The Viral Genius Podcast

You've been told the only way to win at conferences is to buy a booth, hand out swag, and hope the right person stops by. Meanwhile, $48,000 later, you've got a stack of business cards you'll never follow up on and zero pipeline to show for it. What if instead of renting a booth, you built a world — one that people lined up to walk through? Pablo Gonzalez did exactly that. As Chief Evangelist at O...

Most summits don’t fail because the content is bad. They fail because they’re built around information — not connection. In this session from the Strike Marketing Summit, Rachel Starr (Founder of Co-Creator Society and Circle Certified Partner) reveals how to design a summit that: • Increases live attendance • Boosts engagement • Converts at higher rates • Turns attendees into long-term community...

You've built the sales page. You've tweaked the headline. Maybe you've followed Russell Brunson's playbook to the letter. And it worked — a little. Not nearly enough. So you built another one. Chris Stanley has a name for this: the tornado trap. And in this session from the Strike Marketing Summit, he explains exactly why it keeps happening — and the one shift that broke the cycle for him. Chris i...

Most companies compete harder. Very few change the game. In this Strike Marketing Summit fireside chat, Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse unveil the thinking behind their upcoming book, The Category Creation Formula — a decade of real-world category design distilled into a clear, repeatable framework. This is not positioning theory. It’s market-making strategy. Drawing from 10+ years of hands-on wor...

How do you grow a business when content is everywhere, AI is flooding the market, and trust is harder than ever to earn? In this Strike Marketing Summit session, Darrell Vesterfelt breaks down the growth system he’s used to: Drive $100M+ in revenue Generate 100,000+ summit registrations Turn live events into compounding community engines Help creators and companies build million-dollar communities...

Bryan Funk grew a company from $1M in ARR to $100M in just a few years using a go-to-market method I’m convinced will be the killer GTM strategy for 2026 and beyond. And here’s the part that hit me hardest: He was doing Strike Marketing before the term even existed. Back in December, I made a very public bet. I decided that Strike Marketing could become a legitimate category, not just a framework,...

Most founders don’t fail because they execute poorly. They fail because they execute really well —on the wrong thing. In this opening panel of the Strike Marketing Summit, we dig into a critical but often misunderstood idea: 👉 Category design comes before marketing. Before funnels. Before ads. Before content. Before AI tools. Featuring a powerhouse group of category design practitioners and strat...

Most brands are still screaming for attention. Scott Martin believes the future belongs to the ones who earn trust. In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast , Fernando Labastida sits down with Scott Martin — CEO of Groundswell Origins, author of Groundswell: The Unseen Wave of Business Growth , TEDx speaker, and creator of the upcoming book Title Shift . Together, they unpack one of the most im...

Register here → https://summit.strikemarketingsummit.com/talks/the-future-of-content-operations/ If you’ve ever been seduced by the endless parade of shiny AI tools—and then wondered why your content still doesn’t work —this conversation with Audra Carpenter is your wake-up call. Audra has been doing content marketing since Obama’s first term. She’s logged her “10,000 hours” inside the chaos of AI...

Navigating Data Challenges for AI Success In this episode, Fernando Labastida talks with Eduardo Ortiz Ramírez about one of the most overlooked barriers to AI success: the quality of a company’s data and processes . Eduardo explains why data problems can derail even the most ambitious AI initiatives—and why the solution isn’t always a massive, expensive digital transformation. Instead, he shares a...

Bryan Eisenberg has shaped modern digital marketing more than almost anyone alive. He and his brother Jeffrey pioneered ideas like conversion rate optimization (CRO), persuasion architecture, and scent, and authored 11 bestselling books that defined the field. In this Strike Marketing Summit preview, Bryan joins Fernando Labastida to unpack a critical shift: In a world where AI curates our choices...

In a world where timelines are noisy and attention is scarce, summits have become one of the most reliable — and overlooked — ways to break through the clutter. In this Strike Marketing Summit preview, Fernando Labastida sits down with Darrell Vesterfelt , VP of Growth at Mighty Networks and co-founder of multiple large-scale online events (including one with 180,000 registrants ). Darrell explain...

