How Zendesk rebuilt a 40-person in-house comms team in 9 months and eliminated all agency spend | Sarah Gavin

How Wiz's category dominance came from solving customer pain — not chasing an analyst acronym

Wiz [https://www.wiz.io] broke records on the way up — fastest to $100M ARR, one of the most talked-about companies in cybersecurity — and it did it with a communications team you could count on one hand. Rachel Ratchford [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelratchford/], Senior Director of Communications at Wiz, runs that team. In this episode of The Narrative, she gets into what actually drives Wiz's narrative (hint: it's not press releases), why category creation is an outcome not a strategy, and how she rebuilt her own relationship with the comms function after a crisis of faith about whether PR was just noise. This is a conversation about doing more with less, cutting everything that doesn't move the needle, and building comms as a growth engine — not a support function. Topics Discussed: * Category creation vs. customer obsession * The 80/20 rule of comms * Why Wiz largely ditched the press release * What's actually resonating with media right now * How to build (and use) an agency relationship that actually works * The media landscape shift * Team structure philosophy Comms Lessons for Founders & Leaders: 1. If you can't answer "why are we doing this?" — don't do it. Rachel's 80/20 filter is ruthless: "If somebody asks me, Rachel, why are we doing this? And my answer sucks, then we just don't do it." With a lean team, ruthless prioritization isn't optional — it's the strategy. 2. Category creation is an outcome, not a brief. "If you focus on the love, not the label, that's a better strategy." Wiz didn't set out to own CNAPP. They identified a real gap, built for it, and let the market catch up. Companies that lead with an acronym are building for the analyst spreadsheet, not the customer. 3. Ditch the press release. Own your own channel. Blog posts over wire distributions. No AP style restrictions, no wire fees, real SEO, trackable data, and a story instead of an announcement. When comms drives people to assets you own, it becomes a growth function — not a cost center. 4. Don't hire an agency before you hire a comms lead. "You can only be so successful if your client is enabling you." Agencies need a dedicated partner embedded in the business. Founders or CMOs don't have bandwidth to be that partner — and without it, even a great agency can't perform. 5. Research teams are an underused comms asset. The Wiz research team operates as a media partner — patient, technically fluent, and trusted by reporters directly. When researchers can pitch stories with credibility and comms can translate them for a general audience, you get coverage that neither could produce alone. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.⁠ www.FrontLines.io⁠ [http://www.frontlines.io] The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.⁠ www.GlobalTalent.co⁠ [http://www.globaltalent.co] // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM]

How Virta Health knew the time was right to create a category | Judy Huang

Virta Health is pioneering metabolic disease reversal through individualized nutrition. Founded nearly a decade ago to prove diabetes could be reversed through food rather than medication alone, the company spent years establishing clinical credibility before expanding their narrative. What started as diabetes reversal has evolved into a broader positioning around metabolic disease reversal—a category addressing the 93% of American adults with metabolic dysfunction. In this episode of The Narrative, we spoke with Judy Huang [https://www.linkedin.com/in/judy-huang-6a401019/], VP of Communications at Virta Health [https://www.virtahealth.com/], about the multi-year strategic process of determining when to claim a new category, assembling the cross-functional team to define it, and executing a launch that broke through to consumer media despite being a B2B benefits provider. Topics Discussed: * Virta's strategic evolution from diabetes reversal to metabolic disease reversal positioning * The deliberate timing decision: why Virta said "not yet" for years before claiming the category * How GLP-1 drugs, health influencers, and the MAHA movement created market conditions for metabolic health narratives * Choosing "metabolic disease reversal" over broader "metabolic health" to own a defensible position * The cross-functional stakeholders required for category definition in healthcare * Launch execution: the Metabolic Disease Reversal Report, consumer-focused microsite, and New York media event * Breaking into consumer media as a B2B brand by elevating beyond weight loss to medical and scientific framing GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: * Revisit category timing systematically, not opportunistically: Virta had internal discussions about claiming metabolic disease reversal at founding (11-12 years ago), again periodically over the years, and even when Judy joined two years ago—each time concluding the market wasn't ready. Last year, they identified three converging trends (GLP-1 awareness, mainstream health influencers, MAHA movement) and decided "the avalanche is coming." This wasn't about waiting for perfection—it was about systematic evaluation of market readiness. Set recurring checkpoints to reassess category timing rather than making one-time go/no-go decisions. * Establish clinical credibility before commercial category claims: Virta spent its first several years publishing peer-reviewed research proving diabetes reversal through nutrition before aggressive commercialization. When they later claimed metabolic disease reversal, they had outcomes data showing 56% reduction in stroke and death risk, reduced kidney disease diagnoses, and 33% longer survival for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients. In regulated markets, proof must precede positioning—you need ammunition when challenged by skeptical buyers, media, or competitors. * Narrow categories to where you can credibly lead: Virta explicitly rejected "metabolic health" despite its relevance because 93% of Americans have metabolic dysfunction—any supplement or wellness company could claim that space. "Metabolic disease reversal" required clinical outcomes most competitors couldn't demonstrate. The narrower framing paradoxically expanded their addressable market by increasing credibility. Identify the specific claim where your evidence creates defensibility, not the broadest possible market description. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io [http://www.frontlines.io] The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co [http://www.globaltalent.co] // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM [https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM]

