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The ROI Puzzle episodes
- Why a Sniper Approach Beats the Sprinkler Method in B2B Sales with Victor Pineiro
Nicole Stirling from Stirling Marketing sits down with Victor Pineiro, formerly Vice President of Asia Pacific at Aptitude Software.Victor has led sales teams across Asia Pacific for Thomson Reuters, AMP, and now Aptitude Software. He's also an open water endurance swimmer who completed a 60km solo swim from the Isle of Man to Ireland. A feat no one had ever done before.Today he breaks down exactly how that same mindset drives the way he grows companies in new markets. And he shares a 90 day playbook for proving pipeline in a brand new APAC country.03:30 — The AI shift and why data quality is the real bottleneck04:48 — One stack ERP is dying. Best of breed is winning06:02 — 90 day pipeline playbook for a new APAC country08:42 — What a 60km Irish Sea swim teaches you about stretch goals12:44 — Why growing a company and endurance training are the same gameLearn more at https://www.stirlingmarketing.netDon’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights from The ROI Puzzle.-------------------------------------------------------------ABOUT VICTOR PINEIRO:Victor Pineiro was recently the Vice President of Asia Pacific at Aptitude Software where he led go to market growth across the region. A chartered accountant by background, Victor has spent over 15 years in leadership roles across Australia, Asia, and Latin America with companies including Thomson Reuters, AMP, and KPMG. He is also an open water endurance swimmer who has completed five of the world's seven ocean swims and is featured in The Ultimate Swim, a documentary following his record setting 60km solo swim in the Irish Sea.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorpineiro21Website: https://www.aptitudesoftware.com/-------------------------------------------------------------ABOUT NICOLE STIRLINGNicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.You can reach out to Nicole through:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.netABOUT THE ROI PUZZLEThe ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing’s toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDPYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
17 min - How Snyk Built 8% of Global Revenue in APJ (And You Can Too)
Two years ago the average enterprise customer had five or six funded initiatives. Now they have two.
Asanga Wanigatunga, formerly VP APJ at Snyk, ran the region with 55 people across India, Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, about 8% of Snyk's global business. He walks Nicole through the account-based approach behind 30% market share in ANZ, why vendor consolidation is moving faster than most sales teams have adjusted for, and the value engineering his team leaned on when customers started cutting spend. He also covers how to build local proof across 44 APJ markets when global campaigns are not enough.
00:00 Why the easy decade in B2B tech just ended
01:48 When customer budgets went from 6 priorities to 2
04:24 What Snyk is doing differently in 2026
06:33 The math that made retention more important than acquisition
08:36 How to build credibility across 44 different markets
10:08 Why ANZ, Singapore and Japan each need a different playbook
ABOUT ASANGA WANIGATUNGA
Asanga Wanigatunga is the former VP APJ at Snyk, where he ran go-to-market across 55 people in India, Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. His team ran 8% of Snyk's global business, focused on cybersecurity stack consolidation across the region.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asangawanigatunga/
Website: https://snyk.comABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for Sitecore, Acquia and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.netABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE
The ROI Puzzle digs into one of B2B marketing's hardest problems: proving what actually drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with sales and marketing leaders from top tech companies on attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and using AI to measure impact.Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug13 min - The Global Marketing Head Who Tracks $7M Pipeline Reveals All
Jasmeet Sawhney has spent a lot of time on this problem. He is the Global Head of Marketing at Axtria, where sales cycles are long and some of the most important marketing work - executive relationships, brand credibility - never shows up in any dashboard.
00:00 Why proving marketing spend keeps getting harder
02:16 The events everyone loved but nothing showed in the CRM
03:00 Why "if you can't track it" needs a caveat
04:37 The marketing work that matters but can't be measured
06:44 How AI is changing what you can actually prove
08:12 The metric he almost refused to name
ABOUT JASMEET SAWHNEYJasmeet Sawhney is Global Head of Marketing at Axtria, an analytics and cloud software company that works with life sciences companies on commercialisation and patient outcomes. He's spent his career trying to make marketing spend legible to the rest of the business - harder than it sounds in long B2B sales cycles.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmeet-sawhney/
Website: https://www.axtria.com/
ABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for Sitecore, Acquia and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.netABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE
The ROI Puzzle digs into one of B2B marketing's hardest problems: proving what actually drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with sales and marketing leaders from top tech companies on attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and using AI to measure impact.Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug11 min - Why B2B Deals Are Moving Back Into the Room
AI was supposed to push B2B marketing further into the digital. The room landed somewhere else. Face-to-face is becoming the premium play.
