APAC's B2B Growth Podcast

xGrowth
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On APAC's B2B Growth Podcast, we unpack trends, bust myths, and deliver insights you can put to work today to drive growth in APAC. Hosted by Shahin Hoda & Vinnie Romano Produced by Shahin Hoda & Alexander Hipwell from xGrowth Subscribe to the xG Weekly Newsletter for weekly insights on B2B growth across APAC: https://xgrowth.com.au/newsletter

  1. 5d ago

    Building a Go to Market Hub That Connects Sales, Marketing and Customer Success with Ronan Bray

    What happens when a marketing leader goes all in on AI, not just for himself, but for his entire team? Ronan Bray, Head of Marketing & Growth at Cloud Assess, joins the podcast to unpack exactly that. From a two week Christmas break spent teaching himself to build apps, to rolling out a fully connected go to market platform that pulls live data from HubSpot, Google Search Console, and Notion, Ronan shares the real story of AI adoption inside a B2B marketing team, mess, momentum, and all. This episode is a practical playbook for any marketing leader wondering how to move a team from AI curiosity to AI capability. Ronan gets specific about what worked (starting small with personal projects), what didn't (announcing a team wide AI mandate with almost no context), and where he still won't let AI near the steering wheel, like paid ad spend and image or video creation. Guest Introduction Ronan Bray is Head of Marketing & Growth at Cloud Assess, where he leads a global marketing team driving pipeline with over 85 percent of ARR from inbound. Over 16 years he has scaled B2B marketing for ASX listed companies and his own startups (three reaching acquisition or buyout), building on experience at HubSpot and Drift. Key Topics Ronan's personal path into AI, from everyday ChatGPT use to picking Claude as the team's core tool to avoid spreading focus too thinHow a two week Christmas break and a personal "vibe coding" project (a lawn care scheduler built in Lovable) became the spark for wider team adoptionThe simple three question framework Ronan uses with his team: where's your time going, what's repetitive, and what's the ideal end stateBuilding a go to market hub in Lovable that connects HubSpot, Google Search Console and Firecrawl to surface content gaps and sales insights automaticallyWhy Ronan's team keeps a human in the loop on all content, even though AI can draft it, because audiences and algorithms can both tell when something is fully AI generatedThe security guardrails Cloud Assess put in place around domain locking and vulnerability scanning when building internally with LovableWhy Ronan won't hand over paid ad spend decisions to AI, even with tools connected to Google AdsWhat's next for Ronan's team: using AI for image and video generation to communicate fast moving product releases to sales and customers Resources & Links Companies & Tools Cloud Assess: Ronan's company, an AI powered training and assessment platform, referenced throughout as the environment for his AI rolloutLovable: the AI app builder Ronan and his team use to build internal tools, including their go to market hubClaude: the AI assistant Ronan's team standardised on for everyday tasks and custom team projectsHubSpot: the CRM feeding deal and pipeline data into the go to market hubFirecrawl: the web scraping tool connected to their platform to analyse blog and competitor contentChatGPT: the tool Ronan first used for personal AI adoption before switching to ClaudeNotion: used by Cloud Assess's product team to track features, later integrated into the go to market hubHiggsfield: an AI image and video tool Ronan tested via MCP, which he found fell short for a recent website rebuild Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Ronan Bray Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell & Dave Somido Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder Podcast Co-ordinator: Jonah Igsie APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    Building a Go to Market Hub That Connects Sales, Marketing and Customer Success with Ronan Bray

