How AI search engines are becoming your company's most popular and least trained sales reps! Michael Buckbee has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of marketing and technology, building solutions for everyone from the U.S. Navy and Fortune 100 companies to YC startups, presidential candidates, and even rock bands. Today, he's the co-founder of Knowatoa, a service that tracks brand visibility, rankings, and sentiment within AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Googl...
Jul 31, 2025•33 min•Ep. 112
What if 90% of what businesses call "strategy" is actually just expensive to-do lists? Alex M.H. Smith didn't set out to become a strategist, and definitely didn't take the traditional path to get there. In fact, he started his strategy consultancy before ever reading a single book on the subject. What he did have was curiosity, a knack for pattern-spotting, and a frustration with how often businesses skip over real thinking in favor of surface-level tactics. In this episode of the Marketing Umb...
Jun 30, 2025•41 min•Ep. 111
Gaurav Bhattacharya, known to most as “G,” has spent his life building from the ground up. Raised by a single mom in New Delhi and teaching himself to code at age 10, Gaurav has followed a path shaped by resilience, curiosity, and a deep belief in solving real problems with technology. With over 14 years of experience across product, sales, recruiting, and machine learning, he’s built and sold multiple startups—including Involve.ai, a customer success platform that scaled to over 500 companies a...
May 30, 2025•45 min•Ep. 110
The Power of Weird: How Calm Used Quirky PR to Go Mainstream Before Calm became one of the most recognizable wellness apps in the world, it was a nine-person startup in a tiny San Francisco apartment with a big problem: no one knew it existed. That’s when they brought in Peter Freedman, founder of Thinking of Think, a creative PR and guerrilla marketing firm known for turning offbeat ideas into global attention. In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, we sit down with Peter to unpack ...
May 02, 2025•43 min•Ep. 109
What Do Counterintelligence and Marketing Have in Common? More Than You Might Think. Just ask Bill Rice. Before he was helping fintech and SaaS companies drive predictable growth through inbound marketing, Bill was in the U.S. Air Force running counterintelligence and information warfare operations. His journey from espionage to entrepreneurship isn’t just unusual—it’s the foundation of his marketing philosophy. In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Bill talks about how a career bui...
Apr 11, 2025•36 min•Ep. 108
Few CEOs know their company from the inside out quite like Margaret Sikora. With a PhD in Law and nearly a decade at Woodpecker, she’s held roles across the organization—starting in customer support before stepping into leadership as Head of Product, Interim Manager, COO, and now CEO. In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, host Kevin Prewett talks with Margaret about the lessons she’s learned at every stage of Woodpecker’s growth. She shares how her early experience in customer suppo...
Mar 15, 2025•39 min•Ep. 107
How Do You Build a World-Class Company? In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, we chat with Srikrishnan Ganesan, co-founder and CEO of Rocketlane. Sri shares his journey from launching and scaling SaaS businesses to building Rocketlane, a customer onboarding platform that’s redefining project delivery. Sri discusses how his experience at Freshworks, where he helped scale the company from $18 million to $220 million in ARR, fueled his passion for building high-impact SaaS products. He...
Mar 02, 2025•38 min•Ep. 106
Is a Creative Subscription Service the Secret to Scaling Without Hiring In-House Designers? Jonathan Grzybowski built Penji out of necessity—struggling to find reliable design talent, he co-founded a creative subscription service that removes the hassle of hiring in-house. Now, as CMO, he helps businesses access high-quality design work on demand. What began as a personal challenge has evolved into a thriving company serving thousands of clients and securing a spot on the Inc. 5000 list. In this...
Feb 16, 2025•44 min•Ep. 105
Could your network be the catalyst for content co-creation and scalable growth? In this episode of The Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Jakub Zajicek, founder of Demandi.co, shares insights on building businesses through collaboration and content co-creation. With a successful exit from SpeakOn Podcast (a podcast booking service) under his belt, Jakub now helps B2B teams create impactful content by leveraging their ecosystem of partners, customers, and employees. Through Demandi.co, Jakub is revoluti...
Feb 06, 2025•39 min•Ep. 104
Struggling to Connect with Modern Buyers? Here’s How to Close More Deals In this episode of The Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Chelsea Olsen, sales expert and founder of Clohz, shares how modern sales techniques can help you connect with today’s buyers more effectively. With over 20 years of experience—15 of those mastering B2B sales on LinkedIn—Chelsea reveals strategies for building trust, standing out, and closing deals in the digital age. Through the Clohz community, Chelsea is helping sales pr...
