The Revenue Formula

Most teams obsess over new business and ignore the people already paying them. That blind spot is killing retention, bloating acquisition costs, and making growth harder than it needs to be. In this episode, Toni sits down with Mallory Lee, a three time VP of Revenue Operations, to unpack why Customer Success is still treated like an afterthought and why that mindset breaks companies over time. (0...

Most teams think the answer to growth is simple. Add more. More markets, more products, more layers, more plays. The layer cake approach. It almost never works. It adds complexity, drains focus, and breaks what was already working. In this episode, Toni Holbein and Personio's Koen Stam talk about a better path. Instead of piling on new initiatives, fix the foundation. Improve the things that alrea...

Most misses in sales are baked into the plan before the year even starts. In this episode, Toni talks with Scott Domareck , a four-time VP of Sales who’s been through every phase of growth, exit, and burnout imaginable. Together, they break down the hidden mistakes that ruin annual planning long before execution begins. From massaged Excel spreadsheets to unrealistic ramp times and compounding ass...

AI in go-to-market is mostly bullshit. In this episode, Toni talks with Koen Stam , a senior sales leader at Personio and creator of GTMOS. They break down where AI is actually helping in sales, marketing, and customer success, and where it’s falling apart. They talk about why “AI SDRs” don’t live up to the pitch, why outbound emails generated by AI are useless without context, and why most teams...

Everyone dreams about taking their company global. But most teams have no idea how hard it really is. In this episode, Toni sits down with Shantanu and Koen from Personio to talk about why expanding into new markets can easily sink your go-to-market strategy. They’ve both helped companies like Gong, LinkedIn, and Personio grow across borders, and they’ve got the scars to prove it. They dig into wh...

Most companies still hire salespeople wrong in 2025. They rely on resumes, gut feeling, and vague interviews instead of testing real skills. In this episode, Raul and Toni explain why that approach fails and how to replace it with a system that actually works. They break down a practical process to identify what you really need, define the skills that matter, and test candidates in realistic scena...

What does the future AE look like in the age of AI? Toni and Raul break down how AI could transform sales productivity, reshape go-to-market structures, and create the $5M ARR AE. From hyper-optimized workflows to the rise of the “celebrity AE,” this episode explores three new models that redefine what top performance looks like. This episode is brought to you by Evergrowth   —  Their Agentic GTM...

James Roth, CRO at ZoomInfo, joins Toni to break down how AI is reshaping go-to-market. From the collapse of inbound demand to the rise of intelligent outbound, he explains how teams can stay efficient, use AI without the hype, and turn data into real impact. We also talk about ZoomInfo’s $1.2B ARR growth, the myth of “AI-native” startups, and what go-to-market intelligence actually means in 2025....

Feeling burned out or stuck in your job? Chris Walker says the real problem might not be your boss or your paycheck, it’s the frequency you operate in. In this episode, he shares with Toni how trusting his intuition led him to sell Refine Labs and step away from the company he built, and why he believes we’re leaving the Information Era and entering a new “Frequency Era,” where your energy and min...

Automation and cheap data turned outbound into spam and Google’s new rules are shutting the door on mass email. AI only made the noise louder.  In this episode we break down how the predictable-revenue model collapsed, why reply rates keep falling, and why phone calls and research-driven outreach are proving more effective. JB Daguené, founder and CEO of Evergrowth, explains how his team uses AI d...

Leaderrs rarely talk about their own health even though it drives every decision. Toni and Raul share their own experiences and what they learned from interviews with 17 founders and C-level leaders about mental and physical habits. They dig into how stress, sleeplessness and company performance feed into each other, how common burnout and anxiety really are, and why so many leaders slip into drin...

Want to lose your best sales reps fast? Screw up their comp plan. In this episode, we sit down with Antoine Fort , CEO of Qobra , to dig into the classic mistakes that drive top performers out the door. We talk about why overcomplicated plans kill motivation, how underpaying top reps quietly drains revenue, and why immediacy and trust are non-negotiable if you want comp plans to work. We also get...

