A Go-To-Market Perspective

Robert Karel
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Marketing

B2B tech marketers must deliver on the fundamentals: build a trusted brand, develop differentiated positioning, and generate qualified demand that sales can convert into revenue. At the same time, we must harness rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to improve marketing scale and efficiency. Do more with less before being asked. The core idea behind the A Go-To-Market Perspective podcast is simple: reinforce the foundational best practices across every go-to-market discipline while discovering the hype-free AI innovations delivering real impact today. Each episode features in-depth conversations with experienced marketing leaders across product marketing, demand generation, brand, content, PR, analyst relations, customer advocacy, sales enablement, and more. We go deep into what consistently works: the frameworks, tradeoffs, and operating models behind high-performing teams. Critically, guests will also share how they are thoughtfully leveraging AI to evolve their specific functions and processes, with a focus on practical, responsible applications that enhance execution without compromising results. Hosted by Rob Karel, a seasoned B2B SaaS marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience across product marketing, go-to-market strategy, brand, and executive storytelling. Rob brings a practitioner-first perspective shaped by leadership roles in enterprise software, analyst research, and consulting—focused on what actually works to drive relevance, differentiation, and growth in complex B2B markets.

  1. Sep 29

    Lights, Camera, Differentiate: Using Video to Cut Through the B2B Sea of Sameness

    Video has always been a valuable B2B marketing tool for breaking through and building credibility. But the rules have changed. AI has made video easier and cheaper to produce than ever, creating a new problem. Buyers are wary of AI-generated content in their feeds, and attention spans keep shrinking, so the skills needed to plan and produce an impactful video are more critical than ever. In this episode, Rob sits down with Barry Epstein, co-founder of Ovation Solutions, a corporate video production company specializing in B2B technology and software, to navigate the fast-changing B2B video production channel. Barry brings decades of experience producing video for B2B tech companies across every stage, from pre-seed startups to global enterprises managing complex portfolios, and he has a clear perspective on how and when to effectively leverage video without breaking the bank as part of a balanced content strategy. The conversation covers the types of video that matter at each stage of the funnel and each stage of the company, why the message always has to come before the medium, how AI is changing the production process without changing what actually makes video effective, and why the companies that win with video aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets. If you're a founder, marketer, or GTM leader trying to figure out how video fits into your strategy, and even whether it should right now, this episode is a practical, experience-backed guide to getting it right.

    Lights, Camera, Differentiate: Using Video to Cut Through the B2B Sea of Sameness

  2. Sep 19

    Your First Product Launch Isn't a Process. It's a Hypothesis

    There are plenty of best practices available to help operationalize a repeatable launch management process: Tiering frameworks, launch readiness scorecards, go-to-market checklists. Most of them assume you have established product-market fit, plenty of customers, a validated message, and if you’re lucky, maybe even a market that’s heard of you! But what about the very first launch? The one where none of that exists? Where the product is untested, the market is unproven, and what you're really doing is placing a bet on a set of assumptions every founder must make that have yet to be validated at scale? In this episode, Rob sits down with Shannon Kearns, a product marketing and go-to-market strategy consultant and founder of More Than Said., to talk about bringing a brand new product to market for the first time. Shannon has worked on both sides of the GTM spectrum, from launching direct-to-consumer mobile apps via product-led growth motions to launching enterprise B2B products with high-touch sales cycles. She’s brought nearly 20 products to market over her career and brings a unique perspective on how early-stage companies can go about winning their first several customers. If you're a founder, early-stage marketer, or GTM consultant working with companies at zero-to-one, give this episode a listen.

    Your First Product Launch Isn't a Process. It's a Hypothesis

  3. Jul 31

    Stage Before Strategy: How PMM and AI Priorities Shift as B2B Companies Scale

    AI promises to help early-stage founders move faster and to help scaling companies do more with less. And it can, but only if there’s a solid GTM foundation to start. Without strong product marketing fundamentals, AI doesn't accelerate good work. But it can definitely accelerate bad work at scale. In this episode, Rob sits down with Jonathan Pipek, Founder of Blue Manta Consulting, to explore how product marketing and AI look fundamentally different depending on a company’s stage. Jonathan works across both worlds, and he's seeing very different failure patterns at each stage. This conversation covers what product marketing needs to get right before AI can be useful, how AI usage should evolve as a company scales, and why the strategic decisions around positioning, packaging, and ICP still require human judgment that no model can replicate. If you're a founder, PMM leader, or GTM executive trying to figure out where AI helps and where it quietly makes things worse, this episode is a grounded reality check from the front line.

    Stage Before Strategy: How PMM and AI Priorities Shift as B2B Companies Scale

  4. Jul 22

    Can the CRO Trust the Data? RevOps, AI, and the Insight Gap

    RevOps has always been the team that produces the dashboards. And CROs don't just want data. They expect insights and recommendations. They want to understand pipeline health and velocity, sales rep performance, and forecast accuracy. And RevOps is expected to use AI to deliver these insights at scale. The problem is that AI alone isn't delivering on that promise. Sales leaders are uploading spreadsheets to AI tools and getting different answers every time. Agents and bots are being built on top of a data infrastructure that was never designed to support them. And RevOps teams are caught in the middle - under pressure to deliver intelligence while working with data that's inconsistent, ungoverned, and increasingly coming from everywhere at once. In this episode, Rob sits down with two guests who have lived this problem from different angles. Darwin Singson, Global Revenue Enablement and Sales Automation Lead from former companies: Salesforce, Informatica, Automation Anywhere, Eventbrite. He has spent years building the AI-driven workflows and automation systems that RevOps teams need but rarely have. Naresh Govindaraj, CEO and Founder of AIdeaBlocks, is building infrastructure specifically designed to address the trust and data quality gap that sits between AI tools and the reliable insights GTM leaders actually need. If you lead RevOps, Sales Ops, revenue intelligence, or GTM strategy - or if you're a CRO who's still not sure whether to trust what your ops team's AI is telling you - give this episode a listen.

