Alexander Estner

I help early-stage SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU 👇
1️⃣ GTM Advisory - Work 1-on-1 with me in bi-weekly GTM sprints
2️⃣ GTM Audit - Get a 360° assessment of your current GTM status quo + custom action plan
3️⃣ GTM Content - Bi-weekly newsletter +  Daily LinkedIn posts + Free GTM Library

P.S. You will find the links to all 3 in the featured section.

Among other things, I help you with:
👉 Creating your early/ideal customer profile (ICP)
👉 Working on positioning, messaging & value proposition 
👉 Choosing the right pricing for your business (pricing model, value metric & packaging)
👉 Implementing the right sales strategy (sales-led vs. product-led)
👉 Mastering 2-3 growth channels to continuously generate new deals/trials
👉 Setting up the right tech stack in sales, marketing & customer success
👉 Building your commercial teams.

Send me a DM on LinkedIn or book a free 15-minute intro call to learn more about my offering.

Startup Consultant for B2B SaaS

As a freelance startup consultant, I help early-stage B2B SaaS Startups quickly grow their business with a powerful Growth Strategy 🚀


I work on both, strategic and operational, levels and help you with the following topics.

► For Founders (Launch to Seed Stage):
- Clarify, validate and stress test your business idea
- Win first paying customers and kickstart growth for your SaaS
- Develop and implement a powerful B2B SaaS Growth strategy
- Find product-market fit and close your first funding (business angels & seed)

► For Startups (Seed to Series A Stage):
- Accelerate your growth to 5M€+ ARR
- Review or implement a powerful B2B SaaS growth strategy
- Optimization of direct & indirect growth channels
- Create a growth team mentality, track the right KPIs, and set OKRs

► For more information:
- check out my website (www.alexestner.com)
- subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter for founders & early-stage startups (https://startupbusinesstips.substack.com/)

► Interested?
- Send me a DM on Linkedin

Your ICP must define your daily GTM work.

If it doesn’t, you’re not enforcing your ICP.
You just have one on paper.

If the ICP is real, it shows up everywhere 👇

• Hero section of your website
• Customers you choose for case studies and logo carousels
• Your LinkedIn post themes
• Upcoming blog articles
• The dropdowns in your product onboarding
• Mandatory CRM fields that define ICP fit
• Filters you use for outbound list building
• Keywords you monitor on Reddit and LinkedIn
• Industry influencers you follow
• Events and conferences you participate in
• Which features you show first in a sales demo
• The examples you use in sales calls
• The objection handling scripts you prepare
• The integrations highlighted on your homepage
• The use cases shown in product screenshots
• The pricing page structure and plan names
• The success metrics you track post-onboarding
• The landing pages you build (or don’t build)
• The partners you co-market with
• The communities you spend time in

And that’s just the obvious layer.

👉 What else is defined by your ICP?

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Helping SaaS & AI founders build and execute their GTM foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial and error | ‘Hands-on’ GTM Advisor👇

You’ve defined your ICP, worked on positioning + messaging.
Now it’s time to show your work to buyers.

That means updating your:
- Website
- LinkedIn profile
- Ads
- Outbound messages

…and your sales deck.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth I've found from working with 30+ startups over the last few years:

Most B2B SaaS decks are either…
- a feature dump, or
- a random collection of slides that don’t build conviction.

But a high-converting sales deck has one job:
Tell a buyer a story they can repeat internally.

In a nutshell, your deck should walk them through:
✅ how they currently handle [use case]
✅ what breaks / why it matters (limitations + cost of doing nothing)
✅ what changes with your product (new way)
✅ what they’ll achieve (results)
✅ why they can trust you (proof + “you’re not alone”)

I put together a slide-by-slide structure + a ready-to-use template built in Pitch.

If you want it, comment “sales deck” and I’ll DM you the link.

Most founders choose their positioning anchor randomly.

They don’t decide it. They drift into it.

And that’s dangerous.

Because your primary positioning anchor determines:

→ How buyers search
→ What they compare you against
→ Who owns the budget
→ What proof you need

Here’s the simplified breakdown of the 4 primary anchors:

1️⃣ Activity Positioning
“We help you do X.”
→ You’re replacing manual workflows
→ No category exists
→ Goal: Create awareness

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning
“We help you do X without Y.”
→ You’re fixing broken workflows
→ Category is emerging
→ Goal: Own the use case

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning
“We are a X.”
→ Buyers already compare vendors
→ Clear budget line exists
→ Goal: Win comparisons

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative Positioning
“We’re a [Leader] alternative.”
→ Market leader dominates
→ Budget already allocated
→ Goal: Steal demand

The mistake I see?

Founders choose Category positioning...
...when there is no defined category. So they invent 'new categories'.

Or they try Competitive positioning…
…without a strong enough wedge.

Positioning must match buyer awareness and market maturity.

Quick test:

When buyers evaluate you, are they:

A) Comparing vendors and search for specific categories?
B) Comparing you to a specific leader?
C) Describing what they want to achieve, even if they don’t know what type of software solves it?

Your answer tells you your anchor.

If you want the full guide (incl. the decision tree + worksheet), comment “positioning” and I’ll send it over.

---
P.S. Follow Anthony Pierri, Rob Kaminski, and April Dunford to dive deeper into positioning.

