Co-Founder at AssetMule & Video Marketing Consultant | Podcast Host at #StartupsUnedited & #TheGTMPack Show | Former Twitter, Early MoPub

- Been in this startup game for 24 years - still in therapy to find out why 🙃

- I'm a cross-functional entrepreneur 

- I'm a marketer, product manager, & sales leader

-I have PTSD from being a serial founder for too long, yet still addicted to the game

Specialties include: Podcasts, Mobile Advertising, CRM, Demand Generation, Salesforce.com, Cloud Computing, Social Media, Online Services, Public Speaking, Sales Training, Product Design, Sales, Lead Generation, and Marketing.

🔥 The 4 Pillars of Sales Excellence with the GREAT Ralph Barsi

Every once in a while, you hit “record” on a podcast and immediately know it’s going to become one of those timeless episodes people keep coming back to.

This conversation with Ralph Barsi is one of them.

Ralph breaks down nearly 30 years of sales leadership into a simple but powerful framework:

⭐️ Performance. Process. Proficiency. Professionalism. ⭐️ 

But the real unlock, and the part that hit me the hardest, is this:

👉 Nothing works until a rep makes the personal decision to be great.

Not the training.
Not the dashboards.
Not the pep talks.

The switch has to flip internally first.

From there, Ralph walks through how he builds truly elite #SDR teams (but applies to all sales roles/teams):

 • Monthly mutual assessments between reps + managers
 • A 1–5 score on each pillar to create real accountability
 • Training that focuses on problems before product
 • A mindset that prioritizes consistency, discipline, and service

And of course, in true Ralph fashion, he talks about why giving back, teaching your work, and staying human in a hyper-automated world still matter more than ever.

If you lead a sales team…
If you're building an SDR org…
If you're a rep trying to level up your craft…

This episode is a MUST-listen/read: https://lnkd.in/eJ2AGF9D

#sales #sdrs #salescoaching #salesleadership

🎤 Jorge Soto

- Been in this startup game for 21 years - still in therapy to find out why

- I'm a cross-functional entrepreneur 

- I'm a marketer, product manager, & sales leader

-I have PTSD from being a serial
founder for too long yet still addicted to the game

Specialties include: Podcasts, Mobile Advertising, CRM, Demand Generation, Salesforce.com, Cloud Computing, Social Media, Online Services, Public Speaking, Sales Training, Product Design, Sales, Lead Generation, and Marketing.

Co-Founder of FollowUp | Fractional GTM Co-Founder for Startups & VCs | Host of #TheGTMPack & #StartupsUnedited | Former Twitter, Early MoPub

This Silicon Valley entrepreneur explains why today’s founders & CEOs need more than “grind harder” advice.

On this #StartupsUnedited episode from 2023, Justin Dorfman & I sat down with Mike Molinet 🦉 (Founder of Thena, Co-founder & former COO of Branch, LP at GTMfund), who delivers a masterclass on operating as a high-performing startup founder.

Here are the actionable takeaways you can implement today:

1. Build a Founder Operating System for Your Body
Mike’s energy turnaround came from three simple rules:
 • Zero alcohol (increases clarity + decision speed)
 • High-protein, low-carb meals (stable energy → stable leadership)
 • Daily movement (walk → cycle → swim → whatever keeps momentum)

Try this: 10 days clean eating + no alcohol + 10k steps/day.

You’ll feel the difference.

2. Reduce Inputs → Increase Output
Mike treats attention like runway:
 • No TikTok
 • No Instagram
 • No news
 • LinkedIn = create → post → close

Try this: Block 8–10am as “input-free.” Only create, decide, or execute.

3. Engineer Your Environment to Win by Default
Instead of relying on willpower, he redesigned his environment:
 • Removed his TV → default became reading & deep work
 • Night routine: no food 2 hours before bed, low lights, small melatonin
 • Meal-prepped 8 meals every Monday → eliminates decision fatigue

Try this: Remove one thing that pulls you into passive consumption.

4. The Real COO Playbook for Early-Stage Startups
Mike’s tactical COO responsibilities at Branch included:
 • Legal (MSAs, privacy policies)
 • Security & SOC2
 • HR, recruiting, payroll
 • Finance & accounting
 • Sales + CS leadership
 • International expansion set-up

Rule: Grab the unowned highest-impact task and run it to completion.

Try this: List every “unowned” mission-critical area. Assign owners by EOD.

5. The High-ROI Path for Joining a Seed Startup
If you want accelerated skill growth:
 • Seek roles where you own multiple functions
 • Optimize for breadth, not titles
 • Choose founders who ship fast and communicate clearly
 • Look for early customer usage → fastest learning loop

Try this: Ask founders: “What’s the highest-impact problem I’d own in the first 30 days?”

6. The Branch Scaling Principles (Use These Daily)
Speed: Make decisions at ~70% info — optimize for “done,” not “perfect.”