Jan 17, 2025•40 min•Ep. 103
Ready for the Relationship Economy Revolution? Peter Lisoskie, founder of Relatable and tech innovator, shares how the relationship economy revolutionizes how businesses connect with their customers. With a rich background that includes leadership roles at Nike and Hewlett-Packard and an impressive 18 patents, Peter shares insights that redefine marketing strategies. Relatable, Peter’s latest innovation, is an interactive video platform that prioritizes trust and personalization over traditional...
Jan 08, 2025•50 min•Ep. 102
How AI Can Help Small Businesses Level Up Their Marketing In this episode of The Marketing Umbrella Podcast , Adam Nathan, founder of Blaze AI and Almanac, shares how AI can simplify marketing for small businesses and agencies. With experience from the White House, Apple, and Lyft, Adam has created tools that make life easier for small teams trying to grow and succeed. Blaze AI acts like a virtual marketing assistant, helping businesses create, personalize, and manage content. It learns a brand’...
Dec 15, 2024•43 min•Ep. 101
Are you building a business that serves your goals—or one that traps you in an endless cycle? In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Jonathan Baker, head of the M&A practice at Punctuation, shares his knowledge in helping small to medium-sized marketing firms adjust their businesses to fit personal goals and get ready for successful sales. As a former business owner and seasoned advisor, Jonathan tackles the emotional and practical issues of growing, selling, and changing creativ...
Dec 01, 2024•30 min•Ep. 100
Can AI give your SEO the boost it needs to climb back to the top of search rankings? Mike Roberts, CEO of Rivalflow AI and SpyFu, knows how to leverage AI to help brands get their content noticed and reclaim those top spots in search rankings. With a solid background in SEO and marketing tech, Mike created Rivalflow to help businesses identify gaps in their content and make impactful updates. Recently, on The Marketing Umbrella podcast, he shared practical insights into why companies often lose ...
Nov 15, 2024•43 min•Ep. 99
Could video-first demos be the secret to closing more software deals, faster? Troy Munson, founder of Dimmo AI, shares how video-first demos are changing the way companies connect with potential customers. By cutting down the back-and-forth and getting straight to the point, these demos grab attention and keep it, helping businesses stand out in a crowded market. In this episode, Troy breaks down why video-first demos are perfect for today’s buyers, especially Gen Z and millennials who want quic...
Nov 06, 2024•36 min•Ep. 98
Are you making the most of AI in your marketing strategy? AI can do more than just automate tasks—it could redefine your entire workflow. Ashley Gross, an expert AI marketing strategist and thought leader, shares her journey from traditional marketing to pioneering AI-driven business transformation. With her extensive expertise, Ashley leads the charge of innovating marketing strategies through AI. In this episode, Ashley delves into the strategic use of AI to enhance productivity and exceed rev...
Oct 15, 2024•32 min•Ep. 97
Is your content truly original, or are outdated plagiarism tools missing the mark? In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, our host Kevin Prewett talks with Jonathan Gillham, founder of OriginalityAI. Jon shares how growing up in a small Canadian town and his frustrations with tools like Copyscape led him to build a smarter content checker. With over 10 years of SEO and content marketing experience, Jon explains why staying original is crucial. Why does being original matter? Jonathan...
Oct 02, 2024•29 min•Ep. 96
Making one bold decision can revolutionize your career. In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella podcast, our guest Cristian Dina, a young entrepreneur and founding member of Tekpon, shares his story of leaving college to venture into the tech world, inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice. He compares the outdated lessons he learned in school with the fast-moving, real-world experiences at Tekpon, showing how taking risks early can lead to fulfilling work. Cristian explains how Tekpon grew from a...
Sep 16, 2024•42 min•Ep. 95
Bilal Ararou, a product designer turned entrepreneur from Morocco, shares his journey from early tech enthusiast to successful business founder. Beginning as a web developer in 2008, Bilal transitioned to product design and UX in 2009, collaborating with global clients as a freelancer. In 2016, he founded Kreatinc, a web design and development agency that has created SaaS products for industries including real estate, finance, eCommerce, and marketing. Kreatinc's work has reached millions of use...
Sep 02, 2024•40 min•Ep. 94
Struggling to keep up with the demands of social media content creation? Imagine having a personal AI team at your fingertips. Austin Armstrong built the solution with Syllaby.io, and it's changing the game for solo creators and small businesses. Austin's journey from MySpace enthusiast to AI innovator is a testament to the rapid evolution of digital marketing. In our chat, he shares how the pandemic became a turning point, pushing him to dive into TikTok and eventually create Syllaby, a tool th...
