The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton

Kyle Norton, CRO of Owner.com and revenue leader focused on applied AI for SMBs. He breaks down AI-driven pipeline generation, the PICRIOS cold-call structure, and using AI for hyper-personalized pre-call research. Hear how small-batch GTM engineering pilots, centralized outreach, and executive personal branding turbocharge recruiting and call connect rates.

Aviv Canaani, CRO at DataRails and former VP of Marketing who turned outbound into a scalable inbound engine. He discusses shifting to 90% inbound, building organic brand and demand, aligning marketing with sales math, making AEs pure closers, and using AI to automate CRM and boost rep productivity.

Usha Iyer, Chief Customer & Growth Officer at Hivebrite and former C++ developer turned product leader. She explains treating GTM like a product roadmap. Topics include finding hidden customer friction, running hypothesis-driven GTM experiments with SWAT teams, using control sets to diagnose churn, and instrumenting data to preserve context across the customer journey.

Michelle Donnelly, CRO at Crescendo and former Salesforce leader who scaled Grok to a major acquisition. She discusses scaling to $100M ARR fast. She explains swapping standard demos for rapid prototypes built on prospect data. She covers outcome-based pricing, compressing rep ramp time with internal AI, and staying close to frontline sales while simplifying messaging.

Jeremy Donovan, EVP of Sales and Customer Success at Insight Partners who advises ~500 B2B SaaS firms, shares big GTM trends. He unpacks why top performers are expanding outbound SDR teams, the build vs buy debate for RevTech, how AI is augmenting reps, and the shifting org chart as AEs absorb SDR work. Short, sharp takes on sales ops, tooling, and leadership tradeoffs.

Jordan Crawford, the CEO of Blueprint GTM, brings insights into the revolutionary 'Claude Code' era for go-to-market leaders. He shares how we’ve moved beyond static prompts to autonomous agents that can write code and automate tasks. Jordan discusses the three eras of GTM AI, illustrating how tasks can be executed at scale by identifying and categorizing them effectively. He emphasizes building compounding context and provides practical steps for integrating Claude Code into workflows, showcasing significant potential growth through automation.

Tyler Will, VP of RevOps at Intercom, shares insights on transforming go-to-market strategies for AI products. He emphasizes the need to prioritize input metrics over just success metrics. Tyler discusses Intercom's shift to usage-based pricing and how it changes compensation, giving reps credit for overages without awkward negotiations. He outlines four principles for effective compensation plans and highlights the evolving role of CSMs in a resolution-based model. The conversation also covers the impact of AI on sales processes and the future of RevOps teams.

Jason Lemkin, founder and CEO of SaaStr and a notable B2B SaaS investor, shares insights on automating sales with AI agents. He discusses the decision to replace underperforming human SDRs with over 20 AI agents, revealing how AI-driven emails generated substantial revenue. Lemkin highlights the importance of a two-vendor bakeoff for selecting tools and advocates for using Salesforce as a central hub for agent activity. He also covers the decline of mid-tier sales roles and the need for tech-savvy leaders to manage AI integrations effectively.

Asad Zaman, CEO of Sales Talent Agency, is a seasoned go-to-market recruiter with a knack for identifying top-tier talent. He discusses the seismic shifts in executive hiring brought on by AI, including the effectiveness of live whiteboarding over traditional interviews. Asad emphasizes the necessity for modern leaders to be both systems thinkers and educators. He also shares insights on creating robust hiring scorecards and the importance of hiring leaders who are on the cusp of their peak potential, helping CROs navigate the complexities of today's talent market.

In this discussion, Allison Metcalfe, a skilled revenue executive and CRO at Zenoti, shares her unique journey to her leadership role. She emphasizes the importance of systems thinking and curiosity in enhancing revenue leadership. Allison reveals her approach to building authentic executive relationships and how radical empathy pairs with effective collaboration. She offers insights on avoiding consensus paralysis and highlights the power of the Enneagram for team dynamics. Plus, she shares tips on using data-driven decision-making to drive change and her strategic recommendations for engaging CFOs.