Across the Funnel

Hyperengage & Dextego
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Across the Funnel is a weekly, interview-style podcast series uncovering bits of knowledge from some of the greatest minds in tech. We dig into concrete GTM moves across sales, customer success, and account management so you can build revenue that lasts. Powered by hyperengage & Dextego Want to join in as a guest, drop an email at podcast@hyperengage.io

  1. Ep # 180: The Consensus Architect: What Modern Selling Actually Demands ft. Cristina De La Cruz (CRO, ISG Partners)

    1D AGO

    Ep # 180: The Consensus Architect: What Modern Selling Actually Demands ft. Cristina De La Cruz (CRO, ISG Partners)

    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.

    30 min
  2. Ep # 179: The Digital Sales Room Playbook: Running Complex Deals in One Shared Space ft. Carl Carell (Co-Founder, GetAccept)

    1D AGO

    Ep # 179: The Digital Sales Room Playbook: Running Complex Deals in One Shared Space ft. Carl Carell (Co-Founder, GetAccept)

    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.

    40 min
  3. Ep # 178: First Export as the Aha Moment: Onboarding for Creative Software ft. Laura Burkhauser (CEO, Descript)

    2D AGO

    Ep # 178: First Export as the Aha Moment: Onboarding for Creative Software ft. Laura Burkhauser (CEO, Descript)

    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.

    44 min
  4. Ep # 177: AI for Post-Sales: The Quiet Effort Behind Data Modeling and Context ft. Jon Finegold (CEO, Precog)

    3D AGO

    Ep # 177: AI for Post-Sales: The Quiet Effort Behind Data Modeling and Context ft. Jon Finegold (CEO, Precog)

    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.

    29 min
  5. Ep # 176: Spotting At-Risk Accounts Without a Fancy Health Score ft. Francesca Smedberg (Former VP of Product, Rillion)

    FEB 26

    Ep # 176: Spotting At-Risk Accounts Without a Fancy Health Score ft. Francesca Smedberg (Former VP of Product, Rillion)

    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.

    44 min
  6. Ep # 175: Turning Sales Content Into a Sales System: The “In-Home” Playbook ft. Dean Curtis (CEO, Ingage)

    FEB 24

    Ep # 175: Turning Sales Content Into a Sales System: The “In-Home” Playbook ft. Dean Curtis (CEO, Ingage)

    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.

    47 min
  7. Ep # 174: AI-Native vs. AI-Powered: Why the Distinction Defines the Future of SaaS ft. Doug Marinaro (CEO & Founder, Riptide)

    FEB 13

    Ep # 174: AI-Native vs. AI-Powered: Why the Distinction Defines the Future of SaaS ft. Doug Marinaro (CEO & Founder, Riptide)

    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.

    1h 3m
  8. Ep # 173: Qualification as Risk Management: The Discipline Behind Predictable Pipeline ft. Colin Wood (VP, US Sales, SG Analytics)

    JAN 30

    Ep # 173: Qualification as Risk Management: The Discipline Behind Predictable Pipeline ft. Colin Wood (VP, US Sales, SG Analytics)

    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.

    47 min
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About

Across the Funnel is a weekly, interview-style podcast series uncovering bits of knowledge from some of the greatest minds in tech. We dig into concrete GTM moves across sales, customer success, and account management so you can build revenue that lasts. Powered by hyperengage & Dextego Want to join in as a guest, drop an email at podcast@hyperengage.io

Information

  • Creator
    Hyperengage & Dextego
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    179
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Hyperengage & Dextego
  • Show Website
    Across the Funnel