Aug 17, 2024•40 min•Ep. 93
Outreach without spam, is it completely possible? Our guest today will certainly clear this up. Join Kevin Prewett, host of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, and Outreach without spam, is it completely possible? Our guest today will certainly clear this up. Join Kevin Prewett, host of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, and Tomáš Blaťák, Chief Product Officer and COO of Leads Picker. Tomáš shares his journey from running a lead generation agency to creating a cutting-edge sales platform that prioritiz...
Jul 31, 2024•40 min•Ep. 92
Growth hacking can truly transform your marketing strategy – Fabian Maume shares this and much more in our latest episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast. Fabian Maume, a dedicated growth hacker and marketing automation expert since 2017, has an inspiring journey. He began with web scraping for lead generation, then moved on to automating LinkedIn activities, scaling his marketing agency, and even launching and selling his own SaaS product. Now, he helps B2B SaaS startups as a fractional CMO, ...
Jul 16, 2024•34 min•Ep. 91
Can you really apply game strategies to marketing? This question and many more are answered in our recent podcast chat with Ashley Stanford, Executive Vice President of Client Strategy at TicketSocket and Vice President and Co-Founder of Ice Cream Social. From her early days in search engine optimization to creating Ice Cream Social, Ashley has always turned challenges into opportunities. She shared how she found creative ways to boost event ticket sales without spending extra on ads, demonstrat...
Jul 16, 2024•36 min•Ep. 90
Curious about how AI can revolutionize your business? In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Yoni Belson, the co-founder of DreamCrew, shares his journey. From his time at UCLA to developing innovative AI solutions for sales and content production, Yoni's story is an inspiration to all of us. DreamCrew started by helping small businesses with project documentation. Today, they have created a state-of-the-art AI sales representative that engages website users in a personalized, real-t...
Jun 15, 2024•49 min•Ep. 89
What if you could scale your business without burning out? Sujan Patel, a marketing veteran with two decades of experience and a former collaborator with industry giants like Salesforce and Mint, shares his riveting journey from launching his first digital marketing agency to mastering the SaaS space. Learn firsthand about the difficulty of early success, the risks of heavily relying on projections, and how to manage the uncertain waters of sustainable growth. Sujan's honest insights on managing...
May 31, 2024•31 min•Ep. 88
Digital marketing maven Ryan Deiss lights up this episode with insights learned in necessity-driven entrepreneurship, from his dorm-room launch to his current post at Scalable.co. Ryan's journey exemplifies dynamic marketing expertise with operational savviness, offering a blueprint for success that breaks down the complexities between generating demand and delivering on your brand promise. This episode of Marketing Umbrella Podcast is a masterclass in effective marketing and business scaling, a...
May 15, 2024•38 min•Ep. 87
Logan Mallory's career journey from sales to marketing is nothing short of inspiring. As the Vice President of Marketing at Motivosity, he shares how a pivotal networking event in Utah's thriving tech scene led him to where he is today. His story is a testament to the value of seizing opportunities and making the most of every connection. In this latest episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Kevin and Logan showcased the importance of strategic networking and continual career development, em...
May 01, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Join the ranks of marketing mavens and startup enthusiasts as Sandro Okropiridze the mastermind behind STORI, unveils his entrepreneurial odyssey to becoming the CEO of an AI-powered branding revolution. In this episode of the Marketing Umbrella Podcast, Sandro shares the trials and triumphs encountered while transforming Stori from a straightforward no-code solution into a sophisticated social media storytelling powerhouse. His insights into customer-centric product evolution, the pivotal role ...
Apr 16, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 85
In today’s episode of The Marketing Umbrella Podcast, we grab a few minutes with Andrew Mounier, a true marketing guru who's journeyed from the hustle of agency life to leading the charge on user growth at Xembly, a cutting-edge AI company that's changing the game in marketing. We dive into how he's switched up the marketing game, moving from classic SEO tactics to using some cutting-edge AI tools that are making waves in the industry. Andrew's been in the marketing world for over 15 years, doin...
Mar 31, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Could a LinkedIn faux pas be the best thing to ever happen to your business? Braden Wallake, CEO of HyperSocial and OttoMatey, joins us to recount the viral sensation he never saw coming—a social media post that unexpectedly boosted his profile and taught him, and many others, invaluable lessons. Meet Braden Wallake, the CEO and founder of HyperSocial and OttoMatey. Despite being a 5x college dropout, he leads a team of marketing experts in creating personalized, effective B2B marketing campaign...
Mar 14, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 83
