The Viral Genius Podcast
by Fernando Labastida
The Viral Genius Podcast helps founders, marketers, and creators unlock the power of founder-led content. Hosted by the creator of the Viral Genius Framework, each episode dives into bold strategies for turning raw ideas into influence—through solo episodes and deep-dive interviews with visionaries like Dennis Yu, Bryan Eisenberg, and more. If you're ready to turn your voice into viral leverage, this is your show. strikemarketing.news
Episodes
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Everything About Your Startup Is Copyable. Except This.
Vibe coding means anybody can ship. AI means anybody can build. A factory in Shenzhen means your physical product gets cloned in weeks. Whatever advantage your product has today is a short-term advantage. The one thing nobody can copy is the way you and your founding team solve the customer's...
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The Google Search That Cost Jason Barnard €100,000
Jason Barnard walked out of a meeting in Paris with a €100,000 deal all but signed. Half an hour later the client emailed to cancel. They had searched his name, and Google told them he was a cartoon maker. He was. For years he had been the voice of Boowa the Blue Dog, a kids' TV character with a...
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Your One Unforgettable Idea Is Already Inside You
Every founder is sitting on one unforgettable idea — a methodology, a framework, a way of doing things so natural to you that you've stopped noticing it's rare. In this episode, I show you how to excavate it, name it, and become known for it: "Fernando, the one unforgettable idea guy." "Jason...
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Jason Barnard's Personal Brand Playbook (And the One Step It's Missing)
Is building a personal brand just vanity? Chasing likes, seeing your name in lights?I was listening to James Dooley interview Jason Barnard, and Dooley asked him straight up what the value of a personal brand actually is. Barnard's answer was two words: lots of money. He says 80% of the business...
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The One Unforgettable Idea AI Can’t Copy
I asked ChatGPT for the most authentic Mexican tacos in downtown Austin. It gave me three options.Not ten blue links. Three.That is the whole problem in one sentence. AI took away the how-to. Anyone can build anything now, so the number of companies that get named when someone asks for your...
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My daughter asked if my video was AI. She had a point.
I showed my daughter a trailer I'd spent days on. AI voice, AI clips, AI-assisted script — and my heart in every frame of it. She's a professional videographer. She looked at it and asked, "Is that video AI?"That question is the whole problem in one sentence. We're in the middle of an AI…
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Why Building Performance Marketing First and "Adding Brand" Later Never Works
I was at the gym listening to a podcast interview with the CMO of a $500M/year SaaS company, and he said the quiet part out loud: they ran years of performance marketing first, and hired him to "add brand" after.That's backwards. I call it Franken-marketing — stitching messaging and positioning...
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AI Made Average Free. Here's What's Scarce Now.
You open LinkedIn and every post sounds the same. Polished, articulate, perfectly structured — and forgotten ten seconds later. If you're a founder, you're living the other side of that problem: you know you're good, and you have no idea how to stand out anymore.Here's the uncomfortable math: AI...
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12 hours left for $59 early bird pricing!
You still have 12 hours to get your $59 early-bird tickets to the YouXAI Summit! I was thinking about writing a whole discourse on why you should attend the summit, but I thought it better to share this video that explains it better than I could. Register for the summit now: Best, Fernando Get…
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The $2.5M Lightning Strike: How Pablo Gonzalez Took Over a Conference in 36 Hours
You've been told the only way to win at conferences is to buy a booth, hand out swag, and hope the right person stops by. Meanwhile, $48,000 later, you've got a stack of business cards you'll never follow up on and zero pipeline to show for it. What if instead of renting a booth, you built a…
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Why Some Summits Convert at 2% and Others Convert at 20% - With the Exact Same Topic
Most summits don’t fail because the content is bad. They fail because they’re built around information — not connection. In this session from the Strike Marketing Summit, Rachel Starr (Founder of Co-Creator Society and Circle Certified Partner) reveals how to design a summit that: • Increases…
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You Don't Have a Funnel Problem. You Have a Belief Problem.
You've built the sales page. You've tweaked the headline. Maybe you've followed Russell Brunson's playbook to the letter. And it worked — a little. Not nearly enough. So you built another one. Chris Stanley has a name for this: the tornado trap. And in this session from the Strike Marketing…
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The Category Creation Formula: New Thinking From a Decade in the Trenches of Category Design
Most companies compete harder. Very few change the game. In this Strike Marketing Summit fireside chat, Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse unveil the thinking behind their upcoming book, The Category Creation Formula — a decade of real-world category design distilled into a clear, repeatable...