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Digital Nudging: User Experience positiv beeinflussen

Climate Change, Risks and Challenges

Digital Advertising

The Complete Digital Marketing Course

'Hands-on’ GTM Advisor || I help SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market and go from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial & error || Join 4000+ SaaS leaders & get my free SaaS GTM tactics in your inbox👇

I help early-stage SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market and quickly go from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU
1️⃣ GTM advisory - Work with me 1-on-1 in weekly or bi-weekly deep-dive working sessions to build and execute your powerful GTM strategy.
2️⃣ List of 90+ actionable SaaS Growth Tactics and Free SaaS Growth Strategy Worksheet (Links are in the Highlight section).
3️⃣ Free actionable SaaS growth tips: Daily on LinkedIn and bi-weekly in my newsletter (read by 2300+ SaaS leaders)

Bonus: Sponsor my newsletter & reach 2300+ early-stage SaaS founders/leaders/decision makers.

Among other things, I help you with:
- Creating your ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Working on positioning, messaging & value proposition 
- Choosing the right pricing for your business (pricing model, value metric & packaging)
- Implementing the right sales strategy (sales-led vs. product-led)
- Mastering 2-3 growth channels to continuously generate new deals or/and trials
- Setting up the right tech stack in sales, marketing & customer success
- Building your commercial teams.

Send me a DM on Linkedin or book a free 15min virtual coffee to learn more about my offering.

------------
ABOUT ME:

Hi, I'm Alexander Estner - but please just call me Alex.

I'm based in Munich, Germany 🇩🇪 and I've spent my whole career in the startup environment with now more than 10 years of experience in SaaS and marketplaces from being the first commercial employee of a fast-growing SaaS-enabled-marketplace to being a Co-founder of a SaaS startup and now supporting other early-stage founders on their journey from pre-revenue to the first €1 million ARR.

Over the last 2 years, I've helped 25+ SaaS companies grow their business faster with a powerful GTM strategy - as a growth advisor, consultant, or interim manager.

What I care about: 

- Brainstorming new business ideas 💡
- Sustainability, healthy food, and barista coffee ☕.
- Traveling, well-being, and all kinds of sports like skiing, beach volleyball, yoga, and fitness 🧘‍♂️
- Books & podcasts about startups, leadership, personal development, & positive mindset 📚

------------
💡 Currently getting inspired for a new startup

Go-to-market in 2024 is tough.

My best SaaS GTM Guides help you master GTM in 2024.

1️⃣ The Ultimate Ideal Customer Profile Framework
2️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Messaging Framework
3️⃣ High-converting SaaS Homepage template
4️⃣ The perfect Sales Deck template
5️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Pricing Guide
6️⃣ The Best Outbound Tech Stack for SaaS
7️⃣ The Ultimate Content Marketing Guide for SaaS

The 7 Best SaaS GTM Guides 2024

The free Workbook helped 3000+ SaaS leaders build their SaaS GTM Strategy.

The Ultimate SaaS GTM Strategy Workbook [Free]

Grow faster from 0€ to 3€ million ARR with 100+ actionable & proven SaaS Growth Tactics (helped 200+ SaaS leaders)

100+ actionable SaaS growth tactics

Get weekly 3 actionable SaaS GTM strategies and tactics to grow your B2B SaaS business from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀.

MRR Unlocked 🚀 | Alexander Estner | Substack

RevGenius is a group of revenue-generating sales and marketing professionals brought together to learn, share, support, and grow with each other. You can consider us your alt work family!

The Mentoring Club is a pro bono platform where mentors and mentees meet and can schedule mentoring sessions. You can schedule a free mentoring session with me here: https://www.mentoring-club.com/the-mentors/alexander-estner

When I work with AI & SaaS founders, the GTM problem is rarely obvious at first.

On the surface, things look “busy”:
– Content is going out
– Demos are happening
– Tools are in place
– Pipeline exists

But momentum is missing.

When I audit the GTM, it almost always comes down to the same 6 things 👇

1️⃣ ICP exists, but isn’t enforced in decisions
2️⃣ Buyers don’t know what to compare the product against
3️⃣ Demos are feature tours, not a structured narrative
4️⃣ Every deal follows a different sales process
5️⃣ Website, decks, and case studies sound like everyone else
6️⃣ Content is vague and generic

None of this is a “talent” problem.
And it’s rarely a “more effort” problem.

It’s a foundation problem.

How we usually fix it:
– Make the ICP operational (not just a doc)
– Define positioning (what do we replace, how are we different)
– Design a demo structure that guides buyers, not just shows features
– Lock a default sales process with clear next steps
– Align assets around one positioning story

Especially in AI & SaaS, this matters.

Foundations first.
Everything else compounds on top of that.

👉 This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Your positioning statement gives your entire team clarity on why you exist.

When it’s missing, you see it immediately:

• Marketing talks about features
• Sales talks about benefits
• Product talks about roadmap
• Founders talk about vision

But no one tells the same story.

A real positioning statement answers:

• Who is your ICP?
• What core problem do they face?
• How do they solve it today?
• What limitations does that create?
• What did you build instead?
• Why are you meaningfully different?

Strong positioning is structured reasoning.

If your team can’t clearly articulate:

• Why you exist
• Why current solutions fall short
• Why you win

Your messaging will always feel inconsistent.

Below you find 4 templates for the different positioning anchors.

👇 Comment your positioning statement below. I will give feedback to every single one.

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When I review early-stage GTM setups, I often see:

– 4 channels running “a bit”
– Positioning that tries to do everything
– No anti-ICP
– Demo calls that are product tours
– CRM data that no one reviews

And when things are not moving, founders ask:

“Should we try more channels?”
“Should we pivot positioning?”
“Should we hire outbound?”

Most of the time, it's not about doing more.
It's about focus and clarity on the foundation.

So before adding anything new, fix what's already there.

Here are 10 GTM fixes you can ship this week 👇

• Define your ICP + Anti-ICP in 5 bullets
• Pick ONE positioning anchor (category OR use case)
• Kill one weak channel
• Add proper attribution (“How did you hear about us?”)
• Push your best case studies everywhere
• Make your LinkedIn profile crystal clear
• Systematize referrals
• Track lost reasons (mandatory field)
• Define when a deal opens & closes
• Review your last 3 demos critically

Choose 2 for your next week.

