Across the Funnel

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Mackenzie Smith, SVP of Customer Value at Backstory (formerly People.ai), to explore how AI is reshaping the post-sales operating model inside enterprise revenue teams.Mackenzie breaks down Backstory's shift from a license-based tool to a consumption-based platform, and how her team uses their own product internally to stay close to what customers experience day to day. She walks through the "magic moment" framework her team uses to compress time to value, citing a customer example where engagement signal health showed a 75% correlation with deal outcomes. The conversation covers the build-versus-buy tension enterprises face with AI orchestration, why Backstory staffed its forward-deployed "Studio" team internally instead of outsourcing to professional services, and why she believes the traditional linear onboarding-to-support handoff model needs to be unlearned in favor of a drop-in, drop-out engagement structure.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with David Karp, SVP of Customer Success at Billtrust, to explore how customer success teams can use better customer context, structured data, and AI to operate across larger books of business. David explains why measurable customer value starts with understanding the specific problems of each segment, and why Billtrust keeps renewals within the customer success organization. He breaks down how structured customer data can tell teams whether an account is on or off track without forcing CSMs to piece together information across multiple systems. The conversation also covers customer education beyond product navigation, build-versus-buy decisions, AI's role alongside people, and why CS leaders need to make AI adoption a team capability rather than an individual exercise.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Mathias Biilmann, CEO and co-founder of Netlify, to explore why domain experts, not professional developers, are on track to build most of the software that matters over the next few years. He traces Netlify's addressable market shift from 17 million professional front-end developers to a base measured in the billions, and explains why that changes who the platform needs to serve first. Mathias walks through a real internal example: an HR business partner who replaced Culture Amp with her own sentiment-survey app, built alongside a single part-time developer, cutting out the product-manager-to-engineer translation loop entirely. He also unpacks Netlify's shift from buying point solutions to building homegrown go-to-market agents that watch signals like seat additions and trigger customer success outreach. The conversation closes on the three-part product philosophy guiding how Netlify builds in a world where AI agents keep getting more capable than the humans directing them.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Andrew Loomis, VP of Customer Success at Sisense, to explore how customer success leaders can rethink post-sales execution in an AI-shaped market. Andrew shares why CS teams need to move beyond cadence-based motions and focus more sharply on customer outcomes, predictive health scoring, onboarding risk, and multi-stakeholder alignment. He also breaks down how Sisense is using AI internally, why product expertise is becoming non-negotiable for CSMs, and how disciplined contracts can protect expansion while reducing churn risk.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Fahad Aziz, Founder & CEO of PuppyDog, to explore why product marketing is becoming one of the most important functions in SaaS growth. Fahad shares lessons from building and exiting Caremerge, explains why customer discovery still matters even in the AI era, and breaks down how faster product releases are forcing teams to rethink onboarding, adoption, customer education, and expansion. The conversation also covers why post-sale customer journeys deserve the same rigor as buyer journeys, how relevant content can reduce churn and increase usage, and why investors now care more about distribution speed than product ideas alone.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Jeppe Schytte-Hansen, CEO and Co-founder of Omnidocs, to explore how enterprise documet automation is changing in the AI era, why complex industries like legal, recruitment, financial services, and public sector need deep workflow context, and how teams should think about AI pricing, customer success, implementation, and adoption when value is tied to usage, saved time, and business-critical output. They also discuss why customer success should sit across the whole company, how agent-to-agent workflows may reshape recruiting, why AI should help GTM teams identify the right accounts instead of flooding buyers with generic outreach, and why human connection, culture, curiosity, and physical events still matter more as automation becomes more common.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Sara Wyman, Founder & CEO at Stackpack, to explore how vendor management is changing as companies deal with AI spend, tool sprawl, renewal pressure, and the need for clearer ROI. Sara explains why finance teams are often the first wedge into an account, how Stackpack helps customers get fast visibility into contracts and spend, and why usage, engagement, and data under management are the clearest signs that a customer is getting value. The conversation also covers trial-to-paid conversion, close velocity, pricing shifts toward usage-based models, the growing messiness of the AI vendor market, and why human judgment still matters even as teams use AI to move faster. It is a practical episode on post-sale value, retention, expansion, and how modern B2B teams should think about software buying and customer adoption in an increasingly noisy market.