Has data-driven marketing killed creativity?

In this interview, the Head of Marketing at Finastra, Joerg Klueckmann chats with Sammy about the importance of creative freedom in marketing, why companies must dare to be different, how to acquire budget for outside-the-box initiatives, and much more.


You’ll learn:

1. Why creativity must make a comeback if we're to avoid repetitiveness and mundanity in marketing
2. How to ensure ROI on your marketing investments while leaving room for experimenting
3. How Joerg allocates marketing budget to differentiating initiatives
4. Why Finastra built their own video streaming channel Finastra TV
5. Which KPIs to measure to report proof of value for outside-the-box initiatives

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About Joerg:
With more than 20 years of leadership experience, Joerg transformed global marketing organizations across the B2B software industry. He has led teams to become integrated, high performing and digital first. Joerg believes in focus, simplicity, and the courage to be different. He enjoys a good espresso and rides his mountain bike with passion. His superpower is endless positivity.

Find Joerg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joergklueckmann/

Joerg's favorite business book:
Play Bigger by Al Ramadam and Kevin Maney | https://shorturl.at/afjTW
Impromptu by Reid Hoffman | https://shorturl.at/afor7

Joerg's favorite podcasts:
Capital Allocators with Ted Seides | https://www.capitalallocators.com/

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About Finastra:
Formed in 2017 by the integration of Misys and D+H under Vista Equity Partners, Finastra enables the financial services world to deliver the future of banking. Applications that power financial institutions, marketplaces that accelerate industry & an open innovation platform for banks, fintechs & non-banks to connect and collaborate. Finastra delivers this vitally important technology to financial institutions of all sizes across the globe, including 90 of the world’s top 100 banks.

Website: https://www.finastra.com/
Industry: Financial Services
Company size: 5,001-10,000 employees
Headquarters: Paddington, London
Founded: 2017

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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to become a thought leader and win leads directly through your own podcast & great content on LinkedIn.

Get in touch with Sammy here on LinkedIn.

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER Show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more. 

Driving demand for your company at every stage of your marketing funnel?

Rodolfo shares how they do it at Recharge.

In today's episode, Rodolfo Yiu, Head of Demand Generation at Recharge shares with Sammy, how he and his team keep their pipeline healthy and full.


You’ll learn:

1. How Rodolfo drives demand on top, middle and bottom of funnel for Recharge
2. How Recharge is distributing its demand gen investments in paid search as a market leader
3. Why Rodolfo still regularly listens in on his team's sales calls


About Rodolfo:
Rodolfo is a B2B SaaS marketing leader located in San Francisco, currently working at Recharge as Head of DG, a leading subscription solution for DTC brands. He is passionate about building and developing marketing teams to solve business problems by partnering with GTM teams. He was previously at Okta and a number of startups.

Find Rodolfo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolfoyiu/
Rodolfo’s favorite business book:
The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture - Scott Belsky https://amzn.to/3GtMu1N
Rodolfo’s favorite podcast:
Grit podcast with Joubin Mirzadegan https://www.kleinerperkins.com/podcasts
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About Recharge:
Recharge is the leading subscription payments solution, helping ecommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge’s subscription billing and payment management solutions are designed to help merchants grow by increasing revenue and customer lifetime value while reducing operating costs and churn.

Website: https://rechargepayments.com/
Industry: E-Commerce, Mobile Payments, Software, Subscription Service
Company size: 500+
Headquarters: Santa Monica, California, United States
Founded: 2014
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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to become a thought leader and win leads directly through your own podcast & great content on LinkedIn.

Get in touch with Sammy here on LinkedIn.

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more.

 

Out with the old, in with a $20B deal?

Sometimes, not sticking to the known will skyrocket your B2B success:

In Buynomics' case, going against "common wisdom" in B2B, helped them secure a huge enterprise customer – as a seed stage startup!

Today, Sebastian Baier, Founder & MD at Buynomics, shares with Sammy how they did it.


You’ll learn:

1. Why and how Buynomics successfully went after the biggest possible enterprise customer as a seed stage startup
2. How Buynomics closed a €13MM Series A investment with a top U.S. VC in the current tough market environment
3. The Buynomics playbook to leverage webinars to drive marketing and thought leadership


About Sebastian:
Before starting Buynomics, Sebastian was a Director with Simon-Kucher & Partners where he helped leading international companies improve their pricing and product offering. Sebastian holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Heidelberg and Masters degrees in Physics and Economics.

