The MarTech Matrix

Sean Simon
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The MarTech Matrix Podcast is dedicated to helping brands and agencies discover technology without the hassles and time commitment of lengthy sales calls. There are over 17k MarTech solution on the market, in dozens of categories. Finding the right, best solution can take months from the beginning of the search until selection. This podcast, it’s content, and our platform are designed to help expedite the entire process because time is money and neither is more precious than the other.

  1. 5d ago

    Critical AI Skills for Marketers

    Your marketing team is investing in technology — but the ROI isn't showing up. Tools go underused. Stacks overlap. Every new rollout feels like dragging people through mud. That's not a vendor problem. It's a structure problem. Jean Guan spent 15 years at CDW building the company's MarTech enablement team from the ground up — from a server sitting under someone's desk to a full governance function connecting marketing strategy with enterprise IT infrastructure at scale. In this episode of The Human Side of MarTech, Jean shares: -How CDW built its MarTech team from zero (and why most large enterprises get this wrong) -The enterprise vendor selection process — IT, legal, procurement, finance, AND security in the same room -Why most MarTech implementations fail (hint: it's not the technology) -How CDW used a Center of Excellence to drive AI adoption across the organization -The 3 pillars every MarTech professional needs to master: Technology, Process, and People -What agentic AI means for the customer experience — and the governance challenges ahead -Rapid fire: the most overused MarTech buzzword, the biggest selection mistake, and the trend to watch If you're managing a marketing tech stack, evaluating vendors, or leading your team through AI transformation — this episode is required listening. ───────────────────────────── TIMESTAMPS ───────────────────────────── 00:00 — Introduction: Jean Guan's background and MarTech journey 01:00 — University of Wisconsin-Madison and getting into consulting 03:00 — Joining CDW: the server under the desk story 04:00 — Why enterprises need a dedicated MarTech function 06:00 — How enterprise MarTech vendor selection actually works 08:30 — The role of procurement, legal, and security in tool selection 10:10 — Governance and driving tool adoption inside large organizations 13:00 — Change management: why it's emotional, not just a project plan 17:00 — How CDW thinks about AI and the customer experience 20:00 — AI adoption internally: CDW's Center of Excellence approach 23:00 — MarTech stack overlap and the CDP problem 27:00 — Skills every MarTech professional needs to build 31:00 — Career advice: which path into MarTech is right for you? 35:00 — Rapid fire: buzzwords, mistakes, and trends 38:00 — Why AI agents and healthcare are Jean's ones to watch 39:00 — Closing thoughts

  2. Jul 13

    Why Your Retargeting Partner is Only Reaching 15% of Your Shoppers

    Most ecommerce brands think their retargeting is handled. They're running Criteo or Performance Max, hitting their ROAS targets, and moving on. Here's the problem: their platform is only reaching 15–20% of the visitors who bounced from their site. The other 80–85% never see their brand again. In this episode of Inside the Blurb, I sit down with Jason Blom — VP of Strategic Opportunities at RTB House and former Criteo sales leader — to break down what deep learning retargeting actually does differently, and whether adding a second retargeting partner is worth it. We cover: ✅ Why no single retargeting platform can reach more than 15–20% of your eligible audience ✅ Deep learning vs. machine learning — what the difference actually means in practice ✅ Why 60%+ of RTB House-driven purchases happen on products shoppers never viewed or carted ✅ The exact framework for setting up a clean incrementality test ✅ What RTB House collects that standard retargeters don't (beyond the 5 standard pixels) ✅ How RTB House's creative philosophy differs from the ugly retargeting ads you're used to ✅ The question most brands forget to ask when evaluating a lower-funnel partner This isn't a pitch — it's a candid conversation between two former Criteo colleagues who know this space inside and out. Read the full breakdown + key takeaways: [INSERT POST URL] Check out RTB House on Blurbs: https://www.trustblurbs.com --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Introduction: How Jason and Sean know each other (Criteo origins) 01:14 — Why Jason spent 7 years evaluating RTB House before joining 04:11 — The moment Jason knew RTB House technology was real 05:46 — What it's like selling against your former employer 08:45 — The Shopkick detour and what retail roots taught Jason about retargeting 13:17 — Deep learning vs. machine learning — what it actually means 16:08 — Why standard DSPs can't replicate deep learning performance 18:11 — How RTB House bids differently than Criteo and Google 22:16 — Where AI is taking performance marketing next 25:41 — The 60% stat: why most purchases come from never-viewed products 30:10 — Consumer behavior online vs. in-store (and why it matters for retargeting) 31:45 — Making the case for running two retargeting partners 35:28 — How to set up a clean incrementality test 39:15 — What it takes to get started with RTB House 41:17 — The first-party data advantage: beyond the 5 standard pixels 43:29 — How RTB House clients eventually consolidate their spend 46:21 — RTB House's creative philosophy and why retargeting ads can look better 48:52 — Rapid fire: most common objection, best question to ask, advice to younger self 52:33 — Closing thoughts --- ABOUT INSIDE THE BLURB Inside the Blurb is a podcast by The MarTech Matrix where Sean Simon interviews founders and leaders from the vendor side of marketing technology. No buzzwords. No fluff. Just honest conversations about what these platforms actually do and how they do it.