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From 150 Webinars to $100M Growth: Darrell Vesterfelt’s Summit & Community Playbook
How do you grow a business when content is everywhere, AI is flooding the market, and trust is harder than ever to earn? In this Strike Marketing Summit session, Darrell Vesterfelt breaks down the growth system he’s used to: Drive $100M+ in revenue Generate 100,000+ summit registrations Turn live...
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🚀 How an Event Engine Built a Category, and Took a B2B Company from $1M to $100M Series C
Bryan Funk grew a company from $1M in ARR to $100M in just a few years using a go-to-market method I’m convinced will be the killer GTM strategy for 2026 and beyond. And here’s the part that hit me hardest: He was doing Strike Marketing before the term even existed. Back in December, I made a…
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Why I Opened the Strike Marketing Summit With the Category Design Panel
Most founders don’t fail because they execute poorly.They fail because they execute really well—on the wrong thing. In this opening panel of the Strike Marketing Summit, we dig into a critical but often misunderstood idea: 👉 Category design comes before marketing. Before funnels.Before…
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How to Market Without Marketing: Scott Martin’s Groundswell Method
Most brands are still screaming for attention. Scott Martin believes the future belongs to the ones who earn trust. In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast, Fernando Labastida sits down with Scott Martin — CEO of Groundswell Origins, author of Groundswell: The Unseen Wave of Business Growth,...
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Speaker Preview: Audra Carpenter. From Workflows to Intelligence: The Future of Content Operations
Register here → https://summit.strikemarketingsummit.com/talks/the-future-of-content-operations/ If you’ve ever been seduced by the endless parade of shiny AI tools—and then wondered why your content still doesn’t work—this conversation with Audra Carpenter is your wake-up call. Audra has been...
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Speaker Preview: Quick Wins in AI Implementation - From Digital Transformation to Intelligent Reinvention. Interview with Eduardo Ortiz
Navigating Data Challenges for AI Success In this episode, Fernando Labastida talks with Eduardo Ortiz Ramírez about one of the most overlooked barriers to AI success: the quality of a company’s data and processes. Eduardo explains why data problems can derail even the most ambitious AI...
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Speaker preview: Why AI Recalls Some Brands… and Erases Others | Bryan Eisenberg
Bryan Eisenberg has shaped modern digital marketing more than almost anyone alive. He and his brother Jeffrey pioneered ideas like conversion rate optimization (CRO), persuasion architecture, and scent, and authored 11 bestselling books that defined the field. In this Strike Marketing Summit...
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Speaker Preview: “How One Summit Can Fill Your Funnel Overnight." Darrell Vesterfelt Explains the Playbook
In a world where timelines are noisy and attention is scarce, summits have become one of the most reliable — and overlooked — ways to break through the clutter. In this Strike Marketing Summit preview, Fernando Labastida sits down with Darrell Vesterfelt, VP of Growth at Mighty Networks and...
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The New Rules of Marketing Warfare - Kevin McGrew on Books, Chaos & Distribution
Entrepreneurship is chaos. Writing a book while running a company? Even more chaotic.But Navy-SEAL calm, tight communication, and a simple battlefield framework can turn that chaos into a strategic advantage. In this Strike Marketing Summit preview, Fernando Labastida sits down with Kevin McGrew,...
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Speaker Preview: Forget Funnels - Rachel Starr Says This Is What Really Moves People.
What if you stopped treating a summit like a product—and started treating it like a gateway to connection? In this special Strike Marketing Summit preview episode, Fernando sits down with Rachel Starr, the powerhouse founder of CoCreator Society and a community architect with a deeply human...
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Speaker Preview: Why Events Beat Algorithms: Lessons from HeySummit’s Sheriff Subair
In this episode, Sheriff Subair, Head of Marketing at HeySummit, shares how running workshops and virtual events can completely transform your marketing results. Sheriff explains how active, participatory experiences like summits generate deeper audience engagement, build stronger customer...
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Strike Summit Preview: Chris Stanley on How a 50-Page Book Can Build a $700K Business
What if your next book didn’t need to be 300 pages of fluff — but under 100 pages of clarity that builds your brand, authority, and revenue? In this special Viral Genius Podcast episode, host Fernando Labastida talks with Chris Stanley, the “Mini Book Guy” and 20-time Amazon bestselling author,...
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Exclusive Summit Preview: How Russ Henneberry Turns ChatGPT-5 Into a Growth Engine
What if ChatGPT wasn’t just a tool — but your business operating system? In this episode, Russ Henneberry — author of Digital Marketing for Dummies and founder of theCLICK — reveals how to structure your ChatGPT account to actually grow your business. Russ calls it Growth OS — a practical system...