  2. Jul 16

    The Partner Marketing Playbook Nobody Talks About with Jordana Sunderland

    Most B2B marketers treat partners like a sales channel. Jordana Sunderland says that's the core mistake. In this episode, Jordana, Director of Integrated Marketing for the Pacific Zone at Schneider Electric, joins Shahin to unpack what genuine partner marketing looks like and why so many companies get it fundamentally wrong. From her early career marketing pharmaceuticals to her current work navigating the energy transition, Jordana draws on cross-industry experience to reveal how insights, enablement, and real partnership beat price conversations every time. If your go-to-market relies on a channel or distribution network, this episode is essential listening. Guest Introduction Jordana Sunderland is Director of Integrated Marketing, Pacific Zone at Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy technology. With over two decades of B2B marketing experience across the pharmaceutical and energy sectors, Jordana has built a reputation for turning partner relationships into genuine growth engines through enablement, insight, and advisory-led sales. Key Topics Why leadership and sales teams default to price conversations with partners, and why that framing is detrimental to long-term growthHow to win share of mind over share of shelf by understanding what partners are actually trying to achieve in their businessThe role of partner enablement, including loyalty programs, training, and data-driven insights, in driving preference for your product over competitorsA real-world example from community pharmacy: how Jordana's team became indispensable to partners by providing expert analysis on government pricing changes that directly affected their revenueHow to balance end-user demand generation against partner-led selling, and why Jordana recommends a 70/30 partner-to-end-user investment split as a starting pointThe attitudinal segmentation approach to partner acquisition: why firmographic size is a poor proxy for partner quality and how to identify partners who share your valuesCo-marketing reality check: why logo placement and random promotions deliver nothing, and what genuine co-marketing amplification looks likeMDF fund management: how to maintain brand alignment when marketing development funds are in play, and why sales and marketing must be tightly connected Resources & Links  Companies & Tools Schneider Electric -Jordana's current employer; a global energy technology companyViatris -the generics pharmaceuticals company (formerly Mylan) where Jordana held a marketing role prior to Schneider Electric Books & Resources The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson - recommended by Jordana as a foundational read that shaped her marketing approach Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Jordana Sunderland Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell & Dave Somido Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder Podcast Co-ordinator: Jonah Igsie APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    The Partner Marketing Playbook Nobody Talks About with Jordana Sunderland

  3. Jul 2

    How to fix your GTM playbook without starting a revolution with Andrei Zinkevich

    The CMO role has never been harder. Trust from leadership sits at around 30%, average tenure has dropped to 16–18 months, and budgets keep getting cut while pressure mounts to "bolt on AI" without any strategy in place. But is this a people problem, or a playbook problem? Andrei Zinkevich, co-founder of Fullfunnel.io, argues it is firmly the latter. In this episode, he and host Shahin Hoda tear apart the demand waterfall model that has been quietly undermining B2B marketing functions for years, and map out a practical path to cross-functional go-to-market that actually drives revenue. Andrei also shares his change management playbook, his approach to building CFO buy-in, and why deploying AI into a broken process just accelerates the wrong outcomes. Guest Introduction Andrei Zinkevich is co-founder of Fullfunnel.io, a B2B marketing consultancy helping tech and service companies with high-value deals and long sales cycles build full-funnel, account-based go-to-market programs. He is co-author of the book Full-Funnel B2B Marketing alongside co-founder Vladimir Blagojevic, a systematic guide to fixing broken GTM playbooks and building an enterprise pipeline without organisational revolution. Key Topics Why CMO trust and tenure are falling: the broken demand waterfall model, not individual performance, is the root cause, and why MQLs are no longer moving the needle with leadershipThe case for cross-functional go-to-market: why siloed marketing, sales, and customer success KPIs make revenue growth structurally impossible for companies with long sales cyclesFlipping the measurement funnel: using revenue and sales-qualified opportunities from strategic accounts as North Star metrics, then decomposing to account engagement thresholds rather than arbitrary scoring modelsDriving organisational change without triggering a revolution: the two-stage approach of problem buy-in first and solution buy-in second, including how to collect evidence, find internal change agents, and connect the dots to strategic initiativesThe "CFO quiz" playbook: reviewing closed-won deals across all touch points to reframe the attribution conversation with leadership and shift toward revenue-responsible marketing metricsMaking existing programs account-based as the entry point for change: showing marketing's impact on strategic accounts and pipeline without needing new technology or budgetAI in B2B go-to-market: why AI accelerates whatever processes already exist (good or broken), the dangers of "doing more with less" without a strategy, and the POS framework (Pilot, Operationalisation, Scaling) for responsible implementation Resources & Links Vladimir Blagojevic-Co-founder, Fullfunnel.io and co-author of Full-Funnel B2B MarketingFull-Funnel B2B Marketing by Andrei Zinkevich and Vladimir Blagojevic — also available on Amazon Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Andrei Zinkevich Produced by:  Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell and Dave Somido Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    How to fix your GTM playbook without starting a revolution with Andrei Zinkevich

  4. Jun 18

    How to Fix the Marketing to Sales Handover Before Your Leads Go Cold with Nishi Seth