-Bias for Action: Ship, test, iterate. Planning ≠ progress.
-Grit: Stay consistent when results lag.
-Micro Urgency: Respond fast, follow-up fast, move deals today.
-Macro Patience: Great companies take 7–10 years.

Try this: Pick one area to apply micro urgency today (e.g., inbound >5 min response).

This episode is a blueprint for developing into a more resilient, high-performing founder.

🔔 Watch the full episode of #StartupsUnedited with Mike: https://lnkd.in/ehk7Va7z

And follow Mike - his posts are mini playbooks for scaling with speed, discipline, and clarity.

#ceos #coo #leadership #vcs

Jorge Soto

💡 Went back into my archives recently and revisited a conversation with Kyle Poyar, and it’s striking how relevant it feels in 2025

At the time, Kyle was at OpenView, the VC firm widely associated with defining and operationalizing "Product-Led Growth" or "#PLG" as a category. 

Listening again, five years later, in a very different #SaaS and #AI environment, offered insights around how PLG has evolved and why this discussion still matters for founders, CEOs, GTM leaders, Product leaders, etc.

Why does it feel so relevant today?

1. The core problem PLG tried to solve hasn’t changed: buyers still want earlier proof of value.

What has changed is our ability to deliver it.

AI now enables adaptive onboarding, predictive guidance, and automated qualification at a scale that simply wasn’t possible in 2020.

Kyle’s original framing maps directly onto today’s challenges, just with more powerful tools behind them.

2. PLG has shifted from a GTM tactic into an organizational design question.

Back then we were debating trials vs. freemium.

Today leaders are asking:

-How do we architect customer learning loops?
-How should product, sales, and marketing co-own activation and readiness?
-How do we operationalize product telemetry across GTM?
 
These strategic questions are exactly where Kyle’s early insights now feel prescient.

3. AI isn’t replacing PLG: it’s accelerating and expanding it.

AI changes the economics of onboarding, experimentation, sales-assist, and pricing.

We're moving toward product-led, AI-assisted, selectively human-supported growth systems.

This hybrid model reflects the direction Kyle anticipated, even if we didn’t fully grasp it at the time.

🔍 A few themes that stood out on rewatch:

-Earlier access to value remains the strongest predictor of conversion
-Nonlinear, signal-driven customer journeys are becoming the norm
-Product usage is evolving into the backbone of qualification and GTM sequencing
-AI is enabling hyper-personalized onboarding and reducing cost-to-serve
-Sales teams are shifting from “pitching” to guiding, especially in complex enterprise environments

🧠 My question to the community:

As AI reshapes onboarding, activation, pricing, and the role of human selling…

How has PLG evolved in your view? And are we seeing the early formation of a new growth model entirely?

Would love to hear your thoughts?👇

Link to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/eUYy4PsS on Spotify or Apple: https://lnkd.in/eb9iAWqC

P.S. If you're not already subscribed to Kyle’s newsletter Growth Unhinged, make sure you check it out. One of the sharpest, most data-driven perspectives on SaaS and modern GTM out there.

Co-Founder of FollowUp | Fractional GTM Leader for Startups & VCs | Host of #TheGTMPack & #StartupsUnedited | Former Twitter, Early MoPub

Founders/CEOs of early-stage B2B startups: you have to be the first salesperson. 

Not “support sales.” 

Not “sit in on a few calls.” 

I mean carry the bag.

If you’re chasing product-market fit (or you’ve got early signals and you’re trying to turn sparks into a fire), this is non-negotiable.

Here’s why:

	1.	Investors can smell theory from a mile away.

Decks don’t impress. Market contact does. When you’ve sold it yourself, you speak in specifics, not vibes.

	2.	It protects your sanity.

Selling forces you into the truth:
	•	Why deals stall
	•	What objections are real vs. imaginary
	•	What buyers actually care about
	•	Where your product doesn’t land (yet)

	3.	You can’t onboard your first sales hire from a slide deck.

If you haven’t been in the trenches, you won’t know:
	•	What “good” looks like in discovery
	•	How to qualify without delusion
	•	What to avoid that kills momentum
	•	How to coach instead of just measuring activity

	4.	You can’t outsource credibility.

If you’ve never done the hard part, prospected, pitched, handled objections, closed, your revenue team will feel it.

And when pressure hits (it always does), that gap turns into resentment, misalignment, and culture rot.

But when you’ve done the dirty work and closed the early deals?

Your team doesn’t just “report to you.” They trust you. They execute harder because your expectations are grounded in reality.

So yeah, titles and board meetings are nice.

But if you want a real revenue culture and real execution: earn your stripes. Get your hands dirty. Sell.

If you’re a founder reading this: are you currently selling deals yourself, or have you already handed it off?

If you care about where Martech and GTM are actually headed in 2026.

Not the hype cycle, not the “AI will eat the world” thinkpieces. 