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Eddie Yoon: “If you want to win, stop trying to be better."
What if the smartest business move isn’t to compete — but to create? In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast, host Fernando Labastida sits down with Eddie Yoon, co-founder of Category Pirates and bestselling author of Superconsumers and Play Bigger, to unpack why category design is the…
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From Podcast Booths to Category Kings: How Pablo Gonzalez Turned “Digital Word of Mouth” into a Growth Engine
What if your podcast was more than just content — what if it was your trade show booth, your community magnet, and your category launchpad? In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast, Fernando sits down with Pablo Gonzalez, founder of Be The Stage and Chief Evangelist of Vendoroo, to unpack how...
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The Stories We Sell, The Success We Build
In this episode of the Viral Genius Podcast, Fernando Labastida interviews digital marketing expert Bryan Eisenberg about his new book, 'I Think I Swallowed an Elephant: The Stories We Sell, The Success We Build.' They discuss the concept of 'Viral Genius,' the importance of storytelling in...
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Building the Content Hub OS: How Audra Carpenter Is Redefining Marketing Systems for the AI Era
In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast, host Fernando Labastida sits down with Audra Carpenter, founder of Content Hub OS, to explore how AI and automation are reshaping the future of marketing. Audra shares her journey from running a title company in the early 2000s to becoming one of the...
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How I Used a Virtual Summit to Generate 900+ Leads and Position My Client as a Category Leader
Most businesses face the same problem: they depend too heavily on a few clients and lack a scalable way to grow. That was exactly the case with one of my software development clients in Mexico. Their revenue came almost entirely from two or three big corporate accounts. If even one left, half…
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CEX: The Movement for Content Entrepreneurs – with Joe Pulizzi
Joe Pulizzi is back on the show – the godfather of content marketing and founder of The Tilt, Content Marketing Institute, and the visionary behind CEX (Content Entrepreneur Expo). In this high-energy conversation, Joe and Fernando Labastida break down: 🎯 Why the creator economy needs...
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Why 90% of Startups Fail at Go-to-Market (And How to Fix It)
Guest: Isaac Carter, CEO & Founder of Contollo, Software Development Expert & Author of "Before You Build" A candid discussion between two founders who discovered that the best software development strategies are actually marketing strategies in disguise—and why that changes everything for...
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From Single Mom to AI Visionary: Sarina Nguyen on Empowering Small Businesses with TrueHumans.AI
What happens when a Fortune 100 IT leader walks away from corporate life to become a founder with no plan—but a powerful purpose? In this episode of the Viral Genius Podcast, host Fernando Labastida sits down with Sarina Nguyen, CEO and cofounder of TrueHumans.AI, a Dallas-based startup on a...
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How to Build a $30M Company with 3 People — Amos Bar-Joseph on Autonomous Businesses, AI Agents & Founder-Led Virality
What if your entire go-to-market team lived inside Slack—and it actually worked? In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast (formerly AI Marketing Case Studies), host Fernando Labastida sits down with Amos Bar-Joseph, CEO and Co-Founder of Swan, a Slack-native AI go-to-market platform that's...
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How Chris Stanley Turned Mini Books into a $750K ARR Business—with Help from AI
Chris Stanley is a 30-time author, founder of IA Path, and the mind behind the Mini Book Model. In this episode, Chris reveals how he built a three-quarter-million-dollar ARR coaching business—serving a micro-niche market—by publishing short, ultra-targeted books. We talk about: Why 10,000-word...
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The Future of Employee-Led Marketing with Gen Furukawa
Guest: Gen Furukawa, Founder of SuperMarketers.ai and BrandMarketers.ai In this episode, Fernando Labastida interviews Gen Furukawa, founder of SuperMarketers.ai (an inbound demand gen agency for B2B SaaS companies) and the upcoming BrandMarketers.ai (an employee advocacy platform). Gen shares…
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AI-Powered PR: How NewsRamp Creates Platform-Native Content in a Zero-Click World
AI Marketing Case Studies Podcast with David McInnis, Founder of Newsworthy.ai and NewsRamp In this episode, Fernando Labastida interviews David McInnis, Founder of Newsworthy.ai and NewsRamp. David is a pioneering entrepreneur in the PR tech space, best known for founding PRWeb, one of the first...
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How AI Has Completely Changed My Approach to Book Writing with Fernando Labastida
I recorded this episode a year ago, when I was finishing up my new book, The Startup Book: How to Write a Book That Designs a New Market Category & Positions You as The Leader. A lot has changed in a year, but this episode is still relevant. I share about my participation in Zacharia Stratford's...
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Beyond the Pitch Slap: John Lyons on Research-Driven Marketing with AI
AI Marketing Case Studies with John Lyons, Founder of Human Hat Stand In this episode, Fernando Labastida interviews John Lyons, the founder of Human Hat Stand, a fractional CMO service helping B2B professional service businesses achieve effective marketing results. John shares his practical...
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Building Your Weekly Content Engine: The Organic AI Content Cascade Method
Fernando Labastida, Founder of AI Marketing Case Studies In this episode, Fernando Labastida tackles one of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs and marketers today: creating consistent, high-quality content. Fernando shares his proven framework for building a sustainable weekly content...
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The Rock Star Method: The AI-Driven Method for B2B Founders to Stop Being the Best-Kept Secret
In this solo episode, Fernando Labastida, owner of AI Marketing Case Studies, shares the fascinating story of Rodriguez, a talented musician who created amazing work but remained unknown in the US while unknowingly becoming a legend in South Africa. Fernando draws powerful parallels between...
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Mastering AI Marketing: Lessons from Dan Sanchez's 30-30-30 Method
In this episode of the AI Marketing Case Studies podcast, Fernando Labastida interviews Dan Sanchez, an AI marketing consultant and creator who works with Social Media Examiner and hosts the AI-Driven Marketer podcast. Dan shares his journey from aspiring to be the "ultimate marketer" to becoming...
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The AI Content Engine: Transforming Expert Knowledge with Russ Henneberry
AI Marketing Case Studies Podcast: Russ Henneberry, Founder & CEO of theCLICK. In this episode, Fernando Labastida interviews Russ Henneberry, an OG content marketer who was part of the original crew at digitalmarketer.com and is now the founder and CEO of theCLICK, an AI marketing education...
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AI in Action: Inside Look at How Businesses Are Really Using AI
Episode: Friends of Einstein - January 2025 Host: Mark Brennan, Founder of Kynoch Labs. Guests: Fernando Labastida, AI Marketing Expert and Author Hanin El Refai, Data Scientist In this insightful episode, we explore the transformative impact of AI on marketing and enterprise operations. From...
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Why Your Next Marketing Team Member Might Be an AI Agent
Eduardo Velasco - CEO & Founder, WaveMax Corporation In this episode, Fernando Labastida talks with Eduardo Velasco, an accomplished entrepreneur who turned his WiFi-sharing startup into a success story. Eduardo shares how his company WaveMax uses AI agents to run marketing campaigns more...
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Stop Hiding Your AI Use: Tim Stoddart's Approach to AI Marketing
Guest: Tim Stoddart, CEO of Copyblogger and Founder of TimStodz.com In this enlightening episode, Tim Stoddart shares his remarkable journey from addiction recovery to becoming a successful digital entrepreneur. As the CEO of Copyblogger and founder of multiple businesses including TheShop.AI…
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From Pizza Flyers to AI Tools: Kevin McGrew's SMAC Framework for Small Business Growth
Interviewee: Kevin McGrew, CEO of Everzocial, Digital Marketing Strategist & Author of "The New Rules of Marketing Warfare: The SMAC Framework" (soon to be published) In this episode, Kevin McGrew shares his innovative SMAC (Shoot, Move, Adapt, Communicate) framework that helps small and…
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Streamlining Sales: How AI Creates Better Sales Enablement Content
Guest: Kathryn Aragon Title: Revenue Optimization Strategist & Founder of KA Media Summary: In this episode, we dive deep into Kathryn Aragon's innovative RACE Growth Framework, which helps B2B SaaS companies and large equipment firms boost their revenue through optimized customer experiences....
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Engineering Your Personal Brand: AI Strategies for Women in STEM
Guest: Lourdes Baeza Digital Personal Brand Advisor & Pioneer in Digital Image Consulting In this episode, Lourdes Baeza shares her journey as Mexico's pioneer in digital image consulting for women in STEM/STEAM. With 20 years of tech industry experience at companies like Logitech, Polycom, and...
About this show
The Viral Genius Podcast helps founders, marketers, and creators unlock the power of founder-led content. Hosted by the creator of the Viral Genius Framework, each episode dives into bold strategies for turning raw ideas into influence—through solo episodes and deep-dive interviews with visionaries like Dennis Yu, Bryan Eisenberg, and more. If you're ready to turn your voice into viral leverage, this is your show.
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