    What happens to all those leads marketing works so hard to generate? More often than not, they go cold. According to Nishi Seth, Industry & Solutions Marketing Lead for Google Cloud APAC, this isn't a niche problem. It's one of the most persistent challenges across B2B, regardless of company size or sophistication. In this episode, Shahin sits down with Nishi to unpack the real reasons leads stall between marketing and sales, from qualification gaps to missing context, and what it actually takes to fix them. Nishi shares battle-tested lessons from scaling Google Cloud's marketing-to-sales motion across APAC, including how AI is transforming BDR productivity right now. Guest Introduction Nishi Seth is the Industry & Solutions Marketing Lead for Google Cloud APAC at Google, with over 20 years of experience across cloud technology, financial services, and travel. She has held senior marketing roles at American Express and British Airways, and is a recognised B2B marketing leader across the Asia-Pacific region. Key Topics Why leads go cold: the two root causes (qualification gaps and context gaps) and why even the most sophisticated B2B organisations struggle with themThe three pillars of an optimised marketing-to-sales handover: lead quality, context, and a continuous review and feedback loopWhy BDRs are the critical bridge between marketing and sales, and how to assess whether your BDR function is actually workingHow MQL definitions should evolve over time: Google Cloud's journey from basic demographic scoring to 48+ real-time intent signals, including account-level qualificationWhat providing context to BDRs really means: enablement calls, campaign-specific opening scripts, and cadences tailored to how each lead engagedThe key metrics that reveal handover health: SAL acceptance rates, SAL-to-SQL conversion, number of outreach touches, and lead velocityHow AI is changing BDR productivity: using automation for low-intent lead follow-up, real-time AI assistants during live sales calls, and AI-powered account research at scaleNishi's rapid-fire take: "strong opinions, loosely held," using AI to boost your own marketing productivity, and why simplifying complexity in B2B is what excites her most Resources & Links Google Cloud — Nishi's base for all real-world examples discussed, from MQL definition evolution to AI-powered BDR toolingGoogle Gemini — Nishi's go-to research tool in place of following influencers; she also used it to prepare for this episode Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Nishi Seth Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    How to Fix the Marketing to Sales Handover Before Your Leads Go Cold with Nishi Seth

  5. Jun 4

    Rebroadcast:How Marketing Can Own Go-to-Market (Instead of Just Supporting Sales) with David Heyworth

    Too many B2B marketing teams are still talking leads when they should be talking revenue. In this episode, Shahin sits down with David Heyworth, GTM advisor and former Head of Marketing at Vocus, to unpack what it really takes to drive commercial outcomes in the second half of 2025. From ditching MQL vanity metrics to building genuine alignment with sales, finance, and product, David brings hard-won lessons from complex B2B environments in Australia. This is a conversation packed with practical frameworks and honest war stories, including one of the most creative ABM activations you'll hear about: a commissioned coin ceremony at the Australian War Memorial, hosted by former Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, that cemented a 20-year defence sector partnership without a single sales pitch. Guest Introduction David Heyworth is a GTM advisor and CMO with deep experience leading marketing in complex B2B environments across Australia, including his tenure as Head of Marketing at Vocus, one of Australia's leading fibre and network solutions providers. He specialises in go-to-market strategy, sales and marketing alignment, and account-based selling for enterprise and government markets. Key Topics Why agility, balance, and growth are the non-negotiables for B2B marketing teams in the second half of 2025Shifting the conversation from lead generation to revenue opportunities and why talking in dollars gets marketing a seat at the tableHow marketing can own the full GTM motion: building interlocks with sales, finance, and product leadership rather than operating in isolationThe case for an inside sales or sales discovery rep function that sits within marketing and how to prove the model before committing headcountWhy ABM works better when reframed as account-based selling (ABS) and how to sequence one-to-many, one-to-few, and one-to-one engagementBattle-tested lessons from event marketing gone wrong and how champions and pre-agreed outreach schedules turned it aroundA standout defence sector ABM case study: creating a custom commemorative coin and hosting a ceremony at the Australian War Memorial to honour a 20-year partnershipGo-to-market fundamentals that get skipped: market definition, value proposition, messaging frameworks by segment and buyer persona, and why these must come before the marketing plan Resources & Links People Peter Cosgrove-former Chief of the Defence Force and 26th Governor-General of AustraliaSeth Godin - Author and marketing thought leader; David recommends his book Purple Cow on differentiation. Companies & Tools Vocus -Australian telco where David served as CMO.Akimbo -Seth Godin's Podcast Books Purple Cow by Seth Godin Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: David Heyworth Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    Rebroadcast:How Marketing Can Own Go-to-Market (Instead of Just Supporting Sales) with David Heyworth

