#14 - CMOs have the shortest tenure of any C-suite role. Mandy Hornaday believes she knows exactly why — and what to do about it.

This is a special rerun of Mandy’s appearance on the Tech Success Stories podcast, where she shared the journey that shaped her entire approach to B2B marketing leadership: scaling a professional services company from $50M to $750M, burning out, joining a $1M ARR startup, and discovering that the problem wasn’t marketing itself — it was how marketing was being done.

If you’ve ever felt like marketing is being reduced to a lead generation function, struggled to get true executive alignment, or wondered how to think more like a business leader and less like a marketing operator — this episode is a candid, experience-first conversation on all of it.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why CMOs have the shortest C-suite tenure — and the mindset shift that changes it
• What scaling a B2B company from $50M to $750M taught Mandy about business-minded marketing
• The problem with reducing marketing to lead generation — and what gets lost when we do
• How to hire marketing talent for growth mindset, not just functional skill
• The sales hiring mistake most early-stage companies make (and how to avoid it)
• Executive alignment as a competitive advantage: why most leadership teams aren’t actually aligned on how to grow

Chapter Markers:

• (00:00) Mandy’s Origin Story: From $50M to $750M to Startup
• (05:17) Business-Minded Marketing and Why CMOs Lose Their Seat
• (11:00) Hiring for Growth: Marketing and Sales Talent Lessons
• (19:32) The Biggest Career Lessons: Alignment, Agility, and ROI

If this episode resonated, follow Growth Activated on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a review — it helps more marketing leaders find the show.

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday — strategist, fractional CMO, and coach for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators. New episodes drop weekly.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#13: As marketing leaders, one of our biggest challenges is understanding how all marketing functions—content strategy, SEO, paid media, events and more—contribute to the bigger picture of B2B marketing success. Too often, we evaluate these functions in isolation, missing their interconnected impact on growth and marketing ROI.

Today, we’re diving into content strategy with Zoe Hawkins, Director of Content Marketing and Integrated Campaigns at Sumo Logic. Zoe is a pro at uniting content, product marketing, demand generation, and branding to drive real results.

We cover:
 ✅ The evolving role of content strategy in high-growth B2B marketing.
 ✅ Where content fits within your org chart—and why it matters.
 ✅ Outsourcing vs. keeping content in-house.
 ✅ Building a cohesive content strategy from top-of-funnel to post-sale.
 ✅ Using tools like HockeyStack & Market Muse for smarter attribution and marketing ROI measurement.

Zoe shares proven strategies for boosting marketing ROI, building alignment, and scaling content efforts effectively. Packed with insights for B2B marketing leaders looking to unlock their team’s full potential.

🎧 Hit play and elevate your content strategy!

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#12 - If your CFO is asking you to justify marketing spend and you don’t know where to start, this episode is for you.

The CMO–CFO relationship is one of the most undervalued partnerships in the C-suite — and one of the most powerful when it works. CMOs who understand how their CFO thinks about enterprise value, predictable returns, and bottoms-up planning don’t just get more budget. They lead like business owners. And that changes everything about how marketing is positioned at the executive table.

In this episode, Mandy sits down with Darko Socanski, startup CFO, fractional finance leader, and advisor who has helped three companies reach successful exits, raised hundreds of millions in VC capital, and contributed to over $1.5 billion in equity value creation. Darko shares the CFO’s unfiltered perspective on marketing investments, budget conversations, brand vs. demand, and what it actually looks like when the CMO–CFO relationship works.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How CFOs think about marketing ROI — and why brand investments make them cringe (and how to fix that)
• The difference between predictable and ‘nebulous’ marketing investments — and how to make brand less nebulous
• Why bottoms-up planning is a shared responsibility between the CMO and CFO
• What the best CMO–CFO relationships look like — and the habits that make them work
• How to use AI to build financial fluency without having to ask your CFO ‘basic’ questions

Chapter Markers:

• (00:00) What CFOs Actually Prioritize
• (14:44) How CFOs Evaluate Marketing Investments
• (21:12) Making Brand Less Nebulous
• (27:06) What Strong CMO–CFO Alignment Looks Like
• (41:13) Building Financial Fluency as a CMO

Connect with Darko Socanski:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/darkosocanski
• Stratton Growth Advisors — M&A advisory, CFO services, and executive coaching

If this episode resonated, follow Growth Activated on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a review — it helps more marketing leaders find the show.

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday. New episodes drop weekly for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

What does a CTO really care about—and how can B2B marketing leaders build the kind of executive alignment that earns a lasting seat at the table?

