Gabby Stoller, CRO at Big Happy, shares her journey from Walmart to building a creative-first ad tech platformDiscover insights on digital out of home, retail media, 3D advertising, and innovative go-to-market strategies.Chapters00:00 Gabby's Journey: From Walmart to Big Happy05:04 Creative First Strategy: The Heart of Big Happy14:14 Understanding Digital Out of Home Advertising20:26 Building Momentum: Key Strategies for Success27:41 Strategic Go-to-Market Approaches30:45 The Role of Partnerships in Success31:12 Transitioning from GM to CRO34:03 Understanding Market Dynamics38:09 Leveraging AI in Go-to-Market Strategies41:17 The Importance of Operations and Data44:12 Big Bets for Future Growth48:30 Career Insights for Aspiring CROshttps://leanscale.team/https://www.bighappy.co/

**Walking Into Chaos and Executing | Andrew Geisse (CRO, Pallet) on Honest GTM Planning, POCs That Actually Convert, and Selling AI in Logistics**Andrew Geisse has spent his career walking into roles he wasn't technically qualified for. Ten years at Deloitte. Nearly seven at DocuSign building enterprise sales. Then leading North America sales at Reputation. Now he's CRO at [Pallet](https://www.pallet.com/), the company building AI workforce automation for the $12 trillion logistics industry — already at 700% revenue growth in under two years with $50M raised from General Catalyst, Bessemer, and Bain Capital Ventures.In this episode, Andrew joins Anthony Enrico to break down the framework he's used to drop into unfamiliar environments and execute — and his belief that most go-to-market motions fail not because of missing data, but because teams aren't honest about what's actually happening.We get into:* How to walk into a new role and figure out the truth in your first 90 days (data + people on the ground)* Why selling AI in logistics is harder than almost anywhere else — and what makes Pallet's category different* The MIT stat: 95% of AI deployments fail (and why it's likely higher in freight)* The usage-based pricing problem nobody has fully solved — and lessons from Twilio's battle scars* How to talk to your board about ARR when your contracts are usage-based (the "estimated ACV" trick)* Why POCs are now table stakes in AI sales — and the punch list to check before saying yes* The 100% POC success rate Andrew won't share in sales cycles (and why)* Why post-sales should join pre-sales for scoping — and how it kills over-promising* The honest planning meeting: top-down goals, bottoms-up resourcing, and forcing creativity* The "10X my org" exercise every CRO should do *before* their CEO asks* Why DocuSign starts planning at the beginning of Q3 — and is done by mid-Q4* The single biggest lie teams tell themselves in pipeline reviews — and how to surface it**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: the consultant who became a CRO01:09 — Walking into roles you're not qualified for02:47 — The first 90 days framework04:21 — Why Pallet is the most challenging mission yet05:34 — Where Andrew goes for resources and peer learning06:57 — The usage-based pricing problem in AI13:57 — Forecasting usage-based revenue (and what to tell the board)21:16 — The 95% AI deployment failure rate23:35 — How to think about POCs and proof of value26:31 — Why post-sales joins pre-sales at Pallet29:16 — The punch list every team should check before offering a POC44:00 — Why most planning processes are built on lies49:33 — The top-down planning framework that actually works51:59 — Why DocuSign starts planning in Q352:54 — The "pissed off RevOps leader" growth model story53:45 — The 10X exercise every leader should do before their CEO asks55:06 — Closing thoughts**About the guest**Andrew Geisse is CRO at [Pallet](https://www.pallet.com/), the company building AI agents to transform the $12 trillion logistics industry. Pallet has raised $50M from General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures, achieving 700% revenue growth in under two years. Previously, Andrew spent nearly seven years at DocuSign building enterprise sales, led North America sales at Reputation, and started his career at Deloitte. Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn.**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of [LeanScale](https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#AISales #LogisticsAI #EnterpriseSales #CRO #RevOps #GoToMarket #UsageBasedPricing #SalesLeadership #Pallet

**Why the SaaS Playbook Breaks in Heavy Industries | Joshua Trott (CRO, Patch) on Selling When the Stakes Are 20-Year Infrastructure Decisions**Joshua Trott isn't a "sales guy" — which is a strange thing to hear from a Chief Revenue Officer. He came up through strategy consulting at Booz & Co. (now Strategy&/PwC), spent years in C-suite rooms designing operating models and governance frameworks for energy and utility companies, then got a quota thrust on him at GLG before eventually becoming CRO at WorkRise (now valued at nearly **$3 billion**). Today he leads revenue at [Patch](https://www.patch.io/), the platform helping companies navigate carbon markets and scale climate action.His whole career has been in operationally intensive industries — energy, oil & gas, sustainability, carbon markets — where the typical SaaS playbook just doesn't work. In this episode, Joshua joins Anthony Enrico to break down what changes when your buyers make 20-year infrastructure decisions, why services and software both have to deliver the value, and how operators (not sellers) might be the most underrated CRO talent pool in the AI era.We get into:* Why consulting was secretly the perfect crash course for enterprise sales: trust beats product* The biggest difference between SaaS and heavy industry: closing the deal is the audition, delivery is the real contract* Why RevOps is the first hire, not the last — and why "RevOps equals Salesforce hygiene" is the wrong mental model* How the people / process / systems framework changes when stakes mean safety, equipment, and front-page-of-the-newspaper risk* Why the services org has to be a first-class citizen, not a margin-enhancement play* The "embedded climate strategist" — Patch's version of the forward-deployed engineer* The humility move that worked when Joshua took his first sales role with experienced reps reporting to him* What to actually look for when hiring operators into commercial roles (learning agility, voracious curiosity, executive presence)* Why he never empathized with sellers' stress until he ate what he killed — and what that taught him about coaching* AI in carbon markets: how Patch is using it to sift thousands of projects, reduce information asymmetry, and supercharge a services business* Why the product + expertise + data combo is the new force multiplier in complex industries* Demonstrating control over the number — not just hitting it — as the real CRO job**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: the strategy consultant who became a CRO01:36 — How sitting with the C-suite was a crash course in enterprise sales04:25 — GLG, the first quota, and learning to win on execution07:14 — Why SaaS playbooks break in heavy industries08:47 — RevOps as the operational backbone (not just Salesforce hygiene)11:17 — The CRO build order: systems, people, process13:00 — When delivery mistakes mean safety incidents and front-page risk22:00 — Owning a sales funnel for the first time25:07 — The gaps Joshua had to ramp on fast27:10 — The humility move that won over experienced sellers29:32 — Hiring operators into commercial roles: what to look for40:00 — AI in carbon markets: turning information asymmetry into advantage49:34 — The "embedded climate strategist" — Patch's forward-deployed engineer51:13 — Product, expertise, and data as the new force multiplier53:36 — Why operational backbone makes AI leverage even possible54:05 — Closing thoughts**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of [LeanScale](https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#CRO #RevOps #EnterpriseSales #CarbonMarkets #ClimateTech #GoToMarket #ComplexSales #SalesLeadership #Patch

**20-Person Deals, Year-Long Cycles | Leigh Gross (CRO, Synctera) on Selling to the Blocker, Not the Champion**Leigh Gross runs one of the most complex enterprise sales motions you'll hear about. As CRO at [Synctera](https://www.synctera.com/), the banking-as-a-service platform behind embedded banking and card products for companies like Bolt, Zenoti, and BTG Pactual, his team coordinates deals involving **10 people on Synctera's side, 10 on the customer side, and a sponsor bank in the middle** — across sales cycles that can stretch past a year.Before this, Leigh spent 12 years in fintech sales across student loans, SMB lending, and credit data — all heavily