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Paige Tyrrell, Chief Growth Officer at Prefixbox, to explore how AI is reshaping e-commerce product discovery, why AI is not a substitute for broken go-to-market fundamentals, and what it really takes to make AI useful in sales and post-sales. They unpack the flood of AI tools hitting the market, the pressure on SaaS teams to drive efficiency instead of growth at any cost, and why strong positioning, messaging, ICP clarity, and focused workflows still matter more than any new agent. Paige also explains how Prefixbox is blending search, recommendations, and agentic experiences into a more conversational shopping journey, how customer education in e-commerce has changed over the last decade, and how her team thinks about land-and-expand growth, customer success ownership, experimentation, upsell signals, revenue impact, and long-term product stickiness in a noisy market.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Kelly McGuire, then VP of Customer Success at Everstage, to explore how revenue teams can turn commission management into better seller visibility, tighter operational discipline, and clearer board-level answers on what growth actually costs; Kelly explains why strong customer success starts before the handoff, why post-sales teams need “situational fluency” from sales context, why too many tools create noise instead of clarity, and how the best CS organizations stay grounded in a simple test: does the product help the customer make money, save money, or reduce risk, while using AI to cut manual work without losing the human connection that still drives trust, retention, and growth.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Ioanna Onasi sits down with Julie Barberio, VP of Client Solutions at Sequence Inc., to explore how a 25-year marketing career, spanning McDonald's corporate PR to life sciences consulting, shapes a modern approach to client intelligence, trust-based selling, and brand loyalty. Their conversation covers relationship-driven sales in close-knit industries, the role of AI in pre-meeting research and buyer profiling, how Sequence built an in-house pharmaceutical training facility to solve the industry's looming talent gap, and why storytelling and initiative remain the most durable skills for young professionals entering a market increasingly shaped by AI.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh and Ioanna Mantzouridou Onasi sit down with Zac Blakely, Co-Founder at Foundations, to explore what actually makes modern Go-To-Market teams work: not just better tools, but better judgment, better coaching, and better use of data. Zac shares how his path from door-to-door sales to building sales engines for scaling tech companies shaped his view that selling is still a deeply human craft rooted in psychology, trust, and reading people. The conversation then moves into how growing companies should think about GTM foundations, from choosing the right tech stack and avoiding overreliance on software alone, to building systems that let managers coach reps with precision using conversion data, activity metrics, and clear performance signals. They also dig into why usage is the clearest leading indicator for customer health, why account management and customer success need tighter links with product and sales, and why the teams that win are the ones that connect customer insight to action across the full revenue journey.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Ioanna Onasi sits down with Boris Cho, VP, Growth at ChangeMakers, to explore how trust-based growth works in high-stakes consulting, why credibility has to come before pipeline, and how strong discovery shapes better client outcomes. Boris breaks down the difference between transactional selling and consultative growth, explains why referrals, reputation, and strategic partnerships matter more than brute-force outreach, and shares how his team prepares for meetings by understanding the client’s business, category, and stakeholder dynamics. The conversation also digs into coaching, with a clear case for one-on-one development, active listening, and slowing down before jumping into recommendations, while also covering where many sales leaders go wrong by confusing activity with strategy and chasing volume instead of the right problems.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Sara Archer, Chief Revenue Officer at ChartMogul, to explore how AI is changing revenue operations, why fast experimentation is replacing slower traditional GTM playbooks, and what it takes to balance product focus with expansion pressure in SaaS. Their conversation covers hyper-personalization in account management, retention and expansion strategy, the tradeoff between in-house builds and purpose-built SaaS metrics platforms, and why strong operator judgment, customer relationships, and domain focus still matter even as AI lowers the barrier to building new products.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Ioanna Onasi sits down with Cristina De La Cruz, CRO at ISG Partners, to explore what 20 years in talent and recruiting actually teaches you about people, sales, and leadership. Cristina shares her journey from working a full desk in a San Francisco branch to building the entire go-to-market function at ISG Partners, an embedded recruitment firm that operates on a talent-as-a-service model, placing on-loan recruiters inside organizations as a flexible, month-to-month alternative to traditional staffing. The conversation digs into why sellers who know the script but not the buyer keep losing deals, how ISG's subscription-based hiring model gives companies the agility to scale recruiting up or down across growth sprints, and why emotional intelligence and coachability matter more than any technical skill when building a sales team. Cristina also opens up about leading a fully remote sales org, the intentionality it demands around communication and shared learning, and why she still does her own meeting prep by hand because the human connection is the whole point. The episode closes on what it means to show up as a female leader in a male-dominated industry, how life experience shapes leadership style, and why the best thing any leader can do is make the path visible for the people coming up behind them.