The Revenue Room™, by H2K Labs

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast, Heather Holst-Knudsen and David explore how B2B media companies can shift from chasing volume to delivering efficiency. Instead of overwhelming audiences with endless information, the winning strategy is helping professionals find the right insights faster and make better decisions with less friction. Why Listen: Learn why audience time is the most val...

In this episode of The Revenue Room, host Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Jacob Donnelly, founder of A Media Operator (AMO). They discuss why media business models built on algorithmic traffic are operating on borrowed time, and why anyone dependent on it is simply "done for". Between the threat of AI replicating "average" content and a shifting M&A landscape heavily i...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, host Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Max Gabriel, the Co-Founder and CEO of Markus AI. Drawing on his extensive experience as the former Chief Transformation Officer at Informa and leading tech transformations at Pfizer, Max discusses the monumental shift from the bloated "Tool Economy" of SaaS apps to the highly anticipated "Agent Economy&...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Billy Carney , Co-Founder of RocaNews , to explore how a next-generation media company built for Gen Z turned social attention into owned revenue and profitability. Launched in 2020 as an Instagram experiment, RocaNews has grown to more than 3 million followers and subscribers across social platforms, newsletters, a...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, host Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with visionary media and advertising executive, President and Founder of Monarch Advisory Collective, Laura Molen. With a career spanning MTV Networks, Paramount, Univision, and NBCUniversal, Laura has had a front-row seat to every major shift in media over the last two decades.  Laura shares her incredible journey of navig...

Revenue isn't just about transactions; it's about creating ecosystems where value compounds across multiple stakeholders. In this episode of The Revenue Room™ , host Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Michelle Metter , CEO and Co-Founder of Fast Forward Events, to decode how modern event leaders build scalable, accelerated growth strategies. Over the last two decades, Michelle has tran...

In this episode, host Heather Holst-Knudsen is joined by industry titan Doug Emslie , Chairman, Cuil Bay Capital & Raccoon Media Group; former CEO, Tarsus Group With a career spanning "nearly a third of a century", from negotiating multi-million pound deals in his 20s to guiding Tarsus to a billion-dollar exit—Doug offers a masterclass on the tension between financial efficiency and...

In this engaging conversation, Taylor Kessel-Salomonsson , Chief Growth Officer at Naylor Association Solutions , shares her unconventional career journey from marketing to revenue leadership. She emphasizes the importance of storytelling in sales, the need for organizational alignment, and the significance of understanding the buyer journey. Taylor introduces the bow tie model as a new approach t...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Mark Shashoua, CEO of Hyve Group, to unpack how Hyve has built a portfolio of market-leading, founder-led events backed by private equity while maintaining performance, culture, and long-term growth. Mark shares Hyve’s acquisition philosophy, why protecting founder vision matters, and how events are shifting from fl...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast , Heather Holst-Knudsen is joined by Lia Bliss , CEO of Bliss Magic Consulting, for a timely and eye-opening conversation on why LinkedIn has become one of the most misunderstood yet most powerful revenue platforms in the digital economy. Lia breaks down how executives are still treating LinkedIn like a digital resume or announcement board and why that...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast , Heather Holst-Knudsen is joined by Marilu Paez, managing director and co-founder of Events Venture Group (EVG), for an insightful conversation on why operational know-how and strategic guidance are just as critical as capital for early-stage event ventures. Marilu shares how she transitioned from 17 years in senior leadership roles across major tech c...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Jason Bateman , Vice President of Community at XPRIZE , for a deep exploration of what it truly takes to build, scale, and sustain high-impact communities. Jason brings more than 25 years of experience designing and growing elite membership organizations, from Vistage to XPRIZE. He shares hard-earned insights on why...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™ Podcast , Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Philip Thomas , Chief Creative Officer at Informa PLC and Chairman of Cannes Lions, to unpack why creativity, experience, and human connection have become some of the most powerful revenue levers in today’s data- and AI-driven economy. From the transformation of Cannes Lions into a global brand ecosystem, to why pu...

In this episode of T he Revenue Room™, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Janice Liu , the Mantis Group CEO reveals why "every company is a data company" whether they like it or not. Janice breaks down her proprietary methodology for appraising data assets—often proving they are worth more than a company's traditional operating business—and explains how this valuation can radicall...

In this episode of The Revenue Room Podcast , Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Diana Florescu , Founder and CEO of Media for Growth , to unpack one of the most powerful alternative funding models reshaping consumer brand growth and media monetization today: Media for Equity. With more than 25 years of global precedent and recent expansion from Europe into the U.S., Media for Equity is gaining...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Christine Shaw , CEO and President of Naylor Association Solutions , to explore how modern associations are transforming their business models in a data-driven, AI-accelerated world. Christine shares how her leadership was shaped in high-velocity environments at PennWell and Future PLC, why clean data is the ultimate stabil...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Sean Griffey, co-founder and former CEO of Industry Dive , one of the biggest B2B media success stories of the past decade. Sean shares the real playbook behind scaling Industry Dive from five scrappy newsletters into a multi-vertical powerhouse that reached millions of executives, generated $100M+ in revenue, and ultimatel...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Amanda Landsaw , Chief Marketing Officer at EndeavorB2B, to unpack how one of the industry’s largest B2B media and intelligence platforms is transforming into a modern data-driven growth engine. From rebranding a legacy publisher into a full-scale intelligence business, to redefining audience value, to building privacy-firs...

In this powerful and wide-ranging conversation, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Blair LaCorte —Founder and Managing Director of LaCorte Ventures —to unpack what truly drives performance, transformation, and long-term success in business and in life. Blair has led and scaled companies across aviation, entertainment, AI, private equity, and tech. He’s built the world’s largest private charter a...

In this insightful conversation, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Michael Barnett, CEO of InGo, and a leading expert in digital transformation and data-driven business strategies to explore the systems, processes, and leadership approaches that drive predictable revenue growth in complex B2B environments. Michael shares practical strategies for building revenue operating plans, aligning critic...

In this powerful conversation, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with two industry innovators— Allison Markert of Future PLC and Jaime Schultheis of Bombora —to unpack how data, AI, and intent intelligence are redefining the future of media and revenue growth. Together, they reveal how Future PLC’s massive B2B portfolio is leveraging first-party and intent data to uncover hidden buyers, build audien...

In this episode of Revenue Room™, Jerry Li shares his hard-won lessons on building, scaling, and thriving in the age of AI. From navigating the leap from startup scrappiness to sustainable scale, to reshaping work and leadership for the next economy, Jerry’s playbook is equal parts visionary and practical. You’ll learn how to: Rethink growth strategies beyond short-term wins Lead teams through rap...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, Pete Pachal, founder of The Media Copilot and longtime tech journalist, joins Heather Holst-Knudsen for a sharp, future-forward conversation on how AI is reshaping the media landscape. From the decline of brand trust to the rise of zero-click content, Pete unpacks the brutal clarity that AI brings—and why it may force media companies to finally prove their rea...

In this episode of The Revenue Room™, Samantha Skey, CEO of SHE Media, shares her bold, human-centered take on leadership, AI disruption, and the future of digital publishing. From reframing imposter syndrome as a systemic issue to building a diversified media model grounded in authenticity, Samantha offers a masterclass in leading with courage, clarity, and purpose in a time of massive change. Ke...

What do hamster photos, AI-powered marketing, and global event domination have in common? In this episode, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Laura Davidson , CEO and co-founder of Tag Digital , to uncover how she turned a scrappy startup into a global performance marketing powerhouse for events. From their first client win with UBM to building AI-powered digital twins and tackling the zero-clic...