How do you go from a scrappy B2B SaaS with early traction… to a repeatable, scalable growth machine?

In this episode, we sit down with EVP’s Allen Zhu — founder-turned-PM-turned-investor — to unpack the go-to-market playbook for scaling from 1 to 10. We dive into how top SaaS companies segment their market, fund sales and marketing early, and build moats that compound.

Allen shares real examples from EVP’s portfolio (including Nexl) and explains how segmentation, workflow-driven expansion, and smart early investment helped them scale fast without burning cash.

Tune in and learn:

+ How segmentation drives efficiency — and the Nexl case that proves it

+ The “self-funding” model for early sales & marketing investment

+ Product expansion frameworks: follow the workflow, then follow the money

+ How to build switching-cost moats and pre-board ROI for enterprise deals

This is a must-watch for any B2B marketer or founder navigating the jump from early traction to scalable growth.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 The counter-intuitive truth: Sales & marketing can be self-funding

01:00 Meet Allen Zhu (EVP): founder → PM → investor

03:00 Early ventures, lessons from agency → apps → D2C

06:30 From Citi to Freelancer to EVP: why B2B SaaS

09:30 What EVP does at Series A (and how they partner)

12:00 The #1 scaling mistake: skipping segmentation

15:10 Case study: Nexl’s segmentation unlock (who, where, and why)

19:40 Why SDR “spray & pray” fails in small total addressable lists

22:10 Invest in S&M early: the “self-funding” window explained

24:30 Measuring what matters when attribution gets messy

29:30 Product expansion playbook: follow the workflow, follow the money

33:30 Moats 101 for SaaS: switching costs, data, and process power

37:30 Selling enterprise: pre-boarding ROI to win the room

42:30 Timing outreach with public contract intel (governments)

46:30 Customer advocacy flywheel: advisory boards & reference power

53:00 Leading vs lagging: how EVP reads GTM progress

56:30 What “active partner” really means at Series A

58:30 Final takeaway: segmentation first, everything else follows

59:30 Where to find Allen & EVP

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

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So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E200 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #b2bsaas #gotomarket #seriesA #evpventures #demandgeneration

How do you go from 70 to 1000+ registrants for your webinar? How do you convert this to revenue? In this game-changing episode of The B2B Playbook, we dive deep into the world of webinar marketing with expert Justin Zimmerman. Justin reveals his innovative approach to webinars that's driving unprecedented results for B2B companies.

We explore a complete paradigm shift in webinar strategy, moving away from the traditional focus on attendance and content creation to a data-driven, partner-centric approach. Justin shares his secrets for consistently achieving 1000+ registrants, turning webinars into powerful lead generation and sales conversion tools.

Tune in and learn:

+ How to leverage partners and influencers to exponentially grow your webinar audience

+ The 6-step registration process that captures crucial lead data and drives conversions

+ Post-webinar strategies that turn no-shows into demo bookings and sales opportunities

This episode is a must-watch for any B2B marketer looking to revolutionize their webinar strategy, drive more leads, and achieve better ROI from their marketing efforts. Justin's insights will change the way you think about webinars forever!

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SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 The Game-Changing Webinar Strategy You've Been Missing

02:19 Common Webinar Pitfalls: Why Most B2B Marketers Struggle

04:30 Revolutionizing Webinars: Focus on Data Collection, Not Attendance

07:09 Leveraging Partners and Influencers for Massive Webinar Growth

11:37 The 6-Step Registration Process That Drives Results

16:40 Curating Content vs. Creating: A Stress-Free Approach to Webinars

21:20 Structuring Your Webinar for Maximum Impact and Sales Conversion

26:29 Post-Webinar Strategies That Turn Attendees into Customers

31:30 The Power of Problem Awareness in Demand Capture

37:10 Automating Follow-Ups: Balancing Efficiency and Personalization

41:40 Ask More, Get More: Introducing a Revolutionary Webinar Tool

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S06 E151 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #webinar

#b2bsaas #revenuemarketing #MarketingStrategy #leadgeneration #b2bcontentmarketing #salesandmarketing

If your outbound is optimised for meetings, not conversations, you’re burning cash and trust.

We sit down with Joey Gilkey (CEO, Titan X) and Adem Manderovic (Closed Circuit Selling, CRO School) to rebuild B2B outbound so it actually drives revenue. We unpack why the SDR-AE factory failed, how to get 25% connect rates, and how to use first-party signals to guide timing, ads, and follow up.

Joey shows why he pays SDRs to create completed conversations and rigorous disposition buckets. Adem explains cataloguing and channel validation so marketing stops guessing and starts planning around real timing. We dig into audience activation using opt-in texts and VSLs, and why “buyer intent” data isn’t the shortcut you think it is.

