The Executive Brand Podcast

Tim Soulo is the CMO at Ahrefs. Over the last 10 years, he helped bootstrap them to now well over $100M ARR - with only 160 employees, no sales team, no outbound, and zero marketing attribution.In this episode, we talk about how Ahrefs got to $100M+ ARR while being super scrappy, why the best marketing is built on common sense rather than quarterly plan, and how Tim personally uses Claude Code and Lovable every day to keep Ahrefs lean & mean.---We discuss:* How Ahrefs got to $100M ARR and the list of things they decided NOT to do to focus* How Tim went from “AI skeptic” to vibe coding a full LinkedIn engagement tracker in a single afternoon + other vibe coded tools* Tim’s advice for CMOs who haven’t worked with Claude Code yet* How to run marketing on intuition instead of quarterly planning and reporting* The “battle webinar” format Tim created with Glenn Allsopp* Why every piece of content should be a sales page for your product - and why that sidesteps the “prove ROI on thought leadership” debate---Connect with Tim:Tim’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com/Podcast: https://ahrefs.com/podcast---Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:* Tim didn’t know you were “supposed to” have a sales team, he just assumed people should find your website, sign up, pay (there’s no free trial), and that’s it. Only now, at quite a bit over $100m ARR, are they starting to build out an enterprise sales motion. I think there’s a pattern where ignorance of the “best practices” can often lead to better outcomes* Ahrefs runs marketing with no Google Analytics installed, no attribution setup, no A/B testing, no retargeting, no discounting, no free trial (!!!), no quarterly plans, and no formal reporting. The fact that they’ve been able to scale to the point that they have should already be a massive wakeup call for many CMOs and marketers. Tim’s answer for how they make decisions instead? Intuition and common sense. They decide what to do based on what talent they have, what formats they’re comfortable with, what makes sense, and what sounds exciting. I’ve done 140+ episodes with founders and marketing leaders, and consistently, the companies that are doing the best marketing all seem to prioritize things that *seem fun to them*. 37signals, PostHog, Clay… Tim is another data point here* Tim’s repurposing framework is the opposite of what everyone teaches. Instead of taking a podcast and chopping it into 15 LinkedIn posts, he starts with a LinkedIn post, tests the hook, reads the comments, then turns it into an article incorporating all the feedback, then combines multiple articles into a conference presentation, then discusses that presentation on a podcast. Small → big, not big → small. The bigger the content piece, the more signal you want, and he builds that signal by layering validated, small ideas. Not sure I agree here, Garyvee and Hormozi seem to be counter examples* Tim built a full LinkedIn engagement tracker with Claude Code in one afternoon. It looks at his post engagements, enriches contacts through Apollo, pulls Ahrefs domain data, and shows him which companies are engaging with his content, sorted by ad spend and organic traffic. This is a CMO at a $100M+ company building his own social selling tool after lunch. We discover other vibe coded tools he built* Tim believes every piece of content you publish should be a sales page for your product. “Thought leadership” is overrated. If you publish an article, and within that article you mention a relevant feature of your product, and it gets 10k visits, if people don’t convert, that’s a product problem, not a marketing problem. As a marketer, you did your job: you got the attention of relevant people and showed them something relevant. It sidesteps the entire attribution/ROI debate This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

I’m trying something new. This week, instead of interviewing a founder or executive, I took my Content Director Tobi and we’re going behind the scenes at Project 33 to talk about what we’re currently building, seeing, and experimenting with - across our own content and 15+ executive clients. Thinking of making this a recurring series.---What we discuss:* The group interview format one customer pitched us that could change how we create content* Tobi’s first LinkedIn post goes live* The Clay + Jungler workflow we’re building to turn organic LinkedIn engagement into pipeline* Why TL ads with a $5k/month budget can do more for pipeline than most companies realize* Using Fibbler to connect LinkedIn ad engagement to influenced revenue* The AI-powered ideation workflow we’re building* How/why we cut our client onboarding from 3 to 1 week* The “gold standard” for executive content interviews---Connect with us:Finn’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Tobi’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-moelenkamp/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

I was recently a guest on the SteadyRev podcast by Austin Futers. I rarely share my own perspectives on my podcast, and I want to change that.In this episode, I talk about how to grow on LinkedIn, what’s good content, how to get ROI from posting, the role of commenting, how I’d start from zero today, and more.---We I talk about:* Why the people who do well on LinkedIn just do the basics really well - and what “the basics” are* The 1 thing that will guarantee that your posts will tank* What a comment I left under someones posts, that hit 130k impressions & 400 likes, actually proves* Why Adam Robinson spends $20 per month in contractors, freelancers, and equipment on his Linkedin content* The false idea that “good” and “bad” content is subjective* Why most successful Linkedin creators are known for one format, not five, and why that matters to you* How I would grow my LinkedIn from 0 today---Some things I believe about LinkedIn:* Every time I get too busy and stop engaging, answering comments, DMing people, my engagement drops, even when I feel like the content is the same quality. I don’t know if that’s the algorithm or just human reciprocity. I just know it’s true, so I just make it part of my day.* If you approach LinkedIn from an ROI standpoint on day 1 and ask how many leads this is going to generate, you’re going to do it wrong. And you’re going to quit before it works. There are people who turned LinkedIn into a legit lead gen channel. Eg. Adam Robinson - but he also spends over $20,000 a month between employees, contractors, and equipment, as well as 10ish hours of his own time every week. But if that’s not you, you should think about LinkedIn as a brand play.* On the flip side, the companies that stick with us for 2+ years almost always hit a moment in the first 3-6 months where it becomes obvious it’s worth it. They generate one great demo, two VPs at a conference walk up to the CEO and mention their content, a partner forwards your videos to their sales team. Stuff like that shows you that this is working.* There is good and bad content. The false belief that it’s all random, that you just need to find what went viral and make it your own take. That is what makes people produce garbage. Your content is the product. When I write something, I ask: would a real person, like a VP of Marketing at a SaaS company doing 10m ARR, someone whose face I can actually picture, find this valuable enough to forward it? If the answer is no, don’t post it. This kind of content takes real work.* Most people who do well are known for one format, not five. There’s almost no one crushing who does a video on Monday, an infographic on Tuesday, text on Wednesday, selfie on Thursday, AND doing all of it well. They’re usually known for one thing and they just get really good at it. Anthony Pierri from Fletch for inforgraphics. Gal Aga for text-only. Chris Walker for video-only back in the day. Everything works. Video, text, infographics, carousels. Everything. But an infographic doesn’t work because it’s an infographic, it works because it’s a great infographic.