The Executive Brand Podcast

James Hawkins is the co-founder & co-CEO of PostHog, a dev-first product suite built to help teams build better software, faster. Since launching in 2020, PostHog has grown to 100+ people, 14 products, and a plan to hit $100M ARR by 2026, all while staying lean, shipping fast, and having fun. In this episode, James breaks down how they got early traction, why building for developers demands a...

Santosh Sharan is the founder of ZeerAI, who helped scale companies like Apollo, ZoomInfo, and RB2B. ZeerAI is building AI agents that act like your best sales rep, engaging with buyers, answering questions, and moving deals forward without needing a human. In this episode, Santosh explains why most sales and marketing channels are failing, how LinkedIn became his #1 source of demand, and how AI a...

Gal Aga is the co-founder and CEO of Aligned, a deal room platform used by teams at HubSpot, Salesforce, Intel, and more. In the last year, Gal went from a few thousand followers to 74,000+, gets up to 1M impressions per week, and attributes 65% of Aligned’s leads directly to LinkedIn. In this episode, Gal breaks down exactly how he writes high-performing posts, the system behind his three-post-pe...

Jason Fried is the co-founder of ⁨37signals the company behind Basecamp and HEY, and a pioneer of calm company building. In this episode, Jason explains why he doesn’t chase trends like AI, how 2-person teams launch new products inside 37signals, and what it really means to build with taste, not speed. Topics we cover in this episode: - Why Basecamp hasn’t added AI, and why that’s not a problem -...

Steffen Hedebrandt is the co-founder and CMO of Dreamdata, a B2B attribution and activation platform powering go-to-market insights for B2B companies. Dreamdata is 60 people strong, split between Copenhagen and New York, and they’ve built one of the most consistent employee advocacy motions in SaaS. It all started with a viral LinkedIn post from one AE and turned into a repeatable system that driv...

Amos Bar-Joseph is the co-founder and CEO of Swan AI, a go-to-market automation platform powered by AI agents. In just 9 weeks, Swan went from zero to $1M ARR, with no sales team, no paid marketing, and no employees beyond the three co-founders. In this episode, Amos breaks down how he used LinkedIn to drive 100% of their pipeline, how he turned content into a system, and why movements outperform...

Rand Fishkin is the co-founder of SparkToro and previously built Moz to $50M ARR—before stepping away and rethinking everything about how he works, hires, and grows a company. Today, SparkToro is a 3-person, profitable SaaS business doing $1.5M+ in revenue, and it’s intentionally calm: no cold calls, no demos, and no aggressive sales playbooks. In this episode, Rand explains how to grow sustainabl...

Garrett Mehrguth is the founder and CEO of Directive, one of the largest B2B SaaS marketing agencies in the world. In 2013, he started the company with Fiverr gigs. Today, it’s generating over $25M in revenue and working with brands like ZoomInfo, Wiz, and Stack Overflow. In this episode, Garrett breaks down how they generated $15M in revenue using LinkedIn ads and a gift card strategy that scaled...

Darren McKee is the founder of Darren McKee Co., a social selling training business built on real relationships, no automation, and content that breaks every LinkedIn best practice. After years in software sales, Darren now teaches sales teams and entrepreneurs how to build community, drive revenue, and win with human-first outbound. Topics we cover in this episode: - How Darren built a training b...

Jason Fan is the co-founder and CEO of Forma, a flexible employee benefits platform trusted by companies like Microsoft, Etsy, TripAdvisor, and New Balance. Since launching in 2017, Forma has scaled to over 200 employees and helped define an entirely new category—Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs). In this episode, Jason breaks down how they landed Microsoft early in their journey, what it actuall...

Michael Maximoff co-founded Belkins, a $15M/year appointment-setting agency that’s grown into one of the most efficient and well-run ops in the space. Alongside the agency, Michael also helped launch Folderly, a SaaS product born out of Belkins' internal needs. In this episode, Michael shares why retention is the real growth lever for agencies, how to build a comp structure that drives account...

Frank Sondors is the co-founder and CEO of Salesforge, a platform that blends AI agents and human sales teams to maximize pipeline generation. In just 12 months, Salesforge scaled from 0 to $3M ARR without a massive sales team. In this episode, Frank breaks down the biggest levers behind that rapid growth, why founder-led marketing was essential in the early days, and how his team is building an A...

Bethany Stachenfeld is the co-founder and CEO of Sendspark, a SaaS platform that helps businesses create personalized videos at scale using AI. Since launching in 2019, SendSpark has grown into a go-to tool for sales teams looking to increase engagement and efficiency in outreach. In this episode, Bethany shares how she’s leveraged founder-led marketing to build SendSpark, scale her audience to ov...