Find Sebastian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-baier/
Sebastian's favorite business book:
Memos from the Chairman - Ace Greenberg https://amzn.to/3F8UODx
Sebastian's favorite podcasts:
Startup Insider - https://inside.startup-insider.com/podcast
Doppelgänger - https://www.doppelgaenger.io/
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About Buynomics:
Imagine knowing customers’ preferences without tedious analyses, complex spreadsheets, or unreliable focus groups. Buynomics’ AI transforms all your data into Virtual Customers that mimic the buying decisions of real customers with unmatched precision. Use these instant and accurate consumer insights as the single source of truth to make decisions on price, promotion, product, portfolio, trade terms, channel & portfolio mix. Our holistic approach uncovers links between critical revenue levers and provides recommendations for best results - your key to profitable and sustainable decisions.

Website: https://www.buynomics.com/
Industry: Machine Learning, SaaS, Software
Company size: 50+
Headquarters: Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Founded: 2018
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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to become a thought leader and win leads directly through your own podcast & great content on LinkedIn.

Get in touch with Sammy here on LinkedIn.

__________

Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more. 

Is content marketing dead?

These days, many businesses pump all their marketing budget into running ads.

But are they getting better results than they would with organic growth strategies?

In today’s shortcast-episode, Brendan Hufford, Founder at Growth Sprints, chats to Sammy about misconceptions in B2B marketing and how he grows SaaS companies using his 4-part content marketing framework.

You’ll learn:

1. Brendan's 4-part content marketing framework that sees the most success
2. What B2B Leaders should stop doing to grow their business
3. The 2 biggest misconceptions about B2B content marketing


About Brendan:
Getting results via his 4-part SaaS growth framework is what Brendan does. Having led and scaled growth teams at two agencies, most of the clients Brendan worked with didn’t want (or need) a 6-12 month marketing engagements. He knew there was a better way, so he created his service.

Find Brendan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanhufford/
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About Growth Sprints:
Growth Sprints helps to take SaaS companies from $10M to $100M ARR. Using their SaaS Growth Sprint Framework, they help SaaS companies increase revenue from Google through short, focused marketing sprints.

Website: https://growthsprints.co/
Industry: SaaS, SaaS growth und SaaS marketing
Company size: 2
Headquarters: Chicago, USA
Founded: 2021

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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to drive recruiting & employer branding via your hiring managers on LinkedIn.

We can help you:
- Speed up hiring
- Reduce hiring costs
- Create an authentic Employer Brand
- Create a Talent Pool that you can tap into any time

Get in touch with Sammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/ 

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER Show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more. 

Business environments are rapidly becoming more complex.

Now, skill stacks that focus on deeper and more multidimensional thinking are becoming hot commodities in sales.

But where are businesses finding salespeople with this unusual skill combination?

Find out in today’s episode with our host Sammy and guest, Christian Kurtenbach, Director of Enterprise Sales at Monta.

You’ll learn:

1. The advantage of being a consultant first and then moving into enterprise sales
2. How Christian leverages his consulting skills to drive sales
3. Why you should consider inviting UX researchers into your sales meetings
4. How the energy crisis is affecting the adoption and sales of electric vehicles


About Christian:
Christian is Director of Enterprise Sales at Monta, helping large partners & customers find the right angle to electric vehicle charging. Prior to Monta, he spent most of his career as a Management Consultant focused on the energy transition before moving into a more operational role in eMobility together with E.ON, one of Europe's largest utility companies.

Find Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ckurtenbach
Christian’s favorite business book:
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters - Richard Rumelt https://amzn.to/3CB0h4T
Christian’s favorite podcasts:
Deutschlandfunk - https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/interview-100.html
The Times Podcasts - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/podcasts/
OMR Podcast - https://omr.podigee.io/
The Guardien Science Weekly - https://www.theguardian.com/science/series/science
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About Monta:
Monta is the operating platform powering the electric vehicle (EV) charging ecosystem serving drivers, companies, cities, and the electricity grid. With Monta you can launch, manage, and scale all your EV needs and operation with one integrated software built to EV better. We believe that accelerating and democratising the adoption of EV technology is key to fostering the sustainable future we so desperately need.