* The people who do really well do the basics really well. What are the basics? (1) Add value, (2) actually engage with others, (3) be yourself, and (4) keep showing up. Do that for 12-24 months and there’s a very small chance you’ll not at least have built a decent audience that actually likes & trusts you. It’s when people think they can shortcut it, copy what went viral, say something controversial they don’t actually believe, make up stuff that isn’t true, that’s when it falls apart.---Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/---Thanks for interviewing me Austin:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-futers/Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@AustinFuters This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Louis Grenier is the founder of Stand The F*ck Out, and one of my recent favorite new follows on LinkedIn.In this episode, we talk about what a real POV actually is (and why 99% of LinkedIn creators don’t have one), why low likes on a post don’t mean what you think they mean, the one marketing truth most companies are completely ignoring in 2026, and much much more.---We discuss:* The 4-step Stand the F*ck Out framework* Differentiation vs. distinctiveness* What a good POV actually is* How he closed six-figure contracts from Linkedin posts that got almost zero engagement* The “100% intensity” thesis to standing out* Marketing truths too many B2B / SaaS companies are forgetting (again)* Spending over $10k on a YouTube miniseries - for B2B??* Why he stopped his podcast after 2 million downloads, and what he’d do differently if he starting a new one today---Connect with Louis:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/Stand The F*ck Out: https://www.stfo.io/Stand The F*ck Out Book: https://www.amazon.com/Stand-Out-No-Nonsense-Positioning-Business/dp/B0DVH5C8SPThe Roost Community: https://www.stfo.io/roost---Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:* A point of view is not a hot take machine. Louis draws a sharp line between having random opinions and having a point of view, and most people on Linkedin are doing the first and calling it the second. A real POV is a consistent thread baked into everything you put out. His: “What you’ve been taught about marketing is mostly wrong. And it’s not your fault because you’re surrounded by b******t.” He never names names, but he calls out the culture of the category.* Louis has closed six-figure deals from posts with almost no likes. His whole LinkedIn philosophy is that posts are just a signal flare. The real value is the one DM it triggers from the right person, and that DM turns into a real conversation, which turns into a deal. He genuinely doesn’t care about like counts, because he’s watched low-engagement posts lead directly to five- and six-figure contracts.* Differentiation vs. distinctiveness are two completely different games. Differentiation is positioning: we solve a problem others don’t.Distinctiveness is branding: we get noticed through assets that could be completely arbitrary (orange profile pic, a swear word in the name). Louis’s point is that past a certain company size, true differentiation is rare, but distinctiveness is always available. Most large companies are working on a differentiation problem that doesn’t exist for them anymore, when distinctiveness is the actually problem.* Nobody buys because they're in pain. They buy when a trigger event causes them to move. Louis's example: back pain for 10 years doesn't get someone to the physio. Grandkids visiting and wanting to walk to the park does. The marketing version: stop obsessing over the pain your customer has and start obsessing over the specific moments in time that make them go from not moving to moving. He believes that a half-page of trigger events beats a 50-page strategy deck every time.* Louis’s writing advice: start by posting a lot, because the feedback loops on Linkedin are fast and you learn quickly what lands. Then move to quality, but don’t over-optimize to audience response, because chasing engagement too hard turns you into someone who only says what people already want to hear. “If you optimize the website too much, it turns into a porn site.” Once you’ve built taste, then you can think about systems and volume. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Pranav Piyush is the CEO of Paramark, a marketing measurement platform. Prior to founding Paramark, he was VP Marketing at BILL, VP Growth at Pilot.com and VP Growth at Magento during its acquisition by Adobe. After 10+ years in marketing and growth, he has strong opinions on why most marketers are getting measurement wrong.In this episode, we talk about why the brand vs performance marketing distinction is a false dichotomy, how to measure channels that don’t produce a click, the exact experiment framework Pranav is running at Paramark right now, and much more.---We discuss:* Why complacency killed brand marketing, and what a book from 1923 about broomstick-selling has to do with it* Pranav’s case for why brand marketing is a false concept* The two metrics every new CMO should align on with their CEO and CFO in month #1* Why he believes that for 90% of companies their win rate wouldn’t change if product marketing, enablement, and customer marketing all stopped tomorrow* Pranav’s “10 experiments in year 1” playbook* How Paramark is geo-testing Google competitor ads in New York only - at a small scale* Pranav’s approach to LinkedIn founder branding* Why Pranav’s posts get “only” 20-50 likes but he’s getting inbound from public companies and AI hyperscalers who never liked a single post* The signal that your organic LinkedIn has hit its ceiling and it’s time to go paid---Connect with PranavLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranavp/Paramark: https://paramark.com/---MentionsScientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (1923): https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Advertising-Claude-C-Hopkins/dp/1453821082---Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:* Pranav on why brand is suddenly “back”: it’s not that brand became more important, it’s that digital channels saturated. When Google and Meta were growing from zero to billions of users, you could ride those channels’ growth without great creative. Now user growth is tapped out, CPMs are climbing, and the only differentiator left is - again - creative, storytelling, and emotion.* “Brand marketing” as a category is basically just “stuff that’s hard to measure” and Pranav hates that definition. It’s a self-fulfilling vicious cycle, because your measurement framework defines what counts as brand vs. performance, not anything inherent about the channel. A direct mail campaign in the 1920s selling broomsticks through artistic positioning was simultaneously brand AND performance marketing.* The two metrics a CMO should report on: search volume (Google + LLMs + everywhere else people type your name into a search bar) and hand raisers (demo requests, sign ups etc). Everything else is noise* For a new CMO’s first year: plan 10 real experiments, expect 7-8 to fail, and the 1-2 winners will fuel your growth. But the key detail is what counts as an experiment. It’s not think that could bring a 5% optimization gain, he means bets that could drive 50-100% growth. And where do you get ideas for those bets? Research your audience’s media consumption habits. Literally ask them: what’s on your phone home screen, what’s the last podcast you shared, what TV show are you watching? That tells you where to show up.* Pranav’s geo-testing experiment shows you can do incrementality at small scale. They’re launching competitor Google search ads only in New York, keeping every other state as a control. If New York traffic spikes and Texas stays flat, the only variable was the search ads* Pranav gets around 20-50 likes on his LinkedIn posts. It’s good, but far from viral. Others in his space get 10x that. He doesn’t care. Why? Public companies are booking demos. Heads of Paid Media are DMing him after his podcast episodes. An AI hyperscaler reached out who had never liked a single post. Views and likes are not the measure of success when you’re selling into enterprise. If your ICP is CMOs spending $20M-$100M+ on marketing, those people are not impressed by fluffy “10 cool ChatGPT prompts” content. They’re trying to improve their conversations with their CFO. It’s obvious when you say it, but you need to match your content to the buyer, not the algorithm. Then use thought leadership ads to amplify reach beyond your organic network. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Jess Cook and Joshua Perk are the VP of Marketing and CEO of Vector respectively, which is a marketing signal platform. They also host “This Meeting Could Have Been a Podcast”, have a combined 50,000 LinkedIn followers, and actually have fun with their marketing.In this episode, we talk about how they built one of the most entertaining podcasts in B2B marketing, how they’re using LinkedIn holistically as a growth channel, and why the things that work best in marketing are always the hardest to measure.---We discuss:* Why their first podcast concept ”Funnel Cake” flopped, and how Jess pivoted the entire show in 24 hours* The prep that goes into filming an entire season for their podcast in 2 days* Why livestreamers get the most applause, and what that means for your content strategy* How Jess uses Claude projects to turn bi-weekly interviews with her founders into LinkedIn posts + how they outgrew that* 58% of followers came from comments, not posts, and what LinkedIn is signaling us with that* How Vector… uses Vector* The micro-events strategy that closed 100% of attendees (yes, actually)---Connect with Jess and Josh:Jess Cook’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesscook-contentmarketing/Joshua Perk’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaperk/Vector: https://www.vector.co/This Meeting Could Have Been a Podcast: https://vector.transistor.fm/---Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:* When Jess asked marketer friends what they’d want to hear a VP of Marketing and CEO talk about, every answer was basically what was already on their agendas for their 1-on-1s. That has become the show. Some of the best podcast concepts come from what’s already happening, not what sounds good on paper.* $4,000 for a studio day that produces a podcast 80% of open opportunities listen to vs $6,000 in Clay credits for 10,000 cold emails that get a 0.1% response rate Founders get perceived value wrong constantly.* Attribution is a mechanism of control. As companies grow, they introduce attribution, not because it makes marketing better, but because someone five layers removed from the campaign needs to prove their dollars went somewhere. Actual great marketing takes courage, taste, intuition and, partly, doing the opposite of what everyone else / best practice says is the right approach* Jess’s LinkedIn workflow for her founders: interview them every two weeks, run transcripts through AI trained on their voice, hand them posts. Once Josh understood the mechanics, and got addicted to posts doing well, he started writing more of his own content* Every single prospect from their first dinner event converted to a closed deal. They mixed in existing customers to have advocates present, kept it small, and made the whole thing feel like a fun night out rather than a networking event. Now they’re scaling it into the “Ghost Tour Tour” (see their mascot) - a dinner plus a walking ghost tour in whatever city they’re in, with concert-style merch listing all the tour stops* People should be able to become fans from a single clip (Jess learned this from Devin Reed). It happened a couple times that someone saw one 60-second clip, walked up to them at an event, and said “I love your show.” When they asked what their favorite episode is, they didn’t have one - they’ve only seen clips. Which is ok. Don’t aim for subscribers/followers, but moments that stick. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Jack Newton is the founder and CEO of Clio. He started the company in 2008 in Canada, and has since grown it to over 400,000 customers, 2,000 employees, and $400M+ in ARR. They raised a $500M Series G in 2025.In this episode, we talk about applying lessons from having navigated the Cloud Era to the AI Era, why the best SaaS companies are moving from selling software to selling work, what 17 years of building in legal tech teaches you about selling technology to skeptical buyers, and much more.---We discuss:* Jacks learnings from cloud adoption in 2008 and how they translate to AI adoption today* The Slack message Jack sent his CTO the day ChatGPT launched* Why “cool technology is less than half the battle” - and why education and movement-building are the rest* The Steve Jobs approach to product launches* How Clio went from a system of record to a system of action, and why every vertical SaaS founder should be thinking about this* The “Sell Work, Not Software” thesis and how it expanded Clio’s TAM from $20B to $1T* Why your MAUs dropping might actually be a good sign in the AI era* Jack’s advice for first-time SaaS / AI founders* Bonus - How he never missed a single day of running in over 20 years (that’s over 7,000 days in a row)---Connect with Jack:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbnewton/Clio: https://www.clio.com/The Client-Centered Law Firm by Jack Newton: https://a.co/d/0hrcAvfAThe Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Steve Blank: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steve-Blank/dp/0989200507Sell Work, Not Software by Sarah Tavel: https://www.sarahtavel.com/p/ai-startups-sell-work-not-software---Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33 - LinkedIn Agency for CEOs: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:* AI is compressing a decade into a year: What took cloud adoption 10 years to achieve in legal is happening in 12 months with AI. And the impact is at least an order of magnitude bigger.* “Sell work, not software” is the new SaaS playbook: Clio’s TAM went from $20B (software + payments) to $1T (global legal services spend) by shifting from helping manage work to actually doing the work. Every vertical SaaS founder should be asking: what does my “sell work” version look like?* Education was Clio’s real moat, not the technology. When no one else in legal tech was publishing research or running events, Jack invested in white papers, a conference (ClioCon), keynotes - basically a full-blown education movement to get lawyers comfortable with change. The AI chapter is following the same playbook. He’s touring the country doing live demos of AI features in front of lawyer audiences and showing them what’s possible* Only talk about what’s shipping today: Jack’s approach (inspired by Steve Jobs) is to never announce future products, only demo what customers can use starting today. Very different to most AI startups who overpromise and underdeliver. He believes, long-term, his approach builds lasting trust when everyone else leans on hype* Five of Clio’s six acquisitions started as integrations in their app ecosystem. It’s a brilliant acquisition pipeline because you get to see real usage data, real product-market fit, and how well the team integrates before you ever write a check. Hadn’t thought about an app marketplace as a sourcing strategy for M&A, but it makes a lot of sense* Lower engagement can be a feature, not a bug. If your AI agents are automating work for customers, they might spend LESS time in your app. That breaks every SaaS engagement metric we’ve been taught to optimize for. Jack is actively rethinking what “good” usage looks like when the product’s job is to make itself invisible This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Tony Scott is the CEO of Intrusion, a publicly traded cybersecurity company. Before joining Intrusion in 2021, he served as the Federal CIO of the United States under President Obama, as CIO at VMWare, CIO at Microsoft, CIO at Disney, and as CTO at General Motors. Yes, let that sink in.In this episode, we talk about what Tony learned from working with Bill Gates, Obama, and other world leaders, what it actually takes to land a C-level role at a Fortune 5 company, and why he predicts a major AI disaster is coming in 2026.