In this episode, Nicole Stirling covers the second half of the B2B Marketing Leaders panel she moderated in Melbourne, with IBM, Twilio and Zendesk. She breaks down why Zendesk splits its year between brand awareness and pipeline conversion, why IBM's CXO roundtables go unrecorded on purpose, the difference between account-based marketing and account-based motion, and why another e-book probably isn't the answer. She also shares how Stirling Marketing turned a forgotten lead list into more than 30 warm sales conversations in under three weeks, with zero ad spend.
00:00 The other half of the Melbourne B2B marketing panel
00:52 30 warm sales conversations in three weeks, no ad spend
01:13 Bigger expectations, leaner teams, no clean formula
01:38 Why face-to-face is becoming the premium play
02:03 IBM's CXO roundtables, deliberately not recorded
02:46 Account-based marketing is really account-based motion
03:19 Put your hand up for the messy project
04:11 Stop making thought leadership nobody reads
ABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.
You can reach out to Nicole through:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.net
ABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE
The ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing's toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.
To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:
Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
6 min - How B2B Teams Are Actually Using AI
IBM, Twilio and Zendesk aren't talking about hypothetical AI use cases. Their marketing teams are already putting them to work.
In this episode, Nicole Stirling shares lessons from a B2B Marketing Leaders panel she moderated in Melbourne. She breaks down how IBM is using AI to personalise event follow-up, how AI can act as a marketing assistant, and how teams are using it to solve attribution problems between sales and marketing.
00:00 Inside the Melbourne B2B marketing panel
02:39 What IBM, Twilio and Zendesk are doing with AI
03:18 IBM’s AI-powered event follow-up system
04:56 Why AI should be treated like a marketing assistant
06:54 Using AI to fix sales and marketing attribution
08:04 How to position AI without making it sound like a threat08:59 Where the real AI debate is heading
ABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.
You can reach out to Nicole through:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.net
ABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE
The ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing’s toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.
To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:
Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
9 min - The Dext GM Who Transformed His Team's Close Rate
Your buyer already knows your product before they talk to your sales team. They've done the research. Run it through AI tools. Compared you against the competition. By the time they get on a call, they're not there to learn — they want to know if the numbers hold up. Paul Wittich has been dealing with this shift for a while now. He's General Manager APAC at Dext, and in this conversation he talks through what's actually changed in pipeline generation across Asia Pacific - longer cycles, more people in every buying decision, and data residency requirements that kill deals most North American teams never see coming.
00:00 Why your sales team's job just fundamentally changed
01:41 The five shifts hitting B2B pipeline right now
03:24 Why your sales cycles keep getting longer
05:53 The training that banned product talk entirely
08:24 Why global campaigns fail in local markets
11:36 The deal they lost and won back in 90 days
ABOUT PAUL WITTICH
Paul Wittich is General Manager APAC at Dext. He runs go-to-market strategy and pipeline generation across Asia Pacific, where the buying process looks nothing like what the global playbook assumes. He's learned most of that the hard way.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulwittich/
Website: https://dext.com/
ABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.
You can reach out to Nicole through:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.net
ABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE
The ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing’s toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.
To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:
Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
15 min - How Hudl Cracked APAC: The Localization Strategy Behind 10X Growth
B2B tech companies walk into APAC with the same playbook that worked in the US. Harry Peters has spent nearly a decade at Hudl building revenue across Southeast Asia, China, and Korea. His read on why Western companies stall in these markets isn't what you'd expect. It's not the product, the price, or the competition. It's that they skip the education step and go straight to selling.
00:00 Why APAC sales requires a completely different playbook02:59 The small tweaks that move markets more than big campaigns04:34 Becoming a dad and a manager in the same week06:31 Why the Manchester City case study doesn't work in Cambodia09:10 The one thing blocking pipeline across every emerging market10:49 What Harry wants every working parent to hear
ABOUT HARRY PETERS
Harry Peters is Regional Director for Southeast Asia, China, and Korea at Hudl, a sports technology company that makes performance analysis software. He's spent close to a decade building revenue across APAC markets where most of the real selling work happens before anyone opens a proposal.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-peters-0152a445/
Website: https://www.hudl.com/
ABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.
You can reach out to Nicole through:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.net
ABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE
The ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing’s toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.