  6. May 21

    IBM's AI Marketing Journey from Experimentation to Intentional Execution with Craig Mills

    What does it actually look like to roll out AI at enterprise scale inside one of the world's most recognisable technology companies? Craig Mills, APAC Head of Demand Generation and AI Marketing Transformation Lead at IBM, shares the real story: the internal lockdowns, the false starts, the springtime of ideas that fizzled, and the hard-won clarity that followed. Craig walks through IBM's shift from experimentation to intentional, use-case-driven execution in 2026, with a focus on email marketing as an underrated strategic weapon. He also shares a simple three-part navigation framework any B2B marketer can apply, regardless of the size of their organisation. Guest Introduction Craig Mills is the APAC Head of Demand Generation and AI Marketing Transformation Lead at IBM. With over two decades at IBM, Craig has led marketing transformation across Asia Pacific, focusing on data-driven demand generation and the practical adoption of AI across complex, multi-market enterprise environments. Key Topics IBM's AI adoption arc: from pre-GPT predictive analytics through the GPT moment, internal lockdowns on AI use, the launch of IBM watsonx in 2023, and the shift to focused execution in 2026The "client zero" experience: how IBM employees lived the AI transformation firsthand through changes to HR systems, well before the broader market caught upWhy email marketing is Craig's number one AI use case and how IBM is moving from successful pilots to systematic, micro-targeted execution at scaleMicro-segmentation at enterprise scale: how AI enables hyper-personalised outreach to audience pockets that were previously too small to justify the investmentThe people-process-tools interconnectivity challenge: why enterprise AI is so difficult and why most organisations are still struggling to get it rightCraig's three navigation points for B2B marketers: get closer to customers and partners, get closer to your product, and go fasterBuilding maximum mental flexibility: why clarity of mission is the prerequisite for individual speed and creative agility in an AI-driven environmentThe IBM Enterprise 2030 finding: 79% of executives expect AI to drive significant revenue by 2030, yet only 24% know where it will come from Resources and Links Tools IBM Enterprise 2030 Report -Craig's North Star on AI strategy: 79% of executives expect AI to drive significant revenue by 2030, but only 24% know where it will come from.This Week in Startups -Podcast by Jason Calacanis. Craig recommends it for building a startup mindset inside large organisations.IBM watsonx -IBM's enterprise AI platform, launched May 2023, central to IBM's AI transformation story.Microsoft Copilot -AI productivity tool Craig uses to move faster through emails and meetings.Claude -Anthropic's AI assistant, used by Craig for external customer research. People Mentioned Jason Calacanis -Entrepreneur and host of This Week in Startups. Craig spent a year listening to build a startup mindset within IBM.Ray Dalio -Founder of Bridgewater Associates. Craig follows him for his geopolitical frameworks and historical perspective on the forces shaping the world. Companies IBM -Global enterprise technology and consulting company. Also mentioned  Diablo - The classic video game. Apparently the only thing more addictive than playing with AI tools at midnight.  Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Craig Mills Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    IBM's AI Marketing Journey from Experimentation to Intentional Execution with Craig Mills

