The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

Scaling B2B Marketing at an AI Startup: Channels, Strategy, and Team Ops with Holly Xiao


Listen Later

#270 Strategy | Dave is joined by Holly Xiao, Head of B2B Marketing at HeyGen, an AI video generation platform that helps teams produce personalized, high-quality content, fast. Holly has led marketing at high-growth startups and now runs the enterprise GTM motion at HeyGen, where she blends strategy, creative execution, and AI-powered workflows to reach modern B2B buyers.

Dave and Holly cover:

  • The 4 channels her lean team is betting on to drive enterprise pipeline (and what’s not working anymore)
  • How B2B marketers are using AI video for event marketing, sales enablement, onboarding, and beyond
  • Why SEO is falling short and how HeyGen is shifting focus to webinars, events, and YouTube instead

If you’re figuring out how to use AI in your marketing or just trying to do more with less, this one’s full of practical ideas to help you think differently about team structure, channels, and strategy.

Timestamps

  • (00:00) - – Intro
  • (03:48) - – Holly’s nonlinear path to marketing
  • (06:48) - – Getting started in marketing ops
  • (08:48) - – Why she joined an AI startup
  • (10:48) - – How HeyGen’s marketing org works
  • (13:48) - – PLG vs SLG: Key differences
  • (15:48) - – The 4 channels driving pipeline
  • (17:48) - – What’s working: Events + webinars
  • (19:48) - – Booth strategy that stands out
  • (24:23) - – Brand vs demand events
  • (26:23) - – Building community and user events
  • (27:53) - – SEO is declining. Now what?
  • (30:23) - – Running marketing in 2-month sprints
  • (33:23) - – Aligning product and marketing cadence
  • (35:23) - – Her daily AI tools
  • (36:53) - – ChatGPT vs Gemini workflows
  • (38:23) - – Real AI video use cases
  • (40:23) - – Personalized event promos with avatars
  • (41:23) - – Support, training, and onboarding videos
  • (42:23) - – Fortune telling and music videos?!
  • (43:23) - – Why AI won’t replace marketers

  • Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected]
    Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
    Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
    Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

    ***

    Today’s episode is brought to you by Walnut.

    Why are we pouring all this effort into marketing just to push buyers to a “request a demo” or “contact sales” button?

    Come on, today’s buyers don’t want to talk to sales right away. They want to explore your product themselves, see how it works, and understand its value before booking a meeting.

    That’s where Walnut comes in.

    Walnut empowers marketers and GTM teams to create interactive, self-guided product experiences in minutes. Embed these experiences on your site, in emails, or anywhere in your funnel to let buyers engage on their terms, from awareness to close and beyond.

    That's the beauty of Walnut - you're getting a platform that your sales and CS colleagues can use to showcase the product too.

    And the best part? You get real intent data—see which features prospects love, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving pipeline. Demo Qualified Leads are the new MQL.

    Over 500 companies, like Adobe and NetApp, use Walnut to drive 2-3x higher website conversion rates and 7 figures in pipeline on a yearly basis. So do you want to drive more leads, shorten sales cycles, and actually show your product instead of hiding it behind another typical B2B CTA?

    Go check out Walnut.io. And if you tell them Dave from Exit 5 sent you, they'll build out your first demo for free!

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)By Dave Gerhardt

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    38 ratings


    More shows like The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

    View all
    The Digital Marketing Podcast by Ciaran Rogers, Daniel Rowles and Louise Crossley

    The Digital Marketing Podcast

    112 Listeners

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast by Pat Flynn

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

    3,455 Listeners

    Social Media Marketing Podcast by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner

    Social Media Marketing Podcast

    1,440 Listeners

    The SaaS Podcast - SaaS, Startups, Growth Hacking & Entrepreneurship by Omer Khan

    The SaaS Podcast - SaaS, Startups, Growth Hacking & Entrepreneurship

    184 Listeners

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

    174 Listeners

    Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips by Eric Siu and Neil Patel

    Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

    1,259 Listeners

    Noah Kagan Presents by Noah Kagan

    Noah Kagan Presents

    901 Listeners

    The CMO Podcast by vYve & Jim Stengel

    The CMO Podcast

    346 Listeners

    Creator Science by Jay Clouse

    Creator Science

    464 Listeners

    GTM Live by Passetto

    GTM Live

    201 Listeners

    The Marketing Millennials by Daniel Murray

    The Marketing Millennials

    149 Listeners

    Marketing Made Simple by Powered by StoryBrand

    Marketing Made Simple

    289 Listeners

    Marketing Against The Grain by Hubspot Media

    Marketing Against The Grain

    353 Listeners

    Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold by GURU Media Hub

    Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold

    824 Listeners

    AI Explored by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner—AI marketing

    AI Explored

    84 Listeners