31) - Sponsor: MoEngage (02:28) - Sponsor: Knak (04:53) - FLOOR 1: Why the CRM Lost Its Authority (06:09) - Why Every Team Moved Into the CRM (And How It Lost Its Authority) (13:57) - Why Sharing CRM Data Always Breaks It (18:02) - Why CRM Gravity Outlasts the Technical Argument (24:04) - BOSS BATTLE: The False Truth King (25:44) - Sponsor: GrowthLoop (26:48) - Sponsor: GrowthBench (34:56) - Why Centralizing Data Only to Copy It Out Defeats the Purpose (39:31) - BOSS BATTLE: The Export Hydra (40:53) - How to Move to a Warehouse-Native Architecture (46:36) - How to Achieve Portable Audiences (56:52) - How CLI/MCP Servers Are Changing Marketing Stack Integration ---------------------------------------------------------------------------OPENING---------------------------------------------------------------------------Welcome to the descent into the Dungeon of Martech Architecture, a 4-part journey through the unhinged and constantly expanding world of marketing technology.As a massive sci-fi fan currently reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, I have used their level-by-level progression as the direct inspiration for this 'dungeon crawl' analogy, and while you don't need to know the books to enjoy the journey, those who do will recognize some of the gaming lore and achievement-style rewards woven into our descent. This will be educational and helpful for anyone that works and builds martech, and hopefully it's also a bit fun. Without a doubt though, it will be weird. Here is your quick guide to the floors ahead:Episode 1: CRM GravityYou'll conquer the source of truth and discover that the data warehouse replaces the CRM with portable audiences.Episode 2: The Eye of ContextYou'll learn why AI fails without shared meaning, why context engineering is the layer between data and agent authority, and why the industry built the wrong kind of meaning infrastructure in 2012.Episode 3: The Correlation MasqueradeYou'll escape the correlation trap and build the causal memory layer that separates agents that optimize correctly from agents that confidently scale the wrong behavior.Episode 4: The Dispatch TowerYou'll tackle the governance chaos of 30 vendors all claiming authority, and confront the interface decision that most organizations already made without realizing it.Let's start our descent.---Be honest: when was the last time you pulled up a number in your CRM and actually trusted it? like… no second-guessing, no “that feels a bit off”… just total confidence?Maybe you didn't really have time to double check the logic behind the number and you were too excited to share the positive results. So you forwarded it to a peer. Or maybe you've been in that meeting… 2 people arguing over a number, both pull it up in the same CRM, and somehow get 2 completely different answers… and no one can explain which one's actually right.We've all been there, we've felt it. That dark, creeping dread. When “which number is right?” gets answered with “well… it depends who built the report,”. They know it. You know it. The CRM admin knows it. Everyone in the room knows it. You don't have a source of truth… just a CRM that's turned into a dumping ground of lost updates that have slowly compounded into competing versions of reality.Call it counterfeit truth or data mirage… I call it bad data. Data that has the appearance of authority without the actual authority behind it. It's everywhere in the modern marketing stack. And the CRM is often where it starts.That's where our first boss is hiding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------FLOOR 1: Why the CRM Lost Its Authority---------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're in B2B or B2C the first floor looks a bit different but only because of terminology. In B2B the 2 cornerstone platforms are the CRM and the MAP: the Customer Relationship Management software and the Marketing Automation Platform. Sales works in the former, marketing works in the latter, ops is stuck making the two talk to each other.In B2C though, for some reason you all decided that the MAP is actually called a CRM and the B2B version of the CRM isn't really needed because there's often no sales team, instead it's a customer support or product led motion.In both scenarios though the same thing happens to that central platform. It gets inherited by teams that weren't its original audience. It accumulates data it wasn't designed to hold. And it becomes the unofficial source of truth for the whole business without anyone explicitly deciding that was a good idea.Why Every Team Moved Into the CRM (And How It Lost Its Authority)So how did we get here? CRMs were built for one job: tracking the sales motion. Contacts, deals, stages, activity logs. They were good at that job. Then marketing moved in. Marketers ruin everything. But leadership is worse. Leadership started pulling board metrics from the CRM. Then the product team added usage data. Then we added ABM and account signals, and we had to push that data somewhere. Then AI interactions needed a home.What a mess.Everyone needed a record of the customer, and the CRM was already there. It's literally called the Customer Relationship Manager. So it became the shared folder everyone saved their customer work into, even though it was designed for a very specific kind of work.The problem is that once data is stored in a CRM, it starts reflecting the team that works there. Sales edits the contact. Marketing overwrites a field. Customer success adds a note. Each edit is local logic applied to what everyone assumes is shared truth. The data looks official but you know deep down that the authority behind it belongs to whoever edited it last.Meg Gowell, Head of Marketing at Elly.ai and former Head of Marketing at Typeform  crossed over from a Salesforce-first organization to one where the warehouse had already taken over:MEG GOWELL, Episode 155“The tricky part of our tech stack is that I'm used to Salesforce or HubSpot being the single source of truth. Here, our core business is represented more in the data warehouse than anywhere else, and Salesforce supports the sales-led part of the business.Understanding how those data pieces come together is something I'm still working through. I've only been here three and a half or four months, and it's tricky. The biggest challenge is figuring out how the self-serve and sales-led motions fit together. In PLG, they have to serve one another. If your tech stack doesn't support that, it becomes really hard.We run into questions like: do we have all the right data points in the right places for people to act on them? Do we know everything we need to know? I've really experienced how important the underlying data structure is, and how important consistency across tools is.In the past, there was this wide spectrum. In one area, we had a very advanced multi-touch attribution system. In another area, it was very basic reporting. So there was this weird mix of super deep and super surface-level, but without an underlying structure that fully worked.I think that happens to a lot of companies when they're growing fast. You take opportunities where you see them, and you move quickly. Now we're taking a step back and saying: we really ...

Personalization at scale remains one of marketing's biggest technical challenges. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, brings over 15 years of SaaS marketing experience and expertise in AI-powered ecommerce platforms. Cole discusses how AI has evolved beyond buzzword status to become fundamental marketing infrastructure, comparing effective personalization strategies to precision baking where timing and ingredient ratios determine success. She outlines practical frameworks for unifying customer and product data across marketing channels and explains how real-time individualization drives measurable commerce growth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Personalization at scale remains one of marketing's biggest technical challenges. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, brings over 15 years of SaaS marketing experience and expertise in AI-powered ecommerce platforms. Cole discusses how AI has evolved beyond buzzword status to become fundamental marketing infrastructure, comparing effective personalization strategies to precision baking where timing and ingredient ratios determine success. She outlines practical frameworks for unifying customer and product data across marketing channels and explains how real-time individualization drives measurable commerce growth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Despite massive investment in AI, many organizations are struggling to generate meaningful business impact. Why? According to Paul Shirer, most companies are treating AI as a tooling problem when it's really a workflow and adoption problem.In this episode, hosts Michael Hartmann sit down with Paul, Founder & CEO of Infinite Ideas AI and Director of AI & GTM Technology at Bridge Partners. Together, they discussed where AI adoption goes wrong, how leaders should think about workflow design and decision-making, and what it actually takes to move beyond experimentation toward measurable value.In this episode:Why AI is a workflow and adoption problem, not a tooling problemWhat's really causing the high failure rate of AI initiativesHow to tell useful AI adoption apart from "agent sprawl"Why Paul moved away from end-to-end automated workflows, and what changed his mindWhat a connected workspace looks like in practiceBalancing flexibility and governance when every team wants a custom solutionWhy the data layer matters even more in an AI-driven environmentWhether you're being asked to justify AI investments or trying to turn experimentation into real results, this is a practical conversation for operators closing the gap between AI hype and AI impact.Learn more about MarketingOps and The MO Pros community at MarketingOps.com.If you enjoyed this episode, do subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone in the ops community who would find it valuable.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Most founders chase venture capital like oxygen, but the man who pulled off India's first major dot-com exit built a bootstrapped SaaS company to over $100M in revenue without a single growth round. He also argues that $500 billion of global ad spend is being set on fire every year, and that marketing as we know it is quietly broken. The man behind India's first internet portal, Rajesh Jain sold IndiaWorld to Sify for $115 million in 1999, a deal he closed in 15 days at 166 times revenue, just before the dot-com bubble burst. He then spent nearly a decade failing at everything before turning Netcore Cloud into a full-stack MarTech platform now serving 6,500+ brands across 40 countries, helping them retain customers across email, WhatsApp, and AI-driven personalization. Across this conversation with host Akshay Datt, Rajesh explains why 90% of marketing budgets go to acquisition while customers quietly churn, why he runs his company like an autocracy rather than a democracy, and how MarTech AI agents and "AI twins" will reshape customer retention marketing. As the AI boom draws constant comparisons to 1999, hearing from a founder who survived one bubble and is now betting on the next makes this especially timely.

