Built to Scale | B2B SaaS Edition

In episode 23, I sat down with Jenifer Kern, CMO at Qu, to discuss Zoom Fatigue, the challenges of leading a remote team during a pandemic and how to sustain company culture in a post COVID world.

In episode 22, I sat down with Shiv Narayanan, Founder and CEO of How To SaaS (former CMO of Wild Apricot).

In episode 21, I sat down with Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs. During our conversation, we discussed: How Chris made his way into the world of marketing— and why he started Refine Labs. Why marketers get stuck running a playbook like it's 2011. Why measuring attribution & influence can be dangerous. And much, much more... Enjoy!

In episode 20, I sat down with Nicolas Vandenberghe, Co-founder and CEO of Chili Piper.

In episode 19, I had a down-to-earth conversation with Harrison Rose, Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of Paddle about what it takes to build an incredible 'company culture' as the company scales.   As Paddle rapidly grows, its goal is to be the best place to work in London, England. To show they're serious about this they've gone to extraordinary lengths to make their employees happy including giving every team member access to mental health coaching, running mindfulness sessions at lunch, and providing every non-technical member of the team free coding lessons (to name a few).   For those not familiar with Harrison, he began working in software at the age of 16 while still in school. At 18 he co-founded Paddle, leading the go-to-market and commercial efforts, with revenues tripling each year since launch which has made Paddle one of the fastest growing software companies in the UK according to Deloitte Fast 50.   Enjoy!   P.S. Before you go, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts 🙂 🙏🏻

In episode 18, I sat down with Edwin Abl, CMO of Modulr a business payments platform company who is building a new digital payment service to make money flow more efficiently through both businesses and the economy.   For those not familiar with Edwin, he’s an experienced P&L leader in the EMEA and international SaaS software sector with deep expertise in revenue generation marketing, business development, enterprise sales, strategy and go-to-market partnerships.   Previously, Edwin led and built marketing at Appirio, Inc. (Global strategic partner of Salesforce.com, Workday and Google) in Europe - $30k - $133M pipeline growth in 4 years (acquired in 2016), helped scale Hive Learning's marketing function (part of Blenheim Chalcot's venture portfolio), co-founded 2 companies in the SaaS tech space and worked as a new business / go-to-market advisor to scaling startups.     Being CMO of Modulr, he is responsible for taking to market our unique API driven payments solution, building a team and scaling systemized processes. In his spare time provides mentorship on leadership, sales and marketing.   During our conversation, we discuss:   Why MQLs are irrelevant Why sales teams don’t find personas useful If someone should own the entire marketing and sales funnel If Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) will replace the CMO role How first-time CMOs should approach their first 100 days, present to a board, and build a world-class team The one book Edwin gives all new hires   Enjoy   P.S. Before you go, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts 🙂 🙏🏻

In episode 17, I sat down with Matt Bilotti a Staff Product Manager on Drift's growth team to talk about “growth.”   Matt also hosts the #Growth podcast, which is just one of the many popular shows produced by Drift.   Before joining the growth team at Drift, Matt "product managed" many parts of the Drift product. Before Drift, Matt spent some time working at HubSpot.   During our conversation, Matt and I discussed:   Why he switched to the growth team   How the Drift growth team is structured and what they’re responsible for   The process, framework, and tools the team uses to run growth experiments   And much more...   Enjoy!   P.S. To commemorate this episode, "before you go leave a ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ review and share the pod with your friends!" 😊

In episode 16, I had the opportunity to speak with Chris Nixon, VP of Marketing at CaliberMind and host of a weekly show called the Revenue Marketing Report.   During our conversation, we discuss the challenges of marketing attribution, why many B2B marketing teams still struggle to quantify marketing ROI, and what CaliberMind has done to solve this problem.   Enjoy!   P.S. Before you go, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts :) 🙏🏻  

  “We will not buy what we don’t understand.” — April Dunford   In episode 15, I’m joined by April Dunford (@aprildunford), an executive consultant, speaker, and author who helps technology companies make complicated products easy for customers to understand and love.   She is a globally recognized expert in Positioning and Market strategy. Previously April has run marketing and sales teams at a series of successful technology startups and has launched 16 products into market.   She is also a board member, investor, and advisor to dozens of high-­growth businesses and is the author of the upcoming book Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get it, Buy it, Love it.   Enjoy!   P.S. Before you go leave a review :) 🙏🏻

Scaling a B2B SaaS company from $1M to $10M and beyond is hard. Built to Scale is a podcast dedicated to the journey. In this episode, I introduce the new show, discuss why I decided to rebrand the podcast and give you a sneak peek at what to expect. You can also learn more at BuildToScalePodcast.com.

