The Notorious B2B Show’s Podcast

Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – http://linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – http://linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. We cover the reality behind the viral Clawdbot AI assistant, Hootsuite’s ICE contract backlash, Amazon’s latest corporate layoffs, and the rise of lazy LinkedIn comment-gating. For B2B marketers, SaaS teams, and AI practitioners, this episode is about spotting real signal vs. noise — where AI actually helps, where it falls short, and how bad incentives are quietly eroding trust. Timestamps:  00:00 The reality of Clawdbot and AI autonomous assistants  13:14 Hootsuite faces backlash over ICE surveillance contracts  20:53 Amazon announces 16,000 corporate layoffs  25:31 The rise of scammy LinkedIn comment-gating tactics  32:36 Auditing a billion-view organic playbook  41:10 Why mediocre AI video is just a glorified slide deck  46:33 Mercedes-Benz integrates Microsoft Teams into cars 47:43 Deconstructing a viral Batman marketing skit  50:41 Best ways to respond to LinkedIn pitch slaps If this helped you make sense of the week, subscribe, share it, or drop a comment. Sponsors Special thanks to the brands supporting Notorious B2B. Exit Five The community for B2B marketers who want real conversations, practical insights, and in-person connections. Join at https://www.exitfive.com/ Vector The B2B ad platform built around real buyer intent. Learn more at https://www.vector.co/  

Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson –   / tadavidson41     Tas Bober –   / tasbober     Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. --- OpenAI is testing ads inside ChatGPT. Salesforce may be teaming up with MrBeast for a Super Bowl ad. Attribution is back. Gated content is under fire. And one brutal PTO vs FMLA story reminds us why corporate policies still matter.   This episode breaks down what all of this actually means for B2B marketers, SaaS teams, and anyone trying to make smart decisions as AI, ads, and buying behavior keep changing fast.   Timestamps: 00:00 OpenAI testing ads in ChatGPT: what changes, who sees them, and why marketers are paying attention 07:40 What ChatGPT ads will actually look like (screenshots, formats, and early implications) 10:45 Is OpenAI degrading the product experience — and will users leave for Gemini or Claude? 17:52 MrBeast x Salesforce Super Bowl ad: what this means for B2B, creators, and speed of execution 25:15 SendSpark acquisition: niche positioning vs competing with category giants 27:10 Attribution is back: why “zero-click buyers” still convert and how mental availability works 33:55 LinkedIn attribution, impression-based influence, and why CEOs don’t buy the math 36:00 Fired on PTO vs FMLA: a brutal lesson in employee protections and corporate risk 40:25 Private jet studios and fake luxury content: why it performs and how marketers are gaming it 44:20 Gated vs ungated content experiment: what actually drove pipeline and revenue 49:15 Devil’s advocate: when gated content still works and when it absolutely doesn’t   ---   If this episode made you rethink AI ads, attribution, content gating, or B2B hype cycles, share it with your team or drop a comment with your take. ---   Sponsors Special thanks to the brands supporting Notorious B2B.   Exit Five The community for B2B marketers who want real conversations, practical insights, and in-person connections.   Join at https://www.exitfive.com/ Vector The B2B ad platform built around real buyer intent.   Learn more at https: //www.vector.co/

Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson –   / tadavidson41   Tas Bober –   / tasbober   Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. Meta is cutting jobs. Grok is locking down image generation. Companies are using AI to spy on… AI. This episode is a sharp, marketer-first look at what these moves actually mean for B2B, SaaS, and AI teams trying to make smart bets (and avoid very expensive mistakes). Timestamps: 00:00 Meta layoffs, Metaverse losses, and the shift to wearables 09:30 Big Prompt Energy: Grok image generation crackdown and liability shift 13:20 Shadow AI: employees using personal AI and companies monitoring AI usage 16:50 Let’s Noodle: “How did you hear about us?” attribution debate 21:25 Competitive comparison pages and a smarter alternative to cease-and-desist 29:10 Closed / Lost: aggressive outbound sequences that backfire 36:05 Zoom etiquette: how long should you wait on a no-show call? 41:20 FTC vs JustAnswer and what it means for B2B pricing transparency 45:50 Closed / Won: LinkedIn trolling, performative marketers, and internet wins Episode Breakdown Urgent All Hands Meta cuts 1,000 Bay Area jobs — the first major tech layoffs there in 2026 Why Meta is reallocating spend from the Metaverse to wearables What a $71B loss teaches B2B leaders about overcommitting to hype cycles Real talk on Meta Ray-Bans, recording culture, and B2B events Big Prompt Energy Grok’s reputation as the “wild west” of image generation Why xAI is paywalling controversial features instead of removing them Liability shifts, paper trails, and what this means for AI platforms going forward Freedom of speech vs. abuse at scale — where the line actually is Shadow AI Employees using personal AI tools at work (and why companies are panicking) Confidential data leakage, compliance risks, and a 50% spike in violations AI agents monitoring non-corporate AI usage — and why that may not fix the problem Let’s Noodle Is “How did you hear about us?” still useful attribution data? Open text fields vs dropdowns (and why both fall short) Rand Fishkin’s idea to expose bad attribution data When attribution helps — and when it’s just marketing theater Competitive Pages and B2B Ethics The comparison-page problem: inaccurate, misleading, or lazy Better alternatives to cease-and-desist letters Assuming positive intent — and when that assumption breaks down How AI search results may change competitive behavior Closed / Won (or Lost) A cold outreach sequence that checks every wrong box Why “more touchpoints” doesn’t mean “better marketing” When sales automation turns into self-sabotage If this episode made you rethink AI risk, marketing attribution, or hype cycles — hit subscribe, share it with your team, or drop a comment with your take. Sponsors: Special thanks to the brands supporting Notorious B2B. Exit Five The community for B2B marketers who want real conversations, practical insights, and in-person connections. Join at https://www.exitfive.com/ Vector The B2B ad platform built around real buyer intent. Learn more at https://www.vector.co/ Spiralyze The team behind thousands of winning B2B A/B tests. Details at https://www.spiralyze.com/abovethefold/

Cvent just acquired ON24. You're probably thinking, "Okay, another B2B acquisition, who cares?" But they bought Goldcast just 2 weeks earlier.  In this episode, we break down: Why Cvent is suddenly on a buying spree OpenAI is speculated to purchase Pinterest  LinkedIn took down another data provider, Artisan, but this one has a happy ending. Microsoft’s AI Irony: AI writes 30% of their code, yet Windows 11 keeps breaking. Is adding Reddit moderator to your resume a flex or nah? McKinsey’s Creator Play: even the B2B dinosaurs are into influencers  Reverse Psychology Ads: Why "DON’T BOOK A DEMO" is outperforming traditional CTAs. And much, much more.  Join us, it’s episode 44.    Timestamps: 03:08 Cvent's acquisition spree 07:01 OpenAI's rumored acquisition of Pinterest 15:17 LinkedIn takes down Artisan 20:11 Chris Walker's Encoded website 27:35 Microsoft's AI irony 34:03 Reddit moderator on resume   --- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. ---   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ---   Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites. This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold

LinkedIn dropped its Year in Review - their version of Spotify’s wildly popular “Wrapped” where they give you fun statistics about your listening history on the platform.    LinkedIn’s version was exciting at first but then everyone started comparing notes. And the math does not math. So naturally, this is how we’re kicking off the New Year. Welcome to the first episode of Notorious B2B this year. And yes, we’re starting exactly where B2B deserves it. Then we get into everything else B2B crammed in right before the calendar flipped. What we cover in this episode: Goldcast acquired by Cvent and what that signals for event tech Salesforce to acquire Qualified and why this one actually makes sense ZoomInfo wins a key court ruling, allowing its patent infringement case against Apollo to move forward Calling out ZoomInfo Chorus for an auto-renewal trap tied to a missed 60-day notice Publicly criticizing a company offering $1,000 for a copy-paste sponsored post Why lazy “influencer” spend deserves public side-eye Jess Cook explains the standard marketers should hold for creative that actually stands out. Plus an intro to Vector’s latest concept Defending working multiple SDR jobs at once A $50 gift card challenge to prove an enrichment engine can actually pull emails from LinkedIn profiles. If the data works, prove it.   Timestamps: 03:13 Goldcast Acquired by Cvent 05:41 Salesforce Acquires Qualified 11:02 LinkedIn Year in Review: Data Discrepancies 25:40 ZoomInfo Sues Apollo for Patent Infringement 31:10 ZoomInfo Chorus Auto-Renewal Traps   --- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. ---   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ---   Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites. This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold  