Website: https://monta.com/
Industry: IT-Services und IT-Consulting
Company size: 200
Headquarters: Copenhagen, Denmark
Founded: 2020

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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to drive recruiting & employer branding via your hiring managers on LinkedIn.

We can help you:
- Speed up hiring
- Reduce hiring costs
- Create an authentic Employer Brand
- Create a Talent Pool that you can tap into any time

Get in touch with Sammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER Show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more.

 

The secret to B2B sales success?

Promotional one-way communication won’t cut it with today’s ad-exhausted B2B customer.

Instead, you need to start building and nurturing long-term, meaningful relationships.

Find out how in today’s episode with Pim Geurts, Global Director of Strategic Alliances at o9 Solutions and our host, Sammy.

You’ll learn:

1. What a B2B community is according to Pim
2. How to build your own B2B community
3. How to get your community members involved
4. The value of B2B communities
5. How to translate online communities to the offline world


About Pim:
Pim is currently working as Director of Strategic Alliances at o9 Solutions where he helps strengthen the company's partner landscape to facilitate the rapid growth of o9. In his previous role, he set up the global aim10x community for digital transformation leaders in planning and decision-making.

Find Pim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pimgeurts/
Pim's business book recommendation:
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change - Charles Duhigg https://amzn.to/3V9K52M
Pim's favorite business leaders:
Elon Musk and Steve Jobs
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About o9 Solutions:
The o9 Digital Brain is a game-changing planning platform helping global companies across industries transform their supply chain, commercial, finance, and sustainability decision-making for digital age volatility and complexity.

Website: https://o9solutions.com/
Industry: Analytics, Digital Media, Enterprise Software, SaaS
Company size: 2000+
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Founded: 2009

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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to drive recruiting & employer branding via your hiring managers on LinkedIn.

We can help you:
- Speed up hiring
- Reduce hiring costs
- Create an authentic Employer Brand
- Create a Talent Pool that you can tap into any time

Get in touch with Sammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER Show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more. 

Wie hat EGYM Wellpass mit ihrer B2B-Sales Mannschaft in 1,5 Jahren 300% Wachstum gemeistert?

EGYM Wellpass' Sales-Organisation ist von 20 auf 100 Mitarbeiter gewachsen – und das trotz der unsicheren Aussicht in der Fitnessbranche während der Pandemie.

Heute teilt Johannes Füß, Vice President Sales bei EGYM Wellpass, seine Erfahrungen, Best Practices und Erfolge mit Sammy.


Das erwartet Dich:

1. Auf welche Erfolgsschlüssel das B2B Sales-Team von EGYM Wellpass setzt
2. Wie EGYM Wellpass ihre Sales-Methoden im Team & Salesforce verankert, um guten Forecast sicherzustellen
3. Welche Herausforderungen EGYM Wellpass im Spagat zwischen SME- und Enterprise-Sales meistert
4. Wie Storytelling & Fakten zu erfolgreichen Pitches in Deutschland beitragen
5. Wie EGYM Wellpass über Webinare mit Bestandskundeneinbindung neue Kunden gewinnt

Über Johannes:
Johannes ist Vice President Sales bei EGYM Wellpass. In enger Zusammenarbeit mit sieben hauseigenen Vertriebsteams treibt er den Ausbau ihrer Marktpositionierung voran. Er ist Diplom-Betriebswirt und blickt auf mehr als ein Jahrzehnt der Kundenbetreuung zurück. Johannes ist passionierter Läufer, kommt bei Meditation zur Ruhe, hat aber auch Spaß am Lesen und liebt Podcasts.

