Bolt On AI or Reimagine the Business? Blaine Mathieu on Agentic AI Strategy

Bolt On AI or Reimagine the Business? Blaine Mathieu on Agentic AI Strategy

Many companies are adding AI to existing processes to improve efficiency, productivity and lower costs. Blaine Mathieu believes senior leaders also need to consider a more consequential question: should AI improve how the company already operates, or become the catalyst for reimagining the business? Blaine is the author of The River Doesn’t Wait: A Senior Executive’s Guide to Navigating the Surge in Agentic AI. Drawing on decades of experience in technology, strategy, product and executive leadership, he explains why agentic AI represents a corporate strategy challenge rather than another technology implementation. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Mark and Blaine discuss the difference between retrofitting and reimagining, how companies can decide where to focus their AI investments, and why competitive advantage is more likely to come from redesigning work than making existing processes faster.

AI-Driven Marketing: Oren Greenberg's Strategic Pivot

Mark Evans interviews Oren Greenberg, founder of Kurve, about his pivot from growth marketing to AI-native go-to-market systems. Greenberg explains how he now helps B2B companies—typically CEOs at smaller firms and CMOs/CROs at larger ones—implement custom AI projects (like ICP modelling and programmatic AEO engines), run growth audits across paid, SEO, analytics, and team capability, build workflows and automation, and deliver structured AI training programs.

B2B Storytelling: Why Your Company Needs a Storyline (Not Just Stories) with Dan Levy

Mark Evans hosts Dan Levy, founder of Storyline, to discuss what storytelling really means in B2B and why companies need an overarching “storyline” to align marketing, sales, success, and product. Levy defines storyline as what you do, how you’re different, and why it matters to the right people right now, positioning it as the bridge between brand and product positioning and practical messaging. They cover how CEOs typically ask for a clearer story, the inputs and process to develop one (one-on-one stakeholder interviews, customer interviews, and competitive analysis), and how a unified storyline becomes the angle that guides content, campaigns, and executive thought leadership. They also address AI’s role in execution versus the human work of insight and alignment, and red flags like stalled enterprise deals and “no decision” outcomes when urgency and “why now” are missing.

The $160B Digital Ad Fraud Problem

Ad fraud is one of the biggest invisible threats facing marketers, advertisers, and growth teams. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Rich Kahn, CEO of Anura, joins the show to explain how ad fraud quietly drains budgets, distorts performance data, and makes it harder for companies to know what is actually working. Rich shares why fraudulent traffic remains such a persistent problem, how B2B SaaS companies can spot warning signs, and what marketers should do to protect their campaigns, pipeline, and revenue. For CEOs, founders, and marketing leaders, this conversation is a practical look at the hidden costs of bad traffic and why clean data is essential for smarter growth.

SaaS Retention, Product Adoption, and the AI Challenge: Karel Papik, Product Fruits

You can build faster than ever with AI. That does not mean users will adopt what you build. In this episode of Marketing Spark, I talk with Karel Papik, co-founder and CEO of ProductFruits, about one of the biggest challenges facing SaaS companies today: the growing disconnect between product velocity and user adoption. We explore why companies are shipping more features while users feel increasingly overwhelmed, why many AI tools struggle to deliver lasting value, and how onboarding has evolved from static product tours into personalized AI-driven experiences. Karel also shares: * Why AI products often suffer from weak retention * The hidden friction slowing SaaS adoption * Why companies hesitate to switch software despite dissatisfaction * How ProductFruits competes against larger players like Pendo and WalkMe * Why smaller SaaS companies can still win in crowded markets * His perspective on the future of AI, product experience, and human work This conversation is especially relevant for SaaS CEOs, founders, marketers, and product leaders trying to understand why growth becomes harder even when teams are building and shipping faster than ever.