Sit down with growth leaders and marketing executives from leading brands and companies across industries and stages. From exploring the evolution of growth marketing to walking the tightrope between brand and performance marketing to the epic saga of launching an ecommerce brand—we’ll dig into it all! Our guests will share their wins and war stories, and arm you with actionable insights on how to craft best-in-class strategies, execute with efficiency, and build your dream team.
Growth Talks is brought to you by Right Side Up and hosted by Krystina Rubino, general manager of offline services.
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Our Favorite CMO Insights of 2025 | Krystina Rubino
Episode 39
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 • Duration 15:08
As you look ahead to 2026, what’s rising to the top of your marketing priorities?
In this special episode of Growth Talks with Krystina Rubino, we highlight our favorite CMO insights on building brands that customers trust and love.
It's packed with insights on subjects all CMOs should be thinking about today, such as brand versus performance marketing, incorporating AI into your marketing strategy, and how to build and enable your team.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Tamara Mendelsohn, COO at Overstory and former CMO at Eventbrite, shares why brand and performance aren’t competing priorities and how real growth comes from bringing both teams together.
Jaleh Bisharat, former fractional CMO at Skillshare, argues that the best CMOs think like CEOs, focusing on what the business truly needs, even if that means reallocating budget away from marketing.
Katelyn Watson, CMO at Talkspace, recommends that leaders step into an AI-native mindset and rethink how teams create, connect, and scale brands.
Aaron Magness, CMO at Full Glass Wine Co., highlights why effective marketing leaders should stop obsessing over tactics and instead focus on hiring great talent, setting clear expectations, and deeply understanding the business and its narrative.
Cate Lochead, CMO at Bentley Systems, shares how leading with empathy creates more authentic campaigns and builds deeper connections with customers.
Matt Gehring, CMO & Advisor, details how clear data definitions such as clarity around LTR versus LTV keep teams aligned and focused on the metrics that matter.
👍 Did you enjoy this video? Don’t forget to click the like button! And find more episodes of Growth Talks here: https://bit.ly/3xXGJJc
🤝 Connect with Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals.
‣ Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt
‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD
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Rethinking Your Customer Journey Map | Matt Gehring ( Dutch Pet, Everlane, Rothy’s )
Episode 38
Tuesday, December 16, 2025 • Duration 56:39
The fastest-growing brands treat customer insight like a strategy—not just a survey.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, CMO & Advisor, Matt Gehring joins host Tyler Elliston, founder and CEO of Right Side Up, to unpack what it takes to succeed in your first 90 days as a marketing leader.
Drawing from his leadership roles at Dutch Pet, Everlane, and Rothy’s, Matt shares how to map the customer journey, turn post-purchase insights into smart segmentation strategies, and use real-time data to drive repeat purchases.
Find out why acting on customer insights early is key to refining your product, aligning your team, and making informed decisions before you scale.
🗝️ Key Takeaways:
Start with listening. In your first 90 days as CMO, forget quick wins and shiny tactics. Your real job? Uncover the real issues, gain your team’s trust, and align the org around a shared understanding of success.
Smart teams adjust early. When customer insights tell a different story about your product, don’t rush to scale. Hit pause, review feedback, and pivot. Sometimes the smartest move is starting over.
Don’t confuse revenue with value. Always calculate LTV using gross margin—not top-line revenue. It’s the only way to get a true LTV:CAC ratio and avoid scaling based on a false signal.
Personalization is about context. It’s not about crafting the perfect one-to-one offer—it’s about using what you already know, like ad intent or entry point, to create the customer experience at every touchpoint.
Post-purchase is a powerful growth lever. Use customer data to track what they bought and when they bought it to inform segmentation. Then test upsells, cross-sells, and timing to drive repeat purchases and increase lifetime value.