👇 What's on your list?

If you can’t explain what you do in one sentence...

Your buyers won’t understand it either.

Here are the 4 clean templates 👇

1️⃣ Activity Positioning

Template:
We help [ICP] [manual activity they currently do] so they can [outcome].

Example:
We help B2B SaaS founders track all their customer information in one place so they never lose deal context.

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning

Template:
We help [ICP] [clear job-to-be-done] without [limitations of the status quo].

Example:
We help B2B SaaS founders manage their prospects without juggling spreadsheets and scattered notes.

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning

Template:
We are a [product category] for [ICP].
We are a [product category] with [unique differentiator].

Example:
We are a CRM software for early-stage SaaS founders.
We are a lightweight CRM built for startups.

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative Positioning

Template:
We are a [product category] alternative to [leader] built for [ICP] with [unique differentiator].

Example:
We are a CRM alternative to HubSpot built for early-stage SaaS founders with simpler setup.

👇 Let's drop yours in the comments.

P.S. If you want the full positioning guide + worksheet, send me a DM and I will send it over.

Whenever I start working with a new founder, I don’t start with tactics.

No growth hacks.
No outbound playbooks.
No content strategy.

Instead, I ask questions.

Because after working with 30+ SaaS startups, I’ve learned something:

Most growth problems are actually clarity problems.

Here are a few of the questions I ask early on.

Customers & ICP

• Who specifically is your product built for today?
• Who are your best-fit customers?
• Who should you not target right now?
• What triggers someone to start looking for a solution like yours?

Positioning

• What is your primary positioning anchor?
• What alternatives are customers using today?
• What makes you meaningfully different?

Messaging

• What’s the core message on your homepage hero?
• What objections do you hear all the time?
• What proof do you communicate?

GTM Execution

• What stage of GTM are you currently in?
• What is your primary acquisition channel?
• What sales motion fits your product best?

If founders struggle to answer several of these questions clearly...

We don’t optimize tactics.

We fix the GTM foundation first.

Because once the foundation becomes clear:

• messaging improves
• sales conversations get easier
• pipeline quality increases

GTM suddenly feels much simpler.

Curious:
Which of these questions would be hardest for you to answer today?

---
On Sunday, I published a new newsletter episode on mrrunlocked.com where we deep dive into all 17 questions.

If buyers don’t know what to compare you against, fix this first 👇

1. Decide your anchor

Category positioning (default)
Use-case positioning (if no category exists)

2. Write one clear sentence

We’re a [category] for [use case + ICP]

If you can’t say this cleanly, nothing downstream will work.

3. Name the real alternative you replace today
Not your dream competitor.

The status quo:
-Excel
-Manual workflows
-Agencies
-Internal hacks

4. Define 2–3 competitive buckets

-Status quo
-Incumbents
-Direct competitors

5. Differentiate with sharp contrasts

- Unlike incumbent tools, we...
-Unlike point solutions, we...
-Unlike the status quo, we…

This is GTM foundation work.
Get this wrong and everything slows down:
website, sales, outbound, demos, pricing.

Get it right, and buyers finally know:
“Ah, this is what I should compare you against.”

👉 What's part of your positioning?

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Most founders don’t have a product problem.
They have a positioning problem.
Last month I had 8 intro calls.

More than half needed 3+ minutes to explain what they’re building.
If I can’t repeat it back in 30 seconds, your buyers won’t either.

So here’s the simple 3-step framework I use with early-stage SaaS founders:

Step 1: Choose your Primary Anchor (What are you?)

When buyers ask:
“What is your product?”

You must answer in one sentence.

You have 4 options:

1️⃣ Activity Positioning
“We help you do X”

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning
“We help you do X without Y”

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning
“We are a X”

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative
“We are a [Leader] alternative”

Choose based on how buyers think today, not how you want them to think.

Step 2: Add a Secondary Anchor (Why you?)

Inside that primary anchor, differentiate:

• Niche down
• Low-cost
• Premium
• Unique attribute
• Lite version

Max 2. Not 5.

Step 3: Combine both into a clear statement

Strong positioning =
Primary Anchor + Secondary Anchor

Example:

(Product Category + Lite + Niche)
“We are a lightweight CRM built for startups.”

Positioning is a bet.
But no positioning is worse than wrong positioning.

If I asked you right now:
“What are you?”

Could you answer in one sentence without rambling?

P.S. I've launched my new positioning guide on mrrunlocked.com You will find the link in the comments.

One GTM problem that keeps repeating:

The GTM assets don’t reflect the 'internal strategy'.

I often review a team’s ICP, positioning, and messaging docs and think:
“This is actually very good.”

Then I look at:

- the website
-the sales deck
-the demos
- the LinkedIn profiles
- the outbound messages

...and the clarity disappears.

What this looks like in practice:

--> ICP and messaging frameworks live in Notion or Miro only
--> Sales decks are 80% product features
--> Homepage copy is fuzzy or overly technical
--> LinkedIn profiles don’t explain what the product is and for whom
--> No clear callout of ICP, category, or status quo problem
--> Strong insights exist, but prospects never see them

This is painful because the thinking is usually solid.

It’s not a strategy problem.
It’s a translation problem.

👇 What's your take?

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Most startups waste time on growth channels before they’ve even tightened the basics.

Here’s a simple rule: Before adding anything new, fix 2 things you already have. 

