B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks

BSMS96 - Signal-Based Marketing and the End of Broad ABM

Is signal-based selling really the next step in B2B growth, or are most teams still just getting better at managing noise? Sales and marketing teams have more data than ever. They can see site visits, account activity, intent signals, and engagement across a growing stack of tools. But that still leaves a basic problem unsolved: who is actually in-market, what signal matters, and what should your team do next? In this episode of B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks, Stijn Hendrikse sits down with serial entrepreneur and B2B martech builder Mani Iyer to unpack the shift from account-based marketing to person-based, signal-driven selling. They talk through why older ABM approaches often fall short, what changed in the data layer, and how go-to-market teams can turn scattered signals into something sales can actually use. You’ll hear how to think about first-party and offsite intent, why human review still matters in AI-assisted outreach, and why high-signal communities like Reddit, Slack, and WhatsApp can still tell you more than a polished dashboard. By the end, you’ll have a clearer view of what signal is worth acting on, what noise to ignore, and how to build a sharper GTM motion around real buyer behavior.   In this podcast, you'll learn: * Critical topics in this episode * Why ABM stopped being enough * Where person-level signal changes the game * How teams rank and act on signals * Why human review still matters * What Reddit and communities reveal * Where AI agents may take this next By the end, you’ll have a clearer view of what signal-based selling really means, where it works, and how to use it without adding more noise to your go-to-market motion.

95 - Unlocking Warp Speed Growth through PLG + SLG with Wes Bush

With content getting cheaper and noise getting higher, which parts of the old playbooks still hold up, and which ones break? Marketing-led growth keeps getting pricier, and “more content” is no longer a moat. So you end up staring at the same fork in the road Stijn calls out here, keep leaning on sales, or let the product do more of the heavy lifting.  In this episode, Kalungi founder Stijn Hendrikse sits down with Wes Bush (author of Product-Led Growth) to talk about where product-led growth and sales-led growth actually meet, and why most B2B teams land in the middle.  You’ll hear what “try before you buy” really means in 2026 (and what happens when you don’t offer it), how to think about getting users to value fast, and where friction still belongs.   In this episode, you'll learn: * You cannot skip the MVP stage in SaaS. * Product-market fit definitions have evolved over time. * AI is accelerating the achievement of product-market fit. * Understanding your business model is crucial for growth. * Different go-to-market strategies suit different business models. * Product-led growth relies on the product being the main sales driver. * Marketing-led growth focuses on educating potential customers. * Sales-led growth requires building trust and credibility. * Alignment between go-to-market strategies and business models is essential. * AI tools are becoming indispensable in marketing and sales. After watching, you’ll have a clearer way to decide what mix fits your business, and what to change first when the product has to carry more of the growth.