In this podcast session, I spoke with Peter Gillett, a serial entrepreneur who is currently the CEO of both Zuant, a mobile lead capture platform and Marketpoint Recall, a global recall and crisis management company. For those who may not be familiar with Peter, he has been a pioneer in database marketing since the 1970s and created the world’s first web-based CRM system funded by Lucent Technologies in the 1990s. Currently, he spends most of his time driving product development and client roll-outs of Zuant’s award-winning mobile lead capture app across US corporations including Tesla, Pirelli, McLaren, Verizon and others.  With now over four decades of experience in marketing and sales, Peter is a highly sought-after thought leader on hot-button topics including mobile and GDPR. He also writes a regular monthly column series for Target Marketing Magazine called, Around the World, where he explores what’s new in marketing and sales from a global perspective by doing Q&As with digital innovators making an impact on the marketing and sales industry. Peter is passionate about motorsport racing and tech innovation that enables highly visual, cost-effective versions of the ‘original databased marketing’ concept to be offered to top global companies.   Here are a few highlights from our discussion:   04:25 — How a busy CEO of 2 global tech companies starts his day, manages his time, and deals with overwhelm. 08:57 — Why Peter feels its crucial that product development stay in sync with marketing and sales. 10:43 — Peter’s take on the differences between the UK, European, and North American tech scene. 14:29 — Peter’s experience creating the world’s first web-based CRM system (pre-Salesforce) and how it led to founding Zuant. 28:00 — Why Peter feels tradeshows and events are back in fashion. 30:50 — Why Peter feels “simplicity and speed” sits at the core of scaling a tech business.   That’s it. That’s all.   Happy Holidays!   Show notes with links available here. P.S. Please leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts :) 🙏🏻  

“I believe in the power of data to change decision-making and culture. It’s all about finding the signal in the noise.” — Raviv Turner In this podcast session, I had the opportunity to speak with Raviv Turner, Co-Founder & CEO @CaliberMind.For those who may not be familiar with Raviv, he and his all-star team at CaliberMind have built a leading Customer Data Platform designed specifically for the B2B Revenue Marketer with one aim in mind — to be THE “single source of truth” for marketing and sales teams that finally gives them the "superpowers" they need to grow revenue faster, together. Raviv developed and mastered his data intelligence "superpowers" as a military intelligence officer and now, for the past decade, has been helping CMOs, and B2B marketers grow revenue using these honed data intelligence skills. In 2017, Raviv was selected as one of the ‘Top Tech Leaders to Watch’ by Inc. magazine and is also a contributor to Forbes Tech Council. He is also a sought-after speaker at marketing conferences on the topics of marketing analytics, data intelligence and marketing AI,  including Dreamforce, MarTech Conference, and MarketingProfs B2B Forum. Despite all that Raviv does, he still finds time to ‘give back’ as both a personal advisor to CMOs on the topic of marketing technology and data analytics strategy to help improve their revenue accountability and customer-centricity skills - and as an angel investor and mentor at well-known startup accelerator @Techstars. Here are a few highlights from our discussion: 03:42 — How a former Israeli Intelligence Officer found himself in Boulder, Colorado running CaliberMind - a leading B2B Customer Data Platform for Revenue Marketers.   07:10 — 3 reasons why Boulder, Colorado has such a strong tech community and culture.   10:43 — Empathy: why it's a personality trait all good product managers must possess.   14:20 — #MarTechPorn: What it is and how it