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Carl Carell, Co-Founder & CRO of GetAccept, to explore the evolution of AI in B2B sales, the rise and fall of AI SDR hype, and what it truly takes to build an AI-native platform after a decade in the market. Carl shares how GetAccept transitioned from a traditional SaaS product to an AI-native digital sales room, a collaborative space where buyers and sellers work together from discovery to signed deal, and why rapid time to value is now the make-or-break factor for AI tools. The conversation dives into how GetAccept achieves near-instant AI readiness without requiring customers to train the model, how they use Claude integrated with HubSpot and n8n internally for rev ops workflows, and why controlling repeatable outcomes across a sales org matters more than giving reps open-ended AI access. Carl also unpacks the growing challenge of first-year churn for AI companies, the importance of aligning onboarding milestones with customer-defined success criteria, and why investing early in revenue operations is a lesson most founders learn too late.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, to explore her unconventional transition from VP of Product to chief executive at a half-billion-dollar company and what that shift reveals about leadership in the AI era. Laura opens up about the stark difference between the fast feedback loops of product management and the long, ambiguous learning cycles of the CEO role, and why that gap can make even smart leaders lose their footing. The conversation dives deep into how Descript strategically layered AI into its platform, starting with deterministic buttons before evolving toward a true open-world agent, and why most companies claiming to have "agents" really just have parameterized workflows behind a text box. Laura shares her framework for understanding churn, distinguishing between "tourists" who try AI tools out of curiosity and monetized users with real jobs to be done and explains how Descript's enterprise motion combines white-glove onboarding with repeatable AI-powered templates through its Underlord agent. She also introduces Descript's upcoming background agent API that enables fully automated content pipelines from ingestion to editing. The episode closes with Laura's sharp take on the future of team structures, arguing that smaller teams aren't about cost savings but about ownership, speed, and creative quality, and her advice for women in leadership: find a woman leader whose style you can see yourself embodying.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Jon Finegold, CEO of Precog, to explore why enterprise AI remains bottlenecked by data readiness and what Go-To-Market leaders can do about it. Jon shares his journey from software engineer to MIT Sloan graduate to scaling Signiant from $5M to $50M ARR before stepping in as CEO at Precog, an AI-native ELT platform that connects SaaS APIs to data warehouses like Snowflake and Databricks with full semantic context so LLMs can actually answer business-critical questions. The conversation digs into why dumping raw data into models doesn't work, how Precog uses metadata and semantic layers to make AI understand enterprise data without exposing it directly, and why data teams are positioned to become either the heroes or the villains of the AI transformation story. Jon also reveals how his own team uses Precog, Snowflake, and Claude connected via MCP to proactively identify churn risks and expansion opportunities, and shares his philosophy on building customer-first culture, introducing just enough operational discipline at the growth stage, and keeping startup teams energized by making customer wins visible across the entire organization.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Francesca Smedberg, Former VP of Product at Rillion, to explore why modern product teams have to stay tightly connected to revenue outcomes, not just feature delivery. They unpack what “good onboarding” actually means in complex ERP environments, starting with a shared definition of where onboarding begins, which teams own which moments, and what success looks like across touch points. Francesca shares how strong internal documentation became the foundation for an in-product AI assistant that helps users get answers at the moment of need, and why fast onboarding still requires human support when the domain is inherently complex. The conversation also covers how pricing and packaging changes can bring product and customer success onto the same goals, plus why SMB and mid-market motions behave like two different businesses, from churn dynamics to sales cycles. They close on a practical view of 2026: less AI hype, more disciplined human plus AI workflows that improve quality, not just speed.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, host Adil Saleh sits down with Dean Curtis, CEO of Ingage, to explore how SaaS and GTM teams should think about AI with clear ROI guardrails, why “vibe-coded” prototypes rarely replace core systems without strategy, and how staying ruthlessly specific about your ICP sharpens positioning in noisy categories; Dean breaks down tying every software purchase to a metric that maps to real money (close rate, deal size, time-to-value), the practical path from onboarding to adoption through training and iteration loops, and how a customer health index plus multi-channel communication helps teams spot churn risk early while partners and “better together” integrations increase account stickiness.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Doug Marinaro, Co-Founder and CEO of Riptide, to explore why “customer advocacy” is a distinct AI use case that goes beyond chatbots and task automation. Doug breaks down Riptide’s idea of an always-present AI advocate that can pull context from systems, execute actions, and coordinate real humans and partners in real time to resolve issues without escalation. They unpack how this “third superpower” shifts customer service from deflection metrics to an “advocacy index,” why trust and speed are what get pilots into production, and how Riptide onboards in roughly 30 days by wiring into existing tools, building a “digital twin” of the customer, and continuously coaching the system like an employee. The conversation closes on focus as a growth strategy, patterns for expanding across verticals, and how teams should think about using multiple models for low-latency interactions, deeper analysis, and emerging voice workflows.