In this episode of Growth Activated, we continue our C-Suite Series with Milenko Beslic—a multi-time CTO, founder, and startup builder with 20+ years of experience leading product and engineering teams across high-growth companies. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside Milenko at two different startups, and his business-first approach to technology is something every B2B marketing leader should understand.

We dive into what CTOs really value, how they think about growth, and where B2B marketing leaders often miss opportunities for deeper collaboration. From product marketing and AI to shared data strategy, this episode is all about helping CMOs and aspiring CMOs build stronger, more strategic partnerships with their technical counterparts.

In this episode, we explore: 
✅ The CTO mindset—what they prioritize, how they measure success, and what keeps them up at night
 ✅ What marketers often get wrong about product, engineering, and AI—and how to get it right
 ✅ The magic of strong CMO–CTO collaboration (and where it tends to break down)

If you're a B2B marketing leader ready to elevate your strategic influence, strengthen executive alignment, and step into true CMO-level leadership—this conversation is a must-listen.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#10 - Your CRO doesn’t think about MQLs the way you do. Here’s what they’re actually measuring — and what it means for how marketing needs to show up.

Sales and marketing alignment breaks down in the same place almost every time: the MQL definition. In this episode, Mandy sits down with Sloane Barbour — a career sales leader who went from VP of Sales to CRO to CEO and co-founder of Engine, an AI-driven recruiting company — for a candid conversation about what the C-suite really prioritizes when it comes to growth, and where marketing tends to miss the mark.

This is part of the Growth Activated C-Suite Series, where we go beyond marketing strategy and into the executive mindset. If you want a real seat at the revenue table, you need to understand how your CRO thinks — and Sloane brings it straight.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The atomic unit of CRO success: why customer meetings are the metric that matters most
• MQL quality vs. MQL volume: why hitting 300% of your MQL goal might mean you’re sending garbage
• Sales-marketing alignment in one sentence: what CROs say it actually comes down to
• Why outbound broke — and what replaces it in a world of AI-generated everything
• How the CRO mindset shifts when you become a CEO — and what that means for marketing’s role
• Why the best go-to-market strategy in the AI era is more human, not less

Chapter Markers:

• (00:00) Sloane’s Background: From Sales to CRO to CEO
• (04:29) What Makes an Elite CRO
• (12:23) Sales-Marketing Alignment: The MQL Problem
• (23:39) CRO to CEO: How the Mindset Shifts
• (35:59) AI, Go-to-Market Teams, and the Human Edge

Connect with Sloane Barbour:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sloanebarbour
• Engine: engin.co

If this episode resonated, follow Growth Activated on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a review — it helps more marketing leaders find the show.

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday. New episodes drop weekly for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#9 - If your CEO is asking for marketing ROI and you’re not sure how to answer, this episode will change how you think about measurement entirely.

Most marketing leaders are being held to a single attribution model and a handful of demand gen metrics — and missing the bigger picture entirely. Jeff Ignacio, a 10-year revenue operations leader with a background in FP&A at Intel and Google, brings a rare blend of finance and go-to-market expertise to one of the most contentious topics in B2B marketing: how do you actually measure what marketing is doing?

In this episode, Mandy and Jeff dig into the 95-5 rule, multi-touch attribution, the dark funnel, and why tying marketing ROI exclusively to pipeline source is one of the most common and costly mistakes CMOs make today. If you want to lead like an operator and finally make a compelling case for the full value of marketing — this is the conversation.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The 95-5 rule: why 95% of your buyers aren’t in market yet — and what that means for how you allocate budget
• Marketing attribution models explained: first touch, last touch, multi-touch — and why you need more than one
• Why measuring marketing ROI only by pipeline source puts blinders on your strategy
• How to think about diminishing returns on paid channels and when to reallocate
• Where AI is transforming lead scoring, enrichment, and go-to-market intelligence

Chapter Markers:

(00:00) Jeff’s Background: From FP&A to RevOps

(05:02) How to Think About Marketing ROI

(10:04) Attribution Models and Why You Need More Than One

(21:32) The 95-5 Rule and the Dark Funnel

(34:22) AI, Lead Scoring, and the Future of Go-to-Market

Connect with Jeff Ignacio:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeffignacio
• RevOps Impact: revopsimpact.com

If this episode resonated, follow Growth Activated on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a review — it helps more marketing leaders find the show.

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday. New episodes drop weekly for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#8 - What does your CEO actually think when marketing brings in twice the leads but conversions don’t move? What does ‘grow at all costs’ really cost? And when is the business actually ready to scale GTM?