  3. Jul 5

    What Vendors Get Wrong — A Fractional CMO’s Honest Take on MarTech Sales

    Most vendor outreach fails before it's even opened. And most demos lose the deal before the second slide. In this episode of The Human Side of MarTech, Sean Simon sits down with Chris Seahorn, Co-founder of Boundless Digital — a fractional CMO agency he started two years ago with a longtime colleague after 25+ years in digital marketing at companies like eBags, MapQuest, Naked Wines, and others. Chris evaluates MarTech stacks across multiple clients simultaneously. He has an unusual vantage point: he sees what vendors do well, what kills deals, and what separates implementations that stick from ones that quietly die at renewal time. In this conversation: → The StoryBrand framework: why "your customer is the hero" changes everything about how you sell → What makes Chris immediately delete a cold email (and what gets a meeting) → The "kitchen sink demo" problem — and how to fix it before you walk in the room → How a fractional CMO evaluates a client's tech stack from day one → Why conversion rate optimization is always the first quick win (and how 5% improvements stack to 25–30% total lift) → The most common checkout conversion killers: coupon confusion, account creation walls, and traffic mismatches → Why SaaS implementations fail — and it's almost never the product → AI customer service agents: why they went from "worse than useless" to genuinely impressive → The self-checkout analogy and what it tells us about AI adoption timelines → What Chris would tell his 1999 self: "Progress over perfection — trust your gut, but come with the receipts" 0:00 — Introduction: Chris Seahorn and Boundless Digital 1:30 — Chris's 25-year journey: eBags, MapQuest, Naked Wines, startups 3:30 — Why Chris left the CMO seat to go fractional 5:30 — What signals to Chris that a vendor actually understands his world 8:00 — The StoryBrand framework: hero, guide, problem, plan 11:00 — The "creep factor" — when vendor research goes too far 13:30 — Getting from inbox to meeting: breaking through the clutter 16:00 — What makes a good vs. bad vendor demo 19:30 — The kitchen sink problem: analysis paralysis in presentations 22:00 — Why use cases and follow-ups close more than the deck does 24:30 — How a fractional CMO walks into a new client 27:00 — The first assessment: looking at data before charging anything 30:00 — Evaluating a tech stack: measurement first, then fundamentals 33:00 — Email/SMS, CRO, and A/B testing as the foundation 36:00 — Conversion rate: the tide that lifts all ships 39:30 — Why 5% improvements on key pages beat swinging for 50% 42:00 — The most common conversion killers (coupon confusion, account walls) 45:30 — Seasonal behavior: why November cart abandonment is actually a good sign 48:00 — The tire store checkout story — friction that kills conversions 51:00 — Are consumers actually changing their behavior with AI? 54:00 — AI recommendation engines and what winning e-commerce brands do 57:00 — AI customer service agents: from worse-than-useless to genuinely impressive 60:00 — The self-checkout analogy and AI adoption timelines 63:00 — Why SaaS implementations fail: no champion, no success definition 66:00 — Chris's advice to vendors: step out of your own shoes 68:00 — The case for trials and reduced-rate pilots 70:00 — Advice to his early-career self: progress over perfection