This episode is a full recap of Chris Walker’s B2B era. From the early Refine Labs days, to Dark Social, to leaving his own company, to launching Encoded and talking about “frequency.” We cover: How Chris Walker rose to become one of the most influential voices in B2B marketing The Dark Social era and why it resonated so hard Why he left Refine Labs and what he’s up to now  Why the backlash was inevitable If you’ve followed Chris Walker for years, this episode will connect the dots. If you’re newer to B2B marketing, this is like the Messiah of B2B changing course.  --- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. ---   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ---   Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites. This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold

In this 2025 B2B recap episode, we explain the Astronomer CEO scandal and why it became such a defining moment for the industry. We cover: How and what happened  The company’s response and whether it was brilliant or not  And what this says about leadership and accountability in B2B   Catch up here.    --- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. ---   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ---   Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites. This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold

Welcome back to part 2 of our miniseries where we recap the full-blown B2B SaaS James Bond tale of 2025: the Rippling vs Deel rivalry and the accusations of corporate espionage.    Here’s what actually went down:   Rippling sues Deel over alleged corporate espionage A fake Slack “honeypot” used to catch a spy A former Rippling employee allegedly recruited while still employed Payments involving cash and cryptocurrency A court order, a locked bathroom, and a wiped phone Deel’s Head of Comms resigns Rippling reportedly raising at a $16B valuation Deel fires back with five serious counter-allegations   Including defamation, deceptive trade practices, whistleblower retaliation, and financial misconduct.   Live through it again with us.    --- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. ---   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ---   Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites. This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold

We are ending the year with a miniseries recapping B2B’s biggest stories in 2025 starting with one of the most talked-about B2B moments this year - LinkedIn removing company pages for major data providers like Apollo, Seamless AI, and other lesser-known rivals.   The move signaled something bigger: ⦁    A clear stance against tools scraping LinkedIn personal data ⦁    A warning shot to the B2B data ecosystem ⦁    And a reminder of how fragile platform-dependent distribution really is   What makes this story notable isn’t just the ban. It’s what happens after (and it isn’t all bad news).    In this episode, we break down: ⦁    Why LinkedIn made this move in 2025 ⦁    What the ban actually targeted ⦁    Why it didn’t slow buyer demand ⦁    What this means for B2B companies relying on platforms they don’t control   If you’ve been under a rock, this is the recap you need.    --- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. ---   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ---   Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites. This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold

In this episode, we break down a viral xAI hackathon project that lets AI dynamically insert product placements into TV shows and movies. Not ads. Not sponsorships. Actual objects inside the scene.   This goes for new shows AND old.  Coffee cups in Suits replaced with Coca-Cola cans. Headphones in Friends swapped for modern brands. Clickable product placements inside Netflix-style interfaces. Tas loved it but Tim is foreseeing absolute abuse of the tech and he explains why.  In this episode, we cover: Updated LinkedIn demographics data from Tas and why reporting on it is messier than it looks (long way of saying Tas was wrong?) It's that time of year again - SaaS is increasing prices but is 3x acceptable? Kit faces backlash while competitors cash in on the bad PR.  Hustle culture is now going fully off the rails And…the possible return of the crying CEO?? B2B is messier than your family drama during holiday get-togethers.      Timestamps: 00:00 – Cold Open: AI Dynamic Ad Placements (xAI Hackathon) 02:30 – LinkedIn Demographics Experiment: The Update 15:00 – Deep Dive: The xAI Hackathon Project (Kushar’s Ad Tech) 22:00 – Insider Trading? The Poly Market "Alpha Raccoon" Story 32:00 – SaaS Pricing Chaos (Kit & FiveTran Backlash) 42:45 – Hustle Culture Hall of Shame 49:30 – Is the Crying CEO Making a Comeback?   -----------------------------   Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments.   ----more----   Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. ----------------------------- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector - the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. -----------------------------   Finally, huge shoutout to Sahil, CEO of Spiralyze, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. He kinda knows what works on B2B websites.   This February, he's teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Alina Vandenberghe, and our very own Tas Bober, to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.  Join us in February. Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold

It's Tas' birthday but she has a present for you - results from a LinkedIn demographic change...and the numbers are messy. We break down the “straight white male” profile switch, the 16–18x impression spike ChatGPT claims, why Tim won’t trust a single line without a Google Sheet, and whether the lift came from demographics, better content, or one 85K-view outlier post boosted by Chris Walker.   Then we zoom out into the wider B2B circus: • A Reddit marketing thread showing exactly how NOT to use Reddit unless you enjoy getting shredded in the comments. • A product manager with 500+ applications and zero callbacks now filing legal data requests to every company’s ATS.  • The debate on cold calling on Christmas Day and why Tim thinks you should • Tas takes on Closed/Won by herself with a special message  If you care about how LinkedIn demographic settings, platform norms, and shady tactics shape reach, trust, and revenue in B2B, this episode pulls the curtain back and shows what’s really happening.     Timestamps: 00:00 Intro + LinkedIn chaos setup 02:15 Changed My LinkedIn Demographics. Here’s What Actually Happened 17:10 Reddit Can Smell B2B Marketing From a Mile Away 21:55 500+ Job Applications and Zero Callbacks. At Some Point, It’s Not the System 35:45 Should You Cold Call on Christmas? Unfortunately… Maybe 41:20 Closed/Won: The Best and Worst of LinkedIn This Week   -------------------------  Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. --- Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities.   --- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector — the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. -- I’m Sahil, CEO of Spiralize, the company that captures winning A/B tests from 78,000 websites. So yeah, we’ve seen what actually works. This February, I’m teaming up with folks like Anthony Pierri, Jess Cook, Rob Kaminski, Tas Bober, and Alina Vandenberghe to host Above the Fold - a workshop-style event designed to help you build a better website. No keynotes. No panels. Just hands-on, practical sessions you can actually use.
And one more thing… We’re skipping the useless conference swag.
No stress balls, no XXL shirts, no USB drives from 2008.
Instead, we’re donating that budget to charity AND giving you something better: real takeaways that don’t end up in a landfill. Join us in February.
Get the details at spiralyze.com/abovethefold.

Adobe just dropped $1.9B to acquire SEMRush, and we're already bracing for impact. In Episode 36, we speculate what a big acquisition means if history has told us anything. We cover it all: First, we need your feedback to make this show even more notorious  Do LinkedIn’s demographic settings impact your impressions? Cloudflare’s 4th outage of the year that took down 25% of the internet  Cursor’s 12X jump and the real drama behind it (with OpenAI) Why ChatGPT keeps saying yes to everything and how to make it stop  The candidate who did 11 technical interviews and still got rejected The new hiring practice turning applicants into unpaid contractors If you care about B2B marketing, SEO, LinkedIn culture, and everything happening in tech right now, this one’s loaded.   Timestamps: 00:00 Teaser – Adobe Buys SEMRush for $1.9B + Show Intro + Sponsor 08:18 Adobe Buys SEMRush — Will Adobe Ruin It? 14:25 LinkedIn Demographics Test — Do Impressions Change? 23:09 Cloudflare Outage #4 — 25% of the Internet Down 26:38 Cursor 12× Jump — And OpenAI's Failed Acquisition 30:04 Why ChatGPT Says “Yes” to Everything (Fixing the Problem) 35:19 11 Technical Interviews…Rejected Anyway 38:48 The Hiring Trend Turning Applicants Into Free Labor 55:02 Closing Remarks   -------------------------  Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. --- Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. --- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector — the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin.