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Ioanna Onasi sits down with Colin Wood, VP, US Sales at SG Analytics, to explore what it takes to win and coach complex enterprise deals: why buyers care most about ROI and measurable outcomes, how great sellers find urgency instead of forcing it, and how to run tighter discovery through call prep, clear agendas, and structured qualification (MEDDIC and the “initiative, champion, economic buyer” check).Colin also breaks down how he onboards reps with business context, real customer stories, and a technical buddy system, why call recording helps coaching without turning into a gotcha, and what he wants next from sales tech: non-distracting, real-time guidance that nudges reps when key questions are missed. The conversation closes with leadership lessons (stop hoarding deals, build a bench), manager cadence, and where GTM is heading in 2026, including smaller entry projects that prove value before expansion, more outcome-based pricing, and a new reality where vendor research is shaped by AI and peer reviews.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Chandra DeKeyser, CEO and Co-Founder at Voicera, to explore why transcripts alone can mislead GTM teams by stripping out the emotional signal that often reveals true intent, especially around renewals and deal risk. Chandra breaks down how Voicera approaches “sincerity” as a measurable layer, including the challenge of building a credible training dataset, and why combining separate models for facial cues and voice tone can create a clearer read than text summaries. The conversation also connects this to practical use cases for SaaS and customer success leaders: coaching sales reps by spotting second-by-second drop-offs during a pitch, improving manager authenticity to reduce talent churn, and strengthening hiring workflows as deepfakes become harder to detect. Adil and Chandra close on what makes adoption work across segments, from self-serve analysis for smaller teams to enterprise deployments where privacy and sensitive video data matter, and how to frame ROI in plain numbers that CROs and CEOs will actually act on.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Omer Gotlieb, Founder and CEO at Salespeak, to explore why AI in GTM still rises or falls on trust, not features, and why the next wave of winners will design around the buyer’s experience instead of stacking more internal tools. Omer unpacks how “intent” has gotten messier as buyers research in ChatGPT as much as they browse websites, why lazy signal-based outreach is turning into a spam cannon, and what it takes to engage with real context rather than a single click. They also dig into practical GTM choices for chaotic markets, including month-to-month experimentation, freemium and pay-per-use models that reduce commitment risk, and a value-first approach that earns expansion instead of forcing it. The conversation closes with lessons from building lean teams in an AI era, using agents to do more with fewer hires, and advice for first-time founders to win early by delivering clear value and owning a distinct point of view in a crowded category.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Kyle Racki, Co-Founder and CEO of Proposify, and Proposify to explore why proposals remain the “digital handshake” in mid-market and enterprise sales, what teams actually buy proposal software for (speed, consistency, fewer errors, better buyer visibility), and how this category is evolving alongside contracts, CPQ, CLM, and digital sales roms. Kyle shares how Proposify navigated SaaS market cycles, moved from early scrappiness to raising capital, then returned to a profitability-first operating style, plus why adding products matters when markets are big but not infinite. He and Adil also pressure-test the AI hype, including the Dunning–Kruger trap where “easy to build” often means “easy to build something fragile,” and they connect that to real-world product work like tech debt, replatforming, and why Proposify 3 existed as a reset for modern shipping speed. On the customer side, Kyle walks through onboarding and time-to-value, including a candid example where an AI template generator hurt conversions because it was slow and produced mediocre outputs, which pushed the team toward simpler AI uses and a more reliable services-led “launch kit” to get customers live faster with the right setup, guidance, and early support.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Patrick Petteruti, Co-founder of Chargeblast, to explore how fast-growing consumer, DTC, and e-commerce businesses can keep chargebacks from becoming a business-ending payments problem, starting with Patrick’s origin story scaling Cramly.ai on Stripe and getting hit by rising disputes, then building Chargeblast’s chargeback alerts so merchants can refund early and keep dispute rates low; they dig into why matching issuer alerts to processor transaction records is hard across tokenized payment methods, how Chargeblast moved from being Stripe-first to supporting 35+ processors and gateways, what onboarding looks like when setup takes minutes instead of months, the tradeoffs of staying on Stripe versus routing volume across multiple processors to improve acceptance and lower fees, the most common dispute-heavy categories (subscriptions, telehealth, iOS apps moving to Stripe, and other higher-risk verticals), why pre-launch sales often trigger dispute spikes, how Chargeblast grows through a mix of direct sales, partnerships (including with payment platforms), and strong referral loops, plus the operating model behind white-glove support, including a large Philippines-based team, a portfolio-wide chargeback log that flags spikes or bad data, and rapid 24/7 live chat, ending with Patrick’s view on where AI can help most next: assembling clear, structured evidence packs for banks during dispute fights by pulling usage and customer proof from whatever systems a merchant uses.