Why Vanta killed the B2B comms and content playbook and is all in on storytelling | Erin Cheng, VP of Comms & Content at Vanta

In this episode, Erin Cheng [https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinsmithcheng/], VP of Communications & Content at Vanta [https://vanta.com], breaks down why Vanta killed the traditional comms and content playbook, how the team orchestrated multi-channel coverage for their Series D without going exclusive, and why most founders are still approaching media relations like it's 2014. Topics Discussed: * The Wall Street Journal moment and what it revealed about B2B comms * Why funding announcements still matter (if you do them right) * The relationship-building meetings that actually work * What kills trust with reporters (and what builds it) * Why media training is backfiring on founders * Owning your distribution when earned media isn't guaranteed * The candidate profile that doesn't exist yet Comms Lessons for Founders & Leaders Transparency with reporters is non-negotiable. Erin built 15 years of trust by being crystal clear about embargo terms, explaining why she won't do exclusives, and having honest conversations about editorial guidelines. She asks reporters point-blank: "What does exclusive mean to you? 10 minutes early or several hours?" Honoring those commitments—and being upfront when you can't—keeps relationships intact for the long term. Media relations can't be an on-off switch. Hiring a PR agency for three months around a funding round doesn't work. Erin advises bringing on a consultant or contractor early to extract the narrative and build relationships over time. The founders who succeed are the ones who commit to relationship-building meetings with reporters even when there's no immediate coverage opportunity—because those lunches pay off when it's time for a big announcement. Comms people must become business experts, not just media gatekeepers. Ten years ago, you could say "that's not my side of the house" when asked about growth marketing or paid media. Now, understanding customer priorities, business goals, and where media intersects with them is table stakes. Erin's pitch to founders isn't "trust me, this reporter matters"—it's "here's how this conversation aligns with our customer acquisition strategy and market positioning." The bar for product launch coverage is astronomically higher than it used to be. Product-focused tech reporters have disappeared. Founders need to hear this directly: just because you spent a year building something doesn't mean anyone outside your company cares. Erin sets this expectation early and shifts focus to owned storytelling—social, video, founder voices—with media as an amplifier, not the primary goal. Stop over-training your founders. Audiences are gravitating toward authentic founder voices on LinkedIn and podcasts like TVPN because they're tired of rehearsed, PR'd personas. If your founder is one person on social and a completely different personality on Bloomberg, that dissonance kills trust. Protect the founder's authentic voice instead of polishing it away—even if that means they stumble occasionally.