Here are 10 quick fixes you can ship this week:

✔ Write your ICP + Anti-ICP in 5 bullets
✔ Choose one positioning anchor
--> product category OR use case. Don’t mix.
✔ Pause your weakest channel
✔ Add "how did you hear about us?" in your signup & demo flow.
✔ Share your best case studies everywhere.
✔ Revamp your LinkedIn profile for ICP clarity
✔ Ask your customers for referrals/warm intros.
✔ Track lost reasons in CRM (mandatory) + review weekly.
✔ Set hard rules for when to open/close deals.
✔ Coach yourself: Review your last 3 demo calls

None of these requires a strategy or expensive experiments.
They just reduce noise, clarify motion, and accelerate pipeline.

Start by simplifying what you already do. Then expand.

👇 What’s that for you?

P.S. For me, long hikes are where most of my GTM simplifications happen.
Distance creates clarity.

Most founders think positioning is about being clever.

It’s not.

It’s about clarity and choosing the right anchor.

There are only 4 real types of positioning in B2B SaaS:
(credits to Anthony Pierri  and Rob Kaminski )

1️⃣ Activity Positioning

“We help you do X.”

You frame your product around a manual activity.

Example (Scheduling):
“Send emails back and forth to find a time.”

You’re replacing spreadsheets, Slack, email.

Best when:
• Market is early
• No clear software category exists
• Buyers still do it manually

GTM goal: Create awareness.

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning

“We help you do X without Y.”

You anchor around a clear job-to-be-done.

Example (Product Analytics):
“Understand how users behave inside your product.”

Buyers know the problem.
They may not think in category terms yet.

GTM goal: Own the use case.

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning

“We are a X.”

Example:
CRM software
Scheduling software
Product Analytics software

Buyers:
• Google the category
• Compare vendors
• Check G2

GTM goal: Win comparisons.

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative Positioning

“We are a [Leader] alternative.”

Example:
HubSpot alternative
Calendly alternative
Mixpanel alternative

Best when:
• A dominant leader exists
• Budget already exists
• You have a strong wedge

GTM goal: Steal demand.

Important:

The same product can be positioned in all 4 ways.
But only ONE anchor should lead your narrative.

Choose based on:

→ Buyer awareness
→ Market maturity
→ What they compare you against

Not based on what sounds cooler.

If you want the full positioning framework + worksheet, head over to mrrunlocked.com

B2B Homepage Positioning // I play 🎸 in the band Good Hangs

Co-Founder @ Fletch | Positioning & Messaging for B2B Startups

Quick test: Can you answer these 4 ICP questions?

Most GTM problems actually start with a bad ICP.

You rarely struggle with tactics.
You struggle with who you should actually target.

Many teams define their ICP like this:

❌ “Mid-sized companies”
❌ “HR teams”
❌ “Any company that wants to automate X”

Which usually means...
the ICP is still too broad.

Before optimizing messaging, content, or outbound, I ask founders four simple questions:

1️⃣ Who specifically is your product built for today?
Not your TAM.

Your actual ICP.

Can you clearly define it with 4–6 attributes like:

• firmographics
• technographics
• persona attributes
• use case

Early-stage startups usually need one segment and one use case.

2️⃣ Who are your best-fit customers?

Look at your existing customers.

Who has:

• the highest usage
• the lowest churn
• the fastest sales cycle

These signals often reveal your real ICP.

3️⃣ What type of customers should you not target right now?

Define your Anti-ICP.

Companies that:

• don’t value your product
• don’t have the pain you solve
• don’t fit strategically

GTM becomes repeatable once you narrow your focus.

4️⃣ What triggers someone to start looking for a solution like yours?

Every purchase has a trigger.

For example:

• a new hire
• a new regulation
• a broken tech stack

Understanding this moment is critical for messaging and demand generation.

Can you answer these four questions today?

Writing blog posts and LinkedIn posts, but still 0 Inbounds.

I call it: "Content is done, but without a strategy"

I mean, the content isn’t designed to support real sales conversations or capture existing demand. 

This usually means teams are creating a lot of TOFU blog posts and random LinkedIn posts.

Results are usually 0 Inbounds.

What this looks like in practice:

- Random LinkedIn posts (or disconnected from ICP pain points)
- No repeatable content format (every post is a different topic)
- No Inbound generating lead magnet
- TOFU blog posts that don’t attract buyers
- Content optimized for likes, not ICP engagements
- No measurement of pipeline influence

How to fix:

- Prioritize BOFU content
alternatives, comparisons, “best X for Y”, use-case pages

- Focus early on the 5% of buyers who are already *in the market*

- Build a content map based on ICP questions by awareness stage
from problem-unaware → problem aware —> solution aware —> product (category) aware —> purchase-decision

- Build a high-performing lead magnet

- Turn real sales objections into posts and articles

- Record customer calls and use insights for your content roadmap (objections, pains, desired outcomes...)

- Measure content by meetings influenced, not impressions
e.g. via self-reported attribution (How did you hear about us?)

👉 What's missing? 

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out the other 5 on mrrunlocked.com and follow for tomorrows post.

graphical user interface, text, application

Whenever I ask founders to walk me through their sales process, this is where it breaks.

Sales is a set of calls, but not a designed journey.
They don’t guide prospects through a set of clearly defined steps.
 So they can’t describe what should happen after each step.

What this looks like in practice:

- Buyers decide on next steps at the end of the call
- 10 demos, 10 different next steps 'agreed'
- Unclear what the goal of each call is
- Deals are created without a clear definition
- Trials are offered without commitment or success criteria
- Deals stall because the next steps were never designed

The root cause. No 'designed' process. 
Meaning no repeatability.

And as it's not repeatable, it's also hard to measure and optimize.

