Topline
by Pavilion
Latest episode
The Great Tech Selloff (Silicon Valley Investor Explains) | Rajeev…
The Great Tech Selloff (Silicon Valley Investor Explains) | Rajeev…
About this podcast
The #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech. Tune in every week to hear Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman discuss and debate the trends, news, and developments impacting the B2B tech world. Enjoy the hot takes, strong opinions, and dry humor.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 285 episodes
- The Great Tech Selloff (Silicon Valley Investor Explains) | Rajeev Dham, MD @ Sapphire Ventures · 1 h 4 minBefore today's conversation, Sam, AJ and Asad share a few words in memory of Adam Robinson. Rajeev Dham, Managing Director at Sapphire Ventures (a $10 billion venture firm)…
- SPOTLIGHT: AI Is Rewriting Sales. Are Your GTM Teams Ready? with Dan Lee of Nooks | Dan Lee, Co-Founder and CEO @ Nooks · 21 minAI has transformed software engineering. It's changing nearly every knowledge-based profession. So why hasn't sales changed at the same pace? Dan Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of…
- "Zero Chance" AI Bubble Doesn't Pop (Here's Who's Safe) | Geoffrey Moore, Author & Venture Partner · 1 h 7 minGeoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm (over 1 million copies sold) and Zone to Win, and an advisor to the CEOs of Microsoft, Salesforce, and Cisco, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ…
- SPOTLIGHT: Solving SaaS Pricing Challenges with Pricing I/O Founder Marcos Rivera | Marcos Rivera, Founder and CEO @ Pricing I/O · 26 minMarcos Rivera, Founder and CEO of Pricing I/O, has grown his solo consultancy into a team of pricing experts serving B2B SaaS companies. But building a specialized business came…
- The Man Who Led 100+ CROs (Even OpenAI's) | John McMahon - 5x Post-IPO CRO / The GOAT · 1 h 13 minJohn McMahon, a five-time public company CRO whose team at PTC created MEDDIC, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman on building enterprise sales teams that last. Topics…
- SPOTLIGHT: Untangling Tech Debt and Finding Product-Market Fit with Russ Mikowski of SurePeople | Russel Mikowski, CEO @ SurePeople · 27 minRuss Mikowski, CEO of SurePeople and longtime revenue leader in tech, never planned to become a CEO. Recruited to lead a 10-year-old company into its next stage of growth, he…
- $682M Public CEO: "The Magic of 80% Gross Margin" | CEO @ Yext, Michael Walrath · 1 h 7 minMichael Walrath, CEO of Yext, is back on Topline to explain how Yext went from breakeven to 31% EBITDA margins on an 80% gross margin business, after halving its headcount and…
- SPOTLIGHT: How Rick Smolen Built Confidence Leading Outside of Sales | Rick Smolen, CRO @ ShipHero · 26 minWhen Rick Smolen stepped into the CRO role at ShipHero, he took on responsibility for the entire customer lifecycle, from marketing and partnerships to customer success and…
- AI Revenue Is Real. But Will It Last? | Amy Konary, Founder & Chair, Subscribed Institute @ Zuora · 53 minAmy Konary, Founder & Chair of The Subscribed Institute at Zuora, coined the term SaaS as an IDC analyst around 2000, when her first forecast sized the whole market at $40…
- SPOTLIGHT: How CEO Sam Jacobs Is Redefining Pavilion's Identity | Sam Jacobs, Founder & CEO @ Pavilion · 21 minWhen Sam Jacobs founded Pavilion, formerly Revenue Collective, he set out to build a private community for operators in a startup world that traditionally celebrated founders and…
- Turning AI Tokens Into ROI (That You Can Measure) | CEO @ Paid, Manny Medina · 1 h 5 minManny Medina, Co-Founder and CEO of Paid, the monetization platform for AI agents, and the founder who took Outreach from nothing, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman in…
- SPOTLIGHT: The Problem With Your CRM Nobody Talks About | Ramin Heydari, CEO & President @ XYZies · 20 minYou have the CRM. You have the data. You have the sales team. You have the AI tools. So why does everything still feel broken? Ramin Heydari, CEO & President of XYZies, has…
- If the AI Money Dries Up, Which Companies Burn? · 1 h 8 minHarvey's gross margin fell from roughly positive 50% at the start of 2026 to negative 50% by June, so every $1 of revenue cost $1.50 to deliver. Sam Jacobs, CEO of Pavilion, AJ…
- CRM As A Business World Model: The Future For GTM Teams? | Keith Peiris, CEO @ Lightfield · 1 h 6 minKeith Peiris, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightfield, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to talk about building an agentic CRM that launched in November 2025, has been adopted…
- SPOTLIGHT: What It Takes to Step into the CEO Role | Eric Anderson, CEO @ Walnut · 20 minWhat happens when a seasoned GTM leader becomes CEO for the first time and steps into a founder-led company with a global team? In this episode, Eric Anderson, CEO of Walnut…