regulated, all incredibly complex. And before *that*, he was a commercial attorney. In this episode, Leigh joins Anthony Enrico to break down what it actually takes to sell when compliance can kill your deal, why you should sell to the blocker instead of the champion, and the hard-won lessons about setting up your GTM foundation *before* you go to market.We get into:* The tripartite sales motion — running three sales processes in parallel (fintech, bank, and matching them together)* Why the sales engineer is the most underrated specialized role in complex deals — and why it's also an implementation tool* How Synctera turned banking-as-a-service launches from *years* into a **3-month** average — and made it their moat* Forecasting in long, complex cycles: the "give-and-get" deal model trick that gets fintechs to share projections early* Why traditional BANT / MEDDPICC didn't fit — and the qualification questions that did* The mid-funnel AI use case nobody talks about: handoff documents, trend analysis across deals, and the ADA tool sitting on top of Salesforce* The "build order" of GTM: why RevOps comes before scaled headcount, and why bad early data costs millions at fundraise* The painful re-engineering project (and pizzas) that comes from skipping RevOps too long* Why **weighted pipeline is the currency of fundraising** — and how to defend it in front of a board* Segment-based planning: treating enterprise, mid-market, and SMB as separate lines of business* How to hire that first enterprise rep — the curiosity, ambiguity-tolerance, and slightly different comp plan* Selling to the blocker: why deals die from people you've never met (especially compliance) — and how to control the process upfront**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: from commercial attorney to CRO of a BaaS platform01:24 — The 20-person deal: what a Synctera sales motion actually looks like03:02 — Forecasting long cycles: the deal model give-and-get05:04 — Why BANT/MEDDPICC didn't fit and what replaced it07:12 — The cast of characters and why sales engineering is non-negotiable11:56 — How compliance complexity became Synctera's moat14:07 — The most underrated AI use case: mid-funnel handoffs and trend analysis18:22 — The ADA tool, Salesforce, and how Leigh actually uses AI as a sales leader20:30 — The build order of GTM: why RevOps comes first26:00 — The painful re-engineering project (and pizzas)29:47 — Why weighted pipeline is the currency of fundraising31:50 — Planning nightmares and segment-based GTM37:43 — Hiring the first enterprise rep: curiosity, ambiguity, and comp design42:20 — Selling to the blocker: why deals die from people you've never met47:07 — Controlling the sales process upfront to surface compliance early**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of [LeanScale](https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#EnterpriseSales #Fintech #BankingAsAService #CRO #RevOps #SalesLeadership #ComplexSales #GoToMarket #Synctera

**Enterprise AI Sales Is the Wild West | Scott Sinatra (CRO, Wisq) on MEDDPICC, Multi-Threading, and Why POCs Are the New Default**Scott Sinatra has been in enterprise software long enough to have helped *invent* part of the playbook everyone else now uses. He was on the team that developed MEDDPICC, one of the most widely used sales qualification methodologies in B2B SaaS. Now he's CRO at [Wisq](https://wisq.com/), the company building what they call the world's first AI HR generalist — founded by the team that built Glint and sold it to LinkedIn — selling an AI that promises to automate 80% of routine HR work.Fresh off the Deloitte University Provider conference, Scott joins Anthony Enrico to break down what's actually happening in enterprise AI sales right now: the chaos, the "SaaS apocalypse," and why the foundational sales discipline matters more today than it ever has.We get into:* The "SaaS apocalypse" moment at Deloitte University — 98 hands raised in fear, 2 native AI companies in the room* How to help buyers tell AI-native architecture from a SaaS wrapper (hint: proof points + shared risk)* The truth about outcome-based and value-based pricing — why customers like the *option* but rarely demand it, and where it backfires* Why POCs are now the default — and why most of them die at risk, compliance, and governance* The new multi-threading reality: HR alone won't