---We discuss:* The three most stressful weeks of his career (and there were many)* Why he chose to become CEO of a struggling cybersecurity company after serving as the Federal CIO* What Bill Gates really meant when he said “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” in meetings* How to actually get a C-level role at a Fortune 5 company* Tips for founders trying to sell into the enterprise or government and the phrases that immediately kill deals* Why he predicts a major AI disaster in 2026* What flying taught him about business* Why someone who’s already “made it” still invests in LinkedIn---Connect with Tony:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-scott-intrusion/Intrusion: https://www.intrusion.com/---Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:* What gets you a meeting with a CIO at a Fortune 100 company is doing your homework & finding a top 3 organizational problem they're trying to solve. If you come to pitch on innovative tech, you won't get far. And if you start the conversation with "what keeps you up at night?" you've already lost. It shows you did zero research. Tony had a secret signal with his assistants to get rescued from bed vendor meetings. That question was usually the trigger.* Tony's prediction for 2026: there's going to be a very big disaster as a result of the abuse, misuse, or accidental use of AI. Something attention-grabbing. And people are going to go "oh my god, we didn't know that could happen." We're building so much on top of AI without understanding all the points of failure, so when that failure occurs, it'll bring on a bunch of governance and regulatory inspections. It happened with every big invention we've ever had.* What impressed Tony most about interacting with Obama: his questions. He’d ask surprisingly deep questions about technical topics. When Tony’s team would send in a draft white paper (about something cybersecurity related), they’d often overnight get back a markup from the president with all kinds of notes & questions in his handwriting in the margins.* At Microsoft, Tony interfaced with Bill Gates, who would often say "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard” in meetings. Tony saw it as a test to see if the person had done their homework on their idea/proposal/opinion, and were able to stand their ground. Problems happened when other executives tried to copy that style without context and without being Bill (Tony decided not to emulate it)* None of the things Tony did in his career were direct predictors of the thing he was gonna do next. He went from Sun Microsystems to startups to being the CIO at Microsoft, Disney, VMware, then Federal CIO under President Obama, and finally, CEO of a public cybersecurity company navigating headwinds. Recruiters kept finding him because he had an unusual combination of tech experience + a law degree. That made him stand out. His advice if you want unique opportunities: build a unique skill stack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Kacie Jenkins is the new Head of Marketing for Claude Code (she joined a couple weeks after this recording). Before joining Anthropic, she was SVP Marketing at Sendoso, VP Marketing at Sourcegraph, and VP Marketing at Fastly, where she helped take the company from Series A to $200M ARR and an IPO.In this episode, we talk about how she built executive brand programs before it was a thing, what actually drives pipeline from LinkedIn, and why anything that sounds corporate is dead on arrival.We discuss:- Why she felt like she had to perform a “TV version” of an executive when she first got promoted- How Fastly built their brand around their CEO’s personality and why they let him swear in F1000 meetings- How to turn LinkedIn DMs into pipeline- Where ghostwriting works & where it breaks- Anything that sounds corporate is dead on arrival- The organic content playbook that made her paid ads perform 50% better- Why developer marketing starts with credibility---Connect with Kacie:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaciejenkins/Claude Code (Anthropic): https://www.anthropic.com/---Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:1. Corporate is dead upon arrival. Anything that sounds or feels corporate, developers will write off immediately2. The worst thing you can do with a CEO who doesn’t naturally want to do founder brand: try to make them sound more formal or executive-y. Everyone will know because that’s not how they show up in person. At Fastly, their CEO swore all the time. He’d roll into Fortune 1000 meetings and drop an F-bomb when he really meant something. People found it endearing because he was exactly the same in every room. 3. She spent way too long performing a version of herself she thought should be at the table without emotion, very serious, and didn’t ask for help. People told her no one wanted to be around her anymore. What got her there was that she was different than everyone else. She was a writer, a singer, understood how to build communities and scale human connection. 4. Building trust is now more important than it even was 10 years ago. No one will listen to you if they don’t think you’re credible and trustworthy, and they can learn from you. You start with great documentation, technical writing, your subject matter experts sharing in public, and building in public5. Kacie tracks how many connections each exec has with their ICP in target accounts. She puts it on a dashboard. Most CEOs are competitive and they don’t want to be the lowest on the board in front of the whole company. It had a rising tide effect on all other channels.6. Her two tools for mining content ideas: Granola to record & transcribe every meeting, then use AI to surface patterns across calls. And a weekly brain dump call: “What pissed you off this week? What do you think needs to change? What are we hearing in customer calls that shouldn’t be happening to them?”7. Asking for help brings people closer to you. It doesn’t make them think you’re incompetent. Lean into what got you there. You don’t have to have all the answers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Sydney Sloan was previously the CMO at G2, Drata, and Salesloft, prior to which she spent 16 years at Adobe in a variety of marketing leadership roles. She is currently an advisor at G2 and Executive in Residence at Scale Venture Partners, working with early-stage founders on go-to-market strategy.In this episode, we talk about her biggest lessons, how buyer behavior has fundamentally changed, why brand matters more than ever, and what the 2026 marketing playbook actually looks like.---We discuss:* Why this is the biggest transformation in 30 years of B2B marketing* Buyer research shifted from 29% to 50% on AI chatbots in 4 months, and what that means for you AEO strategy* Why you probably don't need marketing automation the way you used to* “Human in the loop” vs “human in the lead”* How to build brand in 2026 - and why it matters more than ever* The Show-Up-Bigger-Than-You-Are playbook* Reorganizing GTM teams around outcomes, not functions* The advice Sydney would give herself before her first CMO role---Connect with Sydney:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydsloan/* G2: https://www.g2.com/* Scale Venture Partners: https://www.scalevp.com/---Connect with Finn:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/* Project 33: https://www.project33.io/---My personal takeaways:1. The shift to AI search is happening faster than we think. Internal G2 data showed that in April 2025, 29% of buyers said they started their research in of of the AI chatbots. By August that number hit 50%, just four months later. In 2026, every company needs to focus on their AEO strategy making sure their brand is the citation source LLMs use.2. Marketing automation as we know it is dead. Companies need to capture high-intent signals using tools like Clay or Common Room, and immediately deploy AI agents to act on them. Speed is the new currency.3. Show up bigger than you are. Sydney got this advice