  4. Jul 5

    Why DTC Brands Lose the Customers They Think Are Already Theirs

    Most DTC brands aren't losing customers because they stopped caring. They're losing them because they started taking them for granted. Agnes Seville is the Head of Paid Media at Little Sleepies — a fast-growing DTC children's pajama brand with over 500,000 members in their community. In this episode of The Human Side of MarTech, Agnes breaks down the real drivers of DTC customer retention, why brand and performance marketing fail when siloed, how Meta's algorithm is forcing a creative strategy rethink, and what brands should actually measure to know if their paid media is working. Whether you're running a lean DTC team or trying to scale paid social without burning budget, this conversation is packed with grounded, practical insight from someone doing it at a high level. --------- WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: --------- → How Agnes went from agency side to brand side — and what she learned making that switch → Why Little Sleepies built a 500K Facebook VIP community (and what "real" community actually means) → The customer loyalty mindset shift every DTC brand needs to make → Why brand and performance marketing teams fail when they compete instead of collaborate → How Meta's algorithm is penalizing creative repetition — and how to adapt → The attribution tools Agnes uses (Northbeam + platform data) and why nCAC is the metric that matters most → How to evaluate MarTech without getting burned by the implementation cost → What DTC brands consistently get wrong about vendors → The one piece of advice she'd give her younger self: "Be brave and do it scared." --------- TIMESTAMPS: --------- 0:00 — Introduction 1:16 — Agnes's career path: from agency to brand side 4:48 — Little Sleepies and what they actually sell 6:21 — How Little Sleepies builds a 500K-member community 8:29 — What most brands misunderstand about their customers 10:10 — The over-messaging problem (the Kuru shoes example) 13:28 — How brands earn trust vs. assume loyalty 14:55 — Performance vs. brand marketing: where does each fall short? 16:52 — Why silos between brand and performance teams hurt results 19:36 — How Agnes measures holistic media performance (Northbeam + platform data) 20:53 — Is revenue the right north star metric? 22:00 — Why new customer acquisition cost is the real metric for Little Sleepies 24:25 — If forced to choose: brand or performance? 26:24 — Meta creative fatigue and the algorithm problem 29:42 — What a great e-commerce experience actually looks like 32:16 — How to evaluate marketing technology on a lean team 34:10 — The hidden cost of new tools: human capital, not just subscription fees 36:24 — Data vs. intuition in marketing decision-making 38:28 — Why human judgment still beats AI in marketing 40:44 — One piece of advice for growing a DTC brand today 43:16 — What vendors consistently get wrong when selling to DTC brands 44:17 — Advice Agnes would give her younger self 45:34 — Closing thoughts --------- ABOUT THE SHOW: --------- The Human Side of MarTech shines a light on the people behind the technology — the brand and agency marketers navigating complex stacks, tight budgets, and constant change. Hosted by Sean Simon, co-founder of Blurbs (trustblurbs.com) and Cogent Collective. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss one.

  5. Jun 25

    How a DTC Operator Evaluates MarTech

    Most brand marketers talk about what tools they use. Sean Agatep talks about why everything has to earn its place on the P&L. Sean is the co-founder and operator of Vincero Watches — a brand he launched in China with his college friends in 2014. From Kickstarter experiments to Facebook mastery to navigating the AI era, he's built one of the most disciplined approaches to marketing technology in the DTC space. In this episode, we go deep on: → Why Vincero used Kickstarter as a marketing testing platform — not a fundraiser → How mastering one channel (Facebook) built a sustainable competitive advantage → The real framework for evaluating vendors when you own the P&L → Why aspirational case studies are the fastest way to lose a deal → His "holes in the boat" approach to vendor relationships → Where AI is actually adding value — and where it's still noise If you sell to brands or buy MarTech for a living, this one is required listening. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 The Origin Story of Vincero 04:03 Kickstarter as a Marketing Platform 06:40 Scaling the Business: Lessons Learned 09:37 Evaluating Marketing Technologies 12:50 Vendor Relationships and Evaluation 15:52 The Role of AI in Business 18:37 Staying Ahead in a Competitive Market 21:55 Future Trends and Innovations ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ KEY TAKEAWAYS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1. Evaluate tech against your most pressing needs — not what's trending 2. Deep channel expertise creates a defensible edge. Go wide too early and you lose both. 3. Vendors: know the brand's weight class. Stop pitching logos they can't relate to. 4. Lean tech stacks move faster. Over-investment in fixed solutions kills flexibility. 5. AI adoption is a habit problem. Focus on getting your team using it — not finding the perfect tool. 6. The best vendor relationships are built long before the deal. Get on the shortlist.