Tune in and learn:

+ A practical B2B outbound strategy built on conversations and 6 disposition buckets

+ Why the SDR-AE model and Predictable Revenue broke outbound (and what replaces it)

+ Why pipeline coverage and meeting quotas mislead teams, and what to measure instead

This is a must-watch if you’re a B2B revenue leader. Stop chasing low-value meetings and start engineering high-value conversations that inform ads, timing, and deals.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Why today’s outbound is breaking trust

01:34 Joey Gilkey on Titan X and the “phone intent” wedge

02:58 The 25% connect-rate play and why conversations matter

04:30 How the SDR-AE split eroded buyer trust

06:05 Cheap headcount, costly model: the real flaw

08:36 What APAC got right: senior sellers and CS roots

10:28 Market validation beats MQLs every time

12:44 VC incentives and the sales industrial complex

13:58 Joey’s reversal: paying SDRs to have conversations

15:42 Long-cycle selling lessons that fix short-term thinking

18:32 Buckets, not bookings: 6 dispositions that run your follow up

21:05 Full-cycle AEs vs modern roles – what actually works

27:10 Audience activation: VSL + phone + SMS that scales trust

32:33 Opt-in texting, pixeling, and smarter retargeting

34:52 Make marketing useful: capture commercial intel, not contacts

36:55 Pipeline coverage is a vanity metric without context

38:28 Phone intel powering LinkedIn ads and account timing

40:28 Why “buyer intent” data misses the mark

45:35 PE firms are cutting SDRs – what to run toward instead

52:57 Retraining SDRs is easy. Leaders are the bottleneck

55:40 Final take: value conversations, not meetings

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

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🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B...

How to Land 6-Figure Deals with LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads

Want to get clients on LinkedIn using ads that actually build trust and drive pipeline? This is the playbook.

We’re walking you through the exact LinkedIn ads strategy we use to land six-figure deals for ourselves and our clients—without spamming inboxes or relying on outdated lead gen tactics.

This is our B2B demand generation system—powered by LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads—that’s working across SaaS, consulting, and service businesses. If you're in a small marketing team and tired of wasting budget on low-quality leads, this episode will change how you market forever.

You’ll learn how to:

+ Map your LinkedIn content to the five stages of awareness

+ Use thought leadership marketing to build trust at scale

+ Combine paid media and outbound to unlock high-intent conversations

Watch this if you:

+ Want a scalable way to generate demand on LinkedIn

+ Need a better B2B LinkedIn ad strategy that drives revenue

+ Are trying to get in front of ideal customers with zero brand awareness

We show you how to tie content, ads, and outbound together to consistently book meetings and grow pipeline. It’s the same framework behind our $10K/month retainers—and it works for any B2B brand.

This episode is a must-watch for B2B marketers who want to use LinkedIn to win high-value deals—and build a marketing engine that scales.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

SUBSCRIBE to our channel: / @theb2bplaybook

SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

-----------------------------------------------------

02:20 What Are LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads?

03:40 Proof It Works: Real $10K/Month Deal From These Ads

05:00 Why Most Thought Leadership Ad Campaigns Fail

07:00 Boosting Posts ≠ Strategy: The Common Mistake

09:00 The 3-Month Trust-Building Window (Case Study Insight)

11:00 You Need This Before You Run Any LinkedIn Ads

12:40 Our Full Demand Gen Framework Behind These Ads

14:20 Mapping Ads To The 5 Stages of Awareness

16:00 Unaware to Most Aware: The Buyer Journey Blueprint

18:00 How to Create a Thought Leadership Content Matrix

20:00 Cold vs Warm Audiences: What Content to Serve

21:40 How We Target & Build Audiences That Convert

23:00 Ideal Ad Frequency: What LinkedIn Won’t Tell You

24:40 Our Secret Ad Sequencing Hack That Lowers Costs

27:00 Real Client Wins: Social Proof You Can Copy

29:00 When To Combine Ads With Sales for Bigger Wins

30:40 The KPIs That Actually Matter (And What to Ignore)

34:00 Final Thoughts & Where To Learn More

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

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See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B...

B2B Marketing Budget Allocation: The Sustainable Way Small Teams Should Do It

If your marketing budget keeps getting cut or ignored, it’s not you—it’s the model.

In this episode, we break down a practical B2B marketing budget allocation for small teams. We explain why top-down and bottom-up alone fall apart, how to validate messaging before you buy reach, and how to shift from BOFU-only spend to a balanced brand + demand mix that compounds.

We share the path we use with our 5 BEs framework—start lean and organic, prove the message, then use paid to amplify. You’ll hear realistic ROI guardrails, when to rebalance spend, and how category (established vs new) should change your split.