REMIX: Album 5 Track 15 - The Pursuit of Balance in the BoardroomBrand Nerds! Get ready...we are talking about life inside and outside of the boardroom. Jeryn Turner is not only a successful business professional, she is also a yoga instructor and author who finds balance in life. She's inspiring us to think differently while still being successful and authentic.A jew-el dropper you don't want to miss! Here are a few key takeaways from the episode:Are you balanced in the boardroom?Go places you are loved, encouraged, and supported. That's where you thrive.Throwing away the script. Living authentically. The power of "AND" | Analog in a digital world.  NOTES:Connect with Jeryn at:www.JerynTurner.comInstagram: @spelmangeminiTwitter: @JerynTurnerFacebook: Jeryn TurnerView Her Books Here. Show Partner: SpecificityLearn More About Specificity Stay Up-To-Date on All Things Brands, Beats, & Bytes on SocialInstagram | Twitter

Zeta Global explores how organisations can unlock the full value of loyalty data and turn it into a powerful driver of customer growth, in conversation with Georgia Gkolfinopoulou and Chad S.White. Despite widespread recognition of loyalty programs as key engagement engines, many brands still struggle to translate data into action.Drawing on insights from a Forrester Consulting study, the discussion highlights persistent challenges including fragmented MarTech stacks, siloed systems, and limited data integration. While most organisations collect first- and zero-party data, many lack the infrastructure and alignment needed to activate it effectively across channels.Georgia and Chad, outline a clear path forward—centralised customer data, advanced analytics, and true omnichannel orchestration—alongside the growing role of AI, data augmentation, and intent signals. Together, these capabilities are reshaping loyalty from a transactional tool into a long-term customer relationship and growth engine.Hosted by Bridget Blaise-ShamaiShow Notes:1)Zeta Global 2)Georgia Gkolfinopoulou3)Chad S.White4)Forrester Consulting study5) Start with Why - Simon Sinek - Book Recommendation by Georgia6) The Checklist Manifesto - Book Recommendation by Chad7) Email Marketing Rules book by Chad S. White

We're told AI will revolutionize marketing, but many leaders are finding it just creates more content chaos and operational risk. Is the answer more AI, or a fundamentally different approach to how AI is managed?Today we are at PegaWorld 2026 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and, we're going to talk about:- The shift from generative AI for content creation to agentic AI for end-to-end campaign execution.- How to orchestrate multiple AI agents to move from a marketing brief to a live, personalized campaign in minutes, not weeks.- Implementing the governance and human oversight necessary to scale AI-driven marketing responsibly and avoid the risks of uncontrolled automation.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Tara DeZao, Director of Product Marketing, AdTech and MarTech at Pega. About Tara DeZao Tara DeZao, Director of Product Marketing, AdTech and MarTech at Pega, is passionate about helping clients deliver better, more empathetic customer experiences backed by artificial intelligence. Over the last decade, she has cultivated a successful career in the marketing departments of both startups and Fortune 500 enterprise technology companies. She is a subject matter expert on all things marketing and has authored articles that have appeared in AdExchanger, VentureBeat, MarTech Series and more. Tara received her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Tara DeZao on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taradezao/ ---------- Resources ---------- : https://www.pega.com Pega provides the leading AI-powered platform for enterprise transformation. The world's most influential organizations trust Pega's technology to reimagine how work gets done by automating workflows, personalizing customer experiences, and modernizing legacy systems. Since 1983, Pega's scalable, flexible architecture has fueled continuous innovation, helping clients accelerate their path to the autonomous enterprise. Learn more at Pega.com We're proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fDon't miss We Make Future - the International Festival of Innovation in AI, Tech, and Digital Marketing, June 24-26 in Bologna. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c80991afff416bb2The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The "Godfather of Martech" Scott Brinker joins the NinjaCat podcast to unpack his 2026 State of Martech Report, discuss why and detail how AI is driving a fundamental transformation in marketing and business, and explain the many ways martech is evolving. SHOWPAGE: www.ninjacat.io/blog/wgm-podcast-what-comes-after-martech  © 2026, NinjaCat

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!What if the biggest marketing problem in your organization isn't the marketing team at all?In this episode, Michael Hartmann sits down with Charral Izhiman, Head of Marketing at Bayobab and author of The Marketing Movement, for a conversation about why so many organizations still misunderstand what marketing is supposed to do, and what it takes to fix that from both sides.Charral's perspective is refreshingly different. Her book isn't written to teach marketers how to market. It's written to help non-marketing leaders understand how to actually work with marketing. That framing opens up a rich discussion about the gap between strategy and execution, and why Ops professionals may be the best-positioned people in the business to close it. In this conversation, they discuss:The outdated assumptions organizations still hold about marketing, and how marketers unintentionally reinforce themWhy Ops teams sitting at the intersection of marketing, sales, finance, and leadership are uniquely positioned as translators across the businessThe SHAPE framework, and why "Activation" is the overlooked layer between planning and resultsWhy organizations romanticize strategy and celebrate execution but skip operational readiness in the middleThe Formula 1 metaphor for marketing leadership: everything that has to come together before you can even competeWhether you're in Marketing Ops, RevOps, or marketing leadership, this episode is full of ideas for anyone trying to bridge the gap between strategy, operations, and the rest of the business. The conversation doesn't end here. Explore the full SHAPE framework and more in Charral's book, The Marketing Movement: https://themarketing-movement.com/Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation beyond basic automation. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, shares how global organizations can strategically deploy artificial intelligence across complex customer acquisition and engagement programs. He outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for AI adoption: experience delivery optimization, advanced measurement analytics, and foundational tool development. Brown also explains why forward-looking AI projections often fail and how marketing leaders should focus on proven AI applications like summarization and synthesis rather than predictive capabilities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation beyond basic automation. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, shares how global organizations can strategically deploy artificial intelligence across complex customer acquisition and engagement programs. He outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for AI adoption: experience delivery optimization, advanced measurement analytics, and foundational tool development. Brown also explains why forward-looking AI projections often fail and how marketing leaders should focus on proven AI applications like summarization and synthesis rather than predictive capabilities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation at scale. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, explains how AI transforms marketing operations across global B2B and B2C segments. He outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for AI adoption: delivering personalized experiences, measuring performance with advanced analytics, and building foundational marketing technology tools. Brown also identifies the limitations of AI in forward-looking projections and emphasizes the importance of human judgment in strategic decision-making.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation at scale. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, explains how AI transforms marketing operations across global B2B and B2C segments. He outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for AI adoption: delivering personalized experiences, measuring performance with advanced analytics, and building foundational marketing technology tools. Brown also identifies the limitations of AI in forward-looking projections and emphasizes the importance of human judgment in strategic decision-making.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams are overusing AI for forward-looking projections. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, explains why AI excels at summarization but struggles with predictive accuracy. Brown outlines Adobe's three-pillar AI framework: delivering enhanced customer experiences through optimized content and advertising, implementing advanced measurement systems for campaign performance, and building foundational marketing automation tools that accelerate customer acquisition without relying on unreliable forecasting capabilities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams are overusing AI for forward-looking projections. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, explains why AI excels at summarization but struggles with predictive accuracy. Brown outlines Adobe's three-pillar AI framework: delivering enhanced customer experiences through optimized content and advertising, implementing advanced measurement systems for campaign performance, and building foundational marketing automation tools that accelerate customer acquisition without relying on unreliable forecasting capabilities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Album 8 Track 17: The Mythology Behind a Great Marketer w/Louis MonoyudisWhat does an undergrad degree in folklore and mythology have to do with scaling direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands to millions in revenue? Everything.In this episode of Brands, Beats, and Bytes, hosts Darryl "DC" Cobbin and Larry Taman sit down with seasoned executive Louis Monoyudis (CMO at Artware Editions, former global CMO at Bokksu, Fable Pets, Levo, and Roam). Louis pulls back the curtain on how a deep understanding of human narrative, ritual, and "belief" acts as the ultimate foundation for hyper-growth marketing.Discover why data infrastructure must balance founder intuition , the real reason crowdsourced fashion platforms face massive scaling hurdles , and what "agentic shopping" means for the survival of the traditional brand website. Whether you are a founder battling hubris or a marketer trying to stay ahead of the AI curve, this episode provides a masterclass on balancing creative judgment with business performance.Key Takeaways: The Fine Line Between Religion and MythEscaping the Echo ChamberThe Reality of Decision FatigueAgentic AI & The Future of ShoppingHuman Taste vs. Machine DataThe ROI of CommunityDon't forget to subscribe, rate, and share with a fellow Brand Nerd!Instagram | LinkedIn