How GitLab's comms team workshopped the "iPhone for DevOps" analogy for CNBC's IPO interview | Natasha Woods

Natasha Woods [https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-woods-b275198/] has operated in the pressure cooker twice—once supporting Gigamon's IPO from the agency side at Weber Shandwick, then running PR at GitLab through its public offering and five subsequent earnings cycles. Now as Senior Director of Communications at The Linux Foundation [http://www.linuxfoundation.org]. Across the industry, she’s noticed a pattern emerge of marketing org consolidation under CROs, potentially limiting the creative oxygen brands need to survive. In this conversation, Natasha breaks down the mechanics of earnings prep, explains why the GitLab team workshopped a single analogy for CNBC, and shares why one founder's dismissive comment to a journalist nearly torpedoed a launch story. The operational mechanics of earnings calls: review chains, last-minute changes, and executive interview prep Topics Discussed: * Why GitLab's "iPhone for DevOps" analogy resonated so well on air * The customer-first approach that led to a nine-month Fortune story on Interana and Tinder * Why reporters are shifting to freelance, newsletters, and in-house content roles—and what that means for founders * The balance between demonstrating business results and showcasing storytelling – and how to make both shine  * Press release optimization for LLMs: bullet points above body copy, not buried in paragraphs * Founder mistakes with journalists: the "you didn't do your homework" story * Conference announcement strategy: relationships and embargo timing matter more than venue GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Earnings prep is review chain architecture, not content creation: Natasha's role during GitLab's earnings wasn't just writing the release—it was orchestrating multiple approval layers for the release and media talking points, maintaining the press page of the financial website, and keeping everyone's phone numbers accessible for last-minute changes. The constraint is coordinating legal, finance, and executive sign-offs under time pressure. Founders approaching their first earnings call should map the approval chain early, identify bottlenecks, and establish clear decision rights before the press release draft even exists. Executive interview prep targets bridging mechanics, not answer memorization: Brian Robins, GitLab's CFO (now at Snowflake), practiced weekend sessions with his wife and in front of mirrors before Natasha's prep sessions. The goal wasn't rehearsing specific answers—it was becoming fluent in bridging unexpected questions, aligning body language with messaging, and managing facial expressions on camera. Founders should treat media training as improvisational skill-building: practice redirecting surprise questions, watch yourself on video for body language tells, and focus on comfort rather than scripting. Over-preparation creates robotic interviews that producers reject: Natasha has seen executives so rehearsed they couldn't handle deviations from expected questions, and producers called mid-interview to complain the conversation felt scripted. The balance: practice enough to handle bridges and body language, but maintain conversational flexibility. If your exec can't naturally pivot when asked something unexpected, you've over-indexed on preparation. Record practice sessions and watch for wooden delivery or inability to think dynamically. Customer stories unlock media narrative faster than founder vision: When Natasha worked with Interana (a behavioral analytics startup founded by ex-Facebook engineers), she asked who was using the product. The answer—Tinder—became the hook for a Fortune feature. She called Tinder's comms team, learned why they chose the technology, then pitched a reporter who had just moved to Fortune. That single customer conversation created a story that took nine months to develop but positioned the company better than any founder pitch deck could. Start your narrative development by interviewing your first five customers about why they bought. The "iPhone for DevOps" analogy required CEO-CLO-Comms workshop sessions: When preparing for GitLab's IPO broadcast interviews, Natasha asked CEO Sid Sijbrandij how he'd explain a DevOps platform to his non-technical Dutch parents at dinner. Multiple brainstorming sessions produced "GitLab is the iPhone for developers—it consolidates all the separate tools into one platform." She tested whether he could deliver it naturally on air. When he said it on CNBC right after listing, the host's facial recognition was immediate. That single analogy took multiple prep sessions. Don't assume technical analogies are obvious—workshop them until they're bulletproof. Everything said to a journalist is on-record unless explicitly pre-negotiated: The biggest founder mistake Natasha sees is conversational comfort leading to unguarded comments. Journalists aren't adversaries, but if something is interesting to their audience, it gets printed. The failure mode: thinking "off the record" can be declared retroactively. Establish ground rules at the conversation's beginning. For sensitive topics, say "I'd like to discuss X on background" before sharing it, not after. Match spokesperson format-fit, not seniority: Not every founder should do