You need to be at this one: 

Martech for 2026 | December 2, 11:00 AM <> 3:30 PM EST

My friend Scott Brinker is dropping his new Martech for 2026 report: 
100+ pages of research that cuts through the noise and gets to the real story behind AI, agents, and the next era of marketing systems.

And if you know Scott, you know this:
 
He’s real the Godfather of "#MarTech".

This isn’t another “future of marketing” manifesto built for retweets.

This is what’s actually happening on the ground:

⚡️ How AI agents are changing workflows right now
⚡️ Where Martech teams are reallocating spend
⚡️ What’s breaking, what’s emerging, and what’s quietly becoming the new normal
 ⚡️ What you can realistically expect to be using in the next 6–12 months - not 2030

We’ve all seen enough Martech “predictions” to last a lifetime - this is the opposite of that. Pragmatic. Clear. No BS. And yeah… a few footnotes that will make you laugh out loud.

Scott and Frans are hosting the official launch event, and you can join live or on-demand.

If you’re leading marketing, ops, product, RevOps, or anything GTM - you should 100% be in the room.

👉 Sign up here:

https://lnkd.in/ea3hY4vG

They’re also hosting follow-up conversations with some brilliant product and marketing leaders: Rebecca Corliss, Tejas Manohar, Alexis Karsant, Patrick H.(https://lnkd.in/eiCmmmDU), Sara Faatz, Jonathan (Jon) Moran, and Rafa F(https://lnkd.in/e3b5HYGB). Expect sharp insights and zero fluff.

Martech is entering its next era -> agentic, data-rich, and execution-ready.

If you want the blueprint, start here.

#marketing #SaaS #ai #agentic

So is SEO winning or losing? And what should we do about AEO/GEO?

I just watched an absolute masterclass with my good friend and fratello 🇮🇹 Gaetano Nino DiNardi (the undisputed GOAT of B2B SEO and modern day Leonardo da Vinci) jamming with Ross Hudgens on what SEO actually looks like in the AI + LLM era.

No panic. No “SEO is dead” theatrics. Just real talk for B2B SaaS teams who still need to hit a number.

A FEW ideas that really hit me 👇🏾 (you gotta watch the full episode for it all):

-Stop worshipping traffic. If traffic is down but organic demo requests and pipeline are up, that’s not a problem - that’s progress.

-TOFU SEO is getting smoked. Glossaries, FAQ hubs, and “what is X” posts are being eaten by AI Overviews and LLM answers. Chasing that decline is a losing game. 

-Shift your effort to BOFU and “money prompts.” Think: comparisons, “[tool] vs [tool] vs you”, “best X for Y”, pricing, integrations, “is it worth it?” pages. Those are the pages that still move pipeline and show up in LLM citations.

-LLM visibility dashboards can lie to you. If half your prompts are branded, of course you look great. Segment branded vs non-branded, and only track prompts that can actually recommend a tool or cite your site.

-ChatGPT conversions look great on paper… but deal sizes tell the real story. LLM-sourced traffic converts at a high rate but tends to be smaller deals and way lower volume. Google still sends the tier 1 prospects/whales.

-SEO attribution is “dark funnel” now. LLM does the education. Google brand search or “direct” gets the credit. If you’re not looking at self-reported attribution + organic revenue, you’re flying blind.

Underneath all of this is a simple mindset shift:

SEO isn’t just a traffic channel anymore. It’s an organic demand-capture and visibility system that has to play nicely with LLMs, brand, and social.

If you lead marketing, SEO, or demand gen for a B2B SaaS company and you’re getting cooked in board meetings over “why is traffic down?”, you need this episode in your life.

Link to watch the full episode on X is in the comments. 👇

This #B2B founder says that in the earliest stages of a #startup, there are only two jobs that actually matter:

1️⃣ Making the product
2️⃣ Selling the product

In this #StartupsUnedited episode for a few years back, I sat down with Arjun Pillai (Cofounder & CEO at Docket, fmr CDO at ZoomInfo, 2x exits, investor) to talk about the real CEO journey - not the LinkedIn highlight reel.

We get into a bunch of tactical stuff that early-stage founders and CEOs will feel in their bones:

🔹 Make vs. Sell Framework
Arjun’s view is simple: in a startup, everyone either makes the product or sells the product.

If you’re not doing one of those two things in the early days… you’re not needed. That level of clarity is wild but true.

🔹 Growing into the CEO title
He didn’t “become” a CEO overnight. It took ~2 years to actually understand what the role demanded.

We talk about how to:
-Stop pretending to be the technical leader if you’re not
-Lean on cofounders who can build, while you obsess over the market
-Use self-awareness as your scaling advantage

🔹 Picking the right mentors (and outgrowing them)
Forget brand-name advisors who never show up.