94 - How modern SaaS teams build scalable growth systems - With Alex Laventer

Are you actually growing your product, or just stacking signups that never turn into usage? A lot of teams get stuck there. More registrations feel good, but it’s not the same as real usage, paid adoption, and a pipeline you can trust. And now with AI in the mix, it’s easy to create more activity without getting more signal. In this episode of B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks, hosts Stijn Hendrikse and Brian Grav bring on their first guest, Alex Laventer. Alex has spent years in growth roles in B2B SaaS, including leading growth at DataStax and now leading go-to-market work on an AI agent product at IBM. The conversation gets practical fast, what “growth” really means, and how teams split (or combine) growth marketing and product growth. You’ll walk away with a clearer way to measure growth, how to set up tracking you can rely on, and where AI can help (and where it tends to distract), including lead scoring and workflow automation. In this episode, you'll learn: * Why signups mislead growth conversations * Where teams lose signal without tracking * How PQLs connect product and marketing * Perspective on sales assist with PLG * Example: AI-assisted lead scoring workflows  By the end, you’ll know what to measure, what to ignore, and what to fix next so “growth” stops being a vague label and starts being a real operating system.   Resources shared in this episode: * BSMS 88 - Why founders overestimate PLG, and what VCs should check before investing [/b2b-saas-marketing-snacks-podcast/why-founders-overestimate-product-led-growth] * BSMS 23 - Product led growth vs. sales led growth [/b2b-saas-marketing-snacks-podcast/product-led-growth-vs-sales-led-growth] * The Foundation of a Successful SaaS GTM (Go-to-Market) Strategy [/blog/basic-gtm-strategy-for-saas]  * T2D3 CMO Masterclass [https://hubs.la/Q02lRt-m0] * Submit and vote on our podcast topics [https://hubs.la/Q02lRv-k0] ABOUT B2B SAAS MARKETING SNACKS Since 2020, The B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks Podcast has offered software company founders, investors and leadership a fresh source of insights into building a complete and efficient engine for growth. Meet our Marketing Snacks Podcast Hosts:  * Stijn Hendrikse: Author of T2D3 Masterclass & Book, Founder of Kalungi As a serial entrepreneur and marketing leader, Stijn has contributed to the success of 20+ startups as a C-level executive, including Chief Revenue Officer of Acumatica, CEO of MightyCall, a SaaS contact center solution, and leading the initial global Go-to-Market for Atera, a B2B SaaS Unicorn. Before focusing on startups, Stijn led global SMB Marketing and B2B Product Marketing for Microsoft’s Office platform. * Brian Graf: CEO of Kalungi As CEO of Kalungi, Brian provides high-level strategy, tactical execution, and business leadership expertise to drive long-term growth for B2B SaaS. Brian has successfully led clients in all aspects of marketing growth, from positioning and messaging to event support, product announcements, and channel-spend optimizations, generating qualified leads and brand awareness for clients while prioritizing ROI. Before Kalungi, Brian worked in television advertising, specializing in business intelligence and campaign optimization, and earned his MBA at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business with a focus in finance and marketing.   Visit Kalungi.com [http://kalungi.com/] to learn more about growing your B2B SaaS company.

93 - The "Why" vs the "Wow, How, Now" frameworks in your GTM

Is your go-to-market built around “why” or around “wow, how, now”? Many teams love Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle. Others organize their marketing around buyer stages, hooks, and calls to action. Brian and Stijn think you do not have to pick one or the other, and that the real job is to raise signal and cut noise in how you lead. In this episode of B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks, host Brian Graf sits down with Kalungi founder and Chief Syntropy Officer Stijn Hendrikse to compare "Start With Why" with the "Wow, How, Now" model, and to show how both can live inside the same story, from brand to campaigns to a single email. They also walk through a very simple Google Sheet that Stijn uses with his teams to decide what work is actually worth doing. You will hear how to match your message to the state of mind your audience is in, make clearer decisions as a marketing leader, and run your team in a more syntropic way, not just a busier one. In this episode, you will learn: * When to lead with mission and “why” in your story * How wow, how, now maps to your funnel and content * Why starting with who and what it is for changes results * A simple sheet to score ideas on signal, shipping, and flywheel effect * How STOP turns repeated work into assets, not one offs * Ways to use AI with your team in a syntropic way By the end, you will have a clearer way to use both Golden Circle and "Wow, How, Now" together, plus a very practical tool to decide what your team should start, keep, or stop doing next.   Resources shared in this episode: * SaaS Content Marketing 101: A Comprehensive Introduction for SaaS Founders [/blog/the-wow-how-and-now-of-content-marketing] * BSMS 83 - Marketing during a downturn [/b2b-saas-marketing-snacks-podcast/marketing-during-a-downturn] * The Foundation of a Successful SaaS GTM (Go-to-Market) Strategy [/blog/basic-gtm-strategy-for-saas]  * T2D3 CMO Masterclass [https://hubs.la/Q02lRt-m0] * Submit and vote on our podcast topics [https://hubs.la/Q02lRv-k0] ABOUT B2B SAAS MARKETING SNACKS Since 2020, The B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks Podcast has offered software company founders, investors and leadership a fresh source of insights into building a complete and efficient engine for growth. Meet our Marketing Snacks Podcast Hosts:  * Stijn Hendrikse: Author of T2D3 Masterclass & Book, Founder of Kalungi As a serial entrepreneur and marketing leader, Stijn has contributed to the success of 20+ startups as a C-level executive, including Chief Revenue Officer of Acumatica, CEO of MightyCall, a SaaS contact center solution, and leading the initial global Go-to-Market for Atera, a B2B SaaS Unicorn. Before focusing on startups, Stijn led global SMB Marketing and B2B Product Marketing for Microsoft’s Office platform. * Brian Graf: CEO of Kalungi As CEO of Kalungi, Brian provides high-level strategy, tactical execution, and business leadership expertise to drive long-term growth for B2B SaaS. Brian has successfully led clients in all aspects of marketing growth, from positioning and messaging to event support, product announcements, and channel-spend optimizations, generating qualified leads and brand awareness for clients while prioritizing ROI. Before Kalungi, Brian worked in television advertising, specializing in business intelligence and campaign optimization, and earned his MBA at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business with a focus in finance and marketing. Visit Kalungi.com [http://kalungi.com/] to learn more about growing your B2B SaaS company.