This week on Notorious B2B, we break down one of the wildest SaaS origin stories out there. Fireflies AI - It's in the name but there was no AI (at least in the beginning). Just the founder sitting in calls and taking notes by hand. The purest form of validation: do the work manually until you know people want it. We also get into: • Duolingo pulling the salary range on their social role and the internet noticing instantly • Umault’s B2B horror short about marketing jargon (and the strange reuse of the same video months ago) • LinkedIn’s algorithm reading posts for context and why the feed feels broken • The debate over being called “buddy” and the words people hate being called • Accent-erasing voice tech and whether it’s clarity or erasure Closed Won (Our new segment celebrating those who won the internet this week) • Renee Shaw (tl;dv) and the OpenAI C&D chaos • Kieran Flanagan on comment-gating pain • Replacement.ai’s elite parody work   Timestamps: 00:00 Intro + Cold Open 3:25 Duolingo Quietly Pulling the Salary Range (and LinkedIn Noticing Immediately) 9:47 Umault’s B2B Horror Short on Marketing Jargon (and the Strange Reuse Months Earlier) 18:31 LinkedIn’s Algorithm “Reading Posts” and Why the Feed Feels Broken 28:37 The Debate Over Being Called “Buddy” (and Words People Hate Being Called) 37:04 Accent-Erasing Voice Tech: Clarity or Cultural Erasure? 46:47 Fireflies AI: When “AI Notes” Were Actually Humans 51:02 Closed-Won: TLDV’s Social Team + Sam Altman Bit 55:34 LinkedIn Comment-Gating Rant 57:39 Replacement.AI – The Ultimate AI Parody Website 1:00:29 Closing Remarks + Sponsor Sign-offs -------------------------  Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. --- Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. --- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector — the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin. --- Finally, thanks to our friend Clay at SmokeLadder for being an OG supporter of the podcast. SmokeLadder is like your own researcher giving you a full brief of any brand's target persona, key competitors, differentiators, and category benchmark scores based on thousands of brands. It’ll even help you craft messaging that actually makes sense. Analyze any brand and their competitors for free right now at: SmokeLadder.com

This week, Clark Barron, the King of B2B call outs, set his sights on Warmly, a company that helps sales teams identify anonymous website visitors.   He called them out for allegedly deanonymizing website visitors without their consent (with logs and receipts). But that’s not the core of the drama. Warmly’s CEO responds and…it’s not what you think. Watch to see how the thread unfolded. We also cover: Clay’s marketing plays that has the internet deciding if they love or hate it One SaaS company’s unique take on addressing competitors on their website A controversial pricing experiment that’s against what LinkedIn preaches Why one founder shut down his company and more should follow his lead The new role of humans with AI And finishing strong with Cameo’s lawsuit against OpenAI Buckle up. This one’s part exposé, part therapy session for every marketer who’s ever said, “Wait, they can do that???”     Timestamps:  00:00 – Intro + Host Banter 10:15 – Warmly’s Deanonymization Drama 28:26 – Clay’s Marketing Plays: Love It or Hate It? 38:06 – The SaaS Website Saying “F— Your Competitors” 55:18 – The Pricing Experiment That Breaks LinkedIn “Best Practices” 1:01:31 – One Founder Who Shut Down His Company (For the Right Reasons) 1:05:29 – The New Role of Humans in an AI-First World 1:07:49 – Cameo’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI 1:14:02 – Wrap-up, sponsor messaging, and end of episode.   -------------------------    Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. --- Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. --- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector — the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin.   ---   Finally, thanks to our friend Clay at SmokeLadder for being an OG supporter of the podcast. SmokeLadder is like your own researcher giving you a full brief of any brand's target persona, key competitors, differentiators, and category benchmark scores based on thousands of brands. It’ll even help you craft messaging that actually makes sense. Analyze any brand and their competitors for free right now at: SmokeLadder.com

Grammarly is no longer Grammarly. It’s now Superhuman. A billion-dollar brand name… gone overnight. In this episode of Notorious B2B, we dig into why a company with insane brand equity would scrap its own name — and what it says about B2B’s obsession with “category creation” and AI positioning. We also cover: • The $500 LinkedIn influencer experiment that turned into a fake-engagement horror story • Amazon’s rumored plan to replace warehouse workers with “Cobots” while cutting 14,000 jobs • The rise of invisible AI edits — and how one “AI-enhanced” headshot crossed the line • Palmer Luckey’s GPT jailbreak prompt and new AI writing flags • Why “vibe coding” doesn’t survive real users • And the newest cursed LinkedIn feature: Open to Marry It’s rebrands, robots, and relationship status — all in one episode.   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro: From our Sponsors Exit Five 01:12 – Sponsor: Vector 05:19 – Grammarly now Superhuman (?!?) 12:18 – The $500 LinkedIn influencer experiment gone wrong 27:26 – Is LinkedIn's algorithm biased against women 30:00 – Amazon’s “Cobots” replacing warehouse workers 36:40 – The rise of invisible AI edits (and one that went too far) 42:29 – Palmer Luckey’s GPT jailbreak + new AI writing flags 48:14 – Why “vibe coding” doesn’t survive real users 53:39 – LinkedIn’s newest cursed feature: “Open to Marry” 58:40 – Closing thoughts   -------------------------    Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe to Notorious B2B for smart, irreverent takes on SaaS, marketing, and the chaos of modern B2B.  --- Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. --- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector — the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin.