Arjun’s playbook:
-2–3 operator mentors who are ~5–10 years ahead of you
-Different mentors for ops, product/strategy, culture
-When you hit a new stage ($100K → $10M → $100M), upgrade your bench

🔹 When to quit vs. keep going

 We go deep on:
-Time-boxing experiments (2–6 months)
-Defining success up front (customers, ARPU, revenue)
-Avoiding the “zombie startup” where you just drift and burn your life savings

We also jam on why conversational marketing is shifting high-ACV B2B sales into real-time, and how he intentionally focused on mid-market & enterprise instead of trying to serve everyone.

If you’re a CEO or founder in the zero → seed (maybe A) grind, this one is worth your time.

👉 Watch the full episode with Arjun on #StartupsUnedited (link in comments)
👉 Follow Arjun here on LinkedIn for more founder + GTM wisdom.

What do you think matters during the earliest days? 

#startups #sales #founders

Cold calling may “suck” -> but so do most demos. 😅

A few years back on a podcast I was hosting, I sat down with Nick Cegelski -> Author of Cold Calling Sucks (And That’s Why It Works) and Founder of 30 Minutes to President's Club - and we went deep on what world-class demos actually look like for enterprise sellers.

If you’re a top AE or sales leader, a few things Nick said still ring in my head:

-🎻 Great demos are a symphony, not a feature tour
 -It’s not “know the product and click around.”

It’s the amalgamation of:
-Real discovery
-Room management
-Stakeholder alignment
-Clear impact
-And knowing what not to show

Weekly demo teardowns changed his career - micro-incident by micro-incident. “Had we done this earlier, this whole thing would have gone differently.” That line alone is worth a SKO breakout session.

📞 Elite AEs do the work before the demo
 Most reps show up and wing it with whoever appears on Zoom.
 Nick’s play: call every stakeholder you can days before the meeting.
 Not everyone will pick up - that’s not the point.
 
The point is you roll into the demo saying:

“I talked to Stacy, Dan, Emma, and Mark — here’s what each of you told me you care about. Here’s how I’m structuring today around that.”
That’s not “running a demo.” That’s running a buying process.

🎯 Start with the impact, not the login screen
Nick doesn’t open with, “Here’s our dashboard.”

He opens with:
“You asked how to get time entries onto a bill and out to a client. Here’s exactly how that works.”

Boom. Boom. Boom.
Then he backs into the configuration and setup.
Demos are not product training.

They’re proof: “We can actually solve the thing we’ve been talking about.”

🧨 Disarmingly blunt beats happy-ears
If he senses a stakeholder isn’t feeling it, he doesn’t plow ahead.
“Hey Dave, I’m getting the sense this analytics screen isn’t landing - I might be off. Can you set me straight?”

You either uncover a real objection (and deal in truth, not fantasy), or you unlock a human moment (“Sorry, I just crushed a huge sandwich”) and deepen trust.

For leaders: if you want your team’s close rates to move this quarter, not someday, steal these three moves from Nick and bake them into your motion:

1️⃣ Pre-call every stakeholder you can before key demos
2️⃣ Mandate weekly demo teardowns (good, bad, ugly)
3️⃣ Coach “start with impact” and “if you sense it, say it” into every rep

If you’re not already following Nick and the 30MPC crew, you’re playing the game on hard mode:

👉 Follow Nick: https://lnkd.in/eRtVSmKk
👉 Follow 30 Minutes to President’s Club: https://lnkd.in/eNHNc9t7

If you want the link to the full episode, drop a “DEMO” in the comments and I’ll send it over. 🎥💥

#sales #b2b #salescoaching #salesmanagement

A few years back, I sat down with my friend Sai Hossain, Founder & CEO of Crowdcast, on a podcast I hosted on #PLG - and I’m still thinking about that conversation today.

Not because of a hot take or some tactical growth hack…

…but because of how disciplined he was about the kind of company he wanted to build.

Sai could’ve gone the “traditional” path a dozen times over.

-He bootstrapped a prototype off Google Hangouts
-Pulled off a 30,000-person online conference as basically a solo founder
-Rode the COVID wave with millions of monthly attendees using Crowdcast
-Attracted brands like Adobe, IBM, Siemens - all via organic, product-led pull

At any point, he could’ve said:
 “Cool, now let’s bolt on an enterprise sales org, custom SLAs, fake-webinar funnels, and chase every half-million dollar contract that shows up.”

Instead, he stayed insanely disciplined about three things 👇

1. Be clear on the kind of company you’re building

Sai wasn’t just building webinar software.

He was building:
-A live-only platform where you can’t fake an event
-A product that feels fun and human, not cold enterprise software
-A brand that creators and communities are actually proud to promote

That clarity made it easier to say no:
“We’re not saying ‘no’ forever. We’re saying ‘not yet — not at the cost of our brand and product experience.’”

If you’re an early-stage founder: half your strategy is just having the courage to not chase every shiny, short-term check.

2. Ship viral PLG into the product itself

The part that still blows my mind is how deeply PLG was baked into Crowdcast’s UX.