To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:
Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
13 min - How Highspot Built Their Predictable Pipeline Engine
Most B2B marketing teams are measuring the wrong thing. They hit MQL targets. Pipeline still stalls. Somebody needs to explain where the money went, but nobody owns the answer. Patrick Bradshaw has been in that room. He runs acquisition and growth marketing at Highspot.00:00 Why most B2B leads never become pipeline02:17 What Patrick actually runs at Highspot03:43 Where deals quietly go to die05:24 The system that makes reps actually follow up09:32 What changed when marketing joined the Monday call11:10 How to grow pipeline without growing the budgetLearn more at https://www.stirlingmarketing.netDon’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights from The ROI Puzzle.ABOUT PATRICK BRADSHAWPatrick Bradshaw is Senior Director of Acquisition and Growth Marketing at Highspot, where he leads teams responsible for driving new customer pipeline and scaling their growth engine. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of demand generation, marketing operations, and revenue growth, Patrick has helped B2B organisations turn marketing activity into measurable pipeline.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-bradshaw-28ab203/Website: https://www.highspot.com/ABOUT NICOLE STIRLINGNicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.You can reach out to Nicole through:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.netABOUT THE ROI PUZZLEThe ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing’s toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDPYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
14 min - Intercom's VP of RevOps Reveals: The Truth About Multi-Touch Attribution
Sales blames marketing for bad leads. Marketing blames sales for poor conversion. RevOps sits in the middle trying to make sense of data that doesn't add up. Tyler Will has watched this play out at LinkedIn and now at Intercom, where he runs Revenue Operations. His view: most B2B teams aren't just measuring attribution wrong. They're asking the wrong questions entirely.00:00 Why your attribution is probably lying to you02:15 The Post-it Note Problem04:27 Why disconnected tools make attribution impossible07:29 When every team claims they're winning09:33 The meeting that made everyone use the same data10:56 The one metric Tyler watches above everything elseABOUT TYLER WILLTyler Will is VP of RevOps at Intercom. His team covers analytics, strategy, and ops for global sales and customer success. Before that, at LinkedIn, he ran sales strategy and operations across several divisions: SMB talent products, LinkedIn Learning, and a global SDR org of about 400 people. Before LinkedIn, Bain & Company, doing go-to-market strategy and pricing work for enterprise tech companies in the US and EMEA.Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerwwill/Intercom: intercom.comABOUT NICOLE STIRLINGNicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.You can reach out to Nicole through:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.netABOUT THE ROI PUZZLEThe ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing’s toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDPYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
13 min - How to Book 8 Meetings at Your Next HR Tech Conference
Nicole Stirling from Stirling Marketing breaks down exactly why most HR tech conference sponsors walk away with business cards and zero pipeline - and the precise before, during, and after playbook that helped one client generate over $6M USD in pipeline from just six months of HR tech conference activity across Asia Pacific and Japan.
00:00 Introduction and why conference pipeline is broken for most HR tech sponsors
01:51 Why APAC HR tech is a market you earn, not scale into
03:30 The 95% stat that should change how you approach every event
04:35 Pre-event strategy: building your ICP target list and LinkedIn warm-up
05:40 How to lock in pre-booked meetings before you arrive on site
06:02 On-site rule: every conversation needs a committed next step
07:00 Why booking on the spot beats every follow-up sequence
08:37 The four-touch post-event sequence to keep pipeline momentum alive
10:44 The HR Tech Conference Pipeline Playbook and Pipeline Scorecard
Learn more at https://www.stirlingmarketing.net
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights from The ROI Puzzle.
Nicole Stirling is the CEO of Stirling Marketing, a global marketing agency helping tech startups and scaleups accelerate growth and revenue. With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has led marketing strategies for top companies like Sitecore, Acquia, and TechnologyOne, as well as emerging tech innovators across the Asia-Pacific region.
You can reach out to Nicole through:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolestirling/
Website: https://www.stirlingmarketing.net
The ROI Puzzle is a podcast that dives into one of B2B marketing's toughest challenges, proving what truly drives results. Hosted by Nicole Stirling, the show features conversations with executive leaders focused on growth in sales and marketing from top tech companies. Each episode explores topics like attribution, pipeline visibility, sales and marketing alignment, and the use of AI to measure impact. Listeners gain real-world insights and practical frameworks to connect marketing spend to revenue and confidently prove value to the board.
To know more about The ROI Puzzle, you can visit the links below:
Podcast/Blog: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZXy9ccI8JqEAETghD7eDP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2R7dib6tKP4abfFZjwpbug
ABOUT NICOLE STIRLING
ABOUT THE ROI PUZZLE13 min
About The ROI Puzzle
From the publisher's feed
The ROI Puzzle explores the hardest question in B2B marketing — how to prove what’s really working.
Each episode, host Nicole Stirling from Stirling Marketing sits down with marketing and sales leaders from some of the most innovative B2B tech companies to unpack how they’re turning spend into pipeline — and pipeline into proof.
From attribution challenges and sales alignment to AI-driven insights and demand generation, The ROI Puzzle gets to the real stories behind the numbers.
Expect sharp insights, honest conversations, and practical ideas to help you turn marketing from mystery into measur