Finde Johannes auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-füß/
Johannes' Lieblings-Businessbuch:
Management Beyond Ego: Teams in der neuen Arbeitswelt zu außergewöhnlichen Erfolgen führen - Matthias Kolbusa https://amzn.to/3FgTUGL
Johannes' Lieblings-Podcasts:
Apokalypse & Filterkaffee - Micky Beisenherz https://apokalypse-und-filterkaffee.podigee.io/
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Über EGYM Wellpass:
Mit Firmenfitness von EGYM Wellpass halten sich Mitarbeitende und Mitglieder in mehr als 6.000 hochwertigen Sport- und Gesundheitseinrichtungen in ganz Deutschland und Österreich fit oder trainieren mit dem stets wachsenden Angebot an Online Kursen wann und wo sie möchten. Über eine eigene EGYM-Cloud ihrer App haben Trainer und Mitglieder Zugriff zu ihren Daten. Egal ob Fitness, Schwimmen, Yoga, Klettern oder vieles mehr - hier findet jeder sein persönliches Programm.

Website: https://egym-wellpass.com/
Industrie: Fitness, Sports, Wellness
Unternehmensgröße: 500
Hauptsitz: München, Deutschland
Gründung: 2010

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Über den Host Sammy:
Sammy und SAWOO ermöglichen es Dir, Recruiting & Employer Branding über Deine Hiring Manager auf LinkedIn voranzutreiben.

Wir unterstützen Dich bei:
1. Beschleunigung von Stellenbesetzung
2. Reduzierung von Einstellungskosten
3. Entwicklung eines authentischen Employer Branding
4. Entwicklung eines Talentpools, auf den Sie jederzeit zugreifen können

Schreibe Sammy Gebele auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/

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Gäste der GROW B2B FASTER Show: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, und viele mehr. 

Who are the people you need in your company for scaling from Seed Stage to Series B?

Today's guest is part of the reason Datadog (1bn valuation), Drift (1bn valuation) and Dooly ($300m) scaled so fast!

And now, Michelle Pietsch, Founding Partner at Minot Light Consulting, shares her best practices & insights with us.

She chats with Sammy about her approach to building successful go-to-market strategies, and aligning teams to one goal.


Here are 5 things you'll learn today:

1. How start-ups succeed in the Seed Stage with founder led sales
2. Whom to hire while scaling from Seed Stage to Series B
3. Best practice hiring processes to identify the right fit in a new sales development rep
4. How to achieve a 30% conversion rate through webinars and podcasts
5. What metrics Michelle uses to track Minot Light Consulting’s success, and unifies her team around revenue


About Michelle:
Over the last 10+ years, Michelle has spent her time at early-stage start-ups like Datadog, Drift, and Dooly, building sales and GTM functions from the ground up. She enjoys building in the rapid-growth sales SaaS world, and watching the organizations succeed, whether it's another round of funding or IPO. Over that time, she has built teams from 3 – 100, and grown revenue from $200K – $55M+. She enjoys taking the time to understand the GTM motion and putting the right processes in place from the top of the funnel down to Customer Success and Account Management, once the deals are closed.

Find Michelle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleheaney/
Michelle's business book recommendation:
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek https://amzn.to/3M9VFqx
Michelle's favorite podcast:
Product-Led Podcast - https://productled.com/podcast
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About Minot Light Consulting:
Minot Light Consulting has great expertise in building GTM strategies for start-up and early stage companies to have efficient growth. Modern Go-to-market teams need a transformation from siloed Sales, Marketing and Customer Success teams to one team united around revenue. With their 30+ years of combined experience working across all parts of rapidly scaling early stage companies, Minot Light Consulting has the answers to grow revenue faster and build strong teams and operating strategies.

Website: https://www.minotlightconsulting.com/
Industry: Business consulting and corporate services
Company size: 10
Headquarters: Boston, MA
Founded: 2022
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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to drive recruiting & employer branding via your hiring managers on LinkedIn.

We can help you:
- Speed up hiring
- Reduce hiring costs
- Create an authentic Employer Brand
- Create a Talent Pool that you can tap into any time

Get in touch with Sammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more. 

 When should you start building a B2B partnership ecosystem?

Immediately!

According to Shawn Green, Go-To-Market Advisor at Upflow and Chassi, there isn’t a better time to start finding key partners than the present.

In today’s episode with Sammy, he explains how building a partner ecosystem from the start helps you score those crucial first customers for your startup.


You’ll learn:

1. The right time to start building a partner ecosystem.
2. Shawn’s advice to anyone who wants to start a partnership program.
3. The 3 stages of CEO involvement in a growing startup.
4. The main characteristics of a successful CEO.
5. How to set up and utilize a customer advisory board to determine product-market-fit.