A few of my favorite “viral by design” features:
-Shareable Q&A timestamps
-Every answered question gets auto-timestamped and shareable
-Attendees share your content because they’re excited
-Viewers have to register to watch the answer → new signups, on autopilot
-15-second social clips (“clipping”)

Your audience basically becomes your distribution engine
Encouraged sharing as part of the core workflow

To run a Crowdcast event, you have to share the link
Every event is a mini growth loop: one host → many attendees → new hosts

This is the core PLG insight a lot of teams miss:
-It’s not just “free trials” and “no sales calls.”
-It’s turning natural user behavior into acquisition and expansion.

3. Use product-led to power bottoms-up enterprise

The wild part?

Even while staying true to self-serve and a small team, the enterprise still came:

-Individuals and teams inside big orgs swiped their cards
-Usage spread organically across departments
-Only then did bigger conversations show up

Same pattern I saw years ago with tools like Vendasta Yesware.

Re-listening to this episode, the big reminder for me was:

Vision is not the deck you pitch. 
Vision includes what you’re willing to say “no” to for years.

Founders, PMs, PLG leaders:

-Are you designing viral moments into your product?
-Are you clear on what you won’t do… even if there’s money on the table?

#startups #founders

The new #Martech for 2026 report just dropped [link below ⬇️], and it’s one of the clearest, sharpest looks yet at where marketing + AI are actually heading. 

Huge shoutout to my friend Scott Brinker, the GOAT of martech, and Frans Riemersma, for leading this work and giving the industry a real blueprint for what’s next.

Here are the biggest takeaways every marketing leader should care about 👇

1. AI is no longer a “power screwdriver”, it’s the engine.

2025 was about efficiency. 

2026 is about reinvesting those gains into experiments, personalization, and adaptive growth.

2. Martech now runs in two modes: Factory + Laboratory

Factory: reliable, scalable, governed SaaS.
Laboratory: AI-native, fast, experimental systems.

Winning teams operate in both.

3. AI agents are super real but most companies are still in pilot mode

Only a small percentage have pushed agents into production. 

Early adopters will get an unfair advantage.

4. Context engineering beats model obsession

The winners aren’t the ones with the fanciest models, they’re the ones who deliver the right data and signals at the right moment to their #AI systems.

5. #SaaS isn’t dying, the future is hybrid

Stable SaaS foundations + adaptive AI layers = the modern stack. 

AI augments; it doesn’t eliminate.

6. Buyer behavior is shifting fast

AI assistants are changing discovery. 

That means credibility, transparency, and “answer readiness” matter more than ever.

Bottom Line:

If AI is still an add-on in your org, you’re already behind. 

The leaders of 2026 will build hybrid architectures, obsess over data quality, and treat AI as a multiplier for creativity, experimentation, and growth.

If you lead GTM, ops, or growth, you gotta check out this report. It feels like a great foundation to build your playbook 👉🏾 https://lnkd.in/eFD6G5pa

#marketing #gtm #startups

In a world where “AI-native” is the buzzword of the week, Paul Yacoubian was shipping the real thing years ago.

On this #StartupsUnedited episode from 2021, I sat down with Paul, Founder of Copy.ai (recently acquired by Fullcast), former VC, and angel investor - back when GPT-3 was still “that crazy Twitter demo” and not the default layer in everyone’s product roadmap.

A few things CEOs and founders will appreciate:

1️⃣ He treated GPT-2/GPT-3 like a wave, not a toy
Paul and his cofounder Chris didn’t over-romanticize the idea. They ran multiple tiny side projects, watched the demos, and asked one simple question:

“Is there a commercially viable product here?”

Copy.ai was the 4th MVP - not the first.

2️⃣ Distribution > product perfection
Most “nights & weekends” founders don’t have a product problem, they have a distribution problem.

Paul leaned all-in on one channel: Twitter.

Built an audience before the product
Launched on Twitter, rode the algorithm
Turned 2,000 free signups in 48 hours into real MRR

Recruited and hired from the same channel
He didn’t chase “every GTM motion” - he dominated one.

3️⃣ Traction first, then quit your job
The way he decided to leave VC and go all-in is super tactical:

-Know your conversion rate
-Know your organic signup velocity
-Know whether it’s venture-backable or lifestyle

He literally used his own angel investing scorecard on himself. No romantic “burn the boats” story -> just numbers.

4️⃣ Product-led, but not vibes-led
Copy.ai didn’t start with a grand PLG thesis.

They shipped something small, slapped on Stripe, and only later asked:
“Is this enough to sustain a company, or do we layer in sales?”

PLG was an outcome of fast iteration and audience, not a brand positioning exercise.

5️⃣ Team > idea (especially in the LLM era)
We got into the founder psychology too - cofounder trust, low ego, knowing your weaknesses, managing anxiety. 