AI SDRs, pipeline starvation, and overhyped tools dominate today’s revenue conversations. But how much of it actually works in practice? Toni sits down with Todd Busler, CEO of Champify, to cut through the noise. They dig into the reality of AI in sales, the pressure to chase shiny tools, and why short-term thinking is breaking go-to-market strategy. Todd also shares the underestimated challenges...

Pipelines are drying up. AI hasn’t delivered the growth it promised. And the old playbooks like SEO and outbound just don’t work the way they used to. We call it the great pipeline starvation, and in this episode we break down what’s really happening, what it means for sales and marketing teams, and how companies are trying to adapt. This episode is brought to you by ZoomInfo, the Go-To-Market Int...

What do video games have to do with business growth? More than you think. In this episode, Toni and Raul explain how their gaming past helps them spot company issues almost instantly. Using the idea of levels, just like in video games, they show why businesses get stuck, how to know what level your company is really on, and what it takes to move forward the right way. Want to be a guest on the sho...

Remote work and AI promised to make us more productive. The data says otherwise. In this episode, we unpack new research showing remote workers put in about two and a half hours less each day than office teams, and studies suggesting AI tools can weaken critical thinking and slow skill growth. We explore what happens when these trends collide, how they impact career development, and why leaders ne...

In this episode, we talk about the messy shift from founder-led sales to something more scalable. A lot of teams trip up here. It's not just about hiring the right people, it's about whether the company is actually ready for them. Early sales hires often fail because the structure, process, or timing is off. The conversation introduces the idea of level awareness, a way to figure out if your setup...

Did AI actually kill SEO? Or are recent traffic drops for sites like HubSpot a sign of something else entirely?   In this episode, we’re joined by Sam Dunning , founder of Breaking B2B and a leading expert on search strategy, to unpack what’s actually happening in the world of SEO. We talk about how AI overviews are changing the way people find information, and what it all means for marketers and...

Nobody wants to touch pricing. It’s political, it’s messy, and if it goes wrong, everyone remembers who led the project. But here’s the thing—when it works, it really works. In this episode, Toni and Raul talk about why pricing changes freak people out, what actually happens when you go through with them, and how even small tweaks can drive serious revenue. They’ve both run pricing projects that p...

In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Tottman from Notion Capital. Before becoming a VC, Chris co-founded MessageLabs and helped grow it into a $700 million exit, so he’s seen the startup journey from both sides of the table. We talk about what really happens when your product-market fit starts to slip—and why it quietly wrecks your entire go-to-market strategy. Sales start missing targets. Marke...

Not all consultants are worth it. Some drive real impact. Others just burn your time and budget. In this episode, Toni and Raul dive into how to tell the difference. They break down when it actually makes sense to bring in outside help, how to vet someone properly, and the biggest red flags to avoid. You'll learn why consulting is a real skill, what good execution support looks like, and how to th...

In a world of AI-generated noise and automated outreach, Cliff Simon has built a multi-million dollar business by doing something simple but rare: showing up in person. In this episode, Cliff shares how he turned events, community dinners, and authentic relationships into a powerful go-to-market strategy. He breaks down why most event-based approaches fail, what it really means to play the long ga...

We sat down and unpacked the messy, unfiltered reality of being a startup CEO. The kind no one tells you about. Not at panels. Not in TechCrunch puff pieces. And definitely not on LinkedIn. This isn’t a “how I built this” highlight reel. It’s what actually happens when you’re juggling investors, layoffs, spin cycles, fundraising failures, and the kind of decisions that keep you up for months. We d...

Is outbound dead? Not exactly. But it is changing fast. In this episode, Raul and Toni break down why the old outbound playbook is failing, where it still works, and how AI is reshaping the SDR role. We get into why brute force cold calls and emails are hitting their limits, why connect rates keep dropping, and where smart teams are still seeing success. We also talk about the rise of “new world S...

We got our hands on Jacco van der Kooij ’s latest GTM playbook.  The one he’s only been sharing behind closed doors at high-ticket, invite-only events. And yes, we’re leaking it.  This isn’t just a few new tactics. It’s a complete shift in how revenue leaders think about growth. No more chasing leads at all costs. No more funnels that fall apart at scale. Instead, it’s about turning your users int...