Ramp somehow made one of the most boring SaaS products on Earth go viral. They locked Kevin Malone from The Office in a glass box for his “first day as CFO,” live from Flatiron in NYC. Receipts flying, weddings happening, TikTok stars crashing the scene, and hundreds of people gathering to watch. They made some noise and people showed up. In this episode of Notorious B2B, we break down how Ramp pulled off the most entertaining brand campaign in recent B2B history, and what your team can actually learn from it. Plus: BirdDog’s “rage-bait” war against Clay Why companies like C3.ai and WPP are being sued over fake forecasts LinkedIn sued over sharing PII from video (and the growing streak of lawsuits: Reddit vs. Perplexity, People vs Microsoft and OpenAI) The 9-9-6 workweek trend (yes, hustle porn is back) And startup founders share some...interesting ways they garnered interest for their products. This one’s about creativity, chaos, and the fine line between brilliant and completely unhinged, just like we like it. Posts Links:  Joseph Smith ( Ramp Video )    Timestamps: 0:00 - Welcome to Notorious B2B. We roast LinkedIn drama so you don’t have to. 1:29 - BirdDog’s rage-bait war with Clay 12:40 - Ramp made expenses go viral 21:02 - The 9-9-6 workweek is back (unfortunately) 30:07 - LinkedIn sued for leaking PII from video. 35:46 - C3.ai and WPP sued over fake forecasts 39:20 - Reddit is also suing Perplexity for data scraping 40:52 - Scrappy marketing tactics 45:07 - Wrap-up Final takes   -------------------------  Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments. --- Today's episode is brought to you by Exit Five. Thanks to Dave and the Exit Five team for being OG supporters of Notorious B2B. Tim and Tas have both been members since the beginning and get a ton of value from being part of this community. Join the top community of B2B marketers now at ExitFive.com and get access to one of the 30+ in-person events Exit Five is hosting in 2026. Also, we heard Dave is super jacked, a millionaire, a great father, a speed reader, he’s run 300 marathons, and donates over $1M a year to very important charities. --- Also, special thanks to our friends at Vector — the only ad platform brave enough to say what we’re all thinking: native targeting is a scam. Vector lets you build audiences by name. Not “job title at tech company.” Actual people who clicked your ad, visited your site, or creeped on your pricing page. (Also, the branding has cute ghosties. What more do you want?) Check them out at vector.co and stop paying to show ads to your uncle’s dentist’s cousin.

A startup called Virio posted a $1.5M job for “Head of CEO Content.”  LinkedIn lost its mind. Turns out, the job wasn’t real.  It was a PR stunt and one of the smartest we’ve seen in B2B.    Some other things we cover this episode:  • How a “default to AI” note from a CEO backfired  • Deloitte’s 440k report that was written by AI  • B2B’s demo process that remains broken    If you’ve ever cringed at LinkedIn “thought leadership,” this one’s therapy.   Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome to Notorious B2B 1:40 – Big prompt energy: Open Door CEO told the team to default to AI and it's blowing up in his post on X. 12:52 – Deloitte’s $440K AI Report Disaster 20:47 - Let's Noodle: Can we stop outreach like this? 25:57 – Why B2B Demos Still Suck 37:51 – The Hero vs. the Buyer (Virio Story) 51:30 – Final Thoughts & B2B Confessions   -------------------------   📲 Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet's wildest B2B moments.