Enterprise marketing leaders struggle with AI implementation at scale. Patrick Brown, SVP of Global Marketing at Adobe, shares how his team operationalizes AI across customer acquisition and engagement programs. Brown explains why AI excels at content summarization and synthesis but fails at forward-looking projections, and outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for deploying AI in experience delivery, measurement analytics, and foundational tool development.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing leaders struggle with AI implementation at scale. Patrick Brown, SVP of Global Marketing at Adobe, shares how his team operationalizes AI across customer acquisition and engagement programs. Brown explains why AI excels at content summarization and synthesis but fails at forward-looking projections, and outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for deploying AI in experience delivery, measurement analytics, and foundational tool development.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation at scale. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, shares how global organizations can practically deploy artificial intelligence across customer acquisition and engagement functions. He explains why AI excels at summarization and synthesis but requires human judgment for forward-looking projections, and outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for integrating AI into experience delivery, measurement systems, and foundational marketing tools.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation at scale. Patrick Brown, Vice President of Growth Marketing & Insights at Adobe, shares how global organizations can practically deploy artificial intelligence across customer acquisition and engagement functions. He explains why AI excels at summarization and synthesis but requires human judgment for forward-looking projections, and outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for integrating AI into experience delivery, measurement systems, and foundational marketing tools.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation beyond basic automation. Patrick Brown, SVP of Global Marketing at Adobe, shares his perspective on scaling AI across complex B2B and B2C marketing operations. Brown discusses why AI excels at content summarization and synthesis but falls short on predictive forecasting, and outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for integrating AI into experience delivery, measurement systems, and foundational marketing tools.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Description The Future of Tech is Here. Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this presentation from Ultimate Partner Live, industry analyst Jay McBain breaks down the monumental macroeconomic shifts rewriting the tech sector in 2026. https://youtu.be/r0qTDyw97Gs As the industry rapidly approaches a $6.07 trillion valuation, driven by massive AI infrastructure investments from Sam Altman and the “Magnificent Seven,” traditional sales and channel models are fundamentally collapsing. McBain reveals how buyer demographics have transformed to an integration-first millennial base, why marketplace ecosystems now command over half of all partner-funded deals, and how a tiny elite of just 1,000 tech service providers control two-thirds of global tech revenue. Learn the exact mechanics behind how Microsoft out-partnered AWS to win 26 straight quarters of dominant growth and how your business can deploy an algorithmic early warning system to capture massive wallet share before competitors even step into the boardroom. Key Takeaways Over half of the Fortune 500 companies vanish every 20 years because their leadership fails to anticipate macroeconomic technological cycles. The true opportunity in the $6.5 trillion AI boom lies not in single vendor products, but in the hardware, software, services, and telecom ecosystem surrounding them. Indirect tech sales are undergoing a structural shift toward direct cloud hyperscaler models driven heavily by Nvidia's core infrastructure client base. Modern business deals are won or lost months before the point of sale based on the average of 6.3 partners surrounding a customer’s environment. Over 51% of tech buyers are now millennials who prioritize software integration capabilities and digital marketplaces over traditional human sales interactions. Tech service economics are pivoting aggressively away from upfront margins toward point-based multi-partner funding across subscription cycles. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Nvidia AI buildout, $7 trillion AI opportunity, cloud ecosystem decade, Microsoft vs AWS growth, multi-partner cloud deals, digital marketplace migration, millennial B2B buyers, B2B tech subscription economics, tokenized micro consumption, tech services wallet share, hybrid cloud infrastructure, 28 customer moments, IT services industry growth, telecom spend breakdown, channel chief strategy, managed service providers MSP, global systems integrators GSI, software integration first, point-based vendor incentives, automated co-selling workflows Transcript JAY McBAIN AUDIO PODCAST [00:00:00] Jay McBain: So to go back to that story about the 53% of companies who are gonna fail, one of us is gonna be asked to write the book, but chapter one is always you Blame the CEO. [00:00:13] Vince Menzione: We just came back from Ultimate Partner live in Bellevue, Washington, where we hosted incredible leaders for two amazing days. Come join us for this next session where we explore the tectonic shifts we’ve all been seeing. With that, I am incredibly blessed to invite a friend of mine to the stage. I have a quick little side note, like I found an old LinkedIn post from this gentleman from like many years ago, like 20 years ago. [00:00:39] Vince Menzione: And I wasn’t really that nice to you on that LinkedIn post. Like, oh, like this is before Jay became the Jay, that we all know Jay to be j. But he was in the space and I was at Microsoft doing something and he reached out about something. It was kind of rude, Jay. I was like, oh my gosh. I can’t believe. But Jay has been a great friend. [00:00:54] Vince Menzione: When we started the podcast back up, uh, during COVID we started doing podcasts together. When we moved to the studio, Jay was the first person in the studio. He’s always got a spot, uh, at our events. He’s s Spot Art, and, and he’s a great friend and supporter of Ultimate Partner Jay McBain. For those of you who don’t know him, Jay, welcome. [00:01:13] Vince Menzione: Thank you, sir. [00:01:22] Jay McBain: 31 days ago, we landed Artemis two. The furthest humans have ever been away from the planet Earth 57 years ago. We landed on the moon in the 56 years. Between those two moments, the tech industry has been the fastest growing industry in the world. Every single year we moved from the space race to the technology race, and we’re just getting started. [00:01:46] Jay McBain: If you’re old enough, you’ll recognize the mainframe and mini era for 20 years. You’ll recognize a young disheveled Bill Gates showing up in Boca Raton, Florida for, uh, August the 12th, 1981 launch, where Bill thought that every one of us would’ve a PC in our home, and IBM thought they were gonna sell 10,000 of them to hobbyists. [00:02:12] Jay McBain: 1999, a small startup from an executive who just left Oracle in San Francisco named Mark Benioff. A couple of years later, Jeff Bezos went into a boardroom and said, listen, we’ve spent a lot of money building infrastructure to our busiest day, Christmas, black Friday. You’re telling me this stuff sits idle 10 or 20% for the rest of the year. [00:02:35] Jay McBain: Why don’t we rent that out to others? Got laughed outta that boardroom and then got made of fun of on magazine covers. Maybe you should just tend the store, let the adults talk about technology. In March of 2023, our neighbors, our friends, our family saw DeepFakes. They saw poetry, they saw music, and they came to us as tech people and said, did we just light up Skynet? [00:03:03] Jay McBain: Now every one of these 20 year eras, this is the Taylor Swift version of our industry. Every single one of these eras triggers the fastest growing product in history. Today it’s actually Chacha bt first to a billion users. It triggers a new, richest person in the world, bill Gates, to Jeff Bezos. Now, Elon Musk is the first to sign a trillion dollar pay package, and it’s not for car. [00:03:27] Jay McBain: It’s not for cars. It also triggers a most valuable company in the world change. And today that’s nvidia. These are monumental changes in our industry and they’re monumental changes in partnering every single time. And it also links to our customers. If you take a 20 year view of business, one era, and, and think about the AI era, you know, at the start of it here, if you’re to grab the Fortune 500 magazine from 20 years ago and start to flip through it, 53% of the companies in there no longer exist. [00:04:06] Jay McBain: Every 20 year cycle, we lose over half of the biggest companies in the world. These are the companies that have very deep pockets to buy their way outta problems. If you’re not in the Fortune 571% of tech companies don’t make it 10 years. These are the changes that cost industries. There are changes that cost really big companies and the decisions we make, the trends we’re in right now, in 2026 will be written about in the future. [00:04:39] Jay