About Shawn:
Accomplished SVP/Chief Revenue Officer in the SaaS Cloud space with experience in all phases of a company's lifecycle – Startup to Publicly Traded companies. Product sets are ERP, CRM, PSA, Fintech, Marketing insights, and data platform technologies. I have a proven track record of developing and implementing successful sales initiatives leading sales organizations through their cloud journey, yielding over $1.800 Billion in ARR, acquiring 300 Fortune 500 companies, and managing over 1,000 account executives and managers over the last 15 years with multiple companies.

Find Shawn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sg8584/
Shawn's business book recommendation:
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In Your Work and In Your Life – Dr. Spencer Johnson https://amzn.to/3Mfcf8D
Shawn's favorite podcast:
The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebrutaltruth/
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About Upflow:
Upflow is an SDN, multi-tenant AR platform that enables merchants to optimize cash collection, lowering DSO through analytics, collaborative workflows, and various payment methods. The outcomes for our merchants are predictable cash flow, modeling, and extended cash runway.

Website: https://upflow.io/
Industry: Financial Services, B2B and Fintech
Company size: 100
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 2018

About Chassi:
CHASSI tech helps Netsuite customers control their cash flow by showing real-time how they perform Q2C and understanding the sticking points contributing to lagging DSO "Days Sales Outstanding."

Website: https://chassi.com/
Industry: Software development, ERP, SaaS, Operations, Technology
Company size: 10
Headquarters: Phoenix, Arizona
Founded: 2016
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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to drive recruiting & employer branding via your hiring managers on LinkedIn.

We can help you:
- Speed up hiring
- Reduce hiring costs
- Create an authentic Employer Brand
- Create a Talent Pool that you can tap into any time

Get in touch with Sammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER Show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more. 

Take a guess.

Who is the most important stakeholder in your marketing strategy?

The answer is simple — it’s your customers!

In today’s episode, Carrie Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer at Cyderes, explains how getting close to your customers will help you execute effective marketing interventions that really influence your sales pipeline.

You’ll learn:

1. How to influence the sales pipeline with marketing
2. Which metrics you should track to measure the impact of your marketing strategy
3. Which content pillars work best for your sales pipeline and tips for creating them
4. The power that in-person events and unique experiences can hold for your business
5. Why your company should have an analyst relations strategy


About Carrie:
Carrie is Chief Marketing Officer at Cyderes. She has spent 20+ years in B2B software, tech and cybersecurity marketing roles, building expertise across product marketing, revenue and lifecycle marketing, brand strategy, content, and operations. As a marketing executive, she's driven to build and cultivate a thriving organization based on functional expertise, data & intelligence, and cross-functional collaboration. To keep her mind and body sharp, Carrie works out four times a week at 5:30 in the morning with a small fitness group that she has been working with for almost 15 years.

Find Carrie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrienkelly/
Carrie's business book recommendations:
Play Bigger: How Rebels and Innovators Create New Categories and Dominate Markets – Al Ramadan https://amzn.to/3eUM6zj
The Power of Story: Rewrite Your Destiny in Business and in Life - Jim Loehr https://amzn.to/3dnsAen
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About Cyderes:
Cyderes is a global cybersecurity powerhouse offering comprehensive solutions around managed security, identity and access management, and professional services. The company provides the people, processes, and technology modern enterprises rely on to manage risk, maintain compliance, and respond to security threats with greater speed, scale, and cost-efficiency than traditional in-house solutions. Cyderes has six security operations centers and three offices across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India.

Website: https://www.cyderes.com/
Industry: Computer, Network Security, Security
Company size: 800
Headquarters: Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Founded: 2017
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About the host Sammy:
Sammy and SAWOO enable you to drive recruiting & employer branding via your hiring managers on LinkedIn.

We can help you:
- Speed up hiring
- Reduce hiring costs
- Create an authentic Employer Brand
- Create a Talent Pool that you can tap into any time

Get in touch with Sammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammygebele/

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Past guests on the GROW B2B FASTER Show include: Justin Welsh, Ian Koniak, Jamal Reimer, Mike Troiano, John Kaplan, Greg Alexander, and many more.