from the CMOs of Okta and Snyk, and used it to scale Drata and Salesloft. You don’t need a massive budget, you need one anchor event or one bold move. At Drata, they bought out every ad space for two blocks around Moscone Center for RSA Conference so attendees couldn’t miss them. At Salesloft, they bought a billboard on Highway 101, but the ROI didn’t come from the traffic driving by, it came from leveraging photos of it online. Big one-off events, if properly leveraged, signal momentum to investors, customers and potential employees.4. We’re entering the “Rick Rubin Economy”, because AI lowers the barrier to entry for content and code, so the only differentiator is taste. You can’t prompt your way to good taste. We need to hire for context and judgment, or leverage advisory boards of influencers who actually understand the market. AI provides the speed, but humans provide the creative direction that determines if anyone actually cares.5. Do we need GTM Architects? Everyone is rushing to hire GTM Engineers and build AI workflows, but in software development, you need engineers and architects. They work at different levels of abstraction. Software Engineers build and maintain software, Software Architects design the system as a whole. We need this for GTM. You need someone to map the strategy, choose the agentic platforms, and decide *what* to automate before you build it. Sydney said she sees this as a separate role, likely sitting in RevOps, not something for the CMO.6. The biggest mistake new CMOs make is obsessing over their domain of the marketing department. Sydney’s advice for someone stepping into a C-level role for the first time: Spend your first 90 days building deep relationships with your peers - the CFO, CRO, CEO. If you don’t understand the business context and have alignment with your peers, the best marketing strategy in the world won’t save you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Jessica Gilmartin was previously the CMO and CRO at Calendly, Head of Revenue Marketing at Asana, and Head of Product Marketing for Wildfire at Google. Today, she works closely with founders and first-time CMOs from pre-revenue through $100M ARR, advising them on everything from hiring, org design to GTM focus and executive communication.In this episode, we talk about how AI is changing the CMO role and marketing org, where it’s wildly overhyped vs working, and many other topics.Listen on: YouTube, Spotify or Apple PodcastWe discuss:* Why CMO + CRO combo roles usually fail* Why companies now hire CMOs from smaller, scrappier startups* Where AI is truly useful vs pure hype* Why random acts of marketing kill momentum* How Calendly moved from viral PLG to focused enterprise ABM* The real reason CMOs only last 18 months* Why taste, courage, and focus still matter more than toolsConnect with Jessica:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicagilmartin/Connect with Finn:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/* Project 33: https://www.project33.io/My personal takeaways:* We’re overvaluing AI right now: Jessica believes we’ll replace most of our day-to-day work with AI in 5-10 years. But right now board members are mandating AI adoption without specific use cases. The reality is AI is making teams 10-20% more efficient and that it works as an enabler, but not as a replacement. The best use cases she’s seeing are data enrichment for lead prioritization, competitive research for product marketing, and using LLMs as synthetic customer panels.* There are three paths to CMO and CEOs keep hiring wrong. 50% of B2B CMOs come from product marketing, 50% from demand gen, brand CMOs are rare in B2B. CEOs want a unicorn who’s great at both strategic messaging and technical growth. Jessica’s advice: “It’s like asking a backend engineer why they can’t code mobile apps.” Hire for your actual problem right now, not the one you’ll have at $100M.* The only mistake with bad hires is keeping them. Jessica repeats this constantly to clients, that you will always make bad hires. Or you hire people who were good then but aren’t right now. The mistake afterwards is keeping them too long. When you bring the right person on board, your life gets 10-100x easier.* Attribution is broken and that’s okay. You’re getting 70-80% accuracy at best. Jessica’s approach is to use the 80-20 rule. Get directionally correct data so teams understand where they can make impact and then work from there. The bigger issue is that companies wait too long to implement basic data and reporting infrastructure.* Random acts of marketing kill focus. At Calendly, Jessica pivoted the entire team to one thing: repositioning for enterprise customers. Because their CAC was zero for casual users due to viral growth. Marketers hate focus and they want to sprinkle seeds everywhere. But the winning strategy is making big bets, being explicit about trade-offs, and ensuring no one does random acts of marketing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Ashley Faus is the Head of Lifecycle Marketing at Atlassian and author of Human-Centered Marketing. Besides helping build Atlassian’s thought leadership playbook, over the last year, she built her own executive presence on LinkedIn with now over 22,000 followers.In this podcast, we cover her thought leadership framework.We discuss:1. Ashley’s approach to LinkedIn2. The 4 pillars of thought leadership3. SMEs vs. influencers vs. thought leaders4. The “Internal Influencer” strategy5. How to operationalize employee advocacy6. Understanding trust intent vs buying intent7. And much moreConnect with Ashley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyfaus/Human-Centered Marketing book: https://a.co/d/bbd8nV2Atlassian: https://atlassian.com/Connect with Finn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33: https://www.project33.io/Some key takeaways:1. Ashley’s content idea generation prompts: Write about “One question I asked today” and “One question I answered today”. It anchors your content in real experiences rather than generic advice.2. The 4 Pillars Framework: Thought leadership requires credibility (being the source), profile (audience size), prolificness (showing up often), and depth of ideas (saying new things)3. SME vs. thought leader: Subject-matter experts solve gnarly internal problems but lack profile. Thought leaders are disruptive and forward-looking4. A CEO’s job is often to show the market they are steady and predictable. Thought leadership is naturally disruptive, so it can actually be better to have non-C-suite experts as your primary visionaries.5. Build up your internal influencers. Laura Erdem at Dreamdata is a good example. She built an audience of now 50k+ LinkedIn followers by talking about how she actually uses the product in her own deals.6. Don’t fear employees leaving with their audience. Careers are long and the Valley is small. Investing in them creates lifelong partners, customers, and advocates.7. The first thing to NOT do is buy an advocacy platform and force people to register. Focus on the small handful of people who are “willing and able” and pair them with a marketer to help slice and dice their ideas.8. Revenue vs. thought leadership: Revenue belongs with “buy intent”. Thought leadership is about “trust intent” and “learn intent”. If you force it to drive short-term sales, you end up with a thinly veiled sales pitch that breaks trust.9. What “human-centered” marketing means: Most marketers talk about “capturing” leads and “converting” an MQL. Human-centered marketing means solving a problem for an actual person behind the screen, even if it doesn’t fit perfectly into a dashboard. Which is a fundamental mindset shift for most marketers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Peter Kang runs social at Clay, the GTM Engineering Platform valued at $3.1B. Peter turned LinkedIn into one of Clay’s strongest growth channels, without paid ads, without corporate content, and with a team of one. In 69 weeks, he posted 961 times and grew the Clay company page from ~14K to 120K+ followers.This episode is a deep, tactical breakdown of what actually