broadcast. Not every CTO should do podcasts. Natasha builds spokesperson matrices: who handles 60-second TV hits, who does long-form written interviews, who thrives in hour-long podcast conversations. Some executives shine in rapid-fire Q&A but can't sustain narrative depth. Others are brilliant storytellers who can't compress to sound bites. Founders should assess their team's format strengths and deploy accordingly—it also signals leadership depth to investors when multiple execs can represent the company. Conference announcements should require longer lead times under embargo: For KubeCon North America, Natasha sent news packages to media three weeks before the event. Reporters filed stories in advance to publish when the embargo lifted day one. The decision to announce at conferences depends on: competitive timing, reporter relationships, whether your news fits keynote themes (for inclusion in roundups), and your embargo management capability. Don't default to "we'll announce at the conference"—evaluate whether you have the relationships to pre-brief effectively and whether the news warrants event timing. Reporter relationship ROI is measured in email open rates: Reporters get hundreds of pitches daily. Zero relationship means your email likely dies unread unless you're a second-time founder (Natasha notes Jeremy Johnson at Andela could reach reporters directly based on prior founding experience). Comms professionals with established relationships achieve materially higher response rates. Founders should invest 6-12 months before needing coverage: offer yourself as a source for their beats, provide context on industry trends, make introductions to interesting customers. The ROI compounds when you actually need coverage. Transparent coverage with mixed news beats puff pieces: When managing Andela's CEO transition with Alex Konrad at Forbes, Natasha asked what numbers he needed to run the story. She secured revenue growth, valuation, and projections—even though growth had stagnated. Konrad's article noted the valuation and sales challenges but positioned the CEO change as a positive inflection point. The win wasn't glowing coverage—it was building trust during a leadership transition with factual transparency. Founders should aim for neutral, complete stories over promotional pieces. Credibility compounds. Marketing under CROs optimizes for efficiency, threatens brand equity: Natasha sees orgs putting comms under revenue leadership for efficiency gains, but it stifles top-of-funnel creativity and long-term brand building. The failure mode: comms metrics get judged by sales contribution, forcing storytelling into demand-gen frameworks. Her advice: maintain strong sales-marketing partnership while keeping brand work separate from revenue accountability. If your CRO doesn't deeply understand marketing (most don't), decoupling is critical. Brand lovability drives funnel performance, but measuring it by pipeline contribution destroys the creative space it requires. Press releases need bullet summaries above body copy for LLM parsing: Traditional press releases (headline, subhead, body) don't get picked up by Perplexity, ChatGPT, or other AI search engines. Earnings releases have always included 3-5 bullet points under the subhead, before the body, that summarize key information, so regular press releases now need to follow suit. That's what LLMs extract and surface. Natasha's format: headline, subhead, bullet-point summary (this is what AI reads), then body with deeper detail and links. Founders should restructure releases to be AI-native: front-load the summary, minimize jargon, link to supporting materials rather than creating five-page documents. The "you didn't do your homework" founder story: Natasha was launching a big data startup founded by an ex-VMware R&D executive. She secured a call with Jonathan Vanian and prepped the founder on expected questions, including competitors. On the call, when Jonathan asked about competitors, the founder responded: "You obviously didn't do your homework because you should know this if you were a great journalist." Natasha had to salvage the relationship with an apology call. The article ran but was significantly shorter than Jonathan's typical depth. Lesson: journalists ask questions to hear your perspective and get quotes, not because they lack information. Treat every question as an opportunity to shape narrative. Podcast prep combines broadcast body language with written interview depth: Podcasts are marathons (often 60+ minutes), now mostly video, requiring sustained performance. Natasha's approach: bring broadcast discipline on body language and camera presence, but prepare for the narrative depth of written features. She collaborates with hosts early, sharing bullet points of what the guest will cover and asking what else they want for their audience. The format rewards executives who can relax into storytelling while maintaining visual awareness. Don't treat podcasts as casual conversations—they're long-form performances that require both technical and narrative preparation. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io [http://www.frontlines.io] The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co [http://www.globaltalent.co] // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM [https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM]