So here's my recommendation: How to fix:

- Define a simple, explicit sales process 
 e.g., Disco → Demo → Trial/Pilot → Close
- Assign a clear goal and exit criteria to each stage
- Define when a trial is “earned” (qualification threshold)
- Create standard follow-ups for each stage (post-demo, trial kickoff, recap)
- Enforce pipeline hygiene: every deal needs a next step and a close date

Ofc, if you're advanced, implement a methodology like SPICED, SPIN, or MEDDIC.

👉 This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out the other 5 on mrrunlocked.com and follow for tomorrows post.

Most SaaS/AI positioning fails for one simple reason:

Buyers don’t know what you are.

So they also don't know what you replace.
They can't mentally classify you.

So your differentiation becomes useless.

When that happens:

• your messaging feels vague
• demos take too long to explain
• sales conversations become harder

So before improving messaging, I ask founders three positioning questions.

1️⃣ What is your primary positioning anchor?

How should buyers mentally classify your product?

Product category = CRM
Use case = We help you do X

2️⃣ What alternatives are customers using today?

Spreadsheets.
Manual processes.
Internal tools.
Other SaaS products/categories.

Every product replaces something.

3️⃣ What makes you meaningfully different?

Your differentiation needs to be:

clear, believable, and relevant.

Quick check: Could a new visitor understand what your product is in <30 seconds?

Most founders choose their positioning anchor based on opinion.

Here’s a better way:

Choose your primary anchor based on how buyers think today, not how you want them to think.

No strategy debates.
No branding workshops.
Just yes / no.

Use this simple decision tree 👇

Step 0: Leader Dominance Test (Check First)

Q0: Is there a dominant, well-known market leader that:

- Almost every buyer already knows?
- Owns most of the category mindshare?
- Is frequently referenced in conversations?
- Is the default comparison point?

If yes, and you have a clear wedge:
→ Consider Competitive Alternative Positioning

If no, continue below.
(If you choose Competitive Alternative, still validate Category Awareness below.)

Step 1: Category Awareness Test

Q1: When buyers start evaluating solutions, do they:

- Google a specific software category?
- Compare vendors on G2 or Capterra?
- Ask for demos of multiple vendors in the same category?

Examples:

- CRM software
- Scheduling software
- Product analytics software

If buyers already think in category terms:
✅ Yes → Product Category Positioning
❌ No → Go to Step 2

Step 2: Problem Articulation Test

Q2: Can buyers clearly describe what they want to achieve, even if they don’t know what type of software solves it?

Examples:

- “We need to schedule interviews faster.”
- “We need better onboarding walkthroughs.”
- “We need to coordinate approvals more easily.”

If they articulate the job, but not the category:
✅ Yes → Use Case Positioning
❌ No → Go to Step 3

Step 3: Manual Behavior Test

Q3: Is the dominant solution still manual? When you talk to potential customers, do most of them say:

- “We just use spreadsheets.”
- “We handle this in Slack/email.”
- “We don’t really have a tool for this.”

If yes:
✅ Activity Positioning
If no → Re-evaluate your market understanding.

That’s it.
Answer top to bottom.

If you want the full guide + worksheet, send me a DM and I will send it over

One thing I’ve learned working with 30+ early-stage SaaS founders:

Positioning debates don’t end after choosing the anchor.

That’s just the beginning.

Because you can choose the “right” anchor...

...and still lose buyers with the wrong level of specificity.

Here’s what I see all the time.

Founders avoid competition by inventing new categories.

“We’re a Revenue Intelligence platform.”
“We’re a Workflow Orchestration Engine.”

Sounds strategic.

But buyers don’t think that way.

Or they go too high-level on the use case:

“We help companies increase revenue.”
“We improve productivity.”

Technically true.
Practically useless.

Buyers don’t buy “increase revenue.”

They buy:

• Manage pipeline
• Schedule meetings
• Guide onboarding
• Understand user behavior

Clear jobs. Clear boxes.

The opposite mistake also happens:

Founders get so feature-driven that their positioning sounds like a Jira ticket.
That’s too narrow.

Strong positioning lives in the tension between:

Too vague → confusing
Too specific → limiting

When we fix positioning specificity in my GTM audit, something interesting happens:

• The homepage headline gets simpler
• Sales calls get shorter
• Prospects “get it” faster

Positioning isn’t about sounding sophisticated.

It’s about being understood.

If you want me to get your positioning right, send me a DM. I have 1 free spot available starting in April.

Last weekend my wife and I escaped to the Alps for a few days.
One of the first sunny spring weekends after a long winter.

Hiking, fresh air, no Slack notifications. 
Just mountains.

And somewhere between the trails and the views, I realized something again that I tend to forget during busy weeks.

I need these breaks.

Every few weeks.

Being a solopreneur means wearing a lot of hats.
And working very hands-on with founders on their GTM means being fully present, focused, and sharp.

Right now I’m working closely with 6 startups.
Positioning, messaging, content, outbound, go-to-market foundations.

Work I genuinely love.
But it also requires a lot of energy and attention.

These few days in the mountains reminded me that recharging isn’t a luxury.

It’s part of doing great work.

So one of my big focuses for 2026 is simple:
Finding the right balance between deep work and quality time.

Time with family.
Time with friends.
Time away from screens.

Because the goal isn’t just building a business.
It’s building a life that actually feels good to live.

That's the real challenge of solopreneurship.

Helen Yu

CEO @Tigon Advisory Corp. | Host of CXO Spice | Board Director |Top 50 Women in Tech | AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Insurance, Industry40, Growth Acceleration

I'm passionate about human-AI amplification rather than replacement.



As the founder & CEO of Tigon Advisory, I help tech companies multiply growth through responsible AI, cybersecurity, IoT, supply chain, and CX strategies. Offering CXO-as-a-service in digital transformation, risk management, GTM, and thought leadership. Clients include NVIDIA, Salesforce, Microsoft, Cisco and innovative startups in Cybersecurity, SaaS, Fintech, etc. Also serve as board director and VC advisor on ethical tech and governance. 