- RevOps for Hypergrowth (Fireworks AI, Perplexity, Exa & More) | CEO @ Go Nimbly, Jen Igartua · 1 h 0 minJen Igartua, CEO at Go Nimbly, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman. Her client roster is wild: Fireworks AI, Perplexity, Exa, and Wispr Flow, plus some of the biggest…
- SPOTLIGHT: Skipping the SMB Trap and Building for Big Brands | Matt Allison, CEO & Founder @ Handraise · 30 minMatt Allison, CEO and Founder of Handraise, joins us to share why he's skipping the SMB trap and building an AI-powered media intelligence platform for enterprise from day one…
- Forget Growth. Your Valuation Depends On Your AI Story | Tomasz Tunguz, GP @ Theory Ventures · 1 h 11 minForget Growth. Your Valuation Depends On Your AI Story | Tomasz Tunguz, GP @ Theory Ventures Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and…
- SPOTLIGHT: Surviving the Inbox Apocalypse | Evan Huck, CEO & Co-Founder @ UserEvidence · 25 minEvan Huck, CEO and co-founder of UserEvidence, opens up about the hard decision to shift from a tried-and-true outbound sales playbook to a long-term brand-building strategy…
- How To Make Your ARR 20% More Valuable To Investors | Keenan, CEO @ A Sales Growth Company · 1 h 18 minKeenan, founder and CEO of A Sales Growth Company and the bestselling author of Gap Selling, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to make the case that two companies with…
- SPOTLIGHT: AI Isn't Just Faster Translation, It's a $40B Tug-of-War for Global Attention. | Bryan Murphy, CEO @ Smartling · 32 minBryan Murphy, CEO of Smartling, confronts a $40 billion industry stuck in the slow lane—the world of translation. Most companies still handle translations like it's 1999: manual…
- The Unwritten Rules of CRO Survival | Rick Smolen, CRO @ ShipHero · 1 h 13 minThe Unwritten Rules of CRO Survival | Rick Smolen, CRO @ ShipHero Rick Smolen, CRO of ShipHero and sales advisor to Riverwood Capital's portfolio of more than 2 dozen enterprise…
- SPOTLIGHT: He Missed Quota 5 Times in 25 Years. Here's the System Behind That.| Mike Carpenter, CEO & Co-Founder @ Xfactor · 30 minMike Carpenter — CEO of Xfactor.io, former President of Global Sales at CrowdStrike — didn't win VP of the Year seven out of eight times by outworking everyone. He did it by…
- Sales Millionaires Are Back… Wasn't AI Supposed to Destroy This Job?! · 1 h 10 minEnterprise account executives are now signing for $200,000 salaries, $200,000 variable comp plans, and up to half a million dollars in equity at sign-on. Meanwhile, offer…
- SPOTLIGHT: He Said No to Bad-Fit Customers. Growth Got Better. | Snehal Nimje, CEO & Co-Founder @ Outdoo · 21 minIn this episode of Topline Spotlight, Sam Jacobs sits down with Snehal Nimje, co-founder and CEO of Outdoo, to talk about one of the hardest calls an early-stage founder can…
- The (Painful) Pivot To AI-Native: What They Don't Tell You | CEO @ Mutiny, Jaleh Rezaei · 1 h 14 minJaleh Rezaei, Co-founder and CEO of Mutiny, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to explain how she deprecated a thriving 8-figure SaaS business in November 2025, shipped a…
- Meet The World's Most Advanced AI Sales Team | Amanda Kahlow, Founder & CEO @ 1mind · 1 h 14 minAmanda Kahlow, Founder & CEO of 1mind, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to break down how an AI-powered solutions engineer named Nigel took 33% of the talk time in a…
- SPOTLIGHT: AI Is Making Sales Reps 60% Faster to Revenue | Justin Shriber, CEO & Co-Founder @ Terret AI · 24 minAI isn't just changing sales. It's completely rewriting how revenue teams operate. In this episode of Topline Spotlight, Sam Jacobs sits down with Justin Shriber, CEO of Terret…
- World's #1 Banking CMO: How AI Is Changing Billion Dollar Banks Today | Tim Rutten, CMO @ Backbase · 1 h 22 minTim Rutten, CMO of Backbase, the €2.5 billion Amsterdam tech company whose AI-native Banking OS powers 120+ banks worldwide, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman with the…
- SPOTLIGHT: Why 80% of B2B Buying Happens Without You | Alexander Kesler, CEO @ INFUSE · 22 minBuyers stopped picking up the phone. They research on their own, ask their peers, and now they ask AI which vendors to consider before a single salesperson ever hears about it…
- SPOTLIGHT: The AI category GTM teams are about to converge on | Adam Liska, CEO & Co-Founder @ airspeed · 25 minA rep says "follow up on that" on a call, then buries it under five more calls and a late-night inbox. Three days later the deal's gone cold, but the CRM still says it's live…
- AI Marketing Master: The 'AI CMO' is a Beautiful Lie | Marc Ferrentino, CEO @ Quotient · 1 h 13 minMarc Ferrentino, Co-Founder and CEO of Quotient and former chief technical architect at Salesforce, joins Sam Jacobs and Asad Zaman to separate AI-marketing hype from what…
