In this episode of Demand Gen Confidential, host I talk with seasoned growth marketer and fractional CMO David Cardiel to unpack what it takes to thrive as a modern B2B marketer in today’s environment of lean teams, profitability mandates, and executive scrutiny.

David shares hard-won lessons from scaling marketing teams through acquisition, aligning with sales and finance on metrics that matter, and using AI to build smarter, more repeatable go-to-market systems.

Whether you're leading demand gen at an early-stage startup or navigating scale at a mature SaaS company, this episode offers a blueprint for turning marketing into a growth engine the boardroom actually believes in.

Key Topics:

00:54 - Scaling Teams from $10M to $30M ARR

06:44 - Intro: The Revenue-Ready Marketer

08:26 - Fluent Speak: Earning Executive and Finance Trust

13:26 - ICP Work and CAC Discipline for Repeatable Growth

17:49 - Metrics That Align: Speaking Revenue Across Marketing, Sales, and Finance

25:19 - AI as a Tactical Advantage for Lean Marketing

35:23 - What Modern Marketers Need to Win

🔗 Connect with David on LinkedIn.

🌐 Visit David’s website.

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