senior vice president marketing + global brand marketing + brand storytelling + demand generation + speaker

I build marketing systems that scale through inflection points—when markets shift, categories emerge, or trust becomes the barrier.

I've done this from $15M to $350M+:
• Scaled Apollo Global from $100M to $350M+ through M&A integration across 9 institutions and 3 continents
• Led Ungerboeck from legacy on-prem to modern SaaS platform → PE acquisition
• Consolidated five brands at Linxup → doubled revenue to $45M+
• Launched AI platform at Ceipal when recruiters feared replacement → 3x pipeline on day one

The pattern: I build systems where brand and demand reinforce each other—especially when complexity and trust are barriers.

The numbers: 3x lead opportunity value | 34% lead flow increase | 85% revenue influence | Global GTM across 4 continents

Former CMO at PE-backed SaaS companies. Host of Now Hiring! podcast. Open to permanent and fractional CMO roles.

Andy Weiss

We've lost deals to competitors with worse products.
Better functionality. Better pricing. Better implementation.
And we still lost.

The pattern? They felt more familiar.

Here's what I've learned tracking competitive losses in B2B SaaS:

Buyers say they're data-driven.

They decide on gut feel.
They just call it "stakeholder alignment."

What actually drives trust has nothing to do with features.

It's three irrational signals no one wants to admit matter.

Familiar beats better. Every time.

I've seen this pattern repeatedly: inferior products win because they have better visibility.

Not better capabilities. Better presence.
Consistency creates memory.
Memory feels like credibility.

If your buyers see your competitor weekly and you monthly, they own more mental real estate.

That advantage compounds over time.

Authority is borrowed, not earned.

Recognized names create instant credibility.

Nothing about the product needs to change. Perception does.

Buyers don't just evaluate what you sell. They evaluate who you remind them of.

One recognized name can outperform months of demand gen.
Consensus matters more than ROI.

Every competitive loss includes the same question:
"Who else is using this?"

Not: Does it work?
Not: What's the return?
Just: who else chose this?

Buyers don't want to be first. They want to be safe.

And "safe" means "already adopted."

Here's the real insight:

Due diligence is consumer behavior happening in Slack channels.
Gut feel doesn't disappear at scale. It just gets dressed up as justification.

So if your marketing is built for how buyers should decide, you'll keep losing to vendors who understand how they actually decide.

Rational decision-making is the story buying committees tell themselves.
Trust signals are what close the deal.

Start here: audit how often your buyers see you vs your top competitor.

Build for both.

The 30-60-90 day plan that won me the job… 
became irrelevant in week one.

Day 1 as Director of Marketing.
New suit. New title. Ready to execute.

Then the economy shifted.
Our ICP lost decision-making power overnight.
The CFO became the new buyer.
The pipeline froze.
High ACV deals ground to a halt.

My plan assumed stable conditions.
The market had different plans.
I had tactics for yesterday’s market.

What I needed was a system that could adapt when the rules changed.

There wasn’t enough runway.
Not for me. Not for Sales. Not for the company.
That was the end.

But here’s what stayed with me:

- Your playbook solves yesterday’s problem.
- Your ICP doesn’t stay fixed.
- The market doesn’t care about your plan.
- You can’t optimize your way out of an inflection point.

You need frameworks that bend without breaking.
Systems that adapt faster than conditions change.
The ability to spot shifts before the pipeline proves it.

This is why I work with frameworks, not playbooks.

Playbooks codify yesterday.
Frameworks survive tomorrow.

Lesson learned. 
The hard way.

I play with Legos.
Not because I have kids.
Because I’ve been building things since I was a kid.

Legos taught me a lesson most marketing teams still resist.

If it breaks, you don’t protect it.
You rebuild it.

Most marketing systems don’t fail because the strategy was bad.

They fail because people get emotionally attached to the first version.

A campaign underperforms.
So they tweak the headline. Nudge the budget. Swap the CTA.
But they never do the thing that actually fixes it.
They never tear it down

We treat marketing like it’s fragile.
Careful. Delicate. Too precious to touch.

Legos aren’t like that.

What I’ve always loved about them is simple:

If something breaks, you build something new.

No attachment.
No sunk-cost thinking.
No fear of starting over.

That’s what strong GTM actually looks like.

Not “perfect” funnels.
Not clever hacks.

Modular systems.
Clear frameworks.
And the confidence to dismantle what isn’t working.

You don’t need to protect the architecture.

You need to protect the freedom to rebuild.

January brings fresh goals.

But most people focus on what they'll do differently instead of who they'll become while doing it.

Here's what matters more...

Outcomes don't come from better habits alone. 
They come from better inputs.

Your relationships shape your perspective. Your perspective shapes your decisions. Your decisions shape your results.

That's why networking matters.

Not for access. For alignment.

The conversations that quietly rewire how you think about problems you thought you understood.

Here's what most people miss...
The relationships that change your trajectory aren't built in bursts.
They're built in rhythms.

One conversation can spark insight. A rhythm of conversations can change your career.

Not more events. Not more coffee chats.

Just consistency.

One meaningful conversation per week. One thoughtful follow-up.

This isn't "networking."

This is how sharp leaders stay sharp.

The moment you shift from "I'll reach out when I need something" to "I maintain relationships that shape how I think," everything changes.

Your network isn't about who you know.

It's about who influences your thinking when decisions matter.

2026 isn't the year to meet more people.

It's the year to build a system for better inputs.
Relationships that shape how you think when it counts.

Most marketers think they're bad at storytelling.

They're not.