“For fast-growing companies, marketing powered by storytelling is a recipe for marketing success.” — Mark Evans In this podcast session, I had the opportunity to speak with Mark Evans about brand storytelling, which is the topic of his latest book Marketing Spark. Specifically, how marketers and business leaders can ignite their marketing by embracing the power of storytelling to produce better results. For those not familiar with Mark, he is a marketing consultant, entrepreneur, and writer who has been telling stories for more than 25 years. He makes marketing work for fast-growing companies...and for companies that are looking to grow faster. Mark has helped more than 100 companies with marketing that accelerated their growth. Before starting his business, ME Consulting, in 2008, Mark was an award-winning technology journalist with the National Post, Globe & Mail, Bloomberg News and South China Post. At the height of the dot-com boom (in hindsight, not the best timing!), he co-founded a startup, Blanketware, that plunged Mark head-first into the world of entrepreneurship. With a passion and fascination for startups, Mark went on to work for three of them: b5media, PlanetEye and Sysomos. Mark writes a blog (www.markevans.ca/blog) about marketing and produces one of Canada’s most popular newsletters for entrepreneurs and marketers. He speaks frequently and offers workshops about marketing strategy, messaging and storytelling. When Mark manages to tear himself away from the keyboard, he is an avid ice hockey and tennis player, craft beer aficionado and intrepid traveller. Mark, his wife, Pamela, their three children and their dog Max, live in Toronto, Canada. Enjoy!   Show Links   Connect with Mark on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook Mark Evan’s Website Significant Objects experiment   Recommended Links   [VIDEO] The magical science of storytelling | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholm [INFOGRAPHIC] The 2018 state of attention   Books Mentioned   [BOOK] Marketing Spark: How Entrepreneurs Can Ignite Their Marketing and Embrace the Power of Brand Storytelling (Amazon.ca 2018) [BOOK] Marketing Spark: How Entrepreneurs Can Ignite Their Marketing and Embrace the Power of Br

In this podcast session, I had the opportunity to speak with Magnus Unemyr on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, how marketers and business leaders can begin harnessing its power to produce better results. For those not familiar with Magnus, he is a renowned author, global speaker and thought-leader in the field of marketing automation, with a particular focus on advanced integration, marketing with artificial intelligence, and how data and insights from Internet-connected devices can drive marketing automation logic. Magnus has spent the past 20+ years in the global software industry, focusing on marketing the Internet-of-Things technology in the semiconductor chip industry. He also co-founded an international software company that built and maintained a distributor network in 50 countries. He now concentrates his efforts on helping companies advance and grow their business by sharing his knowledge as an independent consultant. Magnus has published many popular books on Internet marketing, Marketing Automation, Entrepreneurship, Internet-of-Things and Artificial intelligence. His latest book, released in 2018, is entitled ‘Data-Driven Marketing with Artificial Intelligence: Harness the Power of Predictive Marketing and Machine Learning.’ Magnus currently resides in Sweden and is a sought-after speaker for seminars and conferences in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, throughout Europe and the USA.  He’s also the founder and author of the blog www.unemyr.com/blog a leading source for marketing automation and AI. Enjoy!   Show Links   Connect with Magnus Unemyr on LinkedIn Magnus Unemyr’s Website DeepMind [VIDEO] Joe Rogan Experience #1169 - Elon Musk [APPLE PODCASTS] The Joe Rogan Experience #1169 - Elon Musk [ARTICLE] Twitter taught Microsoft’s AI chatbot to be a racist a**hole in less than a day   Books & Documentaries Mentioned   [BOOK] Data-Driven Marketing with Artificial Intelligence By Magnus Unemyr (Jun 2018) [DOCUMENTARY] Do You Trust This Computer? (Aug 2018) [PDF] Kurzweil, Ray - Singularity Is Near, The (hardback ed) [v1.3]