Entrepreneurship is chaos. Writing a book while running a company? Even more chaotic. But Navy-SEAL calm, tight communication, and a simple battlefield framework can turn that chaos into a strategic advantage. In this Strike Marketing Summit preview, Fernando Labastida sits down with Kevin McGrew , CEO of EverSocial and author of Smack Marketing: The New Rules of Marketing Warfare . Kevin breaks d...

What if you stopped treating a summit like a product—and started treating it like a gateway to connection? In this special Strike Marketing Summit preview episode, Fernando sits down with Rachel Starr , the powerhouse founder of CoCreator Society and a community architect with a deeply human approach to growth. Rachel doesn’t host events the way most people do—and after hearing her philosophy, you...

In this episode, Sheriff Subair , Head of Marketing at HeySummit , shares how running workshops and virtual events can completely transform your marketing results. Sheriff explains how active, participatory experiences like summits generate deeper audience engagement, build stronger customer relationships, and create brands people actually remember. He also previews his talk at the Strike Marketin...

What if your next book didn’t need to be 300 pages of fluff — but under 100 pages of clarity that builds your brand, authority, and revenue? In this special Viral Genius Podcast episode, host Fernando Labastida talks with Chris Stanley , the “Mini Book Guy” and 20-time Amazon bestselling author, about how short, powerful books can transform your business. Chris reveals how writing less can actuall...

What if ChatGPT wasn’t just a tool — but your business operating system ? In this episode, Russ Henneberry — author of Digital Marketing for Dummies and founder of theCLICK — reveals how to structure your ChatGPT account to actually grow your business . Russ calls it Growth OS — a practical system for transforming ChatGPT-5 into an intelligent workspace that boosts creativity, productivity, and re...

What if the smartest business move isn’t to compete — but to create ? In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast , host Fernando Labastida sits down with Eddie Yoon , co-founder of Category Pirates and bestselling author of Superconsumers and Play Bigger , to unpack why category design is the ultimate growth strategy for founders and creators alike. Eddie explains how the world’s most successful...

What if your podcast was more than just content — what if it was your trade show booth , your community magnet , and your category launchpad ? In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast , Fernando sits down with Pablo Gonzalez , founder of Be The Stage and Chief Evangelist of Vendoroo , to unpack how he’s rewriting the playbook for modern marketing. Pablo reveals how he transformed word of mouth...

In this episode of the Viral Genius Podcast, Fernando Labastida interviews digital marketing expert Bryan Eisenberg about his new book, 'I Think I Swallowed an Elephant: The Stories We Sell, The Success We Build.' They discuss the concept of 'Viral Genius,' the importance of storytelling in marketing, and how AI can amplify founder voices. Bryan shares insights on personal transformation, the sign...

In this episode of The Viral Genius Podcast , host Fernando Labastida sits down with Audra Carpenter , founder of Content Hub OS , to explore how AI and automation are reshaping the future of marketing. Audra shares her journey from running a title company in the early 2000s to becoming one of the leading voices in systemized content creation. Together, they unpack how her new platform - Content H...

Most businesses face the same problem: they depend too heavily on a few clients and lack a scalable way to grow. That was exactly the case with one of my software development clients in Mexico. Their revenue came almost entirely from two or three big corporate accounts. If even one left, half their business would vanish. They had no database, no email list, and no consistent marketing. Just a few...

Joe Pulizzi is back on the show – the godfather of content marketing and founder of The Tilt, Content Marketing Institute, and the visionary behind CEX (Content Entrepreneur Expo). In this high-energy conversation, Joe and Fernando Labastida break down: 🎯 Why the creator economy needs entrepreneurs , not just content creators 📉 The risky business of relying on social algorithms—and what to do in...

Guest: Isaac Carter, CEO & Founder of Contollo, Software Development Expert & Author of "Before You Build" A candid discussion between two founders who discovered that the best software development strategies are actually marketing strategies in disguise—and why that changes everything for startups. Key Highlights: Why 40% of startups fail from lack of product-market fit (and how...

What happens when a Fortune 100 IT leader walks away from corporate life to become a founder with no plan—but a powerful purpose? In this episode of the Viral Genius Podcast, host Fernando Labastida sits down with Sarina Nguyen, CEO and cofounder of TrueHumans. AI , a Dallas-based startup on a mission to make high-impact AI tools accessible to small and medium-sized business owners. Sarina shares...