close the deal, IT, AI committees, and security all have a veto* Forward-deployed engineers aren't a trend — they're a requirement (and a line item in the growth model)* "Stacking wins" — the implementation philosophy borrowed from Indiana football* How Scott built a purchase intent signal in Claude that surfaced a Deloitte relationship he didn't know existed* Auto-populating MEDDPICC from Gong transcripts — and triangulating rep input vs. AI input to see what's *actually* happening in deals* The GTM engineer role and where AI creates more value in *mid-funnel* than top-of-funnel* Scott's non-negotiable build order: when you hire the CRO, you hire RevOps and Enablement *before* the first AE**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: from MEDDPICC origins to AI-native HR01:16 — The vibe at Deloitte: hype, fear, and the SaaS apocalypse04:10 — Helping buyers tell AI-native from AI-wrapper06:00 — Outcome-based and value-based pricing: pluses, pitfalls, and why no one has it nailed13:00 — Why qualification matters more in AI than ever before14:30 — The new multi-threading: HR, IT, AI committees, security20:21 — Why most POCs die at risk, compliance, and governance22:11 — Forward-deployed engineers as a requirement, not a trend26:30 — The "stacking wins" implementation philosophy28:34 — Where AI actually creates leverage in mid-funnel (not just top)29:28 — Building a purchase intent signal in Claude36:34 — Auto-populating MEDDPICC from Gong transcripts58:38 — The build order: CRO + RevOps + Enablement *before* the first AE01:03:00 — Lean teams, fast ramps, and the energy of well-supported AEs**About the guest**Scott Sinatra is the Chief Revenue Officer at [Wisq](https://wisq.com/), the company building the world's first AI HR generalist. Founded by the team behind Glint (acquired by LinkedIn), Wisq's product Harper helps HR teams deflect 40–80% of routine inquiries. Scott was on the original team that developed MEDDPICC, and has spent his career building go-to-market engines in enterprise software. Connect with Scott on LinkedIn.**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of [LeanScale](https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#EnterpriseAI #AISales #MEDDPICC #B2BSales #CRO #SalesQualification #GoToMarket #AIAdoption #Wisq

**AdSense for AI Is Here | Mike Choi (Co-founder, Koah) on Building the Monetization Layer for the LLM Era**Mike Choi has had one of the more unusual paths to founding an infrastructure company. Korean exchange student in Kansas. iPod jailbreaker. Apple, then Twitter under Elon. Now he's the co-founder of Koah (https://www.koahlabs.com/), the company everyone's calling "AdSense for AI" — the monetization layer for AI applications. Koah just raised over $20M from Theory Ventures, is already processing **170M+ queries**, and is seeing **5%+ click-through rates** — four to five times what you see in traditional display.In this episode, Mike joins Anthony Enrico to talk about why AI ads are fundamentally different from search and social, why the "user asks for shoes → show shoe ad" thesis turned out to be wrong, and what it actually takes to build the advertising stack for a new computing paradigm.We get into:* Why every major paradigm shift — radio, TV, web, social — has reinvented advertising, and why AI is the next one* What "dynamic ads" actually means: not just generated copy, but generated UI tailored to each user* The banner ad problem: ad blindness, cheapening apps, and why developers hate the old playbook* The naive hypothesis that didn't work — and the consumer psychology gap Koah is still crossing* Why the explosion of vibe-coded apps creates a massive new monetization market (and why inference costs make Koah essential)* What high-consideration products (taxes, student loans, credit cards) reveal about where AI ads actually convert today* Why CTR is the wrong metric — and what Koah optimizes for instead* The "sacred real estate" principle: treating publisher apps with the same craft as the apps themselves* Why the old PM and engineering playbooks are already obsolete in the AI era* The coffee table book Mike's reading for ad inspiration (and why ads used to be art)**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: from Tucson to Kansas to AdSense for AI01:36 — Mike's origin story: jailbroken iPods, Apple, and the path to Koah06:02 — Every paradigm