  7. May 7

    How to Build a Marketing Team for the AI Era with Cameron Partridge

    AI has made marketing easier to produce - but harder to win. That's the sharp framing Cameron Partridge, Chief Growth Officer at Humanforce, brings to this conversation. Drawing on nearly a decade in the US, including a front-row seat to the AI boom at Invisible Technologies, working directly with OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Microsoft on AI training, Cameron delivers one of the most grounded takes on where marketing is heading. From the collapse of specialist roles to why marketing must own revenue, this is the episode to send to every marketing leader sitting on the fence about what AI means for their team and career. Guest Introduction Cameron Partridge is Chief Growth Officer at Humanforce, an AI-driven human capital management platform serving frontline workforces globally. He spent nearly a decade in the US, most recently as CMO of Invisible Technologies, one of North America's fastest-growing AI companies, where he helped grow revenue from $25-30M to close to $200M run rate while working directly with the world's leading AI model providers. He previously held senior leadership roles at BBDO and Macquarie Group, and began his career at Medibank, Telstra, and GE Capital in Australia. Key Topics Why AI has lowered the floor of marketing quality and what "AI slop" means for how you actually win in a crowded content landscapeHow the marketing function is collapsing from siloed specialists into generalists - and why that's both an opportunity and a threatWhy Cameron no longer hires for deep channel expertise, and what he looks for instead: cultural fit, outcomes focus, and "neural plasticity"Why marketing must stop reporting on activity and move toward shared revenue ownership with sales - and the rise of the Chief Growth Officer titleThe go-to-market engineer role: what it is, why it's a critical hire, and why these people are rare in AustraliaWhy AI boosts individual productivity but not organisational productivity, and how systems thinking closes the gapCameron's AI toolkit: Claude for deep work, ChatGPT for quick questions, Claude Code for vibe coding - and why courses are the wrong way to learn AIThe job outlook for marketers: why middle managers face the most risk and why now is the time to act Resources & Links Tools Claude - Cameron's go-to for deep work and complex tasksClaude Code - Used by Cameron for vibe coding projectsChatGPT - Cameron's "new Google" for quick questionsManus - Meta owned AI agent platform Cameron is experimenting withNotebookLM - Recommended for knowledge workSEMrush - Part of Cameron's cross-platform insights dashboardX (formerly Twitter) - Recommended for following AI researchersSubstack - Recommended for action-oriented AI insights People Mentioned Allie K. Miller - Top LinkedIn voice on AI; also on Instagram Companies OpenAI - Worked with directly at Invisible Technologies; recommended for following researchersAnthropic - Makers of Claude; referenced as a foundational model provider worth followingGoogle - Referenced in Cameron's analytics dashboard and as a major AI model providerInvisible Technologies - Cameron's former employer; recommended as a source for enterprise AI developments Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Cameron Partridge Produced by:  Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    How to Build a Marketing Team for the AI Era with Cameron Partridge

  8. Apr 23

    Unveiling the 2026 ABM Pulse: What's Changed in APAC Over the Last Two Years

    See the results: https://xgrowth.com.au/reports/abm-pulse/ ABM is evolving fast in APAC, and xGrowth has the data to prove it. In this episode, Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell unpack the findings from xGrowth's latest ABM Pulse benchmark, based on responses from 93 B2B marketers actively running ABM programs across the region. From a dramatic shift away from one-to-few programs to AI quietly expanding the scale of what a single budget can cover, this episode cuts through the noise and tells you exactly what is actually happening with ABM in 2025. If you are making investment decisions or defending the ABM line item to your CFO, this one is for you. Key Topics Why one-to-few ABM dropped from 72% adoption in 2024 to around 38% in 2025, and what that signals about market maturity in APACHow strategic (one-to-one) ABM has held steady at around 50% as organisations focus on protecting and expanding existing customer relationshipsThe AI effect on program scale: why nearly a third of respondents are now running programs targeting 100 or more accounts on the same budgets they used for far fewerABM investment sentiment in 2025: 57% of respondents are holding or growing their ABM budgets, with only 5.2% cuttingWhy inbound is under pressure from zero-click search and LLM-driven traffic drops, and how this is pushing more organisations toward ABM as a primary pipeline channelBudget planning paralysis: why a significant portion of APAC marketing leaders still had not confirmed their 2026 budgets well into Q1, and what that says about market uncertaintyHow to use benchmark data like this as social proof when making the case for ABM investment to a CFO or board Resources & Links xGrowth ABM Pulse Report - download the full benchmark findingsxGrowth - APAC's B2B growth agencyShahin Hoda on LinkedInAlexander Hipwell on LinkedIn Contact & Credits Hosts: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Produced by:  Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth

    Unveiling the 2026 ABM Pulse: What's Changed in APAC Over the Last Two Years
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On APAC's B2B Growth Podcast, we unpack trends, bust myths, and deliver insights you can put to work today to drive growth in APAC. Hosted by Shahin Hoda & Vinnie Romano Produced by Shahin Hoda & Alexander Hipwell from xGrowth Subscribe to the xG Weekly Newsletter for weekly insights on B2B growth across APAC: https://xgrowth.com.au/newsletter

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