works on LinkedIn in 2025, and why most B2B advice completely misses the point.What we cover: - Why company pages still matter and what they’re actually good for- How Peter posted 961 times in a year as a team of one (and what broke)- Why video works even when it breaks every rule- Why “taste” is the real moat in modern marketing & how to hire for it- How Clay is activating their founders on LinkedIn and the playbook they’re following- Why LinkedIn runs on ACV, not CPM- How Clay connects social engagement to pipeline- Why optimization advice creates noise, not signal- The authenticity test most content failsConnect with Peter:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterhoilkang/Clay: https://www.clay.com/Connect with Finn: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Project 33: https://www.project33.io/Chapters:00:00 — Posting 961 times in 69 weeks02:00 — Why company pages still matter04:15 — Founder profiles vs company pages06:00 — Why long-form video works on LinkedIn08:45 — Followers are a vanity metric10:25 — Running social as a team of one13:00 — Clay’s real content portfolio15:00 — How Clay films executive videos18:45 — When to activate founders (and when not to)20:05 — What “taste” actually means23:00 — Hiring creatives with taste26:45 — Why product success drives social success29:00 — Why most LinkedIn copy fails31:00 — LinkedIn vs TikTok vs YouTube35:00 — LinkedIn as scaled ABM36:00 — How to test for authenticity38:30 — Why optimization advice is noise39:00 — Designed-by-committee content40:20 — Clay’s internal prompts and style guides42:00 — Claude vs ChatGPT42:30 — Closing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Olga Andrienko spent 12 years helping build Semrush from $5M in revenue to IPO. She led social, brand, global marketing, and eventually operations at scale. Now she’s joining a pre-seed startup as CMO to build everything from scratch:- A new product category (AI-driven corporate learning)- A founder brand- An employee advocacy system- A modern AI-powered marketing engineWe discuss:* Why Olga left Semrush after 12 years* Why enterprise marketers feel stuck right now and how AI restrictions slow innovation* What marketers should actually do in a scary job market to stay employable* The #1 skill marketers need in 2025: experimenting with AI + no-code on their own* The departments where AI creates the biggest leverage (hint: not marketing)* How Semrush cut reporting time from 10 hours down to hours using automation* The automated workflows Semrush shipped: SOV tracking, reporting, content QA* The dream content engine Olga couldn’t build and why AI quality still isn’t there* How AI will reshape marketing orgs and which roles will (and won’t) survive* Why social media managers now have more strategic leverage than ever* Why brand pages on LinkedIn are basically dead and how to fix it* How Semrush scaled employee advocacy to 10M+ impressions a year* Employee advocacy vs executive thought leadership: the real difference* The exact system Olga is using to build her founder’s brand at Foxtory* How she scrapes top founders, analyzes formats, and recreates winning post types* The outbound → founder-brand → content loop that drives traction* Why a founder brand is a multi-year compounding asset and not a 3-month projectPerfect For You If* You’re a founder building your personal brand from zero* You lead marketing inside a startup and need leverage fast* You work in enterprise and feel slowed down by approvals, rules & legacy systems* You want to build an employee advocacy program that actually scales* You want to understand how top marketers think about org design & team structure* You want a behind-the-scenes look at how a former Semrush exec builds in publicConnect with Olga:Olga’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgandrienko/Foxtery: https://www.foxtery.com/Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Website: https://www.project33.io/Chapters00:00 — Why Olga left Semrush after 12 years02:00 — The gap in her career: building from zero03:30 — Solo vs team: why she chose a startup06:00 — How AI restrictions slow down enterprise marketers08:30 — What marketers should do when the job market feels unsafe10:50 — The biggest AI opportunities inside large organizations13:00 — Semrush’s 10h → 2h reporting automation14:30 — How they automated share-of-voice tracking16:45 — The content engine Olga couldn’t get approved20:15 — How AI changes team structure & role definitions22:00 — Why social media managers now have disproportionate leverage24:00 — Why most brand pages are a graveyard27:00 — How Sem rush scaled employee advocacy to 10M+ impressions30:30 — Advocacy vs executive thought leadership33:00 — Why Olga never touched executive accounts at Semrush36:00 — How she’s activating her new founder’s brand at Foxtery38:30 — Scraping top creators and rebuilding winning formats44:00 — Why she refuses AI-generated infographics47:30 — How she’s measuring success before product launch49:40 — Founder brand as a long-term compounding asset51:00 — What’s next for Foxtery#linkedin #founderledmarketing #linkedinads #linkedinagency #founderbranding #saas #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #content #b2b #revenue #contentmarketing #performancemarketing #videomarketing #personalbranding This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Justin Levy is the Director of Social Media & Influencer Marketing at ZoomInfo, a $1.2B ARR company with 4,000+ employees. He built their first executive social program, scaled employee advocacy from 100 to 1,800 people, and grew ZoomInfo’s creator program to 40+ creators across LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Substack, newsletters, and podcasts.That program alone drove thousands of webinar registrants and millions influenced in revenue.We break it all down in this episode.What You’ll Learn• The real reason LinkedIn reach is collapsing and why the algorithm now behaves more like TikTok• Why B2B brands should stop overextending on LinkedIn and where to diversify instead• The truth about vertical video on LinkedIn and why the returns are shrinking• How ZoomInfo uses YouTube Shorts & Reddit to influence AI Overviews and search• The 5 pillars of ZoomInfo’s social + creator ecosystem and which one outperforms everything• Why ZoomInfo’s creator program drives millions in revenue with a full attribution breakdown• How to launch an influencer program with a small budget• Paid vs. earned influencer content: how B2B brands should think about it• What B2B creators get wrong: over-monetizing, low authenticity, and trust decay• How ZoomInfo built a 12-hour/day social SWAT team to handle brand attacks in under an hourPerfect For You If• You lead marketing or brand at a B2B company• You're experimenting with creator or influencer marketing• You want to diversify beyond LinkedIn• You’re building an executive social program or employee advocacy motion• You want to understand how a $1.2B ARR company runs modern social at scaleConnect with Justin:Justin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinlevy/ZoomInfo: https://www.zoominfo.com/Connect with me: Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFHLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Website: https://www.project33.io/Chapters00:00 — Why Justin’s creator program outperforms everything else02:00 — ZoomInfo’s 5,000-registrant virtual event (and 2,000 from creators)03:07 — The biggest gap in B2B social today04:30 — How LinkedIn’s algorithm actually works in 202506:00 — Vertical video fatigue and diminishing returns06:58 — YouTube Shorts, TikTok & Reddit: new frontiers for B2B10:26 — Why LinkedIn is still #1 but shouldn’t be your only channel12:44 — ZoomInfo’s top 3 social channels14:13 — Breaking down ZoomInfo’s creator program15:57 — Why creator-driven demos outperform branded demos17:50 — Earned vs. paid: how to classify influencer marketing19:47 — Why you should combine logo placements + integrated creator content21:36 — How ZoomInfo measures millions in influenced revenue23:21 — Why every creator post gets a UTM24:55 — Why Justin ignores “the link kills reach” myth25:45 — First-touch, influenced pipeline, and attribution modeling27:34 — How smaller companies should start creator marketing29:53 — The “Top 50” organic play that gets creators on your radar33:13 — How many creators to pick for a 3-month test35:26 — Why you should always pair creator campaigns with a lead magnet37:07 — How Justin evaluates ROI when enterprise cycles are long39:35 — Why SMB-heavy leads aren’t good enough41:32 — One-to-one pipeline attribution explained43:37 — How to pick the right creators45:25 — The hidden metric Justin cares about47:18 — The authenticity problem with full-time creators50:22 — FTC rules, disclosure, and trust52:16 — Inside ZoomInfo’s 12-hour/day social SWAT team56:33 — Why consumers are shifting complaints from public to private59:00 — Closing#linkedin #founderledmarketing #linkedinads #linkedinagency #founderbranding #saas #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #content #b2b #revenue #contentmarketing #performancemarketing #videomarketing #personalbranding This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