Tune in and learn:

+ How to avoid the top-down and bottom-up budget traps

+ The “validate, then amplify” approach that saves cash and increases impact

+ ROI ranges and a stepwise shift from BOFU to demand + brand

If you’re a B2B marketer in a small team, this is the clearest way to plan and defend your budget—and actually deliver revenue impact.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 The B2B Budgeting Problem No One Solves Clearly

00:27 Who We Help: Small Teams, Big Revenue Goals

01:05 The 5 BEs Framework in 60 Seconds

02:30 Why Budgeting Is So Hard (Variables You Can’t Ignore)

03:45 The Trap: Overcommitting to Channels Having “Their Moment”

04:38 Top-Down Budgeting: Looks Great on a Slide, Breaks in Reality

06:05 The 95:5 Rule vs “Just Spend More on BOFU”

07:18 Bottom-Up Budgeting: Sensible… Until Leadership Says “Bigger”

09:45 Our Recommendation: Start Lean, Prove It Organically

11:30 Validate PMF & Messaging Before You Buy Reach

12:40 Paid = Amplification Once the Message Works

13:40 Evolving the Mix: From BOFU-Heavy to Balanced Demand

15:05 Setting ROI Targets You Can Defend (and Reinvesting)

16:45 Category Matters: Established vs New (Webjet vs Uber)

18:50 Build Mental Availability to Lower Future CAC

20:40 Key Takeaways & Your Next Budget Moves

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

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So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E198 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #demandgeneration #communityledgrowth

Community-Led Growth: How To Turn Customers Into Your Growth Engine

We break down the playbook for community-led growth — how to move beyond engagement theater and build a system where customers become your distribution.

Featuring Laís de Oliveira (author of Hacking Communities), this episode gives you practical frameworks like the Five Ps, the “lighthouse → port → city” journey, and closeness circles that turn casual users into passionate advocates and ambassadors.

We show you how to:

+ Make community a core growth engine (not a side-channel)

+ Design onboarding and programming that build habit

+ Use contribution, access, and recognition to scale advocacy

If you’re a B2B marketer on a small team, this episode shows how to create a community-led growth system that compounds your distribution and builds lasting trust with buyers.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Community-Led Growth: Your Unfair Distribution Advantage

01:00 Why Brands Are Now Conversations (You Can’t Control Them)

02:45 TL;DR Framework: From Clarity → Contribution → Advocacy

04:15 The Five Ps Of Community-Led Growth

06:00 Identity → Connectedness → Growth Formula

08:00 Make Community Core To Value Creation

10:00 Community-Led Growth x Business Model Canvas

12:15 Jobs-To-Be-Done For Community-Led Growth

14:30 B2B Examples: From CRM To Better Sellers

16:20 Lighthouse → Port → City: How Communities Grow

19:00 The First 21 Days: Onboarding That Sticks

21:15 Programming That Brings People Back

23:00 Turning Users Into Contributors

25:10 Advocates vs Ambassadors In Community-Led Growth

27:20 Closeness Circles: Reward With Access

30:00 The Taylor Swift Playbook (For B2B Communities)

32:10 Journey & Lifecycle: 1500:150:15 Ratios

35:00 Pitfalls To Avoid In Community-Led Growth

37:10 Make It A System: Track, Reward, Iterate

39:30 Q&A: Communities Beyond Customers

43:00 Q&A: Where To Start – Existing vs New Customers

46:00 Q&A: Virality & Chapters In Community-Led Growth

50:00 Q&A: When Is It Too Early To Start?

53:00 Wrap: Community As A Value Engine

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E197 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #demandgeneration #communityledgrowth

Most B2B revenue engines stall out. In this episode, we break down why — and how to build one that actually scales.

Paul Perrett (CEO, Firmable) joins us with Adem Manderovic (Closed Circuit Selling, CRO School) to map ARR model, the 10-line economic engine, and why cataloguing and ecosystem activation beat brute-force outbound.

We unpack how to work backwards from revenue goals, align Sales, Marketing and CS around market validations, and build compounding demand with brand and partners.

Tune in and learn:

+ The 10-line economic model behind a scalable B2B revenue engine

+ How to replace MQLs with market validations and fix SDR incentives

+ Ecosystem activation plays that compound trust and pipeline

If you’re a B2B marketer in a small team, this is a must-watch. It’s practical, numbers-first, and shows how to turn brand, SDRs, inbound, and partners into one working B2B revenue engine.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Scaling from traction to a real revenue engine

01:00 Meet Paul Perrett (Firmable CEO) + Adem Manderovic

03:00 What Firmable does and the CEO’s many hats

05:20 Modelling $2M to $10M ARR with a 10-line engine

09:30 Three demand channels: SDR, inbound, partners

12:20 Cataloguing vs predictable revenue: the missing metric

18:50 Why incentives break SDRs (and how to fix them)

22:00 Ecosystem activation and compounding demand

26:40 Brand, trust, and the founder-led play

33:00 Selling brand and long-term plays to boards & CFOs

42:00 The bets Firmable is making to reach $10M ARR

49:40 Signals, SEA expansion, and the myths of Aussie SaaS

-----------------------------------------------------

👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E195 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #demandgeneration #outboundsales

This is your last chance to join our Demand Gen Course – The B2B Incubator – before doors close on Friday, 29 August.

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

Inside the program, you’ll get:

• On-demand materials you can work through in your own time
• 6x live Q&A sessions with George to get your questions answered and stay accountable
• A proven framework trusted by marketers in both SaaS and services

Alison at RIVET used it to build a demand engine that now sources 70% of pipeline from marketing.

Allister Hamilton used it to triple his pipeline in services.

If you’re a small marketing team and want to stop chasing bad leads and start building a system that drives real revenue — this is your shot.

👉 Register now before doors close Friday, 29 August: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course