Building the AI-Native Marketing Team | Vanessa Hope Schneider (Descript, Airbnb, Eventbrite)
Episode 37
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 • Duration 56:08
Every marketing leader should give their team an AI framework for rethinking how they work.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Vanessa Hope Schneider, Head of Marketing at Decript, joins host Tyler Elliston, Founder and CEO of Right Side Up, to break down how AI is becoming core to every marketer’s role and what that shift means for how modern teams operate.
Drawing on her leadership experience from Airbnb, Eventbrite, and Descript, Vanessa outlines a framework for helping teams adopt AI while preserving the human element that defines great marketing.
Find out why learning AI tools and experimenting with real workflows is key to understanding where AI adds value and setting your team up for success.
🗝️ Key Takeaways:
Lead with identity. Every disruptive brand starts by tapping into something deeper than function—it connects to pride, purpose, and self-expression. When people see themselves in what you’re building, adoption follows.
Try out this AI framework. 1) Use AI to research and synthesize insights, 2) automate repeatable workflows, and 3) connect your tools to create smarter systems that improve efficiency and decision-making.
Turn personas into prompts. Build GPTs trained on real customer research to test messaging and ad creatives to sharpen your GTM strategy. One setup can boost speed and alignment across every campaign.
Expand your creative options. From early brand concepts to visual patterns, use AI to help your design team explore ideas faster, gather feedback, and make more confident creative decisions.
From prompt to production. Turn a single video concept into a first draft with scripted scenes and multilingual voiceovers. Use AI in creative ideation so your team spends less time setting up and more time storytelling.
Rewrite Your Marketing Playbook Using AI | Everett Butler (Lindy, Tesla, Uber)
Episode 36
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 • Duration 47:20
When everyone can generate AI content, taste and storytelling are the new performance metrics.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Everett Butler, Head of Marketing at Lindy, joins host Krystina Rubino to unpack what it takes to bring a brand-new product category to market when there is no roadmap, no search volume, and no shared language.
With over fifteen years of experience scaling teams at Tesla, Uber, and Affirm, Everett shares how to apply first principles thinking to build a go-to-market strategy grounded in fundamentals, aligned with real customer needs, and focused on clarity over complexity.
Tune in to learn the key traits Everett looks for in modern AI marketers — and why taste, product-led storytelling, and genuine curiosity are more valuable than ever.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Vision shapes strategy. When you’re launching a product, don’t copy a playbook. Create one. Start from first principles: know who needs you, what problem you solve, and tell that story clearly.
Ship, Test, Learn. When you’re defining a new category, don’t get stuck on semantics. Use real language in campaigns and see what engages your audience. Go-to-market is part marketing and part anthropology.
Embrace the Uncertainty. In the age of AI, no one has all the answers. The best marketers balance curiosity for new tools with a steady focus on timeless principles and solid fundamentals.
Scale What Sticks. Sustainable growth starts with retention. The best teams track activation quality, prioritize lifetime value, and reward customer loyalty.
Lead with Storytelling. As AI handles more of the mechanics of marketing, the edge belongs to those who can curate taste, tell meaningful stories, and create emotional connections that last.
Build for Tomorrow. The teams that scale best invest early in process, shared language, and cross-functional alignment. Those foundations create leverage that lasts well beyond the next campaign.
Unlocking a Product - First Mentality to Fuel Growth | Jordan Hwang (OpenPhone/Quo)
Episode 35
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 • Duration 46:51
If your messaging isn’t aligned with your product experience, you’re just buying churn.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Jordan Hwang, VP of Marketing at OpenPhone (now Quo) joins host Krystina Rubino to unpack how B2B marketers can adopt a smarter growth mindset; one that prioritizes product alignment, experimentation, and trust.
With over 15 years of experience at fast-moving startups like Gusto andEvernote, Jordan shares how to translate product value into messaging that resonates, build buy-in for bold bets, and design experiments that create impactful insight, not just short-term results.
Find out how today’s most effective teams connect brand, product, and performance across every stage of the funnel.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Build small. Test often. Smart marketers experiment frequently and explore new channels with low lift and low risk. They set expectations early and invest in learning, not just outcomes.