McBain: This new era, a lot of big numbers being thrown around. Vince’s best friend talk about a six and a half trillion dollar AI opportunity, but it’s not Microsoft’s tam. Microsoft is chasing about a trillion dollars of this. And the ecosystem, the hardware, the software, the services, the telecom is gonna make up the rest. [00:05:04] Jay McBain: It is an ecosystem. Every time these big numbers are thrown, the word ecosystem is always thrown around it. Not to be outdone, Sam Altman’s talking about a $7 trillion build out. The world economy this year, the world GDP will be 126. These are material numbers to world GDP, but even better, they’re both larger than our entire industry is today. [00:05:27] Jay McBain: So what took 56 years of the fastest growing industry this year will be $6.07 trillion. Big numbers, but it’s easier to think about it in terms of a dollar that our customers spend in that dollar. They’re gonna spend 25 cents on hardware. They’re gonna spend 25 cents on software. So for anyone that read the memo 15 years ago, that software’s gonna eat the world, there’s still a dollar a hardware to run every dollar of that software. [00:05:57] Jay McBain: And whether you’re thinking humanoid robots or whichever future you’re envisioning, there’s going to be a dollar of hardware to run every dollar of software for the next 20 years. There’s over 25 cents now in IT services, and in many cases, these services are growing faster than the product categories and just under 25 cents in telecom, that’s how it breaks out today. [00:06:19] Jay McBain: And this industry, which took 56 years to get to this point, is gonna double in size in the next three to five years. We already have two and a half trillion of that seven raised and being spent. Part of the reason Nvidia is the most valuable company in the world. Now our industry, uh, you talk about ultimate partnerships. [00:06:40] Jay McBain: Our industry traditionally, and world trade by the way, is 75% indirect. The dealerships, the agencies, the brokers, the resellers, the retailers, the franchisees, the gas stations, the grocery stores, the pharmacies, all 27 industries sell indirect. You gotta think back the last time you bought something direct. [00:07:01] Jay McBain: Well, I bought a Dell from that dude in the nineties. Cool. Well, Dell Technologies is now 60% indirect. Well, I bought insurance. Direct is 15 minutes. Could save me 15%. Well, Geico last year sold more insurance through agencies and brokers than they did direct. This is the world now. We used to be 75% indirect four years ago. [00:07:26] Jay McBain: Then it went to 73.2, then it went to 70.1 and it then it went to 66.7. By the way, marketplace is in these numbers indirect. It’s not marketplace causing this change. It’s one company, Nvidia. Nvidia has seven customers. The magnificent seven, uh, half of them are in the room right now that every morning we wake up to a hundred billion dollars press release about this $7 trillion buildout. [00:07:56] Jay McBain: What’s interesting is indirect sales in our industry is growing by revenue. It increases every year, just not at the pace that this AI build out is happening direct with seven companies. But the reason we’re all here, and I think the core reason that Vince is building this community is this, you know, Microsoft forever has measured and been very vocal. [00:08:21] Jay McBain: About 96% of their deals have partners in them. Kind of who cares, who collects the money. We care about the moments, the 28 moments before the customer makes a purchase. We care about every 30 days forever, because two thirds of our industry, over $4 trillion now is subscription consumption based. Winning a customer today is only winning the first 30 days. [00:08:46] Jay McBain: We care about this cycle. We care about who surrounds our customer. So six years ago, I stood on a big stage and said, you know, we went through a decade of sales. You know, in 1999, you thought you were born to be a salesperson. You’re managing your territory with your gut. Well, a few years later, you were introduced to the science of selling. [00:09:07] Jay McBain: You know, 10 years later you thought as a marketer, you sit around a cocktail party joking with your friends, 50% of my marketing dollars are wasted. I just don’t know which 50%. Really funny. In 2009 until every 58-year-old CMO got replaced by a 38-year-old growth hacker. Coming in with Marketo and Eloqua and Pardot and HubSpot, and 15,505 as of yesterday, MarTech and iTech tools, ninjas in marketing, they wouldn’t let a nickel go through without measuring. [00:09:43] Jay McBain: Now we understand 96% of deals and partners that surround it. No deal is gonna be won or lost in this era without partnering effectively. So we had to have this decade of the ecosystem. One of the ways we’re tracking is by outsiders. You know, Salesforce every year publishes the state of sales and they’ve got, you know, the number one CRM in the world. [00:10:05] Jay McBain: So they get to go talk to all the CROs, all the salespeople in the world. And as of this year, a couple months ago, 94% of every salesperson in every industry in the world uses partners every single day. You wanna see what this number was six years ago. Also, 89% of salespeople around the world don’t think they’re going to club this year without partners. [00:10:29] Jay McBain: So this is a big moment for us, halfway through the decade ecosystem, but we’re only halfway through. We’re starting to understand now at a more granular level. What partnering means. It’s not theory, it’s not flywheels. It’s not really cute. McKinsey slides that we keep showing to our board saying how important partnering is. [00:10:51] Jay McBain: We’re trying to get to the very specific level of the 6.3 partners on average that surround the deal and what they’re doing. How their business model works, and that’s average if I’m working on a public sector deal. I was at a Red Hat conference yesterday talking sovereignty. If I’m in an enterprise or a large public sector deal, it’s north of 10 partners in the deal. [00:11:15] Jay McBain: So we’re starting to understand what used to be this, this, you know, you’ve been the fastest growing industry for 56 straight years. Every single professional services person in every industry has come in to join the fund. Over 90% of accountants are tech services firms. Over 90% of marketing agencies are tech services agencies. [00:11:36] Jay McBain: All of this 250,000 software companies, a million emerging comp tech companies, the half a million VAR that have been in that traditional channel. The managed service providers, all of these 20 different partner types, millions of companies, tens of millions of people competing for 6.3 spots. Around the customer. [00:11:58] Jay McBain: That’s it. Luckily, there’s 141 million global customers to compete for. There’s, there’s some open slots that you can go find, and that’s the point. Our industry never had our own Fortune 500. We always talk to, you know, these partners and GSIs are doing this and SI are doing that. And we never really had a view of capability and capacity or what our own TAM was inside of that partnering. [00:12:25] Jay McBain: And so we set out and we would’ve loved, you know, chat GPT or Gemini or Claude or any of those tools to do this. But there’s one problem in partnering with AI is that it doesn’t know one partner from the next. There’s a big digital sameness problem in our industry that every single partner, whether it’s Larry in the White van or Accenture, with 786,000 employees all say they do all things to all people all the time. [00:12:53] Jay McBain: 98% of them, 99% of them are private companies that don’t share their p and l. You can’t go into Microsoft’s LinkedIn system and find out how many employees, ’cause it’s a block system, it AI can’t see into it. So it just sees, and it’s a great pattern matching. Google, SEO can’t figure out who’s who, nor today can the large language models. [00:13:14] Jay McBain: ’cause all the things they’re trying to match, the transformers are trying to match. It all looks the same. Every tweet, every ebook, every website, every digital history looks the same. So this took us thousands of people hours across two years to do, to dig into every p and l to dig into every dollar of what they’re doing. [00:13:33] Jay McBain: But what was interesting is only a thousand partners in our industry do two thirds of all tech services. When you get into enterprise, it goes up to 80 to 90%. The partners in the middle, in Blue do more tech services. The 30 of them than the 970 partners in white on the outside, the 970 partners in White do more tech services than the next million combined. [00:14:03] Jay McBain: This is our industry in a nutshell. Every time we talk to a a vendor, every time we talk to a partner, every time we talk to a distributor, we’re now talking names, faces, and places. You you wanna talk sovereignty. Yesterday in Atlanta, 90% of sovereign conversations in public sector in the globe is handled by these companies here. [00:14:26] Jay McBain: Forget about how much you do with these partners today. You wanna chase the next column, which is the wallet share. And I was a channel chief for 17 years. I get the weekly report and I see a million dollar partner, another million dollar partner, sorted top to bottom. You don’t know which partners which, which of those million dollar partners is doing 1.2 million in your category. [00:14:46] Jay McBain: They deserve a baseball cap and a front row seat at your event as an MVP. The next partner right next to them is doing 10 million in your category. They’re only doing a million with you. ’cause customers are pulling them into it. Nine times outta 10. They’re leading with your competitor. So I don’t want that list anymore. [00:15:03] Jay McBain: I want the new list, which is showing me those $9 million opportunities. And I as a board member, as A CEO, as a CFO, as a CRO, I wanna see this list. And then I want to talk people, processes, programs, technology. What are we gonna do to go get our fair share of that 9 million? Where’s our lowest hanging fruit? [00:15:24] Jay McBain: How do we double our pipeline? How do we double the size of our company in three years? It’s all right here. Let’s have very specific conversations and move away from flywheels and move around from force multipliers and and things like that in partnering. Let’s figure out how this partner community is surrounded. [00:15:45] Jay McBain: What do 10 million people who have to be smart in front of their customers every single day, what do they read? Where do they go and who do they follow? It’s the law of a few. This is the old Malcolm Gladwell of tipping point 10 million people in the broader channel. A hundred percent of our TAM comes down to only a thousand watering holes. [00:16:08] Jay McBain: 12% of that entire audience. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s over A million. People love podcasts. Number one way they learn the Joe Rogan effect. In our industry, there’s 121 podcasts. These are all public lists. You can go get on my LinkedIn newsletter on canals, oia. But there’s 121 podcasts that drive him forward. [00:16:28] Jay McBain: Really high up on that list, actually number one on the list is ultimate partner, Vince. That’s how I met. ’cause I asked people, 10 million people, you love this. You walk your dog, you drive to work, you listen to podcasts. I’m not the biggest podcast fan. It’s not number one on my list, but it’s number one on theirs. [00:16:44] Jay McBain: They say, you know, you gotta meet this guy, Vince. It’s unbelievable how great these podcasts are. They’re ultimate. [00:16:54] Jay McBain: Then I talked to Vince and said, but Vince, you know, 35% of your community, the 10 million people love to come to events like this one. The hallway conversations, the hotel lobby bar last night. This is what we love to do, especially post pandemic. It’s the number one way we learn. We learn from our peers, we learn from those around us, and, and the learn from the conversations we have here. [00:17:17] Jay McBain: We always remember these moments, you know, years and years later. There’s 352 choices. I’m going to five of them this week in five different cities. It’s a lot of coverage, but again, it’s a tighter li list of how people work. The magazine lists 106 of them associations like Conter. Now the GTIA peer groups, there’s 15 different spheres of influence, but only a thousand places. [00:17:43] Jay McBain: I could walk you through billionaire, after billionaire, after billionaire in this industry and show you how they did this. How did Arne Bellini at ConnectWise? How did Austin McCord at Datto, how did Nerdio become a unicorn? How did threat locker and huntress move away from 6,500 cyber companies and become unicorns over and over and over again? [00:18:05] Jay McBain: It’s only one slide. Unicorns and billionaires are made here, and a lot of people don’t get it. So walking away from Bellevue, a thousand partners, top down, a thousand watering holes, bottoms up. You’ve covered a hundred percent of your tam. You do it better than 10% of your competitor, 10% better than your competitors. [00:18:27] Jay McBain: You win. You carry that on your resume into the next company. You get a bigger job at a bigger pay scale. Let’s just walk through some examples. Cyber 91.7% of it goes through the channel. Huge channel audience. You know, if you’re in MarTech, it’s only 10%, but this one happens to be all channel, but that’s not the story. [00:18:48] Jay McBain: For every dollar that the 6,500 cyber companies are trying to close, there’s $2 in services. Plot twist, the products are grown at 11, the services are grown at 12.6. Your partners are growing faster than you are, and they will continue to for the next, at least five years, probably 10. So when I’m here, five years from now, you’ll hear in me talk about a three to one split in cyber and then a four to one split in cyber. [00:19:18] Jay McBain: Now, when we’re in Miami a couple days ago is CrowdStrike, they’re talking about a $7 and 5 cent multiplier, chasing that two to one up higher. You look at managed services. Here’s a fun story. Managed services. 82% of customers who are man, uh, outsourcing more this year than last year. 650 billion in size. [00:19:38] Jay McBain: This is bigger than the entire SaaS industry. Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, Marketo, NetSuite, HubSpot, 250,000. Others. This is bigger. It’s also bigger than all the Hyperscalers combined, not just AWS, Microsoft and Google, but Alibaba and Oracle and everybody down the list. This is a massive market also growing at double digits. [00:19:59] Jay McBain: So these are some big things and obviously we’re watching, you know, week in and week out, quarter in, quarter out, the Battle of Software and Battle of the Hyperscalers and things like that, and who’s growing at what pace and, and how partnering is connecting to all of this. You know, we watched a moment really early in the pandemic where Microsoft started growing faster than AWS and they haven’t stopped since 26 straight quarters. [00:20:27] Jay McBain: And you ask customers and say, you know, does Microsoft have a better product? And in most cases they say no. You know, AWS had a five year head start. Well, did they have a better price? Well, no, actually most cases Microsoft’s more expensive. Well, did did they have better promotion? Was their Super Bowl ad better? [00:20:44] Jay McBain: No, they’re both kind of crap. So you kind of ask the questions of what’s the only difference that could create growth above the leader in the market? Well, it’s place. More of the 6.3 partners are walking into those keyboard room meetings and drawing clouds up on the wall and labeling the Microsoft than they are AWS. [00:21:03] Jay McBain: Very simple. It’s never been about product. The best product in our industry has never won. And now the best way forward is that partnering moment, and this is the moment. So to go back to that story about the 53% of companies who are gonna fail, one of us is gonna be asked to write the book. And it could be the book like Kodak, they invented the product that ended up killing them. [00:21:26] Jay McBain: And it’s a woe is me story, but chapter one is always you blame the CEO. How could they not see those trends happening in 2026? How could they, you know, were they blind? Were they stuck in their own, you know, innovation chamber? Innovator’s dilemma, were they stuck in their own boardrooms? Why couldn’t they see? [00:21:46] Jay McBain: Well, chapter two, you, you blame the board. They have fiduciary responsibility, outsider view, and how could they not see it? But really, this is the future right here. If you take this slide and apply it 10 or 20 years from now to every failure and every success, these are the chapters of the book. Your buyer is now a millennial. [00:22:05] Jay McBain: As of last year, the 51% of our market is bought by people born after 1982. Different psychology, different behavior, different journey, different criteria, their integration. First buyers. The buy a product, 80% as good as the next one. If it works better in their environment. 94% of people won’t buy a car unless it has CarPlay or Android Auto. [00:22:26] Jay McBain: New Buyer. You have to be more integrated than your competitors. That’s a partnering story. The 6.3 partners. If you heard cyber, you need some great channel partnerships, but you need the other 5.3 partners as well, the consultants, the advisors, the designers, the architects, the implementers, the integrators, the manner service, all of the other partners. [00:22:44] Jay McBain: You need to know more of them than your competitors do, and have them label clouds with your name in them. You need better alliances. Even if you compete, you only compete in the morning. You’re best friends by the afternoon. You have to be tight with the hyperscalers, tight, with the big SaaS platforms, tight with cyber, tight with distribution, there are layers, seven layers to every deal. [00:23:04] Jay McBain: You gotta be tight in and have better alliances than your competitors. And then it all comes to the 28 moments, which I’m gonna end on, but the go to market of all of this, the co-selling, co-marketing, co-innovation, co-development, co keeping. This is it. Your product has to be good enough that somebody’s gonna renew it. [00:23:21] Jay McBain: Your Super Bowl has to be, you know, ad has to be good enough that people don’t, you know, shame you on social media. Your pricing has to be somewhere in a country mile of the bell curve of what the customer wants to pay. But successor failure is just here and platforms are synonymous with partnering. [00:23:40] Jay McBain: It’s our role now in the decade of the ecosystem to drive our companies forward. Marketplace. It’s probably the most predict, you know, great prediction we ever made. You know, growing at 82% compounded, it’s hard to predict ’cause it doubles almost every year. We were almost exact to the decimal point. Five years later now till 2030, we’re watching a second story, which is more interesting. [00:24:02] Jay McBain: If 96% of all deals have partners inside of them and there’s private offers and multi-partner offers and distributor sellers record all these funding mechanisms or services as a product. As of last week, over 50% of all deals in marketplaces now have partner funding. It means that while money changes hands differently, the respect and the recognition of what partners do is in the deal. [00:24:26] Jay McBain: We think that’s going to 59, but at some point, that’s gonna have to hit 96. ’cause to run the best programs, whether it’s an indirect sale, whether it’s a direct sale, whether it’s a marketplace deal, it doesn’t matter how money changes hands. What matters is we recognize the 6.3 partners. They’re not only making the deal happen bigger and faster, but renewing and enriching that every 30 days forever. [00:24:48] Jay McBain: When we watch, you know, billion dollar clubs and when we read all the press releases and all the hubbub about how fast this is growing and who, which companies are behind all this. When I’m quoted in some of these press releases, it’s because of this. You know, CrowdStrike, you know, brags are a billion dollars in a single year, but inside of that, they’re showing that 91% growth in marketplaces, which is pretty phenomenal for any company to almost double in size every single year. [00:25:17] Jay McBain: What’s more phenomenal is they’re growing the channel piece of it, 3548%. That green part of it is growing. Companies that understand platform and have people and processes and programs and technology to do it are winning. And they’re getting recognition and partners are starting to join the Billion Dollar Club who don’t sell a product, but are also winning at Extreme Scale. [00:25:44] Jay McBain: So talk about those partner 1000 and who are leaning in