    Can the CRO Trust the Data? RevOps, AI, and the Insight Gap

  5. Jul 17

    Operationalizing AI in Marketing: Reality vs. Hype

    Sure, everyone says they're operationalizing AI for marketing, but inside most B2B organizations, there’s a lot less transformation going on and a lot more chaos. Shadow AI, talk of AI governance without an understanding of the processes being improved, and board pressure to show efficiency gains before anyone has figured out what good looks like. In this episode, Rob sits down with John Schneider, VP of Platform and Ecosystem Marketing at UKG, to separate the reality of AI-driven marketing transformation from the hype surrounding it. John brings a practitioner's lens to what it takes to move from experimentation and shadow AI to a genuinely empowered, AI-forward marketing organization - and why the heart of that transformation has less to do with tools and more to do with people enablement, process redesign, and a strong partnership with IT. If you're a marketing leader navigating board pressure, shadow AI sprawl, and the very real challenge of building an AI-forward org without losing what makes great marketing great, be sure to tune in to this one.

    Operationalizing AI in Marketing: Reality vs. Hype

  6. May 26

    Product Management in the Age of AI: Master It or Get Left Behind

    Product management is the connective tissue between company strategy, customer insight, engineering, and go-to-market. From early-stage startups trying to find product-market fit to scaling enterprises managing complex portfolios, the PM is the role most responsible for ensuring the right things get built for the right reasons and are brought to market effectively. But the role is being disrupted. AI is accelerating engineering velocity, adding pressure for PMs to move faster on customer research and discovery, and creating new expectations from boards, investors, and leadership about how product teams should operate. The PM's job hasn't gotten smaller, but it's getting more complex and urgent. In this episode, Rob sits down with Chris Mann, Founder of GrokAI and a seasoned product leader with experience at LinkedIn, 1Password, You.com, and Bizo, to discuss why product managers must embrace and innovate with AI every day, and figure out how to smartly apply it when aligning product strategy with company objectives, driving inbound research and customer discovery, and working cross-functionally with engineering, sales, and marketing to activate and launch. If you're in product management, product marketing, or leading GTM strategy, this episode is a grounded look at what it means to be a high-impact product leader today in the face of AI transformation.

    Product Management in the Age of AI: Master It or Get Left Behind

  7. Apr 26

    The Trust Gap: Why Most B2B Brands Play It Safe, and Lose

    In B2B marketing, everyone talks about differentiation, bold storytelling, and building memorable brands. Yet scroll through your LinkedIn feed, and it’s hard to tell one company from another. In this episode, Rob sits down with Skott Bennett, Senior Director of Brand at Qlik, to unpack what may be the most overlooked constraint in modern go-to-market strategy: trust. Not trust in data or dashboards, but trust in people. Specifically, the willingness of leaders to empower experienced brand and creative teams to take risks, make bold decisions, and stand out. The conversation explores the narrative tension between brand and product marketing, the fatigue with the “measure everything” era, and why an overreliance on metrics may be driving B2B marketing toward a sea of sameness. If you're a CMO, founder, or go-to-market leader trying to break out of safe, forgettable marketing, this episode is a candid look at what it takes to build a stand-out brand.

    The Trust Gap: Why Most B2B Brands Play It Safe, and Lose

  8. Apr 20

    Beyond Translation: What International Expansion Really Demands of Marketing

    No matter what country your B2B business is based in, there will come a time in your growth journey when you must evaluate regional or even global expansion as part of your go-to-market strategy. In this episode, Rob speaks with Angela Troccoli, head of marketing at Revecore, who shares real-world insights from her experience as an American marketing leader working for companies headquartered outside the U.S. and helping organizations expand across borders in both directions. Angela explores the cultural and organizational challenges of international marketing, from being expected to unlock the U.S. market to translating strategy, expectations, and execution across global teams. She explains why international expansion is never just about translating content. It’s a full cultural and operational shift that requires the right marketing foundation, investment, and leadership alignment.

    Beyond Translation: What International Expansion Really Demands of Marketing
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About

B2B tech marketers must deliver on the fundamentals: build a trusted brand, develop differentiated positioning, and generate qualified demand that sales can convert into revenue. At the same time, we must harness rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to improve marketing scale and efficiency. Do more with less before being asked. The core idea behind the A Go-To-Market Perspective podcast is simple: reinforce the foundational best practices across every go-to-market discipline while discovering the hype-free AI innovations delivering real impact today. Each episode features in-depth conversations with experienced marketing leaders across product marketing, demand generation, brand, content, PR, analyst relations, customer advocacy, sales enablement, and more. We go deep into what consistently works: the frameworks, tradeoffs, and operating models behind high-performing teams. Critically, guests will also share how they are thoughtfully leveraging AI to evolve their specific functions and processes, with a focus on practical, responsible applications that enhance execution without compromising results. Hosted by Rob Karel, a seasoned B2B SaaS marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience across product marketing, go-to-market strategy, brand, and executive storytelling. Rob brings a practitioner-first perspective shaped by leadership roles in enterprise software, analyst research, and consulting—focused on what actually works to drive relevance, differentiation, and growth in complex B2B markets.

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