Today's guest is Janessa Lantz. Janessa is an independent marketing consultant now, but she is the former VP of Marketing at dbt Labs. And I have a burning question I think she is uniquely suited to answer: 

Why do so many tech companies seek to build massive followings and communities within the developer community, only to pivot away when it's time to make real money? Why court them in the first place if they aren't your ideal customer? And why aren't they your ideal customer?

Janessa led dbt Labs through this exact situation. Her company built a massive following with developers, nurtured that community for years and then moved on to different audiences when it was time to raise money and grow.   

Why does this happen? What does it say about the current state of Marketing Technology? And how can founders replicate dbt Labs' success at turning open source success into broader adoption and investment?

Today's guest is Mariana Vieth. Mari is Director of Marketing & Communications at WSI, a 60-year-old warehousing and transportation company. And WSI has recently gone through a lot of change. They acquired two companies, went through a massive rebrand, hired 3 high-level positions and replatformed their technology stack. And if all that wasn't enough, they have re-imagined their entire org chart, making Marketing its own department independent from Sales. 

That last change was the lynchpin--the one that started it all. And it didn't come from some mandate from above. It came from Mari and her team; discussing and strategizing, proving their case, changing minds. The shift was years in the making and started even before Mari arrived, but she was instrumental in getting it done. 

How does an idea get from happy hours and Teams chats to the room where it happens? And how can people in old-school industries, legacy brands or risk-averse environments start the conversations that lead to big change?

Today's guest is Woden Founder & Chief Storyteller Ed Lynes. A Chief Storyteller sounds like a strange title, but Woden is not your average agency. They specialize in strategic narrative and, to hear Ed tell it, a novel approach to narrative can shift an agency's relationship with AI completely, to something that centers your strengths and increases your value. 

I first wanted to have Ed on as an agency owner who's seen a lot of different tools and trends come and go over the years so we could gauge the freakout over AI a bit. Instead, we had an expansive conversation about everything from how stories shape human connection to why he "doesn't give a shit" about the "Attention Economy."

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Today's guest is RepData Senior VP of Sales Kyle Gollins. Kyle has watched sales transform from a rolodex and a stack of business cards to hyper-targeted email sequences and Zoom calls, only to return to business lunches and in-office coffee chats.

And in that time, he says, CRMs have become a nuisance.

In this conversation, we explore how systems built for sales lost salespeople, the patchwork of tools they use now, and what he'd build into a new CRM to win them back.

Check out the video below and, if you want more, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

The following conversation was recorded on April 30th as a preview to Philly Tech Week. For more info on Siah Labs and the events of Philly Tech Week, check out the links below.

Siah Labs co-founders / husband-and-wife team Jordan and Deanna Blackwell are in a crowded space--AI-centered agency serving small business.

But the Siah framework focuses less on growth and instead talks about things like succession and enjoyment, and the promise that they can help founder-led businesses run without without the founder.

It is this framework, the Blackwells say, that will help founders prepare for the "Great Wealth Transfer" or "Silver Tsunami"--the predicted economic tumult when Baby-Boomers slowly exit the workforce and their businesses have not been future-proofed.

Jordan will provide more detail from the stage at Philly Tech Week on May 5th, when he hosts a talk on the Great Wealth Transfer, the role of AI and why cities like Philadelphia will play a big role in what the future holds.

In this 44-minute conversation, we dig into this topic, as well as the dynamics of working with your spouse, protecting against AI volatility, building trust in technology and more. Check it out!

LINKS:

Siah Labs: https://www.siahlabs.com/

Jordan Blackwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-d-blackwell/

Philly Tech Week event: https://www.siahlabs.com/ptw2026

Josh Mamroud is the Founder and CEO of Documint, a SaaS document automation platform with a tiered, usage-based growth model.

Josh recently left HubSpot, which was managing the company's CMS, CRM, Chat and more. This was obviously not an easy decision and one that took a lot of careful planning and experimentation to get right.

Now, Josh has agreed to share that journey with us, including details on why he left and what he's building to replace one of the most popular marketing platforms in the world.

Our full conversation is available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is a part of our Funnel Vision newsletter series. You can subscribe to Funnel Vision on Linkedin, or by visiting johnsteeleconsulting.com/newsletter.