shift reinvents advertising06:46 — The marketing holy grail: an ad tailored just for you08:23 — Static ad vs. Koah: what dynamic personalization actually looks like10:41 — The vibe-coding app explosion and the monetization gap13:42 — Will AI ads create the same noise problem as outbound?16:16 — Will the 5% CTR hold — or commoditize?18:47 — The hardest part of getting Koah off the ground20:45 — The consumer psychology gap nobody's solved yet22:14 — The inflection point that signaled it was time24:24 — Why taxes, student loans, and credit cards convert best25:38 — What's next: dynamic UI and ads as art27:51 — Where Mike goes for inspiration (and the coffee table book he loves)31:46 — Closing thoughts and where to follow**About the guest**Mike Choi is the co-founder of Koah (https://www.koahlabs.com/), the monetization layer for AI applications — "AdSense for AI." Koah recently raised $20M+ from Theory Ventures and is processing over 170M queries with 5%+ click-through rates. Before Koah, Mike worked at Apple and Twitter (under Elon). Connect with Mike on X/Twitter at @guard_if (the Swift programmers will get it).**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of LeanScale (https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#AIads #AdTech #AISaaS #Koah #StartupFounders #AIMonetization #LLMs #FutureOfAdvertising

**Sales Efficiency Just Collapsed 28% | Guy Rubin (MD Revenue Intelligence, Fullcast) on AI, Pipeline, and Why 50% of Sellers Are Missing 80% of Quota**Guy Rubin spent over a decade building Ebsta into one of the leading revenue intelligence platforms in B2B SaaS — analyzing hundreds of thousands of opportunities to figure out what actually drives deals. In 2025, Ebsta was acquired by Fullcast, where Guy now serves as Managing Director of Revenue Intelligence, building out a full revenue orchestration engine that connects GTM planning, territory design, and sales execution.He's also the mind behind the **2026 Revenue Orchestration Benchmark Report** — the largest study of its kind, analyzing **360,000+ opportunities worth $78 billion** in B2B pipeline. The findings are staggering: a 28% collapse in sales efficiency, an 87% gap between teams using AI for precision vs. volume, and the fact that even after quotas were *lowered*, 50% of sellers still missed 80% of their number.In this episode, Guy joins Anthony Enrico to unpack what's actually broken in B2B sales right now, why throwing AI at a flawed go-to-market motion makes everything worse, and what the top 1% of teams are doing differently.We get into:* Why AI is *exacerbating* sales problems instead of solving them — the "bad golf swing" problem* The ICP vs. TAM trap costing companies millions in wasted pipeline (only ~10% of most pipelines actually match ICP)* Why MORE pipeline is crushing win rates — and the "oversaturated pipeline" data nobody talks about* The 4x rule: deals with 6+ stakeholders win at nearly quadruple the rate, and buying committees are still growing* Why enterprise deals are 6x more efficient than SMB — and how SMB volume is silently killing your enterprise motion* The death of the SDR → AE → CSM handoff and the rise of the "full-stack AE"* Why top territories are always the ones that *disqualify* the most early* How private equity is using revenue intelligence to drive tens of millions in valuation lift in 2–3 quarters* The vicious cycle of deal reviews replacing coaching — and how to break it**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: meet Guy Rubin and the 2026 benchmark01:40 — The most shocking stat: lower quotas, worse misses03:07 — Two AI strategies splitting sales orgs in half05:40 — Why AI on a broken process makes it worse (the golf swing analogy)09:08 — When more pipeline destroys your win rate11:06 — ICP vs. TAM: the trap costing you millions15:01 — Why your fundraising ICP ≠ your sales ICP30:00 — Enterprise deals: 6x efficiency and why most teams ignore them32:38 — The 6+ stakeholder rule and growing buying committees34:10 — The death of the SDR → AE → CSM handoff37:36 — The full-stack AE and the new enterprise motion40:51 — Why PE firms are obsessed with revenue intelligence43:10 — Closing thoughts and what's next**About the guest**Guy Rubin is the founder of Ebsta and Managing Director of Revenue Intelligence at [Fullcast](https://www.fullcast.com/), where he leads the build-out of a full revenue orchestration engine connecting GTM planning, territory design, and sales execution. He's also highly involved with Pavilion, one of the largest executive communities in SaaS. Connect with Guy on LinkedIn — mention the podcast and he'll accept 100%.