How Zendesk rebuilt a 40-person in-house comms team in 9 months and eliminated all agency spend | Sarah Gavin

Sarah Gavin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahgavin/] leads communications and marketing at Zendesk [https://www.zendesk.com/] following its 2022 private equity acquisition by Hellman & Friedman and Permira. After a decade building Expedia's communications program from scratch - including navigating COVID's near-death moment for travel - Sarah joined Zendesk in 2024 as the company rebuilt its go-to-market motion. Four days after Zendesk's PE deal closed, ChatGPT launched. In this conversation, Sarah reveals how she doubled her team to 40 people while eliminating all agency spend, why she prioritized psychological safety over marketing KPIs during transformation, and the three-question framework she uses to decide when companies should wade into political debates. Topics Discussed: * Managing global customer crisis at Expedia during COVID while the company secured emergency funding * Building Zendesk's in-house 40-person communications team and eliminating agency dependencies in 9 months * Zendesk's response when ChatGPT launched four days after PE acquisition closed in November 2022 * The customer-centric research framework for navigating political positioning during election cycles * Why psychological safety became the primary success metric for marketing during transformation * Hiring communicators with sales backgrounds versus traditional PR credentials * How the tech journalism landscape evolved from Valleywag's takedown culture to reputation-building * Career development: the case for starting in agency before moving in-house GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: * Hire for business thinking, not comms craft: Sarah draws a sharp line: "There's a difference between being a comms person who serves the business and being a business person whose craft happens to be comms." She actively recruits people with sales experience—even retail jobs from high school—because they understand influence, handle rejection, and possess business curiosity. The screening question isn't "can you read a P&L?" but "do you have curiosity to learn the business?" This mindset shift makes communicators better executive advisors and more effective cross-functional partners because they optimize for business outcomes, not story placements. * Consolidate transformation initiatives—death by a thousand cuts is worse than one big change: When Sarah joined Zendesk, she doubled the team to 40 people and eliminated all agency relationships within 9 months. Her philosophy: "If you're going to change things radically, just go do it all at the same time. You can undo things much easier than you can add one thing after the other." This mirrors how she handled Expedia's acquisition spree when they bought Hotels.com, HomeAway/VRBO, Orbitz, Travelocity and multiple global brands within 15 months. Maximum chaos creates permission for radical restructuring—teams accept wholesale change better than incremental disruption. * Lead with psychological safety during organizational trauma, not tactics: After Zendesk's PE acquisition and leadership changes, Sarah made psychological safety her North Star metric instead of marketing KPIs. The team's psychological safety scores increased 8 points quarter-over-quarter. Her insight: "The number one thing they needed from me was not to tell them where to spend this dollar. They needed to feel like they could go take risks." Teams emerging from major disruption need permission to experiment before they need budget allocation guidance. Risk-taking capacity, not execution excellence, becomes the constraint during transformation. * Use customer research to navigate political positioning: Sarah's framework is brutally simple: "What do your customers want? What do your customers want? What do your customers want?" Before the 2024 election, Zendesk commissioned Morning Consult research on customer preferences. The 50/50 split informed their decision to stay relatively quiet. This research also gave leadership data to explain the stance to employees. At Expedia, they went on-record against 2016 immigration restrictions because it contradicted their core principle: "free movement of people all around the world." The decision tree: Does this issue directly relate to your company's core purpose? If no, what do customers want? * Structure agency relationships for control and speed: Sarah pulled all work in-house at both Expedia and Zendesk, maintaining only project-based agency relationships in secondary markets. The 40-person in-house team model delivers faster execution and deeper business context during rapid-change periods. For companies considering this shift: it's not about cost savings (headcount vs. agency fees often net neutral), it's about decision speed and institutional knowledge during transformation windows. * Treat crisis communications as all-hands operations: During COVID's first four weeks, Sarah had her PR team writing customer communications while she negotiated messaging with airlines directly. Her takeaway: "Crisis moments are when you learn that no one is too good for anything and everyone is good enough to help." The lesson isn't about org chart flexibility—it's about recognizing that crisis response requires different skills than steady-state operations. Your PR team might excel at customer empathy under pressure; your legal team might struggle with it. Deploy people based on crisis-specific capabilities, not titles. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io [http://www.frontlines.io] The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co [http://www.globaltalent.co] // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM [https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM]