Renegade Marketers Unite

Drew Neisser
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Renegade Marketers Unite focuses on marketing innovators, uncovering the how, what and why behind their on-going success. Award-winning marketer, author, and entrepreneur Drew Neisser keeps these conversations interesting and inspiring, wrapping up each episode with on-the-spot analysis and insights for big marketers and those that want to be. For more information visit http://DrewNeisser.com/podcast

  1. 6 days ago

    What 2026's CMO Survey Reveals About Marketing Under Pressure

    When every marketing decision has to pay off this quarter, growth starts losing its owner.  That's the uncomfortable read from the latest CMO Survey. Under pressure, CMOs are making perfectly rational moves. Safer bets, tighter proof, more focus on the customers already in hand. The danger is what those choices start to signal. If every case for marketing comes back to pipeline now and near-term ROI, the function that should be finding growth can get managed into something much smaller.  In this episode, Drew sits down with Christine Moorman, founder of The CMO Survey and professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, to unpack what the spring 2026 results say about marketing's next move. The data points to rising AI value, a stubborn talent gap, and underfunded marketing capabilities. Running through it all is one warning CMOs cannot afford to ignore: Safe can get small.  Three Findings CMOs Need to Take to Heart:  Short-termism is narrowing marketing's role  AI value is rising faster than team readiness  Capabilities matter, but investment is lagging  What You'll Learn:  Why safe bets can defend marketing today and shrink its role tomorrow  How metrics shape what the C-suite believes marketing is for  Why AI success depends as much on talent and training as it does on tools  How CMOs can prove value beyond pipeline, from customer relationships to durable growth  Listen in for a clear read on the latest CMO Survey, from why safe can get small to how CMOs can use better metrics, stronger talent, and AI-ready capabilities to reclaim the growth agenda.  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  2. 24 Jul

    Marketing Inside the Sales Rhythm

    Sales has one clean tell for whether it trusts marketing. Timing.  Bring marketing in late, and partnership turns into a very polite scramble. The field has moved, the campaign needs context, and sales is working leads without the story that made them worth chasing in the first place. Trust grows when marketing stays close enough to hear the objections, spot the stalls, and change the work while there's still time to help.  In this episode, Drew is joined by Ellina Shinnick (HUB), Joan Jenkins (Fastly), and Sara Braun (FORTA) to look at where marketing belongs inside the sales rhythm. Their examples ground partnership in the weekly decisions, shared numbers, and field-ready enablement that turn marketing from a separate function into a stronger growth partner.  In this episode:  Ellina shows how HUB embedded marketing in weekly sales leadership meetings, creating faster pivots, clearer lead ownership, and a 3x lift in conversion  Joan explains why Fastly keeps marketing accountable through pipeline creation, progression, and revenue instead of stopping at the lead handoff  Sara shares how field visits, customer input, and rep feedback helped FORTA build sales playbooks around the accounts and moments that mattered most  Plus:  How CMO-CRO behavior sets the tone for sales-marketing alignment  How AEO, AI content, and recorded calls surface new customer signals  What marketing needs from sales, from honest feedback to field activation  Why speed and flexibility matter more than rigid annual plans  Listen in for how B2B CMOs can build stronger sales partnerships, improve pipeline accountability, and make marketing more useful from first signal to final outcome. For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  3. 17 Jul

    The CMO-CRO Partnership That Made It Snow

    The fastest way to break trust between sales and marketing is to let each team bring its own scoreboard.  Marketing can point to MQLs. Sales can point to missed revenue. Everyone can be technically right, and the business still loses. No wonder Denise Persson and Chris Degnan have little patience for functional victory laps. At Snowflake, the question was never, "Did marketing look good?" It was, "Are reps productive, is new business moving, and are we working from the same plan?"  In this episode, Drew sits down with Denise and Chris, co-authors of Make It Snow, whose sales-marketing partnership shaped much of Snowflake's climb from startup to billions in revenue. They get past the usual alignment talk and into the operating discipline behind it. For the pair, trust showed up in honest feedback, fast action, rep-level visibility, and a shared refusal to declare victory unless the go-to-market motion was actually working.  In this episode:  Denise shares how she earned sales trust by listening to SDRs, AEs, and managers, then building marketing around what each territory needed  Chris explains why sales leaders need marketing partners who roll up their sleeves, take feedback fast, and care more about the shared number than looking right  Together, they show how a CMO-CRO partnership can hold through CEO changes, board pressure, hiring misses, and the politics of a winning company  Plus:  How to push sales-marketing alignment beyond the C-suite  Why "no rep left behind" became a practical GTM rallying cry  What it took to move Snowflake from "data warehouse for the cloud" to "the data cloud"  Where AI fits into Snowflake's marketing team today, from change-makers to workflow automation  Listen in as Denise and Chris share what their Snowflake run taught them about CMO-CRO alignment, sales-marketing trust, and building one revenue-focused go-to-market team.  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  4. 10 Jul

    AI Velocity vs. Human Creativity

    AI just handed every marketing team a bigger gas pedal. Now CMOs have to decide what deserves the speed.  Teams can now publish, prototype, adapt, and distribute at a pace that felt impossible a few years ago. The advantage comes from knowing where to accelerate, where human judgment matters most, and how to keep the creative spark intact. A strong idea can travel further than ever. A weak one can flood the market before anyone asks whether it was worth making.  In this episode, Drew brings together Jakki Geiger (Arango), Dave Steer (Webflow), and Sandy Ono to sort out one of marketing's trickiest new balancing acts: What automation can handle and what still needs a human brain, a trained eye, and a little creative nerve. They keep coming back to one principle. Automation should clear the path from insight to action, while marketers set the standards for quality, protect buyer trust, and know which moments still demand original thinking.  In this episode:  Jakki shares how she used AI, customer validation, and agency expertise to reposition Arango in 60 days and turn "Frankenstack" into a distinctive market story  Dave explains why volume is the wrong goal and how Webflow moves expert insight into market-ready content without giving up subject-matter review  Sandy breaks down how decision levels and fidelity separate work AI can handle from work that still needs expert review  Plus:  How to scale pillar content without diluting the message  Why AI-ready brand systems need more than a style guide  Where AI speeds localization and where human nuance still matters  How process redesign and clear human roles prepare teams for AI agents  Listen in for how to put AI's speed to work, protect expert judgment, and give your strongest ideas more reach.  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  5. 3 Jul

    The AI-Augmented CMO: Architecting Teamwide Adoption

    AI is moving fast enough to make even the savviest CMO feel one tool, one workflow, and one "wait, you can do that now?" behind. The easy move is to delegate it. Let the eager people experiment. Let the technical folks wire things together. Let the team come back with something impressive enough to call progress. If that sounds like a plan, François Dufour would like a word. In this episode, we replay a conversation with Drew and François from April 2026 about what it takes to become an AI-augmented CMO. François makes the case that leaders need enough hands-on fluency to build, test, learn, and model the behavior they expect from their teams. Together, they push past one-off experiments and tool demos toward a more durable rhythm of teams building together, champions sharing what works, system thinkers connecting the dots, and workflows that create leverage beyond a few saved minutes. What You'll Learn:  Why AI adoption needs repeated build time, not one-and-done training How to spot the champions and system thinkers who can move the team faster What context AI needs before agents and workflows become useful How to make AI progress visible without rewarding random activity You'll also hear how François used AI to manage context across clients, analyze positioning and narrative, build better customer-facing tools, and help teams see the art of the possible. Tune in to learn how AI-augmented CMOs can lead the work personally, make adoption stick across the team, and turn experimentation into leverage the business can feel. For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  6. 26 Jun

    The First 90 Days Just Got Faster

    The first 90 days have always mattered. Now AI is making them faster, sharper, and a lot less forgiving. In this episode, Drew talks with Paige O'Neill (Culture Amp), Scott Gordon (HG Insights), and Ali McCarthy (Asset-Map) about what it takes to start strong in a new CMO role. They explore how to pressure-test what you heard in the interview process, align quickly with the executive team, assess the team you inherited, and decide where marketing can create the most meaningful impact. The conversation also digs into how AI is changing the first-90-days playbook, from accelerating onboarding and research to raising expectations around team productivity, experimentation, and org design. Paige, Scott, and Ali share how they're using AI, where they're still relying on old-fashioned listening, and why the best early wins are the ones that build momentum with both the team and the business. In this episode: Paige shares how she tested the interview story against reality, unlocked stalled team ideas, and used AI to speed up onboarding Scott breaks down how he pressure-tested pipeline goals, budgets, team sentiment, and sales alignment before resetting expectations Ali explains how she brought focus to Asset-Map's many possible stories, used research to sharpen the message, and chose the first market problem to solve Plus: How AI is accelerating onboarding, research, testing, and early execution Why early wins should build credibility without disrupting what works How to gauge AI readiness across your inherited team Why the first 90 days are your best window to challenge assumptions If you're stepping into a new CMO role, or preparing for one, this episode offers a practical look at how to use your early window wisely, build trust quickly, and avoid squandering the power that comes with fresh eyes. For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  7. 19 Jun

    The CMO Job Search Is a Two-Way Street

    Some CMO opportunities look promising right up until you stop asking, "Can I land this?" and start asking, "Can I actually win at this company?"  In a market that is warmer than it was a year ago but still unforgiving, Hugh Marshall of Heidrick & Struggles argues that CMOs need to approach the search with two-way diligence. The offer matters, but so does knowing whether the company, CEO, board, investors, and growth expectations are aligned enough to support real success.  With that recruiter 's-eye view, Hugh joins Drew to get inside today's CMO search, from PE-backed pressure and growth-stage churn to comp conversations, equity tradeoffs, and the big career bets hiding inside the fine print. Call it a reality check for CMOs who want the next role to be the right one.  What You'll Learn:  How to spot risky CMO roles before you're in too deep  Why two-way diligence is now non-negotiable  How AI fluency is reshaping CMO candidacy  What makes candidates stand out in the interview process  Know what you're walking into before you say yes. Tune in for Hugh's candid take on today's CMO market, the hidden dynamics behind the offer, and the signs of a truly winnable role.  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

  8. 12 Jun

    AI, SDRs, and the New GTM Engine

    The go-to-market model most teams are optimizing may be the very thing AI is making obsolete.  Too often, the buyer experience feels like a relay race nobody asked to run. AI is already proving there's a faster, straighter path to answers, value, and outcomes, making the old model a lot harder to defend.  In this episode, Drew talks with Amanda Kahlow, founder of 1mind, about why many of today's go-to-market assumptions deserve a fresh look. Using the rise of AI SDRs as a starting point, they explore human handoffs, pipeline thinking, speed to lead, and why buyer momentum matters more than the internal roles built to manage it.  Best of all, you get to see it play out when Amanda brings in Mindy, 1mind's AI superhuman, for a live demonstration of what an AI-first buying experience can look like in practice.  What You'll Learn:  Why first-principles thinking matters in an AI-first world  When AI should replace parts of the motion, not just support them  Why revenue may be a better measure of success than lead volume or pipeline  How smaller pilots can prove the model before broader rollout  If you're a CMO questioning how much of your current go-to-market motion still makes sense, this one is worth your time.  For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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About

Renegade Marketers Unite focuses on marketing innovators, uncovering the how, what and why behind their on-going success. Award-winning marketer, author, and entrepreneur Drew Neisser keeps these conversations interesting and inspiring, wrapping up each episode with on-the-spot analysis and insights for big marketers and those that want to be. For more information visit http://DrewNeisser.com/podcast

Information

  • Creator
    Drew Neisser
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    630
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © CMO Huddles, LLC 2026
  • Show Website
    Renegade Marketers Unite

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