In this episode, Mandy Hornaday sits down with Mark Feldman — CEO and founder of RevenueBase, former VP of Marketing, and one of the most analytically rigorous operators in B2B — for a candid conversation about what CEOs see that CMOs often miss. Mark has lived both sides: he built his career in B2B data and demand gen before becoming an accidental CEO who had to learn, quickly, how to think like a business operator instead of a marketer.

This is Episode 1 of the Growth Activated C-Suite Series — where we go beyond marketing strategy to explore what CEOs, CFOs, and boards actually prioritize when it comes to growth.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The CEO-CMO relationship: what the best CMOs do differently to earn trust and stay in the role
• Founder mode vs. professional CEO — and why it changes everything about how you operate as a marketing leader
• Why ‘grow at all costs’ failed at RevenueBase and what Mark would do differently today
• The two-step test for any GTM investment: is it repeatable? Is it scalable?
• How to think about the marketing funnel as a production line — and where most companies staff the wrong areas
• Where B2B data strategy is heading and who’s actually owning it inside forward-thinking companies
• One piece of advice for senior marketing leaders navigating today’s market

About Mark Feldman:

Mark Feldman is the CEO and founder of RevenueBase, a B2B data company helping go-to-market teams build and activate their total addressable market. He started his career as employee five at Net Prospects (acquired by Dun & Bradstreet), has led marketing and revenue operations at multiple B2B companies, and has been a mentor and collaborator to Mandy Hornaday throughout her career.

Chapter Markers:

• (00:29) Why Marketing Struggles for a Seat at the Table
• (02:51) Mark’s Journey: From BDR to CEO
• (08:38) The Challenges of Moving from Marketing Leader to CEO
• (12:30) What CMOs Should Learn Before Becoming a CEO
• (15:45) Fundraising and Growth: Lessons from RevenueBase
• (19:59) When to Scale Marketing, Sales, and Product
• (27:16) The CEO-CMO Relationship and Prioritizing Together
• (36:46) The Funnel as a Production Line: Avoiding Bottlenecks
• (41:26) The Future of Data & AI: Who Owns Customer Data?
• (47:36) Final Advice for Marketing Leaders

Resources mentioned:

• RevenueBase — revenuebase.ai
• Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfeldman/

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday — strategist, fractional CMO, and coach for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators. New episodes drop weekly.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#7 - You’re leading a world-class marketing function, delivering real results — and somehow you’re still not in the room where strategy gets made.

If you’ve ever been left out of revenue planning, watched your marketing strategy stop short of the boardroom, or wondered how to shift from being seen as a tactical executor to a true business leader — this episode is the one to bookmark.

Mandy Hornaday shares 11 practical strategies she’s used throughout her career to build her personal brand with the C-suite, earn a seat at the table, and position marketing as a strategic driver of company growth. From mindset shifts to executive communication frameworks to the one move that gets you into meetings you’re not being invited to — this is the playbook she wishes she’d had earlier.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How to tie your marketing efforts to business goals in a way that gets C-suite attention
• Why thinking beyond marketing — becoming a linchpin, not just a function leader — changes how executives see you
• The cross-functional relationships most marketing leaders overlook (hint: it’s not just sales)
• How to get into strategic meetings you’re not being invited to
• A communication framework that gets executive buy-in faster
• How to communicate trade-offs without being the ‘no’ person
• Why owning your message — up, down, and sideways — builds more trust than anything else

Chapter Markers:

• (00:00) Why Building Your Personal Brand with the C-Suite Matters
• (06:30) Tips 1–2: Think Like a Business Leader
• (18:00) Tips 3–4: Get Into the Right Conversations
• (28:00) Tips 5–6: Communicate Like an Executive
• (38:00) Tips 7–11: Influence Through Trust, Accountability, and Presence

If this episode resonated, follow Growth Activated on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a review — it helps more marketing leaders find the show.

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday — strategist, fractional CMO, and coach for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators. New episodes drop weekly.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#6 - What does it actually take to build a marketing agency from scratch — no business plan, no budget, no agency experience — and turn it into an 18-year industry institution?

In this episode, Mandy Hornaday sits down with Leslie Vickrey, founder and CEO of ClearEdge, to unpack the decisions, pivots, and leadership lessons behind one of the most respected marketing agencies in the B2B talent and technology space. From how she landed her first client before the company existed, to the personal branding moves that made ClearEdge impossible to ignore, to the culture philosophy that’s driven two-decade employee loyalty — Leslie shares the kind of hard-won perspective that only comes from doing it for real.