In a world where AI lets you ship faster than ever, your real moat is still:
-Who you build with
-How you handle stress
-How you show up for each other over years, not launches

If you’re a CEO or founder trying to navigate the post-LLM world — when to jump, how to bet on a platform shift, and how to use content + PLG as your first GTM engine — this conversation is a masterclass.

🎧 Watch/listen to the full episode with Paul Yacoubian on #StartupsUnedited
 👉 https://lnkd.in/ewEN7cm8

If you’re building something in #AI or #PLG right now, tell me below:

What’s the one channel you’re willing to absolutely dominate this year? 👇

#startups #ceo #founders #sales

Open video: EP 75: How Copy.ai Hit $60K MRR in 5 Months with GPT-3 & Twitter PLG | Paul Yacoubian on AI Startups on youtube.com

EP 75: How Copy.ai Hit $60K MRR in 5 Months with GPT-3 & Twitter PLG | Paul Yacoubian on AI Startups

The band is back together 🎸Congrats to OG MoPub Jim Payne Jack Kern Dan Sack on this exciting new adventure CloudX 💪🏾

#adtech #ad

Entrepreneur and Investor.

👋 Hello, world III -- Today, we are launching CloudX with a $30M Series A led by Addition. 🚀 My co-founder, Dan Sack, and other key members of the original MoPub and MAX teams that helped define modern #mobile #monetization are back to build the #agentic platform for mobile advertising! 

Read my launch blog post, linked in the comments, to learn more about our vision for mobile publishers as they enter the #IntelligenceEra, and my thoughts on rebuilding the foundations to bring #transparency and intelligent automation, enabling publishers to transition from static systems to AI-agent-driven architectures. 

CloudX delivers what publishers continue to ask us for today, and additional blogs on our site will share details on:

✅ Monetization as Code
✅ AI-native architecture
✅ Secure Auctions via Trusted Execution Environments (TEE)

We are pleased to share that Meta, Liftoff Mobile, and Magnite (with many more to follow) will be integrating with us at launch. 

🙏 Thank you to all of our investors for supporting our vision. A special thanks goes to: 

Lee Fixel of Addition
Nihal Mehta of Eniac Ventures
Noah Doyle of Javelin Venture Partners
Eric Stromberg of Terrain 
Rahul Mehta of DST Global
And to all of the Friends and Family that supported this round, and of course the amazing team at CloudX.

Thanks to ADWEEK, Trishla Ostwal, John Ebbert, and tipsheet.ai for their enthusiasm in bringing this announcement to all of you! Please see the links in the comments for their coverage.

I just read a fantastic piece from the Skaled Consulting folks led by my boy Jake Dunlap, on what a day in the life of an AI-enabled B2B SaaS seller (2026) can look like - and it’s one of the clearest, most actionable breakdowns I’ve seen.

The big takeaway Skaled nails: AI amplifies the seller. It clears the runway so reps can spend more time on what matters most - customer conversations, crisp follow-ups, and strong next steps.

A few highlights the Skaled team shares:
	•	AI-enabled GTM teams can save ~11–12 hours/week by automating repetitive work
	•	Sellers often have limited “pure selling time,” which makes workflow leverage incredibly valuable
	•	GenAI can handle a meaningful share of knowledge-work tasks, creating space for higher-quality selling moments

And the way Skaled maps the workflow is super practical:
✅ Pre-call prep becomes fast, consistent, and personalized
✅ Outbound becomes sharper with better angles and context
✅ Post-call follow-up becomes immediate, structured, and tailored by persona
✅ Pipeline + priorities become clearer with AI-assisted organization and next-best actions

If you lead sales or RevOps, this is worth the read - the Skaled team did an awesome job turning “AI in sales” into an operating model you can actually apply.

👉 Read the full article from Skaled here:

https://lnkd.in/eytTMYTJ

#B2BSales #SalesLeadership #RevOps #GTM #AIinSales #SaaS

Open article: A Day in the Life of an AI-Powered SaaS Seller in 2026 by skaled.com

A Day in the Life of an AI-Powered SaaS Seller in 2026

We all know the “agentic revolution” has exploded over the last ~3 years.

ChatGPT, Claude, and LLMs have made a new reality possible - and tomorrow’s going to be even weirder (and exciting).

But here’s what I haven’t seen yet:

A GTM org (Sales + Marketing + CS) where the majority of workflows are actually run by agents in a coordinated, scalable way.

What I have seen:
	•	impressive agent workflows… in silos
	•	“agent for SDRs” over here
	•	“agent for marketing ops” over there
	•	“agent for CS” somewhere else

And the irony is painful…

For years we screamed that alignment matters:

Sales ↔ Marketing ↔ CS ↔ RevOps ↔ Product

Now we’re accidentally rebuilding the same mess as agentic-powered silos.

So the real question isn’t “how many tasks can agents do?”

It’s: how do we align humans + agents + agent-to-agent communication across the GTM system so it’s coherent, measurable, and operable?