In this podcast session, I had the opportunity to speak again with Debbie Qaqish who is the Principal and Chief Strategy Officer of The Pedowitz Group – a Revenue Marketing™ firm that helps B2B companies and their marketing leaders transform marketing from a cost centre to a revenue centre. In it, we discussed the topic of marketing enablement, which is an emerging marketing function. Specifically, we consider what it is and how it could help B2B companies align marketing and sales to drive revenue growth. For those not familiar with Debbie, she is a nationally recognized thought leader, innovator and speaker on the topic of Revenue Marketing with more than 30 years of experience applying strategy, technology and process to help B2B companies drive revenue growth. She is also the author of the award-winning book – “Rise of the Revenue Marketer,” Chancellor of Revenue Marketing University, and host of Revenue Marketer Radio (WRMR). Debbie has been at the forefront of the marketing automation phenomenon, first as a beneficiary, and now as an advocate and expert. Having coined the term “Revenue Marketer” in 2010, Debbie is considered, by many, to be the “original” revenue marketer. Debbie is also a Ph.D. candidate, and her dissertation topic is on how the CMO adopts financial accountability in an e-marketing environment. Enjoy!   Show Links   Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn About Debbie Qaqish The Pedowitz Group [ARTICLE] What Is Marketing Enablement and Why Do You Need It? — By Debbie Qaqish [VIDEO] Thomas Barta — Keynote: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader (2017) [ARTICLE] Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic (2018): Martech 5000 (actually 6,829) — By Scott Brinker [ARTICLE] The New Customer Journey Maze: 5 Implications For Marketers — By Kimberly A. Whitler   Books Mentioned   [BOOK] Rise of the Revenue Marketer   People Mentioned   Thomas Barta, Author: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader Alex Simoes, Senior Director of Customer E

In this podcast session, I had a fascinating conversation with Stephen Ghigliotty, Director of Curriculum Development at the Canadian Marketing Association. During the episode, Stephen and I discuss his unconventional career path as well as the details of the upcoming launch of Canada’s first-ever Chartered Marketer designation program offered by the Canadian Marketing Association. Personally, I believe this type of program is a significant advancement for Canada’s marketing profession and will play an important role for years to come in helping future chartered marketers assert marketing’s overall contribution to both the C-Suite and business. For those not familiar with Stephen, he grew up on the Jersey Shore long before Snooki and her clan made it iconic. In the late 80’s he graduated from Culinary school, serving Julia Child dinner on campus during graduation week and then became an acclaimed pastry chef, with original recipes featured in the New York Times Magazine. After working at Accenture for 5 years, he immigrated to Canada in 1999 where he spent the next 15+ years in various senior marketing and sales roles including becoming the Director of Interactive for Canada at Saatchi & Saatchi where he managed the online marketing of brands such as Toyota, Maple Leaf Foods and many others. In 2014, he began guest lecturing at the University of Toronto and eventually developed a three-course certificate program that is still offered called “Multimedia Storytelling and Content Marketing.” Currently, he and his team are creating a two-year online program for the Chartered Marketer professional designation from the Canadian Marketing Association, the largest and most respected such organization in the nation. Enjoy!   Show Links   Connect with Stephen on Twitter | LinkedIn The Canadian Marketing Association The Canadian Marketing Association (YouTube) Chartered Marketer Program Canadian marketers welcome first-ever professional designation program

In this podcast session, I sat down with friend and serial tech entrepreneur Dmitry Buterin. Dmitry is the founder of three multi-million dollar businesses, including Wild Apricot — a leading membership management software company that he grew from 0 to $10M before it was acquired in late 2017 by Personify. He’s also an angel investor and advisor to several tech and blockchain businesses one being BlockGeeks - a top online resource for anyone who’s interested in learning how to become a world-class Blockchain developer. Dmitry also happens to be the proud father of Vitalik Buterin who is the creator of Ethereum, which - as of this writing - had a market cap of $46 billion, making it the second most valuable crypto network next to Bitcoin. Whenever we meet our conversations tend to cover “a lot of ground” and this one was no exception. During the session, we covered a variety of topics including sabbaticals, personal growth, parenting, entrepreneurship, business culture and leadership, and even blockchain. Enjoy!   Show Links   Dmitry’s Personal Website Connect with Dmitry on Twitter | LinkedIn Wild Apricot [ARTICLE] From the Chief Apricot: I Am Moving on from Wild Apricot [OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT] Personify Acquires Wild Apricot Brave Mind Noting Meditation Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Toastmasters Ethereum