📥 **Download the 2026 Revenue Orchestration Benchmark Report:** [https://www.fullcast.com/ebooks/2026-benchmarks-report-the-state-of-gtm-in-2026/]📅 **Next update:** H1 report drops September 2026 (with a possible "missing chapter" before then)**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of [LeanScale](https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#RevenueIntelligence #B2BSales #SalesEfficiency #AIinSales #RevOps #SaaSGrowth #SalesBenchmark #Fullcast

**The 7-11% Revenue Lift Hiding in Your Territory Plan | Pete Shelton (CRO, Fullcast) on Becoming Your CRO's Secret Weapon in RevOps**Pete Shelton spent years on the CRO side of the table — depending on RevOps to keep planning cycles from descending into chaos. Then he became a customer of Fullcast's territory planning platform during his own high-stress planning seasons. Now he's the Chief Revenue Officer at [Fullcast](https://www.fullcast.com/), the revenue operations platform for territory planning, quota management, and commissions — building the company that once served him.In this episode, Pete joins Anthony Enrico to break down what actually separates RevOps leaders who execute orders from those who become genuine strategic partners to the CRO. The ones who walk into planning sessions with answers, not just questions — and the ones the CRO can't run the business without.We get into:* The "CRO Dilemma" — why CROs freeze on the strategies they already know they need to run, and how RevOps unfreezes them* Why leading with an opinion (not waiting for direction) is the single biggest unlock for breaking into the executive tier* The 90-minute meeting that replaced two weeks of spreadsheet work — and what "what-if" modeling actually looks like in practice* Why the annual planning sprint is dead and continuous planning is the new standard* The Q1 chaos no one warns you about: holdovers, dead territories, and the policies that prevent them* The McKinsey data point every RevOps leader should memorize: a 7–11% revenue lift from balanced books of business *alone** The "gold mining" metaphor for territory planning — where's the gold, who are your best miners, and how do you keep the operation flowing when one goes down* Why your data will never be perfect (and the customers we tell that to anyway)* The two ways RevOps leaders erode trust with the CRO — and how to avoid both* The COO career path: why almost every senior RevOps leader is heading there, and how to operate that way today**Chapters**00:00 — Intro: from CRO to building the platform that saved him01:29 — Executor vs. strategic partner: the dynamic switch02:55 — Why leading with an opinion is the RevOps unlock03:52 — The CRO Dilemma explained06:21 — The 90-minute meeting that replaced 2 weeks of spreadsheets09:39 — Why planning is the biggest break-through opportunity for RevOps11:11 — Continuous planning vs. the annual sprint13:24 — Infrastructure, cadences, and the agility muscle15:49 — Why your data will never be perfect — and that's okay37:42 — What-if modeling, coverage, and quota gap analysis41:47 — The "gold mining" metaphor for territory planning44:15 — The McKinsey 7–11% revenue lift from balanced books47:36 — How to hire a head of RevOps (and where to find them)52:05 — The COO career path and operating like one today**About the guest**Pete Shelton is the Chief Revenue Officer at [Fullcast](https://www.fullcast.com/), the revenue operations platform for territory planning, quota management, and commissions. Before joining Fullcast, Pete was a CRO and a Fullcast customer — using the platform during his own planning cycles before crossing over to lead the company commercially. Connect with Pete on LinkedIn.**About the LeanScale Podcast**The LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of [LeanScale](https://www.leanscale.team/).Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#RevOps #RevenueOperations #TerritoryPlanning #CRO #GoToMarket #B2BSales #Fullcast #SalesLeadership

The Old Marketing Playbook Is Dead | Leysan Zigangirova (CMO, Async) on Rebranding, AI, and Big Tech to StartupLeysan Zigangirova spent 15 years building a marketing playbook — Microsoft, then CMO of Yandex Cloud (Russia's AWS) by 30, then leading marketing for Yandex's open source portfolio. When she joined Async (formerly Podcastle) as CMO, she threw most of it out.In this episode, Leysan joins Anthony Enrico to talk about what actually works for marketing AI products in 2026, why she scrapped the annual plan in her first two weeks, and what it was really like to rebrand a company while the product was still changing underneath her.We get into:Why performance marketing and SEO are no longer the default growth channels for AI productsThe new marketing mix: social, influencers, and showing the "magic" instead of writing about itHow to make decisions when the data lag is longer than your planning horizon (hint: data + intuition + speed of learning)Whether the "AI CMO agent" is real yet (she's tried it — verdict inside)B2B vs. B2C channel breakdown for AI productsHow to get your product visible inside ChatGPT and Claude — and why Reddit is the #1 source LLMs pull from (per a16z research)The full Podcastle → Async rebrand story: why it was existential, the internal emotional resistance, and the months of metric decline before recoveryWhat CEOs actually look for when hiring from big tech into a startup: hands-on execution, courage, and agilityChapters00:00 — Intro: from Yandex Cloud to a growth-stage AI startup01:24 — "All that we knew previously just doesn't work anymore"03:24 — Why budgets are shifting from SEO to social05:22 — Weekly planning is the new annual planning06:00 — Making decisions without clean data09:39 — Is the AI CMO coming for your job?12:18 — The two channels that matter most in the AI era13:31 — B2B vs B2C: where to actually invest14:34 — How to increase your visibility inside LLMs16:25 — Reddit as the #1 LLM source — and how to use it without being sleazy18:31 — Growth vs. value: the trap most AI companies are falling into20:10 — Why Podcastle had to become Async25:05 — The real pain of rebranding (internal resistance + metric decline)30:40 — Big tech → startup: what actually changes32:00 — The three things her CEO hired her for36:13 — Autonomy, impact, and why some people can't make the leap41:18 — Closing thoughtsAbout the guest Leysan Zigangirova is the CMO of Async (formerly Podcastle), an AI video and voice platform serving both creators and developers. Previously CMO at Yandex Cloud and marketing leader for Yandex's open source portfolio. Prior to Yandex, she was at Microsoft.About the LeanScale PodcastThe LeanScale Podcast features candid conversations with go-to-market leaders building, scaling, and rethinking revenue operations in the AI era. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of LeanScale.Subscribe for more conversations with operators building the next generation of go-to-market.#AIMarketing #StartupMarketing #Rebranding #CMO #go-to-market-wins

🚀 In this video, I break down exactly how we built a full AI operating system in just 90 days — without writing code.Most people use ChatGPT like a search engine:ask a question → copy the answer → close the tab.But we built something completely different:✅ A transcript warehouse that auto-organizes every call✅ A customer warehouse that enriches itself✅ A GTM playbook library agents can pull from instantly✅ A company context layer that gives every agent “memory”✅ A workflow where agents hand off tasks to other agents (like real teammates)And here’s the wild part…We didn’t build this system ourselves.We used AI agents to build the operating system for other AI agents.I’ll show you how the folder-based architecture works, how the agents are “trained” using instruction files, and why agent platforms are becoming the next generation workspace for GTM teams.If you're in sales, marketing, RevOps, or building an AI-first company… this is the blueprint.📌 Topics covered:How agent platforms actually workWhy “agents” are really just folders + instruction filesHow to build an AI memory layer for your organizationWhy CRMs (alone) aren’t enough anymoreHow MCP (Model Context Protocol) connects everythingThe future of GTM automation + AI-driven workflows🔥 If you want the full setup guide (repos, automations, workflows), check the next video in this series.👊 Like + subscribe if you want more practical AI systems like this.#AI #AIAgents #MCP #SalesTech #RevOps #Automation #GTM #ArtificialIntelligence