Inside the Funnel

Ivan Bulaev has run channel, partnerships and direct sales teams at HPE, Kaspersky, AWS and now Autodesk. In this episode, he tells Richard Lane why the word ‘channel’ barely gets used any more - and what’s replaced it. You'll hear how Autodesk structures its ‘sales pods’ to run an 800-account territory without losing control, why AI has already made up 90% of the buyer's mind before a seller says a word, and why chasing the big global system integrators too early is one of the most expensive mistakes a vendor can make. Ivan also shares a Dutch saying about trust that's stuck with him ever since he first heard it - and it sums up partner relationships better than any playbook. Whether you're building your first partner programme or rethinking a mature one, this conversation gives you a sharper way to think about who you sell with, not just who you sell to. Listen to the full episode to hear it all.

Most marketing teams have never had more data. Most are still struggling to turn it into a decision anyone can act on by Friday. In this episode of Inside the Funnel, Richard Lane sits down with Mark Boothe, CMO at Domo - and a company that's both a durhamlane customer and a durhamlane supplier - to unpick what's actually changing when revenue teams go "AI-native," and what's just noise.Mark talks about the data foundation that has to exist before any AI initiative is worth funding, the two hires who reshaped Domo's approach to AI enablement (one found via a LinkedIn message he almost ignored), and the numbers behind it - including a seven-figure weekly pipeline number he attributes directly to AI. He's just as direct about where it goes wrong: tools handed to teams with no plan, "AI slop" clogging inboxes, and the difference between using AI and being AI fluent.If you're a CMO, a revenue leader, or anyone tired of watching AI get bolted onto a broken process, this is 30 minutes that will change what you do on Monday morning.

In this episode of Inside the Funnel, Richard Lane sits down with Vincent Chapus, veteran sales leader and co-founder of Palladio GTM, to cut through the AI noise and get specific about what's working.Vincent has built SDR teams from scratch at PayPal, Oracle and TIBCO. Now he helps companies stop buying tools in silos and start engineering their go-to-market from end to end. The centrepiece of that work? Orchestration - using platforms like Clay to connect signals, enrich data, and get the right information in front of the right rep at exactly the right moment.This episode covers what the 'silent killer' of SDR productivity really is, why 20% of your CRM probably isn't your ICP, how AI agents are already doing the work of research teams, and whether B players can genuinely become A players with the right system behind them. This is your honest case to doing more with less.

Most outbound teams are running before they've walked.Tom Stearns and Peter Cleary - co-authors of Graphic Sales: How to Build a Prospecting Playbook - join Richard Lane to talk about why the thinking has to come before the sequencing, how the right playbook becomes the foundation for AI, onboarding and rep performance, and what it took to write a sales book that actually works differently.If you're building or leading an outbound team, this one's worth your time.

In this episode of Inside the Funnel, Richard Lane sits down with Rosanne Darrow, VP of Marketing and Communications at Siemens Healthineers, to unpack how one of the world’s largest healthcare organisations is rethinking demand generation - and what it takes to drive commercial impact at scale.Rosanne has spent over 20 years at Siemens, leading marketing across global and regional roles. Her focus today is simple: drive demand, enable sales, and deliver measurable commercial results.But in a market that’s changing fast, that’s easier said than done.Buyers are more digital-first than ever. In fact, 62% of medtech buyers now prefer a rep-free experience at the early stages of their journey.At the same time, sales teams are under pressure to focus on high-value conversations - not chasing unqualified leads.So how do you bridge that gap?In this conversation, Rosanne shares how Siemens Healthineers shifted from a volume-driven marketing model to a more structured, end-to-end demand engine - one that prioritises qualification, nurtures opportunities properly, and delivers real pipeline impact.We get into:Why traditional MQL models were breaking down — and frustrating sales teamsHow SDRs became a critical layer between marketing and salesThe role of digital-first buying behaviour in reshaping go-to-market strategyHow to prove a new model internally without disrupting your sales teamWhat “good” looks like when it comes to alignment, content, and customer journeysIf you’re still measuring success