David Walsh, Founder & CEO of Limelight, is one of the few people who actually knows how B2B influencer marketing actually works. His marketplace powers creator campaigns for Clay, Webflow, HubSpot, ZoomInfo, Bill.com, and dozens of high-growth B2B companies.In this episode, we break down exactly how to collaborate with creators as a repeatable growth channel and not a one-off experiment.What You’ll Learn- The stage where influencer marketing actually works- Creator-Market Fit: the only metric that matters- The campaign structure Limelight recommends to every brand- What a good budget looks like- How to measure influencer marketing without guessing- Why organic posts are step one and paid ads are step two- How Clay built the best creator program in B2B- Why employee advocacy and creators is the real cheat code- The flywheel effect that happens when executives, employees, and influencers amplify each other- Why now is the moment to start creating content- David shares how his own content now drives 90% of Limelight’s revenuePerfect For- Founders who want real distribution, not just paid impressions- Marketing leaders tired of rising CAC and declining ad performance- Teams considering influencer marketing but unsure where to start- Anyone curious how B2B creators actually drive pipeline Connect with David: - David’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dw1232/- Limelight: https://www.limelighthq.com/Connect with me: - Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFH- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/- Website: https://www.project33.io/Chapters00:00 — The 2012-Instagram moment for LinkedIn02:05 — When a company is actually ready for influencer marketing03:44 — Does ACV matter?05:33 — Why LinkedIn creators are the hardest to find06:59 — Solving the creator cold-start problem09:13 — Employees vs full-time creators11:21 — Why creator partnerships are suddenly normalized13:19 — How often creators should post15:07 — The ideal campaign structure and why going wide wins17:30 — Why niche creators outperform big ones19:01 — Budget ranges for 60-post campaigns20:32 — How to measure success the honest version22:55 — The 80/20 of engagement quality25:14 — Turning creator posts into paid ads27:30 — Why creator budgets will explode over the next 5 years31:06 — Creator-Market Fit 33:10 — The campaigns David points companies to35:02 — How Clay built the new standard37:10 — How brands should think about creative control40:38 — Why over-controlling the creator kills performance42:22 — How to think about creator fatigue + competitive overlap44:28 — The transparency rules creators follow46:12 — Employee advocacy + creators = distribution48:33 — How creators help employees grow, and vice versa50:48 — Why every company will have “personality-led marketing”52:54 — Why employee content must become measurable54:34 — David’s closing message: start creating now#linkedin #founderledmarketing #linkedinads #linkedinagency #founderbranding #saas #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #content #b2b #revenue #contentmarketing #performancemarketing #videomarketing #personalbranding This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Kyle Lacy is the CMO of Docebo, a publicly traded enterprise learning platform used by companies like Zoom, OpenTable, Dior, and Denny’s. Before Docebo, he led marketing at Lessonly, Seismic, Salesforce, and Jellyfish, and he’s been publishing online since MySpace.In this episode, Kyle breaks down what’s still true about personal branding in 2025, how executives should think about posting online, the mistakes leaders make when they worry too much about reach, and why story is the only thing that differentiates you.We also talk about publishing as a discipline, how to turn meetings into content, the realities of being an exec at a public company, and why Ramp and Liquid Death are raising the bar for brand in B2B.What You’ll Learn- The one thing about personal branding that hasn’t changed since 2010- How to create content as a busy executive- Why reach doesn’t matter as much as people think- The biggest mistakes executives make on LinkedIn- How to use LinkedIn for internal communication- When executive thought leadership becomes a marketing motion- The best way to pick content topics Perfect for founders, CMOs, and B2B leaders who want to:- Build a real executive brand - Understand how to post confidently without fear- Turn daily work into high-performing content- Enable your leadership team to publish consistently- Use LinkedIn for recruiting, culture, and storytellingConnect with Kyle: Kyle’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylelacy/Docebo: https://www.docebo.com/ Revenue Diaries: https://www.therevenuediaries.com/Connect with Me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Website: https://www.project33.io/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFHChapters00:00 Who is Kyle Lacy?01:22 Writing one of the first personal branding books (in 2010)03:30 What’s still true about personal branding05:00 Story vs. generic content07:00 How personal to get online08:58 Why specific details make you relatable10:22 How Kyle sees LinkedIn compared to other platforms12:05 The truth about reach and algorithm changes13:42 Kyle’s workflow: how he actually creates content15:38 Posting daily as an executive17:44 The Delta incident: how a single tweet almost got him fired20:37 How executives should think about posting22:38 Why building a network matters for every leader23:58 Dealing with imposter syndrome vs. publishing fear25:39 Do people assume you’re not working?27:36 Evergreen vs. timely content29:49 Using LinkedIn for internal communication31:41 When executive thought leadership becomes a real marketing motion33:54 Using audience trust for hiring35:48 Which executives should post (and why some shouldn’t)37:58 Themes and sub-themes: Kyle’s writing strategy39:22 Hooks, structure, and intuition40:49 Framework content vs. story content42:00 Commenting, community, and consistency44:38 Why Kyle wishes he started his newsletter earlier46:15 Substack vs. Beehiiv48:04 Kyle’s current tool stack49:10 Brands inspiring him: Ramp, Liquid Death50:37 Why good taste still wins This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Melissa Rosenthal is the Co-Founder of Outlever, the company helping B2B brands build their own media properties, full newsrooms, daily publishing, real interviews, and journalism that companies actually own.Before Outlever, Melissa scaled BuzzFeed’s creative team, helped build Cheddar into a modern media brand, and later became Chief Creative Officer at ClickUp, where she helped turn the company into one of the most recognizable names in SaaS.In this episode, Melissa gives a behind-the-scenes look at how company-owned newsrooms work, why traditional PR is broken, how Outlever produces journalism at scale, and why the future belongs to brands that control their own distribution.We also talk about B2B storytelling that people actually want to read, the