  6. Jun 25

    Dear Mr. Vendor: Lead With the Problem You Solve

    Most people in MarTech have sat on one side of the table. Thomas Mercier has sat on all of them. Vendor. Agency. Brand. Publisher. Consultant. From Quantcast to OMD to Activision to WildBrain — Thomas has seen how technology gets bought, sold, evaluated, and ignored from every angle. That makes his take on vendor pitches, ethics, and sustainability unlike almost anyone else's. In this episode, we go deep on: → The #1 thing vendors still get wrong (and have always gotten wrong) → Why credibility is a two-way street — buyers have work to do too → How Thomas built a sustainability framework at Activision that cut carbon emissions 30% without hurting ROAS → What ethics in advertising actually means — beyond compliance → The microphone activation story every vendor should hear → How Gen Z is rewiring brand loyalty around ethics, not punch cards → His single best piece of advice for every sales rep If you sell to brands or evaluate vendors for a living, this one is required watching. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 The Unintentional Career Path 02:12 Mind Shifts in Role Transitions 04:17 Understanding Client Complexities 06:51 The Importance of Relevancy in Sales 08:43 Ethics in Children's Media 12:43 Navigating Ethical Challenges in Advertising 16:49 The Process of Vendor Evaluation 19:51 Managing Vendor Relationships 23:35 Establishing Credibility with Vendors 26:53 Mutual Respect in the Industry 28:10 The Importance of Transparency and Trust 29:40 Shifting Consumer Loyalty and Brand Ethics 36:20 Understanding Sustainability in Marketing 44:17 Leveraging AI for Efficiency 46:54 Advice for Sales Reps: Building Relationships ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ KEY TAKEAWAYS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1. Lead with the problem you solve — not the product you can sell 2. Credibility goes both ways. Buyers need to show up prepared too. 3. Buyers are more organizationally complex than they appear from the outside 4. Ethics is a stricter filter than legal compliance 5. Sustainability is now a real tiebreaker in vendor selection — at equal benefits 6. Be transparent about what your product DOESN'T do 7. Treat vendor relationships like partnerships, not transactions 8. Block calendar time for vendor discovery — it's part of the job 9. Consumer loyalty is shifting. Ethics and sustainability are the new moat. 10. Dare to ask the question — most people in the room have the same one