to win at this level. As well as everything changes, traditional billing moved into subscription models, moved into consumption models. Now we’re being tokenized to death multi it’s, it’s in this mode of micro consumption. There’s no chance there was little chance in subscription consumption that would be resold. [00:26:09] Jay McBain: You don’t buy Netflix from the cable guy in the white van. There’s zero chance when you’re buying tokens at a buck a piece that that’s going through any indirect sale. This continues to grow. Now the tectonic shifts is what happens when money changes hands differently. These old programs that we used to all write hundreds of different boxes, we checked every day on deal reg and trainings and all the other things are changing. [00:26:35] Jay McBain: To this, you’ll get these slides, by the way, in high res, inside of this now is the customer. For the first time ever, 45 years later, we have the customer in the middle of what we do, the 28 moments in green before they buy the seven layer stack and the partners inside it. The implementation. The integration, the managed services in a cycle that never ends, and two thirds of our industry. [00:26:55] Jay McBain: With the customer in the middle, we can now move money around to the different moments. It’s not all landing in front or backend margins or market development funds or new customer bonuses or spiffs. It’s landing where it needs to land. Over 400 companies now, pretty much led by Microsoft 400 companies are in a point system right now and 400 more. [00:27:18] Jay McBain: We’re working kind of behind the scenes to get that announced in the next 12 months. This is a total changeover in terms of how economics work and partners are yelling over half of us. I don’t care. Don’t call me a VAR anymore. Don’t call me an MSP. Don’t call me a regional system integrator. I do the consulting over half the time. [00:27:36] Jay McBain: I do the design, I do the implementations, I do the managed services, and 44% of us are vibe coding. On weekends. We’re not happy. Just on the services side. We wanna join the seven layer tech stack as well. These are partners growing faster than their vendors by understanding this cycle and where to show up and where the money is in ai. [00:27:56] Jay McBain: And the number one thing they’re asking for is not more leads, which they did for 45 years. The number one thing is now recognized for what I do. I’ve never just been a cash register. We’re completely now past this idea of a channel being a channel of distribution, and now a channel being this platform for the future. [00:28:16] Jay McBain: As we lay that on top of ai, the first couple of years of AI has really been consumer driven. The 95% failure rate that MIT reported last year is now 70%. That’s the failure to get from proof of concept to production. That 70 will be 50 by the summer we’re moving now in business, the maturity rates are going up at the end customer and in 88% of cases, that’s because of the channel. [00:28:43] Jay McBain: They’re working with partners. They’re not vibe coding themselves and working in little skunkwork groups. They’re working with partners to make it happen, and it now becomes the partner’s number one growth opportunity. I can grow at 11 or 12% in cyber every year. Compounded I can grow in 10% in managed services. [00:29:03] Jay McBain: You know, those are great double digit growth ’cause my customers are growing at 2.7% and I can go four x my customer, but I can go 10 x my customer if I have the right services built around ai. And this compounded growth rate and that big number in 2 20 32, 267 is what’s got those top 1000 partners obsessed. [00:29:25] Jay McBain: And your companies are leading with ai. Now you need to connect to those AI services. You need to get partners on this scale of growth. And they will be adding your name inside every cloud. They write on every whiteboard, but 82% of partners around the world, you know, we survey 25,000 of them aren’t ready, and they’re blaming vendors for not being ready, and they’re telling them exactly the workshops and the training that they need to get ready for this cycle. [00:29:53] Jay McBain: 82% of our entire partner, tens of millions of people, aren’t ready to grow at 35% and they need our help. Last thing I’ll say about AI is it’s the first time from client server to cloud, edge to cloud that it’s been segment driven. SMB alone has one, you know, six different segments, one to nine, 10 to 24, 25 to 49, et cetera. [00:30:18] Jay McBain: Mid-market into enterprise. No one that runs a restaurant is calling Jensen to buy a GPU to put next to the stove. No one’s calling Sam or Dario or anyone at Anthropic or OpenAI directly. They’re waiting. If you run a restaurant with all the people running around with tablets, you’ve invested in toast or square or clover or one of the platforms to run your business. [00:30:41] Jay McBain: A hundred different things. And you’re gonna wait for toast to work with a hyperscaler and build out the capabilities genetically. So when they see a spike in Uber Eats orders, they automatically place a food order and automatically change the staffing to deliver on it. That’s what the restaurant’s waiting for, and there’s no one calling and having a big a agent conversation. [00:31:03] Jay McBain: But even if you go into hundreds of people in medium sized business, every one of the vice presidents have their tech stack already built. I talked about the marketing person already, but the HR leader has one, and everybody’s got their seven layer stack. They’re not calling to buy a GPU and they’re not calling to, you know, bring in open AI directly or, or anthropic. [00:31:22] Jay McBain: They’re waiting for the platform they built to integrate together ag agenta capabilities. Everybody’s in wait mode up until enterprise and public, large public sector. So we are looking at this market and at 90% of that AI market is run by those thousand companies, and the rest of the millions of partners are helping in terms of how these businesses are gonna change at that level. [00:31:46] Jay McBain: Here’s where I end. You know, the 28 moments used to be a theory. It used to be a flywheel. How do we buy a car? [00:31:55] Vince Menzione: Well, we Google it, [00:31:57] Jay McBain: 81% of us now, 94% of us use large language models. We find out that there’s 365 brands of car. I’d have to test drive one every day of the year to get through them all. So we start narrowing these things down. [00:32:09] Jay McBain: We configure it. We put our rims on it, we color it. We download the invoice price. We download the backend rebates this month, whether I buy it in May or June, we find out what 5,000 people paid for our exact car within 50 miles of us. And then we don’t wanna go to the dealer because we know more than the salesperson, the manager ever will. [00:32:26] Jay McBain: We know what we’re gonna pay within, you know, dollars or cents. Just carvana the car. Hand me the keys. Let’s just forget the whole eight hour back and forth. I’ll get you a deal thing. I’m smarter than you in technology. Our customers are smarter than us, smarter than salespeople. That’s why 75% of millennials don’t wanna talk to a salesperson. [00:32:48] Jay McBain: They want to end digitally, and by the way, they’re not gonna send a fax after 28 digital moments. They’re gonna end on a digital marketplace. This is all demographics. It’s not hard to see where it’s going, but we’re getting into names, faces, places again. What if every dollar of your tam, the board, the CEO, runs around with their big multi-billion dollar number, they’re chasing? [00:33:09] Jay McBain: What if every single deal looks the exact same? This is a deal with AstraZeneca, A real deal, real customer spending millions of dollars. We know it starts in October, it ends in April. It’s a six month cycle. We see what they read, the MQ ls at the beginning. We see the sales demo moments. We see ISV, but we’ve never had the light blue boxes. [00:33:30] Jay McBain: What if we as a team could overlay the 6.3 partners in this deal? And when you find out a couple things. Here’s where I end. In December, five deals were one, three of them by NTT. The person at NTT probably coaches AstraZeneca’s, you know, kids’ soccer team. They probably have a cottage together at the lake. [00:33:50] Jay McBain: For the last 20 years, if the person at NTT worked at Deloitte, Deloitte would’ve run this deal. But Software One and Yash are both there, so we understand that when they were drawing clouds up on the wall in the boardroom in December, this deal was won and lost there. It was not won and lost at the point of sale. [00:34:09] Jay McBain: So what if you knew more about this and could see every dollar in your tam? You had an early warning system that this was happening. Two things jump out at this now that we’re in Bellevue. AWS was touched twice in this deal, directly in the marketing cycle and the sales cycle. AWS lost this deal. Here’s an example of Microsoft winning a deal with Microsoft never being touched. [00:34:34] Jay McBain: For some reason, NTT who won, who won AWS’s partner of the year a couple years ago led with Microsoft, so did Software one, Microsoft’s biggest reseller in Europe, and as did Yash, they all led with Microsoft and without Microsoft, knowing Microsoft took a multimillion dollar deal away from their competitors by winning in December. [00:34:53] Jay McBain: That’s one. Second. These partners didn’t just show up other than soccer and cottages. They didn’t show up in December. It went closed one in their CRM system. Back in the summer, August, September, we already knew AstraZeneca was in market, spending millions of dollars. We didn’t need them to read an ebook or go to an event to find that out. [00:35:17] Jay McBain: We knew it because it was closed one. They’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars times five in December to know what to do at the end. This is an early warning system that’s better than any MQL, better than any SQL. And if you could give your company these level of view into their pipeline with an early warning system that I can work with those partners for months before they ever show up at the customer’s boardroom. [00:35:44] Jay McBain: This is it. Talk about 47% winners. This takes you from not only surviving the AI era to being a top five platform winner. Thank you very much. [00:36:01] Vince Menzione: Until next time, we’ll see you in person. Hopefully at our next event.