In this episode of Across The Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Vova Feldman, Founder at Freemius, to explore what it really takes to sell software globally when payments, subscriptions, invoicing, and tax compliance start competing with product work.Vova shares Freemius’s origin story: building software was fast, but turning it into a business took a year of implementation work because monetization has too many moving parts, especially once global tax rules and subscription complexity enter the picture. They break down why “just use Stripe” often hides the full cost of cross-border fees, billing, taxes, and invoicing, and why founders should measure their payment stack like any other growth decision, with real unit economics, not assumptions.The conversation also gets practical about GTM and retention: Freemius reduces churn by making value visible, shipping features tied to revenue lift and support reduction, and building a tight maker community that drives product ideas and creates buyer and investor connectivity. Looking ahead to 2026, they discuss how AI is pushing more products toward usage-based billing, and why pricing and packaging will become a core operator skill, including Freemius’s plans for pricing recommendation tools and pricing page feedback.

In this episode of Across the Funnel, Adil Saleh sits down with Steve Benson, CEO at Badger Maps, to explore why field sales still matters for high-ACV deals, and what it takes to build software that supports teams who live on the road.Steve breaks down how his background selling at IBM and Google, including work around the Google Maps API, shaped Badger Maps’ focus on mapping, routing, and territory design for outside sales teams. The conversation then shifts into bootstrapping: why a sellable first version matters, when “investible” is the real question (not preference), and how funding choices change speed, product maturity, and competitive pressure.On the customer side, they argue that customer success is a direct churn and LTV lever, not a nice-to-have. Steve shares a practical view of how to staff CS early (including renewals ownership), why fast customer support still protects retention, and why usage data plus ecosystem partnerships (like CRM integrators) often decide whether a customer gets real value or quietly drifts.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Aleksa Mitrović, Founder at Dealmayker, to explore why modern B2B sales is shifting from high-volume outreach to high-context conversations built on semantic signals and human psychology.Aleksa breaks down how “being the most prepared” beats being the most charismatic, and why teams win when they show up with industry context, timing, and relevance rather than generic sequences. He argues that automation made it easy to message everyone, but it also raised the bar for what earns a reply: specificity, usefulness, and genuine understanding.The conversation also covers early-stage growth and customer success realities: why simple products that non-sales roles can use quickly matter, why small accounts can become the doorway to bigger deals through trust and referrals, and why usage (not signups) is the clearest signal for retention and product-market pull.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Vlad Shlosberg, CEO of Foqal, to explore how Slack and Microsoft Teams are reshaping modern support operations, why AI adoption in support is now driven from the top down, and what actually matters in messaging-based support metrics. They unpack the shift from resolution-time obsession to first-response expectations, and how in-channel support changes both customer behavior and SLA design. Vlad breaks down the differences between B2B SaaS and open source communities in Slack, when it makes sense to build your own community versus piggybacking on existing ones, and how community strategy ties back into GTM. The conversation also gets into agentic workflows and why data sources and MCP-style connectors matter more than prompt cleverness when building AI support agents. Finally, Vlad shares how Foqal thinks about expansion: moving from external support to internal IT/HR/RevOps use cases, using Slack virality to land-and-expand across teams, and navigating a crowded market where bootstrapped focus and word-of-mouth often beat high-burn competitors.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Robert Kraal, Co-Founder at Silverflow, to explore how modern card processing infrastructure is reshaping payments for banks, acquirers, and SaaS companies. They unpack why legacy mainframe-era platforms struggle with new card features, regulation, and data needs, and how a data-first approach to recurring payments, tokenization, and authorization can materially change subscription revenue and recovery from declines. Robert walks through the different go-to-market motions in Europe versus the US, the realities of selling core payment rails into banks, and how fraud systems read behavioral signals across devices, IPs, and transaction patterns. The conversation closes on how Silverflow uses AI in operations, why agentic commerce and stablecoins are on their radar, and how Robert thinks about building a knowledge-heavy, founder-producing culture inside a global fintech team.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Lincoln Murphy, VP of Customer Experience at ListKit, to explore how customer success and post sale GTM are changing in a world of digital engagement and AI tools. Lincoln explains why obsessing over churn keeps teams stuck, and makes the case for focusing on customer outcomes and the overall experience instead. He talks through how COVID era shifts and everyday use of ChatGPT have raised expectations for speed to value, and outlines how ListKit runs a split model with self service GTM customers on one side and high touch done for you cold email programs on the other.He breaks down his approach to goal discovery, defining goals as an objective, a timeframe and the deeper why, and shows how that drives onboarding, adoption and ongoing performance reviews that often happen asynchronously via Loom instead of long calls. Lincoln shares how ListKit uses AI behind the scenes so teams can handle far more work while still leaving human conversations where customers need to feel seen, heard and validated. Adil and Lincoln close by digging into lifetime value and expansion through a planned Ascension Path, treating churn as a symptom to study rather than the main target, and reflecting on why the customer success software category still struggles to define itself between happy customers and revenue growth.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with John Betancourt, CEO of Humantelligence, to explore how psychometrics and AI coaching are changing the way companies understand people, culture, and leadership at work. John walks through his 25 year journey from Procter & Gamble, Siebel, Reebok, and Puma into building Humantelligence and Ask Aura, a system that turns a 10 minute assessment into live coaching for managers and teams inside tools like email, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.They discuss why most recruiting and HR tech fails when it focuses only on skills and experience while ignoring culture fit, values, and work styles, and how that leads to “great” hires who flop when they switch companies or regions. John explains how Humantelligence measures behavior, motivators, and work styles across the organization, then feeds those insights into Ask Aura so leaders can get situation specific guidance on how to communicate, resolve conflict, and manage each person differently instead of relying on one default style. Adil and John dig into adoption and onboarding, the pressure from CFOs to prove ROI, and the reality that many customers mentally quit during onboarding long before renewal because they never see value or understand how to use the product day to day.From redefining culture fit in hiring and leadership coaching, to tracking usage and success for enterprise rollouts, to the founder grind of ten years of pivots before finding a sticky product, this episode looks at what it really takes to make work more human at scale. John closes with advice for founders on evolving culture at each revenue stage, hiring people who do not always “fit” the original ten person vibe, and accepting that the product that finally works in the market may only faintly resemble the idea you started with.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh welcomes Vladyslav, founder of Belkins. The discussion revolves around key challenges in B2B SaaS companies, particularly in customer acquisition and funding. Vladyslav shares insights on the evolution of outbound sales, the impact of AI, and the importance of personalized strategies over sheer volume in email marketing. He highlights Folderly’s innovative approach to email deliverability and warming up emails, differentiating it from other tools by focusing on quality integrations and compliance. They also delve into the significance of content marketing, strategic partnerships, and customer success systems in driving business growth. Additionally, Vladyslav touches upon another of his ventures in Agritech, showcasing his diverse entrepreneurial spirit. The episode concludes with a discussion on future trends and the importance of adaptability in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Paul Staelin, CCO of Vercel, to explore how customer success can scale in the developer-first era. Paul shares his journey from early startups to leading customer success at a $9B company, where he’s reshaping how enterprises and startups alike achieve outcomes with modern developer tools.They discuss the evolving role of CSMs as “midfielders” rather than “strikers,” how AI is transforming health scoring, sentiment analysis, and success workflows, and why use case–driven segmentation is key to retention. Paul also dives into building hybrid success organizations, driving up GDR and NDR, and what early-stage founders should prioritize when hiring their first CSM.From PLG motions and digital CS models to AI-powered playbooks and scaling enterprise relationships, this episode highlights the future of customer success and what it means for SaaS founders, revenue leaders, and GTM teams building for long-term retention and expansion.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, host Adil Saleh and guest ****Dennis Mortensen, Founder and CEO of LaunchBrightly, ****to explore how conversational AI and automation are reshaping customer support, product documentation, and startup efficiency.Dennis shares insights on the evolution of conversational UI, emphasizing that language has now become a “solved science,” unlocking a new era of user interaction and AI-driven experiences. He reflects on how AI democratizes innovation, enabling small teams to build faster and more effectively than ever before, what once required millions now needs just a weekend and a laptop.The conversation also dives into the impact of AI on jobs, with Dennis arguing that AI eliminates process noise rather than people, creating room for creativity and higher-value work. He discusses the philosophy behind LaunchBrightly, which automates outdated product documentation through smart screenshot generation, keeping help centers current and reducing customer friction.Dennis also highlights the importance of solving real pain points over chasing new technology, building for long-term customer value rather than trends. They cover how AI-driven agents are transforming customer support, the power of strong workflow integrations and why lean, focused teams often outperform larger, bureaucratic ones. Finally, Dennis reflects on his entrepreneurial mindset focusing on playing the game for the love of it.