  7. Jun 25

    The Keys to Enterprise AI Data Integration

    The data warehouse model is 60 years old — and AI is about to expose every flaw in it. In this episode of Inside the Blurb, Sean Simon sits down with Kyle Csik, CEO and co-founder of Adaly, to get into what's actually broken about how enterprises handle data, why marketing has been set up to fail from the start, and what a genuinely different model looks like. Kyle spent 15 years on every side of adtech — exchange, DSP, publisher, agency — watching marketers fight with one hand tied behind their back. Adaly is his answer to a problem he's been watching compound for over a decade: you can't run modern AI on infrastructure that was designed for human analysts in the 1960s. In this conversation: → The Napster vs. Spotify analogy that explains why data warehouses can't support AI → Why marketing has been "operating with both arms tied behind its back" — and who's really at fault → How Adaly eliminates data copies (90% of all data is copies of other data) and inherits existing RBAC security → The crawl-walk-run adoption strategy for getting enterprise IT buy-in without a day-one rip-and-replace → How real-time supply chain data let one client plan media 12 months ahead of the market → The RFP team that went from "not confident in what we sent" to "making more money and standing behind our work" → "Adaly Terminal" — the system that tells you what questions you haven't thought to ask → The one question that defined the company: "Do you want to keep preparing to work or do you want to just get to the work?" TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — Introduction: Kyle Csik and Adaly 2:00 — Kyle's origin story: biological computers, physics, and adtech 6:00 — The moment adtech clicked — walking into one of the first biddable exchanges 9:00 — The Napster problem: why data warehouses were built for a world that no longer exists 14:00 — IBM → Oracle → Teradata → Snowflake: 60 years of the same broken model 17:00 — Marketing's dirty secret: both arms tied behind its back 22:00 — The 64% shelf-space stat that shows what marketing is missing 25:00 — Adaly's architecture: connecting to source systems instead of copying data 29:00 — RBAC inheritance: why CIOs love the security model 32:00 — 90% of all data is copies — and every copy is a new security risk 35:00 — The crawl-walk-run adoption strategy 38:00 — Real-time data use case: crop yields, media planning, and 12-month advantage 42:00 — Connector depth: 81 Salesforce APIs vs. first-page search results 45:00 — The RFP team that started standing behind their work 49:00 — Adaly Terminal: the system that asks what you haven't thought to ask 52:00 — The $1M/month "Netflix subscription" a client didn't know they had 55:00 — The Tesla Optimus robot that couldn't find the Coke 58:00 — Model-agnostic portability: your data estate travels with you 61:00 — The one question that built the company 64:00 — How to get started with Adaly 🎙️ Inside the Blurb is part of The MarTech Matrix — a podcast network for people who live and breathe marketing technology.

    The Keys to Enterprise AI Data Integration

  8. Feb 5

    Inside the Blurb with Insighta

    Summary In this conversation, Sean Simon and Matthew Liu delve into the intricacies of customer intelligence and how brands can leverage behavioral data to make informed marketing decisions. They discuss the methodology behind Insighta, a platform designed to help marketers understand their data, optimize ad spend, and drive growth. Matthew shares insights on the importance of predictive lifetime value, the challenges of multi-touch attribution, and the role of AI in marketing. The discussion also highlights the onboarding process for Insighta and the impact of data-driven strategies on brand success, illustrated through a case study with Obagi. Takeaways Marketers have access to vast amounts of customer data, but much of it remains underutilized. Insighta focuses on understanding the cost of acquiring customers over time, rather than just immediate returns. The platform is particularly beneficial for brands in growth phases with significant ad spend across multiple channels. Insighta's methodology combines various marketing measurement techniques into a unified approach. Actionability of data is crucial for marketers to make informed decisions. The predictive lifetime value feature helps brands identify long-term growth opportunities. Case studies, like that of Obagi, demonstrate the effectiveness of Insighta's strategies in driving new customer acquisition. Understanding customer journeys can extend back hundreds of days, providing valuable insights into purchasing behavior. Brands should seek transparent partnerships in measurement to ensure accurate data interpretation. AI is increasingly integrated into marketing tools, but its application is still evolving. Sound bites "What did it cost me to get that?" "It's like activity-based costing." "Actionability is a key component." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Customer Intelligence 02:41 Understanding Insighta's Methodology 05:34 When to Use Insighta 08:19 What Makes Insighta Remarkable 10:52 The Role of Data in Marketing Decisions 13:32 Navigating the Measurement Space 16:16 Onboarding and Support with Insighta 18:33 The Impact of Predictive LTV 21:12 Case Study: Obagi's Success 24:00 Lifetime Value for New Brands 26:20 Client Engagement and Analytics 29:13 The Future of AI in Marketing 31:39 Pricing Models and Considerations 34:08 Final Thoughts on Measurement Strategies 36:31 The New MarTech Matrix Outro ‑ Made with FlexClip.mp4

    Inside the Blurb with Insighta
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About

The MarTech Matrix Podcast is dedicated to helping brands and agencies discover technology without the hassles and time commitment of lengthy sales calls. There are over 17k MarTech solution on the market, in dozens of categories. Finding the right, best solution can take months from the beginning of the search until selection. This podcast, it’s content, and our platform are designed to help expedite the entire process because time is money and neither is more precious than the other.

Information

  • Creator
    Sean Simon
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sean Simon
  • Show Website
    The MarTech Matrix