Transparency builds trust. Senior leaders don’t need perfection. They need clarity. When you’re upfront about the risks, you create space for real alignment and stronger team support.
Change starts with alignment. Before refining product messaging, get clear on what’s working, what’s not, and why. Keep what resonates with customers and be willing to change what doesn’t.
Start with your customer. Business buyers don’t want complexity; they want to know your product will work, won’t waste their time, and won’t put them at risk.
Test to learn. A healthy experimentation culture starts with consistency and strong design. When tests are built around clear hypotheses, you generate repeatable insight, not just lucky wins.
Speed beats perfection. The cost of waiting often outweighs the risk of being wrong. A test-and-roll mindset helps you outlearn the competition while they’re still calculating.
How to Build a Love Brand | Tamara Mendelsohn (Eventbrite)
Episode 34
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 • Duration 01:00:18
Brand is the promise you make to customers and the experience you deliver every time.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Tamara Mendelsohn, former CMO of Eventbrite, joins host Krystina Rubino to share her marketing playbook for building brand value across every touchpoint.
From designing scalable growth loops to tracking the metrics that actually matter, Tamara breaks down the core drivers behind Eventbrite’s success and the mindset shift every marketer needs to drive long-term growth.
Find out how great marketers align brand and performance teams, choose the right signals, and use curiosity and customer insight to build brands people love.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Connection drives retention. Your funnel should mirror what your customers truly care about. If people don’t see themselves in your brand, you’re missing the real growth opportunity.
No silver bullet metric. Monitor brand health by tracking signals like search volume and traffic. When those numbers start to climb, it’s a clear sign you’re building both awareness and intent.
Beyond the funnel. Marketers should think in loops, not just stages. Follow where customers enter, how to nurture them, and how to accelerate their path to purchase.
Test your value prop. Early on, paid marketing shouldn’t be about juicing growth. Use it to validate product-market fit, refine your messaging, and identify the best customer segments.
Brand is the promise. It’s not your logo or campaign. It’s the promise you make to your customers and how well you deliver on it. The best brands win by offering real value, not by outspending the competition.
Lean into AI. The best marketers use AI to help their teams move faster, test smarter, and drive customer impact. Embracing new technology is how you stay ahead of the competition.
⏰ Timestamps
Unlocking Smarter Attribution with Surveys | Matt Bahr (Fairing)
Episode 33
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 • Duration 58:00
Not everything that drives growth shows up in Google Analytics.
IIn this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Matt Bahr, Co-Founder of Fairing, joins host Krystina Rubino how survey data is reshaping attribution, helping brands uncover what truly influences customer decisions in today’s complex media landscape.
Drawing on 15 years of experience from leading global e-commerce at Master & Dynamic to building Fairing, Matt shares why PR might matter more in an AI-driven world, how post-purchase surveys complement ad pixels, and the key strategies marketers need to move beyond the last click.
Find out how Fairing is helping leading brands turn real-time insights into smarter strategies and long-term growth.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Brand is the ultimate differentiator. Launching $400 headphones against Bose and Sony, Master & Dynamic matched ad spend with PR, because in crowded markets, the brand story wins.
PR is the new SEO. Every article, feature, and mention becomes searchable proof of your brand. Press today fuels AI tomorrow and drives continued visibility, trust, and growth.
Surveys complement ad pixels. Post-purchase surveys drive 70–80% response rates, turning traditional research into clear, real-time customer attribution marketers can trust.
Triangulation reveals the bigger picture. Perfect attribution doesn’t exist, but actionable insights do. Layering surveys, promo codes, and MMM reveals a fuller view of the customer’s path to purchase.
Measure beyond the last click. If the final click is all that counts, podcasts, influencers, and streaming ads get erased. The customer journey is always bigger than what Google Analytics shows.
Continued learning is the real growth hack. Testing without an agenda wastes data. The best teams document insights so every experiment improves sales, product, and marketing.