Frank Grillo is a veteran B2B marketing leader. After his 30+ year career as a CMO in IT and Telecoms, he quit his job, moved to Italy and started his own distillery (talk about something cool!!!) In this episode, Frank shares how SaaS companies can avoid messaging pitfalls, and what it really takes to reach the right customers. He also breaks down the biggest lessons from failed SaaS companies, t...

Ben Sharf is the co-founder and co-CEO of Platter, a profitability toolkit designed for Shopify brands. Before founding Platter, Ben worked at GoPuff, where he gained deep insights into e-commerce operations. In this episode, Ben shares his transition into entrepreneurship, the power of founder-led marketing, and the lessons he’s learned from consistently creating content online. He talks about ho...

Dave Gerhardt is the Founder of Exit Five and a marketing leader known for helping scale some of the fastest-growing B2B SaaS companies. With a background that includes key roles at Drift and Privy. In this episode, Dave shares his insights on building a powerful personal brand as a founder, the importance of differentiation in a crowded SaaS market, and why consistency and quality in content crea...

Mark Gilbert is the Co-Founder & CEO of Zocks, an AI meeting assistant designed specifically for financial advisors. Before founding Zox, Mark was the VP Of Product Management at Twilio, CTO at Hearsay Systems and General Manager at Microsoft. In this episode, Mark shares how he transitioned from corporate life to running his own startup, the challenges and opportunities he sees in the rapidly...

Justin Rowe is the Founder of Impactable. Impactable is the #1 B2B LinkedIn agency where LinkedIn experts scale modern B2B startups with demand gen & retargeting frameworks. Justin's story ranges from the Restaurant Industry to launching a lead gen agency that was acquired to now running the #1 LinkedIn Ads Agency. We talk about the balance of LinkedIn Ads and Paid Search, how to effective...

In this episode, I break down the viral product launch template for LinkedIn. I will talk about: - Strategic Use of Funding Announcements - The New PR Playbook for Founders - Leveraging Social Proof for Growth - Depth vs. Frequency in Content Creation - Iterating on Content Strategy for Better Engagement Perfect for: CEOs and founders of B2B SaaS companies focused on creating awareness, building t...

Marty Kausas is the Co-Founder & CEO at Pylon. Pylon is a modern alternative to Zendesk, optimized for B2B. Marty's LinkedIn posts generated 1.2 million impressions, leading to 5.5x their revenue in 2024. We talk about the impact of Founder-Led Marketing on Pylon's revenue, how the tech landscape in San Francisco is changing, and many other topics like: - Founder-Led Marketing Insights...

In this Episode, I break down the step-by-step direct response post framework to 10-100X your leads from LinkedIn. Topics that we will cover are: - Case Studies and Practical Tools - How to Write Good LinkedIn Hooks - The Importance of Resonance Over Engagement - Understanding Customer Priorities Through Research - How to Scale Content - Iterating on Content Strategy for Better Engagement Perfect...

Arthur Castillo is the Director of Content, Community & Partnerships at Aligned. Aligned is pioneering the new way that B2B revenue teams interact with customers in today's remote, digital era. After excelling as a top 3 sales rep at every company Arthur worked for, he decided to explore marketing and his obsession with the B2B buying journey. We talk about how Aligned made LinkedIn, with...

Wes Bush is CEO & Founder of ProductLed. The #1 Coaching Company For SaaS Founders & Their GTM Teams Looking To Scale With Product-Led Growth. Over the last 8 years, Wes worked hands-on with 400+ SaaS companies, helping them unlock $1B+ in self-serve revenue through Product-Led Growth (PLG). We discuss the principles of Product-Led Growth (PLG), the importance of Founder-Led Marketing and...

Breaking down a customer case study on Fredrik Björk, CEO at Grafbase. Grafbase provides secure self-hosted deployment options, unmatched query speed, advanced governance, and unified data access for reliable, enterprise-grade API management. I analyze how he was able to generate 4 enterprise VP leads ($500K ACV) with 1 LinkedIn post, with specific insights around: - Understanding the Customer&#39...

Jacco van der Kooij is the founder of Winning by Design. Winning By Design helps customer to design, build and scale their sales efforts. We talk about how GTM strategies have changed over the years, the impact of AI on revenue and many other topics like: - The Future of Go-to-Market Strategies - AI's Role in Revenue Generation - The Importance of Brand Trust - The Evolution of Marketing Skills fo...