In this podcast session, I had the opportunity to speak with Debbie Qaqish who is the Principal and Chief Strategy Officer of The Pedowitz Group - a Revenue Marketing™ firm that helps B2B companies and their marketing leaders transform “marketing” from a cost centre to a revenue centre. As a result, Debbie has become a nationally recognized thought leader, innovator and speaker on the topic of Revenue Marketing with more than 30 years of experience applying strategy, technology and process to help B2B companies drive revenue growth. She is also the author of the award-winning book – “Rise of the Revenue Marketer,” Chancellor of Revenue Marketing University, and host of Revenue Marketer Radio (WRMR). Debbie has been at the forefront of the marketing automation phenomenon, first as a beneficiary, and now as an advocate and expert. She is a frequent speaker and writer on topics related to Revenue Marketing transformation, leadership, change management, sales and marketing alignment, ROI, content, organization, talent and marketing operations. In fact, having coined the term “Revenue Marketer” in 2011, Debbie is considered, by many, to be the “original” revenue marketer. Debbie is also a PhD candidate and her dissertation topic is on how the CMO adopts financial accountability in an e-marketing environment. Enjoy! Show Links   Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn About Debbie Qaqish The Pedowitz Group [BOOK] Rise of the Revenue Marketer The Rise of the Revenue Marketer (2011), Marketo Blog The CMO Survey (Duke University) [VIDEO] Thomas Barta — Keynote: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader (2017)   People Mentioned   Jeff Pedowitz, President & CEO of The Pedowitz Group

In this session, I had the opportunity to catch up with Angus Reid (@angusreid64) — my old college teammate from Simon Fraser. Angus recently retired from professional football after playing 13 amazing years for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. The BC native played in 200 professional games placing him in the top 10 all time for games played by a BC Lion. Throughout his career, Angus has also been a 3-time all-star, 2-time Grey Cup Champion and 5-time team captain. A long shot to make it and considered too short and too small by pro football standards, Angus beat the odds. He didn’t even begin playing football until the eleventh grade. He then missed three of his five collegiate seasons with a severe stomach ailment, making it back for his senior season and becoming only the 6th All American in school history. Angus became the 4th overall pick in the 2001 CFL college draft by the Toronto Argonauts, only to be cut by them following his first training camp. It has been through sheer relentlessness and determination that Angus was able to not only fulfill his seemingly impossible dream, but also be able to do it longer than almost anybody else. Today Angus has become much more than simply a football star. He’s a true fixture in his community and speaks non-stop across both Canada and the U.S to businesses, schools and sports teams on what it really takes to make your dreams a reality. During our conversation, Angus talks about what it took to fulfill his seemingly impossible dream. Enjoy! Show Links Official Website of Angus Reid Connect with Angus on: Twitter | Instagram Angus Reid - Wikipedia [VIDEO] Why We Need High School Football | Angus Reid | TEDx West Vancouver Simon Fraser University Angus Reid consumes more than 10,000 calories in preparation for a CFL game Saved by a Brother’s Love — My Forgotten Season In Germany by Angus Reid Official Site of the BC Lions 94th Grey Cup - BC Lions vs Montreal Alouettes (2006) 99th Grey Cup - BC Lions vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2011) [VIDEO] Angus Reid’s Press Conference to Announce Retirement - BC Lions [VIDEO] What’s next for Angus Reid? One of CFL’s Longest Tenured Players Retires   Books Mentioned [BOOK] Thank You Coach: Learning How to Live By Being Taught How To Play By Angus Reid   People Mentioned Doug Brown Ibrahim "Obby" Khan Dan Dorazio

This session - like the podcast - is a bit of an experiment. It’s shorter than the previous two sessions, has no guest and is one where I discuss why the Chief Marketing or Marketing Leader role is the hardest position in the C-Suite or management team to get right. I finish up the session by suggesting what Founders and/or CEOs might do to improve their odds of getting it right as well as what Marketing Leaders and/or CMOs can do to help in the process.