Episode 30 of Notorious B2B is pure B2B madness. Tas and Tim dive into the most chaotic marketing stories of the week: Neil Patel’s email that tells you to gate everything and also nothing Accenture laying off 11,000 people for “AI reasons” that make zero sense Comment gating fails on LinkedIn that prove marketers have lost the plot AI startup "Friend" has their million-dollar ads vandalized in NYC  And Chris Walker vs Clark Barron in the “Vibe Grifting” debate no one asked for Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson –  linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41  Tas Bober –   linkedin.com/in/tasbober Subscribe for more weekly chaos from the B2B underworld. Posts Links: Circling Back - ⁠Neil patel/Beth O'Malley's Post⁠ Big Prompt Energy - ⁠Alex Lieberman's take⁠ -⁠ Amrita Mathur's Post⁠ Let's Noodle - ⁠Clark Barron ----more---- Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome to Notorious B2B 6:04 – Neil Patel’s Email That Says “Gate Everything… and Also Nothing” 21:02 – Big Prompt Energy: Accenture Lays Off 11,000 for “AI Reasons” That Make Zero Sense 31:20 – Comment Gating Fails on LinkedIn 43:13 – The Million-Dollar AI Ad Vandalism in NYC 52:27 – Let's Noodle: Chris Walker vs. Clark Barron: The Vibe Grifting Debate 1:08:09 – Wrap Up: The Week in B2B Drama   -------------------------   📲 Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet's wildest B2B moments.

In Episode 29 of Notorious B2B, Tim and Tas made it through a really beefy docket filled with AI drama, weird Linkedin automations, and more layoffs because of “AI”. First up: Little Post Manager’s bizarre tactic of tagging creators in AI-generated one-liners that make zero sense (including Tas “ditching lectures”). Then it’s onto Fiverr, who just laid off 30% of its workforce in the name of AI and told their internal freelancers to “find work on the platform.” Brutal. OpenAI is also in the spotlight, with its $500B Stargate project raising questions about debt, environmental impact, and the future cost of AI. Zoom’s chatbot fails spectacularly in customer service screenshots, while a viral “flan recipe” trick exposes the cracks in cold email automation.    Plus, troll marketing gone wrong, LinkedIn copycats, and the funniest HR rejection email slip-up you’ll ever see.   Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome to Notorious B2B 01:55 – Little Post Manager’s Weird AI Tagging Tactic 10:54 – Fiverr’s 30% Layoffs “Because AI” 17:16 – OpenAI’s $500B Stargate Project 23:39 – Zoom’s Chatbot Fails Spectacularly & Viral Flan Prank 32:00 – Troll Marketing Gone Wrong (or Right?) 44:53 – The Funniest HR Rejection Email Slip-Up Ever 52:17 – Wrap-Up: The Week in B2B Madness   ------------------------- Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41  Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments.

In Episode 28 of Notorious B2B, Tim and Tas are back on Zoom (boo) after Drive to debrief on all the B2B chaos (sort of) from event drama to brand growth that won’t quit. They kick things off by announcing their brand-new podcast The Marketer’s Exit, sharing why they launched it and what listeners can expect. Then it’s onto Drive highlights: the first-ever Notorious B2B live show, Harry Dry’s masterclass talk, a scavenger hunt gone sideways, and whether moving Drive to a Vermont lodge will change the vibe. Back in the news cycle, Apollo somehow keeps growing even after LinkedIn banned them, Zendesk sunsets its CRM product, and Klaviyo gets accused of copying smaller players’ features. Classic B2B. What’s inside: • Tim & Tas launch a new podcast: The Marketer’s Exit • Drive recap: live episode, best (and worst) talks, and the scavenger hunt drama • Apollo’s brand search grows after its LinkedIn ban • Zendesk retires its CRM product, HubSpot narrative follows • Klaviyo accused of copying features (but is it really new?)   Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro: Oat Milk, Standing Desks & B2B Chaos 2:35 – The Marketer’s Exit: A New Podcast (and a Genius SEO Move) 6:09 – Exit Five Recap: Summer Camp for B2B Marketers 24:00 – The Drive Drama: QR Scandal & Green Room Divas 35:55 – Apollo vs. LinkedIn: Getting Banned Made Them Stronger? 41:17 – Zendesk’s CRM Dies 45:30 – The Klaviyo Copycat Accusation: Who’s Really Stealing Whose Ideas? 50:28 – The Wrap: B2B Is Still Just a Fancy Guessing Game   -------------------------  Connect with the hosts:  Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41  Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober  Subscribe for more no-BS breakdowns of the internet’s wildest B2B moments.