If you’re a marketing leader navigating the agency vs. in-house decision, thinking about your own personal brand, or trying to build a culture that actually holds — this episode is for you.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why Leslie started ClearEdge with no business plan, no budget, and no agency experience — and what she’d tell entrepreneurs doing the same today
• The network-first personal branding strategy that made ClearEdge a known name before most companies even had a marketing function
• Agency vs. in-house: how to evaluate which roles to build internally and which to outsource, and why it’s different for every company
• The ‘Rise Up’ culture philosophy and how Leslie has built 18+ years of team loyalty in an industry known for high turnover
• How marketing leaders can partner with their C-suite on corporate values and internal communications when the external landscape shifts
• Why getting the most from an agency comes down to three things: partner, transparency, and communication

About Leslie Vickrey:

Leslie Vickrey is the founder and CEO of ClearEdge, a full-service B2B marketing agency specializing in the talent, staffing, and technology industries. She is also the co-founder of ARA, an organization dedicated to advancing women in technology, and the author of Together We Rise — a collection of leadership stories from women in the industry. Her second book is expected later this year.

Chapter Markers:

• (00:00) Welcome and Introducing Leslie Vickrey
• (03:32) From In-House to Agency: The Origin of ClearEdge
• (07:43) Taking the Leap: Entrepreneurship Lessons
• (11:30) Stepping Into the CEO Role
• (16:30) Personal Branding and Thought Leadership
• (27:04) Marketing ROI: Educating the C-Suite
• (31:17) Agency vs. In-House: Building the Right Team
• (40:41) Culture, Loyalty, and the Rise Up Philosophy
• (48:10) Marketing’s Role When Corporate Values Are Tested

Resources mentioned:

• Together We Rise — by Leslie Vickrey and the Lady Leaders
• Connect with Leslie Vickrey on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leslievickrey

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪

#5 - Most CMOs take the job before they’ve asked the hard questions. Scott Todaro has spent 30 years asking them — and it’s led to five successful exits, four acquisitions, and one IPO.

In this episode, Mandy Hornaday sits down with Scott Todaro — author of The Next CMO and one of the most respected voices in marketing leadership — to unpack the frameworks, mindsets, and hard-won lessons behind his extraordinary career. From how he evaluates companies before saying yes, to his first 90 days playbook, to why only 39.5% of CMOs build their marketing goals off company goals — this conversation is packed with the operator-level thinking that separates great CMOs from those who don’t make it past 18 months.

If you want to lead like a business executive rather than a marketing executor, start here.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The 3-part framework Scott uses to evaluate every company before accepting a CMO role
• Why the first two months should produce zero leads — and what to do instead
• The realistic timeline for when marketing starts producing results (months 6, 9, 12–15)
• The only three marketing goals that exist — and how to build your plan around them
• Why your attribution model might be siloing you from the sales team
• The difference between campaigns, programs, and projects — and why it matters for your budget
• How to partner with your CFO to make your marketing budget effectively unlimited

About Scott Todaro:

Scott Todaro is a marketing executive with over 30 years of experience leading B2B and B2C organizations through five successful exits — four acquisitions and one IPO. He is the author of The Next CMO: A Guide to Operational Marketing Excellence, co-founder of Plana (MarTech), and currently teaches at Babson College and the University of Massachusetts. He runs the Next CMO community, podcast, and free workshops for marketing leaders.

Chapter Markers:

• (00:00) Introducing Scott Todaro
• (03:04) How to Select a Company Before Taking the CMO Role
• (08:48) The First 90 Days: Why You Should Promise Nothing
• (17:00) Goals-Based Marketing: The Only 3 Marketing Goals
• (30:01) Campaigns, Programs, and Projects
• (40:29) Partnering with Your CFO
• (46:47) Creativity, ROI, and the Next Generation of CMOs

Resources mentioned:

• The Next CMO: A Guide to Operational Marketing Excellence — by Scott Todaro
• Next CMO Community
• Next CMO Podcast
• Next CMO Free Workshops

If this episode resonated, follow Growth Activated on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a review — it helps more marketing leaders find the show.

Growth Activated is hosted by Mandy Hornaday — strategist, fractional CMO, and coach for B2B marketing leaders ready to lead like operators. New episodes drop weekly.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Come build with us:
The CMO Operating System is a six-week live cohort where you build one connected foundation for how your function plans, decides, and reports, with AI partners running on top of it. The system is yours, and it goes with you wherever you go next. The founding cohort is small and first by design. Enrollment closes September 30 and we start October 12. 

👉 Join the CMO OS waitlist 

Come say hi on LinkedIn: Mandy Hornaday
Visit us: growthactivated.com

Keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 💪