They're just letting their best stories disappear.

Not because they aren't creative. 
Not because they don't "know their brand."
But because they only look for stories after they sit down to write.

By then, it's too late.

The real moment already passed.

A customer said something that stopped the room. 
Your team solved a problem in a way no one expected. 
A failure revealed something painfully true about the business.

You noticed it. You felt it.

Then you moved on.

And the story evaporated.

That's the part no one talks about.

Good brand stories aren't written. They're recognized in real time.

Which is why brainstorming sessions feel empty.

You're trying to invent meaning… Instead of collecting it while it's happening.

The marketers who always "have stories" aren't more imaginative. They're more attentive.

They capture proof while it's still warm. They build a library of reality... not polished narratives.

That's where real marketing comes from.

It's not asking, "What story should we tell?" 
It's asking, "What just happened that matters?"

If your brand feels flat, it's not a messaging problem. It's a memory problem.

The marketers who always have stories? They treat moments like assets.

Start capturing yours.

Most GTM teams don’t fail because of bad execution.
They fail because their story breaks in the middle.

They have a story.
They have metrics.

What they’re missing is this:

The story is the model.
Metrics are just the diagnostic.

Here’s the pattern:
Segment → Message → Motion

This isn’t a framework you apply after positioning is done.
It’s the narrative structure that makes positioning work.

When win rates drop, it’s rarely a sales problem.
It’s a Message → Motion coherence problem.

Demand → Conversion → Expansion

This isn’t a funnel you optimize.
It’s the story of how value is created and captured over time.

When expansion stalls, it’s not a CS problem.
It’s a Conversion → Expansion narrative gap.

Brand → Proof → Pipeline

This isn’t “positioning.”
It’s the story you tell — and the evidence that makes it believable.

When pipeline slows, it’s not a demand issue.
It’s a Brand → Proof disconnect.

At each SaaS company I’ve joined, the pattern is similar: the metrics look healthy on paper.

Demos were coming in.
Trials were converting.
Deals were moving.

But expansion was flat.

There were theories.
Pricing. Packaging. CS. Onboarding.

Often, none of that was the issue.

Their story ended too early.

Every touchpoint said the same thing:
“We solve X problem.”

And they did.

But once X was solved, customers had no language for what came next.
No reason to grow.
No mental model for expansion.

The product kept delivering value.
The story stopped acknowledging it.

So what did we do?

We didn’t change pricing.
We didn’t add features.
We didn’t “optimize the funnel.”

We rewrote the story customers were living inside:

We solved X, which unlocked Y.
And now Z becomes possible.

Expansion didn’t follow because we pushed harder.
It followed because the narrative finally had a next chapter.

The metrics didn’t change.
The structure they lived inside did.

This is where most GTM teams get it backwards.

They manage by metrics, hoping a story emerges.
The best teams manage by story and use metrics as proof that it’s working.

When the story is clear, metrics have context.
When the story is broken, metrics become noise.

You don’t fix GTM by fixing numbers.
You fix GTM by fixing the narrative structure that those numbers validate.

If the story is right, everything scales.
If it’s wrong, nothing does.

Most of the networking advice I’ve received is wrong.

Not because it didn’t work.
But because it doesn’t compound.

Most of what we call networking is transactional by design.

Meet → exchange value → move on.

You get short-term wins.
Then you have to do it all over again.

The relationships that actually changed my career didn’t come from events, intros, or “let’s grab coffee.”

They came from a different pattern.

Here’s what I’ve uncovered and ... 

Transactional networking asks:
“What can this turn into?”

Compounding relationships start with:
“This person is interesting.”

No agenda.
No positioning.
Just genuine curiosity.

When I meet someone sharp, I’m not thinking about leverage.
I’m listening. 

I’m paying attention to what they’re building, what they’re learning, what problems they’re obsessed with.

People can feel that.
And it changes everything.

The second shift is frequency without friction.

Compounding relationships aren’t built on big, orchestrated check-ins.

They’re built on small, natural touchpoints:

– “This reminded me of you.”
– “I liked how you framed that.”
– “You should meet this person.”

No perfect reason required.
Momentum beats polish every time.

The third shift is the one most people avoid.

Asymmetric generosity

I look for help that’s low-effort for me and high-value for them.

A 2-minute intro.
A quick perspective.
A timely nudge.

No tracking.
No expectation.

That’s not altruism.
It’s how compounding actually works.

What no one tells you is that this approach is slower upfront.

You won’t “build a network” in 90 days.

But you won’t have to rebuild it every time your role, title, or industry changes.

I’ve watched this compound in real time:

Someone I helped years ago became an advocate.
Someone I learned from once teaches me again in a new context.
Someone I stayed loosely in touch with opened a door I didn’t know existed.

The system isn’t complicated.

Be genuinely curious.
Stay in touch without an agenda.
Help without keeping score.

You just have to believe this:

Relationships are long-term assets... not short-term tactics.

And compounding always beats quick wins.

Ceipal

Senior Executive - Talent Management

Management Trainee

xploHRe

Member - IMT Nagpur HR Forum

CDK Global

Human Resources Intern

SquadCam

Xpert - Learn from the best for FREE

Marketing Strategy Intern

Tenhard India Pvt Ltd.

Marketing and Sales

OKONOMUS

Member - IMT Nagpur Business & Economics Forum

A senior talent management professional, ex-educator, and a people person with comprehensive expertise in developing and executing talent strategies to drive organizational growth and employee engagement. Adept at fostering a culture of continuous learning and development while aligning talent initiatives with business objectives.

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