92 - Is getting an MBA worth it in 2025?

Is an MBA still worth it for marketers in 2025, or should you learn by shipping work in public? Schools still broaden your network and expose you to many disciplines. The catch is that the tactical skills age fast, and AI is eating a lot of the output that used to signal competence. On the job, you can publish, get feedback, and adjust in real time. In this episode of B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks, host Brian Graf and Kalungi founder Stijn Hendrikse compare a traditional MBA path with “ship-every-day” alternatives like the altMBA, and what that means now that AI is everywhere. They share where formal study helps, where it falls short, and how to build your own playbook with T2D3. You’ll hear a practical way to decide: school, work, or both. And how to stack real skills that compound for years, not months. The format follows our podcast intro template to keep things crisp and useful. Critical topics in this episode * Why AI changes what “communication” means * Where MBAs help, and where they don’t * How to learn by shipping, every day * How to run real primary research * Investor and hiring views on MBAs now * A T2D3 path to specialize with focus By the end, you’ll know when to pick school, when to learn on the job, and how to design a focused, personal “mini-MBA” that actually moves your career forward.   Resources shared in this episode: * Top 7 quick SaaS marketing certification courses [/blog/syntropy/from-entropy-to-syntropy-where-ai-will-actually-get-creative] * Top strategic B2B SaaS marketing certification courses for executives [https://www.t2d3.pro/learn/b2b-saas-marketing-certifications-coures-for-executives] * The New Divide: Syntropy Creators vs. Entropy Processors [/blog/syntropy/the-new-divide-syntropy-creators-vs.-entropy-processors]  * T2D3 CMO Masterclass [https://hubs.la/Q02lRt-m0] * Submit and vote on our podcast topics [https://hubs.la/Q02lRv-k0] ABOUT B2B SAAS MARKETING SNACKS Since 2020, The B2B SaaS Marketing Snacks Podcast has offered software company founders, investors and leadership a fresh source of insights into building a complete and efficient engine for growth. Meet our Marketing Snacks Podcast Hosts:  * Stijn Hendrikse: Author of T2D3 Masterclass & Book, Founder of Kalungi As a serial entrepreneur and marketing leader, Stijn has contributed to the success of 20+ startups as a C-level executive, including Chief Revenue Officer of Acumatica, CEO of MightyCall, a SaaS contact center solution, and leading the initial global Go-to-Market for Atera, a B2B SaaS Unicorn. Before focusing on startups, Stijn led global SMB Marketing and B2B Product Marketing for Microsoft’s Office platform. * Brian Graf: CEO of Kalungi As CEO of Kalungi, Brian provides high-level strategy, tactical execution, and business leadership expertise to drive long-term growth for B2B SaaS. Brian has successfully led clients in all aspects of marketing growth, from positioning and messaging to event support, product announcements, and channel-spend optimizations, generating qualified leads and brand awareness for clients while prioritizing ROI. Before Kalungi, Brian worked in television advertising, specializing in business intelligence and campaign optimization, and earned his MBA at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business with a focus in finance and marketing. Visit Kalungi.com [http://kalungi.com/] to learn more about growing your B2B SaaS company.