- SPOTLIGHT: Why High Performers Underperform Under Pressure | Kevin Bailey, Co-Founder & CEO @ Dreamfuel · 23 minA CEO walks into a board meeting knowing exactly what to say then freezes. A sales rep doomscrolls between calls and shows up to the next one flat. A founder grinds toward the…
- $300M Operator: "70% Of The Executive Playbook Is Obsolete" | Katie Bullard, Board Member & Strategic Advisor · 1 h 14 minKatie Bullard helped take DiscoverOrg from $30 million to $300 million in revenue, then served as president of A Cloud Guru and Red Canary through exits to Pluralsight and…
- What It's Really Like To Scale To $1 Billion | CRO @ Replit, Ghazi Masood · 1 h 10 minGhazi Masood, Chief Revenue Officer at Replit, joins Sam Jacobs and Asad Zaman to break down the company scaled from $2 million towards a North Star of $1 billion in revenue in…
- The Godfather of Modern GTM: This Is How To Measure AI Impact | Mark Roberge, Co-Founder @ Stage 2 Capital · 1 h 15 minMark Roberge, founding CRO at HubSpot and co-founder of Stage 2 Capital, joins Sam Jacobs and AJ Bruno to tackle the question every board is asking in 2026: how do you actually…
- The $1M Employee Is Here: Why ClickUp Replaced 22% Of Its Team With AI | Gaurav Agarwal, COO @ ClickUp · 1 h 16 minGaurav Agarwal, COO of ClickUp, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman after ClickUp, a company north of $300 million in ARR, parted ways with 22% of its workforce while…
- "Dead AI Startups Keep Landing On My Desk!" | CEO @ Clari + Salesloft, Steve Cox · 1 h 7 minSteve Cox, CEO of Clari + Salesloft, joins Sam Jacobs and Asad Zaman to argue that SaaS is far from dead. Steve took the CEO role in December 2025 to merge two of the biggest…
- $100M+ Profit. Stock Down 72%. CEO Explains Why | Michael Walrath, Chairman & CEO @ Yext · 1 h 12 minMichael Walrath, Chairman and CEO of Yext, returns to break down why the market has left a profitable, $400 million mid-cap public software company trading at one times revenue…
- Build The World Class Team That Anthropic Won't Steal | Craig Rosenberg, CPO @Scale Venture Partners · 1 h 6 minCraig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners and co-founder of Topo, joins AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman to take on the question every founder is wrestling with…
- AI Marketing Has A Disease. Can The Cure Be Bought, Taught, or Caught? | Kyle Lacy, CMO @ Docebo · 1 h 7 minKyle Lacy, CMO at Docebo (previously Lessonly, Seismic, Jellyfish), joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to push back on AI-era "efficiency" gospel in marketing. Topics…
- Playbook: AI-Era Customer Success For Hyper Growth | Sam Slevin, Global SVP CS @ AlphaSense · 1 h 9 minSam Slevin, Global SVP of Customer Success at AlphaSense, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman on the AI-era customer success playbook. Topics include why service is the…
- AI Cyber Exec: Vibecoding Is A Security Time Bomb | Ryan Burke, VP Worldwide Sales @ Crogl · 57 minRyan Burke, VP of Worldwide Sales at Crogl, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman on the new economics of enterprise cyber risk. Topics include Anthropic's Mythos model, AI…
- Top Investor: AI Killed Most Moats. These 4 Still Work | Liz Christo, Partner @ Stage 2 Capital · 1 h 2 minStage 2 Capital General Partner Liz Christo joins the show to discuss the disconnect between venture expectations and reality in the software market. The conversation covers the…
- VC Whisperer: There Will Be No Exits For... | Peter Walker, Head of Insights @ Carta · 1 h 3 minPeter Walker brings Carta's proprietary private market data from 60,000 startups and 85% of US unicorns to expose the brutal realities of today's tech landscape. While Q1 saw…
- The #1 GTM Engineer In The World | Jordan Crawford, Founder @ Blueprint GTM · 56 minIn this episode, Jordan Crawford outlines how revenue leaders can build an autonomous pipeline generation engine and transition away from static playbooks. The discussion covers…
- How Top VCs Pick Winners In 2026 | Cassie Young, General Partner @ Primary Venture Partners · 1 h 5 minCassie Young, Partner at Primary Venture Partners, joins the show to break down their contrarian $625 million seed fund and the reality of the coming gross retention apocalypse…
- What World-Class AI in GTM Looks Like | Kyle Norton, CRO @ Owner.com · 49 minKyle Norton's AI-enabled revenue team at Owner.com has completely rewritten the economics of what's possible in sales. Kyle joins the show to share why decentralized AI rollouts…
- Is This The End of Sales As We Know It? (CEO @ 1mind, Amanda Kahlow) · 1 h 0 minAmanda Kahlow raised $30 million to build AI sales agents that improve the buying experience. As the founder of 1mind and previously 6sense, she sits at the forefront of modern…
- Why Intercom Destroyed Its Predictable SaaS Revenue · 55 minIntercom gave up $60 million in contracted seat-based ARR to bet the entire company on an AI agent named Fin. The result? They passed $400 million in total ARR, with Fin driving…