On this Hyperengage episode, host Adil Saleh sits down with Tudor Golubenco, CTO and Co-founder of Xata.io, who explains the shift from an Airtable-style “builder” DB to a Postgres-native platform for real workloads. The new Xata centers on copy-on-write branching (with data), built-in anonymization, and scale-to-zero—ideal for staging/QA without leaking PII. Instead of risky migrations, teams keep production on RDS/Aurora, spin up an anonymized staging replica on Xata, and branch instantly; trust first, production later.Tudor shares how a ~25-person team and a flatter Postgres-first architecture boosted velocity and reliability, with generic Postgres tools (like blue-green deploys) planned for open source. In private beta, they optimize for revenue and churn while running qualitative loops to learn why accounts expand or leave, using light enrichment and direct founder outreach to spot high-intent users. He also covers investor alignment for patience, what he seeks in A-player engineers (product sense, platform ownership, proactive ops), and why Bay Area customer proximity matters as Europe’s deep-tech scene thrives.

Join Adil Saleh and Viktoria Izdebska, Founder of Octrace, on this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast as they unpack how predictive intelligence is reshaping modern sales. Viktoria shares how Octrace helps companies move beyond “spray and pray” outreach by using data-driven signals to predict when prospects are ready to buy.They discuss the evolution of outbound in the age of AI, why timing now matters more than volume, and how Octrace’s models combine CRM data, macro shifts, and trigger events to deliver 6× stronger performance. Viktoria also explains how her lean team uses AI agents internally to stay fast and efficient, the importance of hiring generalists over pedigrees, and why the real SaaS moat is shifting from technology to data and distribution.From enterprise sales to predictive GTM motion, this conversation is a masterclass for founders and GTM leaders navigating the new era of AI-powered growth.