Because companies don’t have 12 months to:
	•	pick 10 vendors
	•	duct-tape workflows together
	•	and hope nothing breaks at scale

The human worker is still the default “glue” - and we need an operating model that makes that glue intentional, not accidental.

So I’m looking for proof in the wild:

Who has actually mastered cross-functional, agent-driven GTM operations?

Not demos. Not pilots. Not one-off automations.

Real alignment. Real scale.

👇 Tag a team or operator you’ve seen doing this well (or DM me introductions).

#GTM #RevOps #AI #Agents #Sales #Marketing #CustomerSuccess

🔥 3 Creative Prospecting Plays That Actually Cut Through the Noise (from a Founding AE)

My brotha Justin Dorfman sits down with Anda Willett 🌟 on The Founding AE Podcast - and she drops three insanely effective prospecting plays.

If you’re tired of getting ignored in bloated inboxes and noisy LinkedIn feeds, this clip is for you.

Here are Anda’s go-to moves:

🔹 Handwritten cards: A 20-second note that lands harder than your 9th email
 🔹 60-second Loom videos: Hyper-personalized without recording 1,000 custom clips
 🔹 Podcasts as prospecting: Using interviews + ideas as the ultimate Trojan Horse for conversations

Simple. Human. Impossible to ignore.

👇 Watch the full episode with Anda Willett for the real founding AE playbook — including:

⭐ Red & green flags when choosing your next startup
⭐ What realistic 30/60/90-day expectations actually look like
⭐ Tools + systems every first sales hire needs to survive the chaos
⭐ Why the founding AE role is NOT just another AE job

🎥 Full Episode: https://lnkd.in/eDQgFHR6

If you’re a founder hiring your first AE, or a seller thinking about becoming one,  this is mandatory listening.

#sales #gtm #accountexecutives #salesmanagement #salescoaching #startups

Most conversations about early-stage sales focus on tactics.

But the Founding AEs Justin Dorfman talks to every week remind me of something more important:

The real challenge is psychological.

When you’re the only seller at a startup, you’re navigating more than outbound strategy or deal cycles. 

You’re dealing with:

🧠 Identity tied to every win and loss
⚡ Pressure that builds quietly because the whole company is counting on you
👤 A level of isolation most sellers never experience
🔁 An emotional loop that swings from doubt to breakthrough - often in the same day

And yet… these early sellers keep showing up.

They keep experimenting.

They keep finding clarity in the chaos.

They’re the ones who turn “zero-to-one” from a concept into reality.

This week’s issue of The Founding AE breaks down the psychology of being the only seller, and why understanding this side of the role matters if you’re leading or partnering with early-stage AEs.

If you’re building #GTM from scratch, or supporting the people who are, this one’s worth a read.

Link in the comments. 👇

#sales #saleacoaching #startups

MEDDPICC isn’t old-school enterprise sales.

It’s the ultimate signal vs. noise filter in the AI era.

Everyone’s hyped on AI automation, autopilot prospecting, and “intelligent” forecasting…

…but the truth is this:

👉 If you don’t understand your customer deeply enough to fill out #MEDDPICC with absolute clarity, no AI can save your deal.

I found an article from from fine folks at GTMnow that reminded me of 
something we all forget once we get good at selling:

You start hitting quota consistently →
You feel like you’ve “figured it out” →
You stop doing the things that made you good in the first place.

That’s the trap.

AI doesn’t change this.
AI actually punishes unclear thinking faster.

Here’s how I now think about MEDDPICC in 2025:

-Metrics → AI makes ROI easier to quantify, but harder to fake.
-Economic Buyer → AI accelerates org structures, but only humans create budget.
-Decision Criteria → AI-generated comparisons mean you MUST shape the criteria early.
-Decision Process → If AI is guessing your forecast, you’ve already lost.
-Paper Process → AI doesn’t negotiate redlines. Humans do.
-Identify Pain → AI can’t uncover the emotional “why now.” That’s your job.
-Champion → AI can’t advocate for you in the room you’re not invited to.
-Competition → Everyone’s using the same AI tools… your differentiator is clarity.

MEDDPICC isn’t for legacy sellers.

It’s for elite sellers who understand that AI is only as good as the operator.

If you’re a founder, AE, or revenue leader, go pick a deal you’re working on and run it through MEDDPICC today.

You’ll immediately see where the deal is real… and where you’re guessing.

And in 2025, your guesses are the only things AI can’t fix.

—

If you want the full article, drop a “MEDDPICC” below and I’ll send it.

#sales #gtm #ai #saas #b2b #revenue

Most people think the first sales hire fails because they “picked the wrong rep.”

Maybe. But...

After watching my brotha Justin Dorfman sit down with Ian Illig (3x Founding AE + co-founder of Stompbox), it’s painfully clear:

🚫 Founders hire too early
🚫 They hire the wrong profile
🚫 They hand over the baton without an actual sales system
🚫 And they expect magic instead of coaching, structure, and accountability

Ian broke down something I think every GTM leader needs to tattoo on their brain:

“Everyone’s trying to automate their whole sales career… the real advantage is preparing, delivering on promises, and not slipping into scarcity mode just because you have quota.”