Enterprise marketing teams struggle with AI implementation beyond basic automation. Patrick Brown, SVP of Global Marketing at Adobe, shares his perspective on scaling AI across complex B2B and B2C marketing operations. Brown discusses why AI excels at content summarization and synthesis but falls short on predictive forecasting, and outlines Adobe's three-pillar framework for integrating AI into experience delivery, measurement systems, and foundational marketing tools.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!For years, the hard part of ops work was building the technology. Now the tech is getting easier while the people and process side is getting harder. So why are so many organizations still stuck debating AI instead of activating it?In this episode, host Michael Hartmann sits down with Andrea Tarrell, President of the Tech Services line at Trilliad and CEO of Sercante. Together, they discussed the human side of change in the AI world with speed, trust, risk tolerance, and the trade-offs GTM teams are making right now.In this episode:Why the technology got easier, but the people and process side got harderHow much of AI adoption is really a trust and change management problem, not a tech oneFear of job replacement vs. plain organizational inertiaAI may not replace your job, but someone using it well may outperform someone who refuses to adaptSolving the tension between "move faster with AI" and "watch out for the risks."What companies get wrong about risk management and tolerance for risk in the AI worldWhy old governance frameworks may not fit a world of fast experimentationAnd a lot more...Whether you lead an ops team or sit inside one, this is a timely conversation about innovation, speed, governance, and practical business reality.If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone in the ops community who would find it valuable.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

REMIX: Album 4 Track 12 – Matt Tumminello, President at Target 10Hey Brand Nerds! We have a treat for you today! We have Matt Tumminello in the virtual building dropping jewels from both his career and personal experiences as a leader in the LGBTQ+ marketing space.Jolted to impactful and meaningful action after witnessing 9/11 as a New Yorker, Matt dove head first into the LGBTQ+ marketing space through the launching of his business Target 10. As they say, "they apply deep LGBTQ consumer insights and cultural intelligence to brand strategy, marketing and creative, demonstrating to LGBTQ consumers that your brand 'gets it and gets me.'"A few key takeaways from the episode:Be fearless. In work and in life. Be very careful with your comments from a business perspective, you may also be making a comment about that very human that's in front of you.There is beauty in duality  NOTES:Learn More About Target 10Stay Up-To-Date on All Things Brands, Beats, & Bytes on SocialInstagram | Twitter 

The MarTech landscape has exploded to thousands of tools, AI agents are rewriting the rules of automation, and most companies still haven't figured out how to get real value from the stack they already have. In this episode, guest host Tim Ahlenius sits down with Scott Brinker, "The Godfather of MarTech," Frans Riemersma of Martech Tribe, and Americaneagle.com's Tony Stehn and Harley Helmer. They unpack why over-buying tech silently kills marketing performance, why strategy and process have to come before technology decisions, and why consolidation may not save you the way you think. This podcast is brought to you by Americaneagle.com Studios. Follow this podcast wherever you listen to them! Connect with: Lessons for Tomorrow: Website // Twitter // Instagram // Facebook // YouTube Tim Ahlenius: LinkedIn Scott Brinker: LinkedIn Frans Riemersma: LinkedIn Tony Stehn: LinkedIn Harley Helmer: LinkedIn Resources: chiefmartec.com | martechtribe.com

Marketing leaders are being asked to drive more growth with less budget, fewer resources, tighter timelines, and more pressure from every direction while AI is being treated like the shortcut to replace entire marketing teams. But AI will not fix bad strategy, weak alignment, poor customer understanding, or broken marketing fundamentals. In part two of this master class conversation with Matt Hummel, CMO of Pipeline360, the focus moves into what it really takes to become the kind of CMO AI cannot replace. Not by chasing every new tool, adding more MarTech, or hiding behind automation, but by understanding the business as a whole, building trust across departments, speaking the language of revenue, and creating alignment between marketing, sales, product, leadership, and the customer. To lead marketing in a volatile market where expectations keep rising and the old playbook is no longer enough, you need to know how to: • Make sales an ally instead of your bitter rival • Build shared pipeline ownership across marketing and sales  • Communicate risk without becoming defensive • Connect marketing decisions to the larger goals of the business • Set clearer expectations with your team and leadership • Understand resource constraints without using them as excuses • Stay close to customers while leading strategy • Create momentum without pretending there is an easy button The best marketing leaders are not just managing campaigns, tools, reports, and dashboards. They are translating complexity into strategy the business can trust. The reminder is clear: AI will not fix bad strategy. More MarTech will not fix bad marketing. The CMO AI cannot replace is the one who understands the business, earns trust, aligns with sales, leads the team, knows the customer, and gets back to real marketing when everyone else is hiding behind tools. (P.S. If you haven't, listen to Ep. 149 for part one of this masterclass episode) Beyond The Episode Gems: Connect With Matt Hummel on LinkedIn Listen To Troy On Matt's Podcast, Pipeline Brew: The Evolving Role of CMOs & Community Building Visit Pipeline360 website to learn more about how they solve B2B marketers' biggest headaches Buy Troy's Book, Strategize Up: The Blueprint To Scale Your Business StrategizeUpBook.com Discover All Podcasts On The HubSpot Podcast Network Get Free HubSpot Marketing Tools To Help You Grow Your Business Grow Your Business Faster Using HubSpot's CRM Platform Support The Podcast & Connect With Troy:  Rate & Review iDigress: iDigress.fm/Reviews Follow Troy's Socials @FindTroy: LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, TikTok Subscribe to Troy's YouTube Channel For Strategy Videos & See Masterclass Episodes Need Growth Strategy, A Keynote Speaker, Or Want To Sponsor The Podcast? Go To FindTroy.com  

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Today, most teams aren't just struggling to build their AI strategies. The real struggle begins when they try to execute their strategies. In this episode of Ops Cast, host Michael Hartmann sits down with David York, Chief AI and Innovation Officer at Helix CXM, to get practical answers about what it really takes for GTM organizations to move from talking about AI to operationalizing it.David has spent years working at the intersection of marketing operations, RevOps, automation, and AI transformation. Together, he and Michael discovered an uncomfortable truth about how most teams are already overwhelmed by manual work, fragmented processes, shadow systems, and operational debt. Piling "figure out AI" on top of all that creates more chaos. In this conversation, you'll hear:Why the gap between AI strategy and implementation is so hard to closeWhat operational excellence actually looks like in practice, and why it has to come firstWhy mapping how work gets done today is the critical first step before introducing AIThe real difference between automation and "automation plus intelligence"How to identify low-risk, high-value AI use cases (like partially manual lead routing) versus harder onesThe hidden costs teams underestimate: tooling, LLM costs, maintenance, and human monitoringWhere human judgment is still absolutely requiredPractical advice on where to start if you're feeling overwhelmed by AI pressure right nowWhether you lead a scrappy SMB or a specialized team inside a large enterprise, this is a grounded discussion about the reality of AI in modern GTM, beyond the hype and the LinkedIn hot takes.David also published a new book this week, AI-Powered Growth: A 7-Step Adoption and Transformation Framework, which goes deeper into how Marketing Ops leaders can systematically prioritize and operationalize AI initiatives. Grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Powered-Growth-7-Step-Adoption-Transformation/dp/B0H2QCZG5M/Enjoy the episode!Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations Professionals MarketingOps.com is curating the GTM Ops Track at Demand & Expand (May 19-20, San Francisco) - the premier B2B marketing event featuring 600+ practitioners sharing real solutions to real problems. Use code MOPS20 for 20% off tickets, or get 35-50% off as a MarketingOps.com member. Learn more at demandandexpand.com.Support the show

Scaling executive presence on LinkedIn requires more than organic posting. Adam Rich, founder of Thrillist and CEO of Known For, shares how he built authentic authority while growing from 600 email subscribers to 300 million monthly users. He discusses strategic post promotion to first-party audiences, balancing organic reach with paid amplification, and why frequency caps matter more than promotional tags when building executive credibility.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scaling executive presence on LinkedIn requires more than organic posting. Adam Rich, founder of Thrillist and CEO of Known For, shares how he built authentic authority while growing from 600 email subscribers to 300 million monthly users. He discusses strategic post promotion to first-party audiences, balancing organic reach with paid amplification, and why frequency caps matter more than promotional tags when building executive credibility.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What's the hidden tax your organization pays every time a creative asset moves from a design tool to a marketing platform, and how can you shorten the time to gain important insights about how your campaigns perform?Agility requires more than just speed. It demands that we eliminate the friction between our systems and processes so teams can move from concept to customer with minimal translation errors and maximum impact. It also means that we need to find the best ways to understand campaign performance without requiring everyone in marketing to be a data scientist.We're going to discuss:- the persistent gap between creative design and marketing execution- the value that AI-based capabilities can add to the understanding of analytics and performanceTo help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Ose Amiegheme, Head of Email Product at Intuit Mailchimp. About Ose Amiegheme Ose Amiegheme is a product leader building the future of creation and growth tools.Today, he leads product for Intuit Mailchimp's Email and omnichannel campaigns creation experiences, shaping how small businesses create content, launch campaigns, and grow across channels.Previously, he led advertising products at TikTok supporting multi-billion-dollar revenue businesses and helped launch products spanning GenAI creative tooling, campaign optimization, and advertiser control systems.Before TikTok, Ose spent four years at Adobe helping build Adobe Express, where he worked across editor experiences, AI-assisted creation, and products used by millions of creators globally. His career has followed a consistent theme of building products that empower creators and marketers to tell their story in a way that feels genuine but also standout.Outside of work, Ose is a huge soccer fan and he is excited for the upcoming soccer World Cup. Ose Amiegheme on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ose-amiegheme/ / https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyejones/ ---------- Resources ---------- Intuit Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 We're proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fDon't miss We Make Future - the International Festival of Innovation in AI, Tech, and Digital Marketing, June 24-26 in Bologna. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c80991afff416bb2The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most executives waste time posting on LinkedIn at arbitrary frequencies instead of focusing on quality content. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains why consistency should align with your actual pace of insights rather than forced daily posting schedules. Rich advocates for publishing less frequently but with higher quality, emphasizing that professional networks require thoughtful, crafted messages rather than spontaneous posts that work on consumer platforms like Instagram.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most executives waste time posting on LinkedIn at arbitrary frequencies instead of focusing on quality content. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains why consistency should align with your actual pace of insights rather than forced daily posting schedules. Rich advocates for publishing less frequently but with higher quality, emphasizing that professional networks require thoughtful, crafted messages rather than spontaneous posts that work on consumer platforms like Instagram.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LinkedIn's algorithm penalizes posts with external links, limiting organic reach. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, discusses strategies for maximizing professional network activation on the platform. He covers the trade-offs between boosting posts versus relying on organic reach, optimal frequency caps for promoted content, and targeting first-party audiences to amplify executive thought leadership without appearing overly promotional.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LinkedIn's algorithm penalizes posts with external links, limiting organic reach. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, discusses strategies for maximizing professional network activation on the platform. He covers the trade-offs between boosting posts versus relying on organic reach, optimal frequency caps for promoted content, and targeting first-party audiences to amplify executive thought leadership without appearing overly promotional.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Album 8 Track 16: Lead with Guts, Accelerate Growth w/Bob KrautHow did a $5 million marketing stunt turn into one of the top 5 marketing ideas of the last 50 years? In this episode of Brands, Beats & Bites, hosts Darryl "DC" Cobbin and Larry "LT" Taman sit down with legendary CMO Bob Kraut (former CMO of Papa John's, Arby's, Pizza Hut, and Captain D's) to pull back the curtain on his iconic career of driving explosive business growth.From orchestrating the famous Oprah Winfrey Pontiac G6 giveaway at General Motors to launching the first-ever iPhone pizza ordering application, Bob shares firsthand stories of what it takes to be an adventurous marketer.We dive deep into:The Famous Oprah Winfrey "You Get a Car!" BackstoryThe Art of the Career PivotMarketing with "Guts"The Problem with Modern AdsIf you are an aspiring CMO, brand manager, or marketing student looking to understand how to balance data-driven left-brain insights with creative right-brain ambition, this masterclass is for you.Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share with a fellow Brand Nerd!Instagram | LinkedIn

Professional networks remain underutilized for B2B growth. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, shares strategies for turning executive expertise into consistent LinkedIn presence. Rich discusses using expert-in-the-loop AI systems to scale authentic content creation and explains when to boost LinkedIn posts versus relying on organic reach. He reveals how first-party audience targeting can increase impressions 6x and why frequency caps matter more than promotional tags for executive content strategy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ilya Mikin is Vice President of Technology M&A at Corum Group, one of the leading technology M&A advisory firms globally. His background spans more than two decades across enterprise marketing at Intel and Unilever, executive and CEO roles at companies including iHerb, multiple founder exits across AdTech, MarTech, and FinTech, and now advising founders through acquisitions. He has been on every side of the M&A table, which makes his perspective unusually grounded.This episode gets into what has fundamentally changed about how technology and e-commerce companies are built, valued, and sold. The old playbook of raising VC money, growing at all costs, and gunning for IPO has largely collapsed. What replaced it is a market where M&A has become the primary liquidity event for founders, and where the rules for what makes a company attractive have shifted significantly.Eitan and Ilya dig into what acquirers actually look at today: why NRR, GRR, and low churn have become the cornerstones of valuation, why private equity now represents up to 40-50% of buyers in some sectors, and what it means to be an AI-native company versus an AI-enabled one. They also cover the mechanics of the M&A process itself — the four to eight week preparation phase, how Corum builds competitive tension among buyers, why the narrative around a business often matters more than the financials, and the internal deal killers that founders rarely talk about openly.Ilya also shares his take on where shoppable video sits in a world increasingly shaped by agentic AI, why he believes emotional product categories are protected from agent-driven purchasing, and what he is personally watching in the space. Founders who are building toward an exit, or who have never seriously thought about timing one, will find this conversation both practical and clarifying.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netCommerce Untold: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Ilya Mikin, Vice President Technology M&A, Corum Group, Ltd.Ilya Mikin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyamikin/Corum Group, Ltd.: https://www.corumgroup.com/Watch the full Youtube video here:https://youtu.be/2lFD9JXIjIgKey Takeaways:VC investment in D2C e-commerce collapsed more than 90% from its 2021 peak, while M&A deals in that same sector grew 47% in 2025 — the exit path has fundamentally shiftedIPO is no longer the default liquidity event for most founders; M&A is now the primary outcome to plan aroundAcquirers today prioritize NRR, GRR, and low churn over raw growth rate — the stickiness and profitability of your customer base drives valuation more than top-line momentumPrivate equity now represents up to 40-50% of buyers in some sectors, and PE buyers lead with EBITDA, not vision — a minimum of $2-3M ARR and $500K EBITDA is roughly where serious interest startsBeing an AI-native company can increase your valuation by 20-30% or more; for true AI-native businesses, multiples can reach up to 20x EVFor AI companies, proprietary data sets matter more than the technology itself — the model is the moatMarket consolidation follows a cycle: the first quartile of a consolidation window has the most buyers, the most competition, and the highest multiples. Waiting too long means the music stopsThe narrative you build around your company matters more than your financials in the early stages of a buyer conversation — buyers need to feel fear of missing outRunning a competitive process with multiple interested buyers is the single most powerful lever a founder has in an M&A negotiation — inbound interest from one buyer puts the founder in a weak positionDeal fatigue and co-founder misalignment are the two most common internal reasons M&A deals collapse before closingAgentic AI will likely commoditize purchasing for basic, emotionally neutral products — but shoppable video remains essential for fashion, luxury, and any category where emotional decision-making drives the purchaseMore than 20% of WallID's customers now come through AI search channels like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, with zero marketing spend — a real signal of how discovery is changingChapters:[00:00] Introduction and Guest Background[00:57] Ilya's Path from Intel and Unilever to E-Commerce and M&A[02:07] How the Approach to Building and Exiting Startups Has Changed[03:29] Why VC Investment Collapsed and M&A Deals Are Rising[04:40] What Acquirers Actually Look at Today: NRR, GRR, and Profitability[05:58] The Rise of Private Equity as a Buyer and What PE Wants[07:20] How AI-Native Companies Command a Valuation Premium[08:47] Where E-Commerce Multiples Stand Today[10:32] The Sell-Side Process: Preparation, Positioning, and Narrative[12:06] The Consolidation Window and Why Timing Your Exit Matters[13:38] How Corum Prepares Founders for Market[14:17] Technology Evaluation: AI vs. Non-AI Companies[17:00] Building the Story, Outreach, and Creating Competitive Tension[20:02] How Long a Typical M&A Process Takes[21:44] Deal Fatigue and Co-Founder Misalignment as Internal Deal Killers[23:28] Shoppable Video and Agentic Commerce: Where Emotion Still Wins[26:09] WallID: Solving Checkout Friction and Fraud at Scale[28:13] Managing Multiple Ventures and the Side-Hustle Mindset[29:44] What Ilya Is Watching in E-Commerce Right Now: Know Your Agent[31:04] How to Connect with Ilya and Corum Group

Professional networks remain underutilized for B2B growth. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, shares strategies for turning executive expertise into consistent LinkedIn presence. Rich discusses using expert-in-the-loop AI systems to scale authentic content creation and explains when to boost LinkedIn posts versus relying on organic reach. He reveals how first-party audience targeting can increase impressions 6x and why frequency caps matter more than promotional tags for executive content strategy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LinkedIn authority increasingly belongs to executives, not brands. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains how professional networks drive B2B marketing success. Rich discusses using expert-in-the-loop AI systems to scale executive content creation and strategic approaches to LinkedIn paid promotion that maintain authenticity while expanding reach to first-party audiences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LinkedIn authority increasingly belongs to executives, not brands. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains how professional networks drive B2B marketing success. Rich discusses using expert-in-the-loop AI systems to scale executive content creation and strategic approaches to LinkedIn paid promotion that maintain authenticity while expanding reach to first-party audiences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most executives struggle to maintain consistent LinkedIn presence. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains how AI-powered editorial systems can transform professional expertise into authentic executive content. The discussion covers expert-in-the-loop AI workflows that eliminate content creation homework, strategic approaches to LinkedIn post promotion versus organic reach, and how B2B marketing authority is shifting from corporate brands to individual thought leaders.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most executives struggle to maintain consistent LinkedIn presence. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains how AI-powered editorial systems can transform professional expertise into authentic executive content. The discussion covers expert-in-the-loop AI workflows that eliminate content creation homework, strategic approaches to LinkedIn post promotion versus organic reach, and how B2B marketing authority is shifting from corporate brands to individual thought leaders.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As a leader, you often spend so much time on the strategies and tactics that keep your brand growing that it's difficult to keep up with what's going on in the background with the platforms and the companies behind them.That's why I'm always glad to talk with our guest today, who is both focused on the business of CX as well as the business behind CX and the SaaS platforms driving so many customer experiences. I'm excited to talk again with our Resident Expert on the CX and MarTech platform landscape. We talked right at the beginning of 2026 as a look back at last year. Now that we've had a quarter behind us in 2026, it's time to talk about how this year is shaping up and what we can expect in the months ahead.To help me discuss these topics, I'd like to welcome, Bill Staikos, Founder at Be Customer Led. About Bill Staikos Bill Staikos is a senior customer experience executive with over 20 years of leadership across financial services, consulting, and technology. He has held senior roles at American Express, Freddie Mac, JP Morgan, and BNY Mellon, where he led global initiatives to transform client and employee experiences. A former SVP at Medallia, Bill helped organizations turn insights into measurable outcomes.Recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice and one of the Top 50 Global CX Influencers, Bill is also the founder of the Be Customer-Led podcast and is now preparing to launch The Multimodal Experience. Known for his pragmatic, impact-driven approach, Bill advises leading brands, including Apple, Bank of America, Marriott, and T-Mobile, on connecting customer experience to business growth. Bill Staikos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billstaikos/ Resources Be Customer Led: https://becustomerled.com/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 We're proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fDon't miss We Make Future - the International Festival of Innovation in AI, Tech, and Digital Marketing, June 24-26 in Bologna. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c80991afff416bb2The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.