Adil Saleh from Hyperengage Podcast interviews Joseph Lee, the founder of Supademo. They discuss the challenges and strategies of SaaS startups, highlighting the significance of platforms in enhancing onboarding processes and customer value. Joseph Lee shares his journey from working at Fresh Line to founding Supademo, based on the need to effectively demonstrate product value in non-tech-native industries. The conversation covers the role of AI in making onboarding processes interactive and personalized, the importance of building a user-friendly product, and maintaining rapid product development. Joseph Lee emphasizes the significance of being scrappy, moving quickly, and maintaining a lean team. They also touch on the company's growth strategies, including freemium models, product velocity, and SEO, and discuss operational principles and the future of tech evolution with AI. Lastly, Joseph Lee talks about the importance of SOC compliance for startups aiming to work with mid-market and enterprise customers.

This episode of the Hyperengage Podcast features Adil Saleh in conversation with Oliver Quittek, the CRO at Viio, a platform aiding in SaaS spend management for enterprises. They discuss the challenges startups and enterprises face in managing AI and SaaS expenses, emphasizing the need for a 360-degree overview of SaaS applications. Oliver details Viio's approach to discovering and optimizing SaaS tools usage, their integrations with various systems, and the importance of data security. He also highlights the shifts in responsibilities within organizations regarding SaaS spend management and how Viio assists different personas from finance to IT in achieving cost savings and compliance. The conversation concludes with a discussion on company culture, market expansion plans, and an invitation to networking events across the US by Adil Saleh.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast hosted by Adil Saleh , Jacqueline Cheong, CEO and co-founder of Artie, shares insights about her company’s unique technology that optimizes time and manages data storage efficiently. Jacqueline explains how her husband, Robin Cheong, who co-founded the company and has extensive experience with databases and distributed systems, was pivotal in addressing data streaming challenges faced at companies like Zendesk and Opendoor. She discusses the evolution of their product from its inception at Y Combinator, the complexities they encountered with enterprise-level data streaming, and the importance of real-time data processing. Jacqueline also touches on AI’s role in enhancing data infrastructure, the challenges of enterprise sales cycles, and their future product roadmap, which includes expanding database support and introducing sophisticated features. Additionally, she highlights the value of her personal coach, Roz, and recommends the book The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh for leadership inspiration. The conversation also emphasizes the importance of women in leadership roles and overcoming imposter syndrome.

In this episode of the Hyperengage Podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Kaius Meskanen, CEO of Choicely, to explore how no-code and AI are transforming mobile app development. Kaius shares his journey from architecture and military service to building Choicely, a platform that enables anyone to create production-ready mobile apps in just a day, without writing a single line of code.They discuss how Choicely’s AI-powered builder can turn websites into mobile apps in under 90 seconds, the growing demand for native mobile experiences, and why mobile apps are becoming essential for SaaS businesses of all sizes. Kaius also dives into customer success strategies, scalability challenges, and how Choicely is making enterprise-grade apps accessible to SMBs at a fraction of the cost.From AI agents and SDK integrations to customer adoption and retention, this episode highlights the future of app development and what it means for entrepreneurs, SaaS founders, and product teams looking to deliver world-class mobile experiences.

On this episode, host Adil Saleh interviews Dan Thomson, CEO and founder of Sensay.io, to explore Sensay's journey in the AI industry. Sensay.io is a hybrid platform focused on building hyper-personalized AI chatbots for various use cases like sales, marketing, and customer support.Dan discusses how the concept of digital immortality inspired the platform's development and the challenges of maintaining focus in a rapidly evolving AI landscape. The conversation also covers Sensay’s efforts in customer education, the economic aspects of API usage, and the company's principles like using AI to optimize workflows.This episode goes over the importance of niche targeting for customer acquisition and effective communication in managing remote teams.