Simple. Hard. Dead accurate.
And honestly? More relevant than ever in the AI era.

This episode is a masterclass for:
 • Founders about to make their first sales hire
 • Reps who want to be founding AEs
 • GTM leaders who’ve lived the “0-for-2 on first hires” nightmare
 • Anyone who believes sales is still a craft, not a sequence of automated tasks

Here are a few standout takeaways:

🔥 The 3 signals that you’re actually ready to hire your first AE
🔥 Why big-logo reps from Salesforce/HubSpot often fail in early-stage roles
🔥 How to interview for attitude, coachability, and grit — not just resume lines
🔥 The onboarding mistakes that silently kill deals before they start
🔥 Why high-integrity, relationship-driven reps are about to become MORE valuable (not less) in the AI wave

Justin absolutely crushed this one.
Ian delivered pure gold.
 
If you’re building or leading anything in B2B sales, this is required listening.

👉 Link to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/epYE__g4

Huge props to both of these guys for elevating the conversation around what it really takes to succeed as a founding AE. This is the kind of content the GTM world needs more of.

#sales #ai #b2b #saas

Every #GTM leader knows the joke: “Do more with less.”

Except it hasn’t been funny for a long time.

Budgets are tight. 

Sales cycles feel heavier. 

Categories are more crowded than ever. 

And every board wants efficiency and growth -> at the same time.

But the new Norwest 2025 B2B Sales & Marketing Benchmark Report just dropped, and there’s something deeper going on beneath the “AI will fix everything” narrative.

Here’s what stood out to me 👇

1. #AI isn’t yet driving measurable revenue… but AI-mature companies are outperforming

Almost everyone has adopted AI, but most teams don’t credit it with top-line growth yet.

And still, the companies with the most mature AI use cases are the ones more likely to beat revenue targets and show stronger sales <> marketing alignment.

Correlation ≠ causation…

But it’s a signal.

2. AI is forcing teams to get back to the fundamentals

The companies leaning hardest into AI are also the ones tightening:

-ICP clarity
-Category positioning
-High-intent, must-have value props
-Integrated go-to-market plays
-Precision around qualification and handoffs
-Data discipline & ops maturity

AI isn’t magically creating revenue…
It’s exposing GTM gaps and forcing companies to fix them.

3. Positioning is now the #1 GTM challenge (44%)

Not pipeline.
Not conversion rates.
Not even budget cuts.

Positioning your product as a “must-have.”

In a noisy category environment with buyers scrutinizing every dollar, this is the battleground.

4. Sales cycles feel longer, even when they’re not

The data shows cycle times normalized this year - but 43% of leaders still say longer cycles are a top challenge.

That tells you everything you need to know about buyer friction, deal risk, and ROI pressure.

5. Marketing Ops & Product Marketing are where hiring is accelerating

Not SDRs.
Not even demand gen.

The companies growing in 2025 are doubling down on:

-AI + automation infrastructure
-Better data pipelines
-Clearer ICP differentiation
-Tighter plays between marketing + sales

This is the “do more with less” playbook from the folks at Norwest

My Take:

AI isn’t the growth driver - It’s the forcing function.

Teams who are winning aren’t winning because of AI…

They’re winning because AI pushed them to get their GTM house in order.

And the ones struggling?

They’re still trying to duct-tape their way to pipeline instead of tightening fundamentals.

Read the full Norwest report here 👇
 
https://lnkd.in/effKssBq

What stands out to you?

#GTM #Sales #Marketing

The highest calling of a sales leader is not hitting the number.

It’s building people.

The numbers follow.

In my world, it’s always been:

People → Process → Tools.

Even now, in the age of AI.

Because if your reps aren’t motivated, inspired, and growing, nothing else sticks:
	•	The process doesn’t stick.
	•	The strategy doesn’t stick.
	•	The tools (yes, including AI) don’t get used.
	•	The “training” never turns into behavior.

Instead, reps start to feel like a disposable resource.

They do the minimum.
They check boxes.
They leave way before their true potential shows up.

The best sales leaders play a different game.

They don’t just manage tasks and inspect pipeline.

They build a culture of excellence, growth, and greatness.

They are coaches, not task managers.

They obsess over questions like:
	•	“What does this rep need to truly thrive?”
	•	“How do I help them develop the character and skills to win long-term?”
	•	“How do I build leaders, not just quota-carriers?”

When you build people first, everything else compounds:

Process becomes a framework for greatness.

Tools become force multipliers.

AI becomes an accelerator, not a crutch.

If you lead a sales team today, ask yourself:

Are you managing activity?

Or are you building humans who are capable of greatness?

That answer will show up in your culture long before it shows up in your dashboard. 💥🔥

#sales #leadership #salescoaching

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