The Don't Be A SaaS Podcast

What do parenting, leadership, and LinkedIn all have in common? More than you'd think — especially when you're building a career and raising tiny humans in a system that wasn't built for either.

This week, we sit down with Shali Rana Reed, a powerhouse in tech and unapologetic voice for women, working parents, and inclusive leadership. Together, we unpack:

• Why real leadership means holding the door and helping others ...

The truth about B2B video? You’re doing it—but probably in the wrong place.

Tim Bradley (Founder of Pennant, video strategist, and former agency creative lead) joins Kate and Adam to talk about the most overlooked—and highest leverage—spot in your marketing strategy: the middle of the funnel.

In this episode:

• Why one video won’t solve all your problems

• The “Video Marketing Trifecta” every SaaS team should use

• Real talk on production...

Spotify Podcast Description:

22 million views on a B2B white paper? Yep, you read that right.

This week, we're headed to Australia to talk with Caroline Voaden, the content strategist behind white papers that don't just inform—they drive real business results.

Caroline turns complex industry insights into compelling stories that boost traffic, build brands, and fuel sales.

🎯 Key takeaways:

• (09:52) Caroline's secret to ...

Marketers can’t stop talking about AI. But is it the future… or just a fancy way to cut corners?

In this spicy episode, Kate Campbell and Adam O. go all in on the hype vs. the hard truths of AI in marketing—no fluff, no fake gurus.

🎙 Key takeaways:

• (00:06) Nobody actually “gets” AI—and that’s OK.
• (01:00) How AI took podcast production from 6 weeks → 2 days.
• (03:26) Kick It or Keep It? Deep Seek, OpenAI drama, and AI-fueled stock ch...

ABM is broken. AI is changing everything. And brand is the only real moat left.

Josh Perk has seen the shifts happening in SaaS firsthand. Before founding Vector, he helped scale Drift’s sales engineering org from Series B to acquisition—watching what makes (and breaks) category creators along the way.

In this episode, Josh breaks down:

• Why traditional ABM is failing sales teams—and what needs to change
• How Vector is flipping the A...

Every SaaS company is starting to sound the same. AI-generated content. Feature creep. Generic messaging. It’s all blending together.

So how do you actually stand out?

Product marketing expert Alex Virden joins us to break down:

• Why SaaS positioning is broken—and how to fix it• How AI is creating more noise, not differentiation• The hidden dangers of replacing in-house PMMs with contractors• Why pricing pages without pricing are a r...

In this episode, Adam and Kate sit down with marketing leader Bryna Dilman to explore the secrets behind setting up a successful partnership program.

From finding the right partners to building scalable content programs and measuring success, Bryna shares actionable strategies that drive real growth.

Key Moments• [05:59] Finding the Right PartnersHow to identify and approach the right partners to maximize impact.• [07:27] Gaining Exe...

Blake Lively PR conspiracies? Funny.

PR misconceptions in SaaS? Not so funny.

This week, we’re pulling back the curtain on whatreally goes into PR & comms with Cori Kendrick from SuperSide—a PR pro who’s built reputations for brands like HP, SAP, Google Cloud, and ClickUp.

Key Moments

[02:30] – The Blake Lively PR debacle: What burner accounts and internet chaos reveal about comms strategy

[06:45] – PR vs. Reality: Why SaaS founders...

ABM is broken. Sales teams are spamming, marketing teams are overcomplicating, and AI is making it all worse.

But here’s the real kicker: Most companies shouldn’t even be running ABM.

This week, Adam and Kate bring in Mason Cosby, founder of Scrappy ABM, to expose the biggest ABM mistakes and how to actually make it work—without the fluff, wasted budget, or nonsense tech stacks.

🔥 In this episode:

• (06:45) Why ABM fails 90% o...

We’re back! Adam and Kate kick off 2025 with a bang – and a whole lot of exhaustion.

From holiday chaos to budget planning nightmares, they’re feeling the weight of the “do more with less” reality.

But marketers aren’t alone – layoffs, tighter budgets, and shifting priorities are shaking things up across the board.

This episode dives into:

• The Notion campaign everyone’s talking about – brand genius or LinkedIn cringe?
• AI’s ...

After a short hiatus, Adam O. and Kate Campbell return to the pod with energy, insights, and holiday spirit.

It’s been (what feels like) months, but the duo dives right in—talking marketing challenges, PR shakeups, and why small agencies might just shine in 2024.

🔖 Episode Highlights: [01:17] Keep It or Kick It: Holiday Marketing — Are festive brand posts cringe or creative genius? Kate and Adam debate. [06:50] Big Career Moves ...

Adam + Kate are feeling themselves on this one - as they beat their annual OKR of recording 20 episodes by the end of 2024 - and they beat that by 2 1/2 months.

The gang is in an extra good mood on this one as they reflect on the life decisions that got them to this point in their podcasting career.

Here's all the highlights and none of the lowlights:

• Kate and Adam cover what they have loved & hated about the first 20 epi...

The gang is joined by Chef (and Inbound correspondent) Will Davidson of Growth Operations Firm to take a crash course in marketing + sales relationships in 2024 - and why marketing teams are always right.

Here's all the highlights, none of the lowlights:

• Kate and Will recap all the fun from Inbound 2024.
• Will gets into why it's never been more important for marketing and sales to work together.
• Will stumps both Adam and Kat...

In this episode, Adam and Kate dive headfirst into the world of brand building—and spoiler alert: it’s a whole lot more than just picking a cool logo.

Adam tests the waters by asking if happy hours are the unsung heroes of brand building. Kate, in full PR/comms mode, breaks down why founders and execs need to own their brand story from day one (and why consistency is everything).

Other highlights include:

• Why trying to “be au...

The DBAS fairy podmother, Jenny Gardynski, joins Kate and Adam this week to talk about her storied career, her love for all things PR and Communications, and how she * doesn't * have any TikTok burner accounts.

Here's all the highlights, none of the lowlights:

• Kate gets in the time machine and does a career rewind with Jenny, touching on her experiences in PR/Comms over the last decade.
• Jenny covers on how her agency...

Words are hard. Press releases are harder.

Adam FINALLY gets Kate to show the world how good of a PR/Comms professional she truly is (it just took 15 episodes)

And Adam gets that look from Kate when he claims the future of journalism "is AI".

Here's some of the highlights, none of the low lights:

• Adam wonders out lout if PR really stands for press releases.
• Kate gets into her PR/comms bag and breaks down when t...

You have to meet Zach Roberts 💀.

If you have been paying attention to the marketing scene in 2024, chances are you have come across Zach.

He's an emerging voice in Product Marketing, is the co-host of the ascending We're Not Marketers 💀 podcast, and runs a product marketing-focused consultancy aimed at helping mid-stage startups get through (and over) product marketing related challenges.

Oh, and he roller skates in his f...

Move aside, summer break - Adam + Kate are back!

The gang gets right back into the action, taking on the the frustration of job seekers everywhere - and trashing how AI has ruined the traditional job application process.

Here's some of the highlights, none of the low lights:

• The gang agrees: don't burn your bridges on the way out. The tech community is small and you never know when you will run into someone down the r...

This episode sees Nick Zeckets, Co-founder and CEO of Air Traffic Control (ATC), drop by the pod to talk marketing content shop with Kate and Adam.

Here's what happened next:

• Nick expresses his love for no-effort cold outreach on LinkedIn (it's "laziness at scale". His words, not ours.)
• Hold up, what does Air Traffic Control actually do?
• Unlocking the power of giving old content a face lift (instead o...