In this episode of the Hyperengage podcast, we welcome Simone, the founder of Sharly.ai, an AI-first platform focused on improving workflow management and operational excellence. Simone discusses the journey of onboarding a million users in the first year, challenges faced by startups, and the importance of staying grounded and data-driven. He emphasizes the critical role of AI in enhancing productivity and the evolving landscape of automation for business functions. The conversation dives deep into customer success, retention strategies, and the future of AI in various industries, offering valuable insights for tech enthusiasts and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Join Adil Saleh and Ioanna Onasi, Co-Founder & CEO of Dextego, on the Hyperengage podcast as they explore the transformative impact of AI on sales coaching and talent development. Ioanna shares her journey from an HR and psychology background to leading an AI-powered startup focused on improving sales performance through proactive coaching and human-centered AI models. The discussion covers Dextego's unique approach to integrating with CRM systems, the importance of specialized AI coaches, and how AI can amplify the influence and coachability of sales teams. Ioanna also highlights the significance of empathy and trust in leadership, and offers a glimpse into Dextego's future plans, including expanding into customer success and other company departments.

Join Adil Saleh and Emily Maxie, Interim SVP of Sales & Marketing at Firm360, on this episode of the Hyperengage podcast as they explore how Firm360’s all-in-one platform is transforming accounting firms with AI-driven sales and customer success strategies. Emily shares her journey from marketing leader to sales leadership, the importance of mastering fundamentals, and how custom GPT tools are boosting sales team efficiency. They discuss Firm360’s unique focus on accounting workflows, robust onboarding and retention processes, and building a lean, motivated team culture. Emily also offers inspiring insights on women in tech leadership and the future of SaaS innovation in niche verticals.

In this episode of the Hyperengage podcast, host Adil Saleh speaks with Brad Micklea, the CEO and founder of Jozu. They discuss the difficulties of scaling AI models and agent workflows for enterprises. Brad shares his insights on the importance of self-hosting AI models to maintain data security and competitive differentiation. He emphasizes the challenges enterprises face, the significance of having senior engineers, and the strategic direction post-funding. The conversation touches on Jozu's focus on offering high-standard tools that blend traditional code with AI models, targeting regulated industries, and the critical role of trust and security in AI adoption.

In this episode of the Hyperengage podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Erik Braund, Founder & CEO of Katmai, to explore how they’re transforming the future of remote work with immersive, data-driven virtual headquarters. Erik shares the personal and generational entrepreneurial journey that led to Katmai’s creation during the COVID-19 crisis, driven by the urgent need for meaningful digital collaboration. They discuss the evolving workplace—from remote startups to global enterprises—and how Katmai is helping teams replace rigid calendars and Zoom fatigue with spontaneous, human-first interactions. Erik dives deep into their customer segments, success metrics, and how Katmai’s smart environments foster culture, productivity, and visibility. The conversation also touches on AI integration, qualitative insights, and why Katmai is building for people, not avatars.

In this episode of the Hyperengage podcast, Adil Saleh sits down with Philippe Mizrahi, Co-founder & CEO of Linkup, to discuss how they’re building core infrastructure for AI agents to access real-time, factual data from the internet. Philippe shares the origin story of Linkup, which was created to solve the messy and inefficient way most AI applications connect to online data. They dive into how Linkup quickly became a top performer on factuality benchmarks, powering use cases across sales automation, market research, and business intelligence. Philippe also talks about their lean, engineering-driven team, product-led growth strategy, and how they’re preparing for a future where AI agents are the primary users of the web.

Join Adil Saleh on the Hyperengage podcast as he sits down with Joel Varty, CTO of Agility, to discuss the transformative impact of AI on SaaS technology. Joel shares insights from his 20+ years of experience, focusing on the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into technical and non-technical workflows. The conversation covers AI's role in code generation, the future of agent-to-agent interactions, and maintaining scalable, secure infrastructure in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. Joel also highlights the importance of customer-centric values and the core principles guiding his team at Agility.

Join Adil Saleh and Ryan Milligan, VP of Sales, Marketing, and Revenue at QuotaPath, on this episode of the Hyperengage podcast, as they explore the intersection of AI and sales performance in SaaS organizations. Ryan discusses his journey from RevOps leader to VP, driving sales strategy with data-backed insights. The conversation dives deep into how AI is not a replacement for humans but a powerful tool for human augmentation in the sales process, from automating outbound prospecting to improving CRM management. Ryan also sheds light on QuotaPath’s unique approach to compensation plans, driving higher-quality revenue by aligning sales incentives with business goals. They discuss the evolution of compensation structures in usage-based pricing models and how QuotaPath integrates seamlessly with sales tech stacks to help teams optimize performance. Ryan also shares insights on future product developments, including AI-powered plan builders, and the potential of AI in enhancing adoption and retention metrics for SaaS companies.