Louder Than Words with John Bonini – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, I sit down with Natalie Marcotullio to talk about the thinking behind Navattic’s Buyer First report—and why content only started working when they made it bigger than the product.

We get into:

• How to create content that people care about before they’re in a buying cycle
• The evolution of the Buyer First report (and why it’s still ungated)
• Why tying your brand to a bigger idea builds long-term trust
• The difference between capturing demand and creating it

If you’ve ever felt like your content is stuck in sales-support mode, this one’s for you.

Here's the link to the full 2025 B2B Buyer First Report: https://www.chilipiper.com/post/2025-b2b-buyer-first-report 

In the debut episode of Words in Progress, a mini-series within Louder Than Words, John Bonini sits down with Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth & Product Marketing at Navattic, to unpack how she and her team transformed a vague idea—buyer first—into a tangible, ownable editorial narrative and content framework.

They walk through the evolution of Navattic's flagship report, how it moved from a simple data dump to a narrative-driven asset, and how that narrative now ties together all of their content efforts—from blog posts and webinars to LinkedIn and beyond. This conversation is a behind-the-scenes look at how content brands are built in progress—not just in hindsight.

You know Dave Gerhardt. Maybe it's from his days running marketing at Drift. Or from his time hosting the Seeking Wisdom podcast with David Cancel. Or, maybe you've heard of (or are a member of) his B2B community, Exit Five. 

Point is, if you've been working in B2B marketing at any point in the last decade, you know Dave. 

In this rare podcast interview, Dave goes into detail on everything that's led him to this point––the solo founder of a $1M business. 

You'll hear what he learned during his days at Drift, how his community first launched as a side gig, when he knew he could go all in on his own, and all of the details for how he currently runs his business (i.e. how his revenue streams have changed, how he prices sponsorships, where he goes from here, etc.)

Enjoy! 

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode, the promotional clips, and handling the overall production of Louder Than Words.

We’re back! The first new episode of Louder Than Words in more than 6(!) years. 

Today, John welcomes marketing and creative extraordinaire Amanda Natividad to talk about her own journey as a creator filled with uncertainty and self-doubt to a full-blown influencer, how she approaches creating content that’s unique and more defensible, and how the freedom to create on her/their own terms at SparkToro works to their benefit. 

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode, the promotional clips, and handling the overall production of Louder Than Words. 

Airbnb runs about 700 experiments in a given week. Here, I chat with data scientist Linsday Pettingill on the culture and principles that allow their team to move so quickly and efficiently, and how others people can transpose these ideas to their own work.

What do companies like Facebook, Dropbox, Airbnb, Pinterest (and others!) all have in common? Not just a great product, but a methodical, measured approach to driving extraordinary growth. In this episode, Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown (founders of GrowthHackers.com) unpack the principles behind these methods.

Scott Monty, former head of social media at Ford Motor Company, talks about his decision to join Ford in 2008 and the specifics of what went into the social and branding strategies that helped turn the company’s image around.

Jason Fried, Founder and CEO of Basecamp, talks about the (rare) art of making more money than you spend instead of aiming for growth at all costs.

Christian Rudder, cofounder of OkCupid and bestselling author of “Dataclysm: Who We Are When We Think No One is Looking”, talks about OkCupid’s algorithmic approach to growing past its competition.

Tucker Max, bestselling author of "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell", talks about the inspiration behind founding his new company, Book in a Box, and how they’re helping people turn ideas into books.