Building Communities Customers Love | Mallory Contois (Maven, Mercury, Pinterest, & The Old Girls Club)
Episode 32
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 • Duration 49:38
Great work happens at the intersection of enthusiasm and conviction.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Mallory Contois, VP of Growth at Maven, joins host Krystina Rubino to discuss her marketing philosophy for building brands and communities that people love.
Drawing on lessons from her time at Pinterest and Mercury, Mallory shares how a customer-first approach fosters genuine connection and lays the foundation for long-term success.
At Maven, Mallory is now focused on championing adult learning, bringing more smart people together to teach and learn from one another. And as Founder of The Old Girls Club, she unpacks why and how she’s built a thriving network where women in tech can connect, grow, and support one another.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Deep user empathy is a competitive edge. The best products aren’t built on assumptions; they’re built by teams who truly understand their users.
Authenticity scales when it’s real. Pinterest’s early growth came from real users sharing what they loved. No incentives, no performance, just authentic enthusiasm.
You can’t buy community. Real community-led growth starts with showing up, listening, and earning trust—not with events, swag, or splashy budgets.
The best work happens at the intersection of belief and passion. When you have both conviction that something will work and personal enthusiasm for it, you’re in the sweet spot.
Learning is the new currency. Great leaders don’t just hire talent; they cultivate it. Teams that prioritize upskilling outperform when the market shifts.
Experience is the best teacher. Setbacks aren’t failures, they’re feedback. The best marketers use them to adapt fast and make better decisions.
The Modern CMO: Balancing Strategy, Storytelling, & Finance | Pranav Piyush (Paramark, Dropbox, BILL)
Episode 31
Tuesday, September 2, 2025 • Duration 48:00
Marketing today should be a team sport. The companies that thrive are the ones who align product and brand around a shared mission.
In this week’s episode of Growth Talks, Pranav Piyush, CEO of Paramark, joins host Krystina Rubino to share leadership strategies for aligning product, marketing, and finance to drive business success.
As a former marketing leader at companies like BILL and Adobe, Pranav unpacks how to recognize growth plateaus, lead change with clarity, and foster high-trust relationships with finance.
From refining your brand-performance connection to activating your community as a true growth engine, this episode provides sharp insights for building a company that lasts.
🗝️Key Takeaways:
Product-market fit is everything. Great marketing teams solve a real problem first, then build strategy and messaging around it.
Stakeholders matter. CMOs don’t just lead marketing; they manage up, down, and across the organization. Influence is as critical as strategy and execution.
Plateaus test your strategy. The best leaders lean in, dig into the data, recalibrate fast, and unlock new levers for growth others miss.
Finance is your growth partner. CMOs who win long-term build trust with finance early. They connect brand marketing to revenue and sell the vision with numbers.
Think like your customer. Great marketers walk in their buyer’s shoes. They ask better questions, speak the customer’s language, and build experiences that resonate.
Test with intention. Smart teams don’t just run experiments—they learn from each one. Clear hypotheses and expectations drive better outcomes.
Community is a growth engine. Top brands turn their audience into advocates. Community builds loyalty, word-of-mouth, and lasting momentum.
⏰ Timestamps
CMO Playbook: Driving Growth with Partnerships & Brand Building | Katelyn Watson (Talkspace, Nurx)
Episode 30
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 • Duration 51:26
Great brands are built on one big idea. And every campaign and customer touchpoint should connect back to that big idea.
In this episode of Growth Talks, Katelyn Watson, CMO of Talkspace, joins Right Side Up Founder and host Tyler Elliston to share her marketing philosophy for building brands that last.
Drawing on more than 20 years leading growth at companies like Nurx and Shutterfly, Katelyn reveals how grounding your brand in customer insights, aligning teams around shared goals, and thinking like a performance marketer can unlock stronger partnerships, faster scaling, and sustained growth.
She also shares lessons from high-impact rebrands and authentic influencer campaigns that have helped her build trust, relevance, and long-term brand equity.