new rules of thought leadership, and how AI is reshaping content creation from the inside.What You’ll LearnWhy traditional PR doesn’t work anymoreHow to build a company-owned newsroomThe system Outlever uses to create journalism at scaleWhy founders should own their audience, not rent itHow AI fits into modern editorial workflowsThe ClickUp lessons: brand, creative, and B2C thinking in B2BHow to use interviews to build trust at scaleWhat happens when every company becomes a media companyPerfect for founders, CMOs, and B2B marketers who want to:Build a real moat around their brandEscape the limitations of traditional PRUse interviews to drive trust, authority, and distributionUnderstand the future of B2B mediaBlend AI + human storytelling effectivelyConnect with Melissa:Melissa’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissarosenthal5/Outlever: https://www.outlever.com/Connect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Website: https://www.project33.io/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFHChapters00:00 Who is Melissa Rosenthal? From BuzzFeed to ClickUp to Outlever02:00 Why traditional PR is broken (and what replaces it)05:06 The reality behind earned media and pay-to-play06:46 Why companies should build their own newsroom08:37 What it takes to launch a media entity from scratch10:47 How Outlever produces journalism at scale12:50 The companies doing this best today14:14 Should every company build a newsroom?16:07 AI search, AEO, and why third-party content wins17:25 How Outlever does its own marketing19:20 How direct the brand to newsroom link should be20:40 Why this model is a moat for companies22:20 Will new “gatekeepers” emerge?24:30 How Melissa explains this to CMOs26:20 Distribution: LinkedIn, newsletters, and peer networks28:21 Quality vs. quantity in content publishing29:55 How AI assists interviews and drafting31:18 Why humans will always run the interview34:07 AI-assisted interviewer workflow, explained35:38 The rise of thought leadership and personal brand building37:46 The hardest part: going from 0 to 139:23 Why POV comes from your ICP, not your boardroom41:06 What media companies can’t do anymore44:35 Forbes 30 Under 30, and what it meant at 2546:28 What makes a truly great interview This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Alex Josephson is the VP of Brand and Content Strategy for Advertisers at LinkedIn, helping brands tell better stories and run smarter campaigns on the world’s largest B2B platform.In this episode, Alex gives a behind-the-scenes look at how LinkedIn thinks about vertical video, thought-leader ads, creative strategy, and what’s next for the platform.We also talk about B2B storytelling that actually entertains, why executives should stop over-engineering their content, and how brands like Ramp and Amex are setting a new bar for creativity in B2B.What You’ll Learn:Why LinkedIn is going all-in on vertical videoHow to make executives feel natural on cameraThe three principles LinkedIn teaches top advertisersWhy “cheap reach” is the wrong metric and what actually drives ROIHow to combine brand and demand in one strategyThe rise of Thought Leader Ads and what makes them workReal examples from Ramp, Amex, ServiceNow, and MicrosoftWhat’s coming next for LinkedIn: creators, brand-link video, and original programmingPerfect for founders, CMOs, and B2B marketers who want to:Turn executives into trusted voicesCombine brand and demand effectivelyUnderstand how LinkedIn’s ad ecosystem really workConnect with Alex:Alex’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexjosephson/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/Thought Leader Ads: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/native-advertising/thought-leader-adsEnhanced Discovery for Thought Leader Ads: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/boost-reach-build-influence-enhanced-discovery-thought-m5alc/BrandLink: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/native-advertising/brandlinkServiceNow Video Case Study: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/case-studies/servicenow-kantar-ctvAmerican Express Together We Grow Campaign: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/linkedin_in-business-trust-is-key-which-is-why-american-activity-7350539632754704384-xmEo/Ramp’s “Brian's First Day As CFO” Campaign: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ramp/posts/?feedView=videosConnect with me:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/Website: https://www.project33.io Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFHChapters00:00 Introducing Alex Josephson, from Twitter to LinkedIn02:00 Why LinkedIn is betting big on vertical video07:00 Stories, executives, and authentic B2B content09:30 How Blackstone’s president built a following with 60-second videos11:30 The psychology behind “show vs. tell” marketing13:00 The 3 core principles for winning on LinkedIn ads17:00 Thought Leader Ads and persona-based storytelling21:00 Video vs. static and what actually performs23:00 Using video to warm audiences before retargeting26:00 How to structure your LinkedIn ad funnel like a pro30:00 Should you promote thought leadership content?32:00 Debunking the “LinkedIn reduced reach” myth34:00 The shift from SEO to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)36:00 Ramp’s live-streamed “expense office” campaign and why it worked38:00 American Express: co-creating with real customers40:00 Why creative still wins in a world of automation41:00 The rise of executive content at LinkedIn42:00 How companies can actually enable their people to post44:00 Corporate Natalie, Rob Mayhew, and the B2B comedy era46:00 What’s next for LinkedIn → creators, shows, and premium media48:30 Closing thoughts This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org

Joe Ciarallo led comms at Salesforce, Toast (through IPO), and now Wellhub (formerly Gympass), a $2.4 billion corporate-wellness company.He’s seen what happens when scrappy startup PR turns into an IPO-ready machine.In this episode, Joe breaks down exactly how to build that engine. From category creation at Salesforce to crisis playbooks at Toast, and how to make your founder’s voice a real strategic asset. What you’ll learn:- How Salesforce invented the “Marketing Cloud.”- The shift from scrappy PR to strategic comms.- The new PR mix: owned + earned.- Where AI fits in comms, and why thought leadership will become more valuable, not less.- How companies like Ryanair earned trust by explaining the logic behind unpopular choices.- Why separating those functions is already outdated.- How Salesforce and Toast decide who shows up, what to say, and why empathy is non-negotiable.- Joe’s rule: just start. Post, iterate, learn, repeat.Perfect for founders who:- Want to look public-ready long before the IPO- Need to balance credibility with control- Are scaling fast and can’t afford to “wing comms” anymore- Believe the founder’s voice is part of the brand- Want to build real authority on LinkedIn without sounding corporateConnect with Joe:- Joe’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeciarallo/- Wellhub: https://wellhub.com/Connect with me: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/- Website: https://www.project33.io/- Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFHChapters00:00 – “Dress for the job you want, even as a startup.”01:20 – The Salesforce Marketing Cloud story05:50 – How owned + earned media play off each other08:30 – The rise of podcasts as the new PR11:40 – Turning scrappy PR into an IPO-ready function14:00 – How Toast prepped for IPO16:15 – AI, content, and speed18:20 – Why AI can’t create thought leadership20:30 – The new transparency: explaining the why22:00 – When journalists check your LinkedIn25:50 – Internal vs external comms is outdated30:00 – The rise of the Chief Comms Officer32:00 – Coaching founders to lead industries, not just products34:00 – Crisis playbooks and empathy36:00 – Why comms leaders should post too38:10 – CEO visibility and leading by example40:00 – Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.executivebrand.org