🗝️ Key Takeaways:
Nail the first 90 days. Great CMOs lead with clarity. They set priorities early, define the mission, and earn trust fast.
Listen first, then message. The best marketers build strategy around what customers actually need.
Brand awareness still matters. Top of funnel builds recognition, earns credibility, and fuels long-term growth.
The affiliate advantage. Smart CMOs double down on what works, and affiliate programs consistently deliver.
Strategic partnerships drive real impact. Growth isn't always paid. Brand partners expand reach and create lasting value.
Authenticity wins in influencer marketing. Real stories resonate, foster community, and drive meaningful conversion.
⏰ Timestamps
01:54 Leading Brand Transformation
08:15 How to Leverage Marketing Agencies
11:30 AI’s Role in Brand and Marketing Strategy
22:55 Strategic Partnerships for Scalable Growth
29:38 Guiding Early-Stage Companies
Insights drive action. When Rothy’s opened its first store, it created a direct feedback loop. Store associates captured what drew customers in, offering real-time insights that led to smarter product decisions and more effective marketing.
Start with why. Focus groups, surveys, and AI all have value—but only when used intentionally. As you scale, tools like AI and surveys can help synthesize insights, but they’re no replacement for talking to real users.
👍 Did you enjoy this video? Don’t forget to click the like button! And find more episodes of Growth Talks here: https://bit.ly/3xXGJJc
🤝 Connect with Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals.
‣ Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt
‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD
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‣ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rightsideupco
New AI-native marketing teams need two key roles. AI-native builders who design the workflows, and people with taste who choose the strongest creative direction. Together, they’ll set your team up for future success.
Take an AI vacation. Block off a week to immerse yourself in the tools. Upload strategy docs, test workflows, and explore new use cases. The best way to lead your team into AI is to experience it yourself.
👍 Did you enjoy this video? Don’t forget to click the like button! And find more episodes of Growth Talks here: https://bit.ly/3xXGJJc
🤝 Connect with Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals.
‣ Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt
‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD
‣ Subscribe to our marketing newsletter: http://bit.ly/44SEjbu
‣ Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightsideup/
‣ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RightSideUpCo/
‣ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rightsideupco
Use AI to Elevate. AI can handle the tasks, but it can’t replace your creativity or intuition. The next generation of marketers will use that freedom to think strategically and lead the next wave of innovation.
👍Did you enjoy this video? Don’t forget to click the like button! And find more episodes of Growth Talks here: https://bit.ly/3xXGJJc
🤝Connect with Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals. Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt
‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD
‣ Subscribe to our marketing newsletter: http://bit.ly/44SEjbu
‣ Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightsideup/
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‣ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rightsideupco
01:45 Importance of Product Market Fit
03:33 Navigating Organizational Shifts
08:26 Leading Through Growth Plateaus
13:25 Stakeholder Management as a CMO
20:33 Partnering with Finance for Success
29:45 Bridging Marketing and Data Teams
37:08 Knowing When to Pivot in Marketing
41:08 Why the Best Marketers Learn From Every Test
👍Did you enjoy this video? Don’t forget to click the like button! And find more episodes of Growth Talks here: https://bit.ly/3xXGJJc
🤝Connect with Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals. Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt
‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD
‣ Subscribe to our marketing newsletter: http://bit.ly/44SEjbu
‣ Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightsideup/
‣ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RightSideUpCo/
‣ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rightsideupco
👍Did you enjoy this video? Don’t forget to click the like button! And find more episodes of Growth Talks here: https://bit.ly/3xXGJJc
🤝 Connect with Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a premium growth marketing agency that has helped more than 1,000+ companies hit their growth goals. Check us out and send us a note at: https://bit.ly/4bfaBQt
‣ Subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/3HWiJYD
‣ Subscribe to our marketing newsletter: http://bit.ly/44SEjbu
‣ Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightsideup/
‣ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RightSideUpCo/
‣ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rightsideupco
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