Credentials include cybersecurity certification from MIT Sloan, MBA from Loyola University Chicago, WSJ/Amazon bestselling author ("Ascend Your Start-Up"), keynote speaker, and host of CXO Spice podcast where I explore leadership in emerging tech.



On LinkedIn, my daily posts (300+ in 2025, 136k+ reactions, 38k+ comments) share practical insights on ethical AI scaling, voice agents, bias mitigation, and building trust in human-AI teams.



I'm passionate about mentoring the next generation, especially women and underrepresented leaders in tech.

If you're shaping responsible AI strategies, navigating cyber risks in AI, or debating amplification vs. automation, let's connect. Comment below, share your take, or reach out. Excited to amplify together.



#ResponsibleAI #HumanAI #AIEthics #Cybersecurity #DigitalTransformation

Director Board of Directors

CEC is a security service integrator with focus markets in manufacturing, healthcare, SLED and Corporate Campus.  Customers with complicated organizations and physical plants rely on CEC as extensions of their teams in making strategic investment and management decisions related to their technology and infrastructure. I serve as Culture and Compensation Committee Chair. 

What would the world look like if we truly accelerated action for women?

Right now, full gender parity won't arrive until 2158 according to the World Economic Forum.

That’s 132 years away.

We have the power to move that date forward.

In this special #IWD2026 newsletter edition, I reflect on the progress we’ve made, highlight the women who inspire me, and share actions we can take to accelerate change.

Inside you’ll find:
✅ Highlights from a powerful Women in Technology panel at the Acumatica Summit
✅ Books and podcasts that expand perspective
✅ Simple actions anyone can take to move the needle

Over the past year, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn from many inspiring women leaders across technology, financial services, manufacturing and communications.

Now I want to hear from you 👇
Tag one woman who inspired you and tell us why.

Let's amplify women’s voices together. 
Happy International Women’s Day 🌸

#IWD2026 #AccelerateAction #WomenInLeadership #GenderEquity

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation,
Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

Bridging Responsible AI Innovation | Advisor to Tech Leaders | Host, CXO Spice | Human-AI Amplification Advocate

Every March 8th, the world pauses to honor the achievements, resilience, and brilliance of women. But this year’s theme, Accelerate Action, reminds us

Open article: Accelerating Change: Celebrating Women and the Work Still Ahead by Helen Yu • 4 min read

Accelerating Change: Celebrating Women and the Work Still Ahead

What lights you up about the work you do?

For me, it's this.
Fresh off Conga Connect in Orlando and straight into Enterprise Connect in Vegas, I hosted "Hot Takes & Cold Drinks" with two women who are redefining what leadership looks like in communications and technology.
⭐️ Millicent McIntyre, MSOB — 2026 Spotlight Award Winner, Senior Director, Buyer Services IAA
⭐️ Lori Wodrich — 2025 Winner & this year's judge, Senior Systems Engineer Amerisure Insurance

What resonated with me most was HOW they got there.
🔥Millie started in a contact center after cosmetology school.
No title. No roadmap.
She became the person everyone came to through curiosity, consistency, and caring deeply about people.
"Culture is the foundation of everything we do."
She meant every word.

🔥Lori's defining moment was A hackathon.
Surrounded by engineers far more technical than her, she almost changed her answer to fit in.
She didn't.
She held her ground. Shared her reasoning. And the entire panel shifted to her choice.
That's confidence backed by data.

Lori's Three S's I'm taking with me:
✅ Speak Up
✅ Say Yes — to growth, not every task
✅ Share Results

And here is Millie's closing wisdom:
Don't try to be like every other leader.
Be authentically, unapologetically YOU.

These are two women who didn't wait for a title to lead.
They showed up. Over-delivered. Built trust.
And the title eventually followed.

My biggest takeaway: Leadership is earned, not assigned.
Here is my personal hot take:
Sometimes you need to put down your to-do list and focus on your to-be list.
Who do you want to BE? Let that guide everything else.

Thank you, Millie and Lori, for being so open, so real, and so generous with your stories. You reminded all of us of what's possible. 🙌

And a heartfelt thank you to Erica Marois and Cheryl Kahan-Radhuber at Informa and Enterprise Connect for creating this space for women in communications. This is exactly the kind of platform our community needs. 💜

▶️ Watch the full 15-minute conversation below!

#EnterpriseConnect #WomenInTech #Leadership #EC2026 #Communications 

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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What did I learn from the OECD - OCDE Responsible AI Due Diligence Guidance?

Responsible AI is shifting from principles to accountability; clarifying who is responsible, at what point, and across the value chain.

👉 The real shift is from “Do we use AI responsibly?” to “Can we prove it — continuously?”

AI governance is becoming a core business capability rather than a compliance exercise.

I’ve broken down the insights that stood out to me me most in the carousel including where responsibility escalates, when scrutiny should be deeper, and why disengagement is sometimes the responsible choice.

Let me know what stood out to you 👇

#ResponsibleAI #AIGovernance #RiskManagement #BoardDirectors #CEOs

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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CEO of Tigon Advisory Corp. | Host of CXO Spice | Board Director |Top 50 Women in Tech | AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Insurance, Industry40, Growth Acceleration

5 Key Learnings from OECD Responsible AI Due Diligence

Are you modernizing your systems fast and wondering if you’re doing it securely?

In this short CXO Spice trailer, John Picinich and I touch on the real tension leaders are facing right now; moving quickly to innovate while making sure security, risk, and trust don’t fall behind. It’s a conversation about what works in the real world.

This builds on the themes from the #CXOSpice newsletter I shared three weeks ago on breaking down data silos in financial services, where we explored why governance, secure data movement, and a strong foundation are essential before layering on automation and AI.

I had the chance to host John Picinich at Progress Software to unpack:
✅ Where most organizations misjudge modernization risk
✅ How security teams can become enablers, not blockers
✅ What “secure by design” looks like in practice

🎥 Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gPq8B8Tg

And stay tuned. I’ll be hosting Progress Software’ Chief AI Officer Ed Keisling on agent orchestration soon.

#FinancialServices #AI #Agents

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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What the #WomenInTech stage taught me at Acumatica Summit?

Have you ever walked into a room and felt momentum happening in real time?
Speaking at Acumatica Summit this year was one of those moments.

I left thinking less about the stage and more about the people. Leaders choosing courage over comfort. Learning out loud. Lifting each other higher.

A few lessons that stayed with me
✨ Confidence starts with the story we tell ourselves
✨ Preparation creates clarity when pressure rises
✨ Leadership means sending the ladder down

I shared a few deeper reflections in my latest newsletter. Check out the full story: https://lnkd.in/e2Ad_BXf

What is one lesson that has changed how you show up this year?

#WomenInTech #Leadership #Technology #Innovation

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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A FIRST TIMER’S PERSPECTIVE I didn’t know what to expect walking into my first Acumatica Summit. I knew the event was significant, and I felt honored 

Open article: What the Women in Tech Stage at Acumatica Summit Taught Me? by Helen Yu • 7 min read

What the Women in Tech Stage at Acumatica Summit Taught Me?

What does success look like twelve months in if you go all in on a frictionless Commerce Chain?

I asked Lisa Martin, CRO of Conga during our interview at Conga Connect.
Her answer was precise.

Deal velocity accelerates. Deal volume grows. Revenue leakage stops hiding in quarterly post-mortems.

Most organizations look at discounting retrospectively. A scattergram tells you where you bled. Commerce Chain stops the bleeding.

A connected Commerce Chain changes the equation. You see where margin is slipping in the moment. You catch at-risk customers before renewal. You act on upsell signals the data was always telling you.

And when agentic AI matures inside that chain, it executes the insight.
Faster deals. Protected margin. Smarter renewals.

👉 Read the full story in CXO Spice Newsletter 
👉 Watch the conversation: https://lnkd.in/gpdCFhkS

#CommerceChain #CRO #CongaConnect #CongaPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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“It’s not growth at all costs anymore. It’s growth, but profitable growth , and the thing getting inspected is how easy we are to do business with.” —

Open article: Commerce Chain Is the Revenue Operating System Your Business Has Been Missing by Helen Yu • 5 min read

Commerce Chain Is the Revenue Operating System Your Business Has Been Missing

What does every business leader need to understand about the agentic era?

Here are 5 things I took away from Jensen Huang’s keynote at NVIDIA GTC:

1️⃣ Tokens are the new oil
Jensen redefined what a data center is.
Data centers are no longer places where we store files.
They are factories producing tokens.
Power goes in.
Data goes in.
Intelligence comes out.
Every watt of power you have is either generating revenue or wasting it.
The next metric CEOs may start tracking alongside EBITDA: tokens per watt.

2️⃣ The inference inflection
For years AI was a training story about who had the biggest models and the most parameters.
That era is over.
AI now must think, reason, and act in real time.
That requires inference at massive scale.
Compute demand has grown roughly 1,000,000× in two years.
That’s not hype.
That’s infrastructure reality.

3️⃣ Every SaaS company will become an AaaS company
Just as every company eventually needed:
• an HTTP strategy
• a cloud strategy
• a Kubernetes strategy
Every company now needs an agent strategy.
The question is no longer if.
It’s how fast.

4️⃣ The security model just changed
Agentic systems can:
• access sensitive data
• execute code
• communicate externally
Jensen said that out loud. Slowly.
Let that sink in.
The opportunity is enormous.
So is the risk.
In the agentic era, security and governance are the foundation.
The companies that get this right will win.

5️⃣ Synthetic data will unlock robotics
Real-world data will never be sufficient to train robots for every scenario.
Simulation closes the gap.
Synthetic data allows robots to learn faster than the real world can generate experience.
The GPT moment for autonomous systems may already be happening.
BYD, Hyundai, Nissan, and Geely just joined the platform, representing 18M vehicles per year.

The closing scene of the keynote said everything.
Robots and humans sitting around a campfire in a forest.
Playing music together.
The caption:
“The future’s here. Won’t you come and see.”
Not a warning.
An invitation.

Two stops worth making on the show floor today:
✅ Cisco Booth #1421 - The agentic era needs a secure foundation. I’ll be interviewing Kevin Wollenweber, SVP & GM of Data Center at Cisco, on what Secure AI Factory means at enterprise scale.
✅ Elastic Booth #3200 - Jensen said 90% of the world’s data is unstructured and largely inaccessible. Elastic is building the retrieval layer to unlock it. Don’t miss their sessions on eliminating the data bottleneck and how NVIDIA itself is using it.

The token factory is only as powerful as its security, networking, and data retrieval layers.

That’s the story continuing on the show floor.

#NVIDIAGTC #NVIDIAPartner #CiscoPartner

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What Boards and Security Leaders Must Know about AI-Driven Threats?

Last week, I hosted Mike Riemer, Field CISO at Ivanti on a webinar secure by design: prevent weaponized AI attacks with Kernel security strategies.

Mike put the stakes in sharp focus from the start:

Threat actors can reverse engineer a patch and weaponize it within 72 hours.
In some cases, attacks begin within 90 seconds of code being published.

Let that sink in.

This is not a technology problem you can delegate to your CISO.
It is a governance issue, and boards have a fiduciary duty to act.

In my latest newsletter, I cover:

✅ Why traditional perimeter defenses are failing
✅ What Secure by Design means  and how to hold vendors accountable
✅ Why kernel-level security is the new line of defense
✅ The questions every board and audit committee must be asking now

Knowledge without action leaves your organization exposed.

As AI-driven threats accelerate, kernel-level security has become the new line of defense.

Are you ready for it?

Watch the full conversation with Mike here:
https://lnkd.in/gP4hnwGT

Join us for the upcoming #LinkedInLive where we'll be continuing this critical conversation. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gF8YcTqf

#CyberSecurity #BoardGovernance #KernelSecurity #AIThreats #CISO #RiskManagement #IvantiPartner

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“Threat actors can reverse engineer a patch and weaponize it within 72 hours — and we’ve seen attacks begin within 90 seconds of vulnerable code being

Open article: What Boards and Security Leaders Must Know About AI-Driven Threats and Kernel-Level Defense by Helen Yu • 6 min read

What Boards and Security Leaders Must Know About AI-Driven Threats and Kernel-Level Defense

Why are companies still using 8 platforms to move money?

I just saw a CFO’s finance stack:
Stripe. Wise. Ramp. Mercury. Chargebee.
Plus 3 international bank accounts.
Eight logins. Eight reconciliations.
And they’re still losing 4–6% on every international transaction.

Here’s the hidden tax 👇
You get paid €100K → converted to USD (≈3% gone)
You pay a European supplier → USD back to EUR (≈3% gone)
That’s 6% lost moving the same money in a circle.
On a $10M business? $600K/year.

This is why Airwallex exists.
One platform to:
✅ Accept global payments
✅ Hold 20+ currencies (no forced FX)
✅ Pay suppliers same-day
✅ Issue cards globally (zero FX fees)
✅ Open accounts in minutes
One integration. One dashboard.
Companies doing $10M+ internationally save $400K–$600K/year just by consolidating.

Airwallex just opened their second HQ in San Francisco. They're bringing global-first infrastructure to companies tired of fragmented stacks and hidden fees.

So Why are you still using 8 platforms to move money?

#AirwallexPartner #CFOs

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How do you prepare for the next frontier of transformation?

AI is reshaping how we build, decide, and serve customers; and getting ready means learning, experimenting, and connecting with others who are doing the same.

You’ll find a mix of business leaders and builders at the #MicrosoftAITour. 
People like me, are focused on turning AI ideas into real impact. What I love about this experience is how hands-on it is. You not only hear about the technology, but also get to explore it, build with it, and learn directly from Microsoft engineers and the community. From secure apps to agents and solutions using tools like Foundry and Copilot, you walk away inspired and ready to apply what you’ve learned.

This 20-second clip is a throwback to my favorite moments from the Chicago tour last September 🎥

I’m excited for the upcoming U.S. stops:
📍 Washington, DC on March 10 - Register here 👉 hhttps://lnkd.in/ebyjqCQb
📍 Atlanta on April 29 (I will be there in person)- Register here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ey83fdKc
📍 Houston on May 28 - Register here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eKVZVvE9

If you’re looking to prepare your organization for this frontier transformation, join a tour near you and start turning possibilities into action.

#MicrosoftAITour #FrontierTransformation #AILeadership #MicrosoftAmbassador Microsoft in Business

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When was the last time a support call made you feel heard?

After 2.3 million miles in the air and more support calls than I can count, I've come to believe we've been measuring customer experience all wrong.
We track resolution time. Handle time. CSAT scores. But nobody measures how it felt to be spoken to.

I've been hung up on agents who said all the right things and still left me feeling dismissed. And I've had problems go unresolved by agents who somehow made me feel taken care of anyway. The difference was never the script. It was tone. Pacing. The small human signals that say I hear you before a single solution is offered.

As executives, we've optimized everything we can see on a dashboard. But the felt experience of a conversation, that's been the blind spot.

That's what made me pay attention when I came across ElevenLabs' emotional voice agent. Because it points at something I've believed for years: conversational quality is product quality. And we're finally at the point where AI can deliver it at scale.

The leaders who get ahead of this won't just have faster support. They'll have support that people remember for the right reasons.

See it in action: https://lnkd.in/eDtV-aGs

#VoiceAgent #ConversationalAI #CX #CustomerOperations #ElevenLabsPartner

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How many of your #security alerts matter?

Last quarter, my team reviewed 14,000 alerts. Only eleven led to investigation.
That's not a security program. That's noise with a compliance checkbox on it.

As a Board Director, the question I keep bringing back to leadership is simple: would we catch it before it happens?

Most organizations can't answer that with confidence. Not because they lack tools. But because they're measuring the wrong things. Volume of alerts. Hours logged. Endpoints covered. 

None of it tells you what the board needs to know: where is the human risk, and is it escalating?

The shift I've been advocating for is moving from reactive reporting to predictive intelligence. Not just flagging what already happened, but understanding behavioral patterns early enough to intervene before damage is done.

When I look at what predictive risk scoring is doing now, platforms like Teramind being able to detect behavioral shifts weeks before an incident occurs, that's the kind of intelligence that belongs in a board briefing.

Rule-based systems catch what you anticipated. Behavioral AI catches what you didn't. In insider risk, what you didn't anticipate is almost always what gets you.

Stop counting alerts. Start asking: what does this pattern mean?

#PredictiveIntelligence #Workforce #AIGovernance #TeramindPartner

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What happens when AI stops living in the cloud and starts living in the world?

That's the question at the center of NVIDIA GTC.  That’s the premier global AI conference where developers, researchers, and business leaders come together to explore the next wave of AI innovation.

From physical AI and AI factories to agentic AI and inference, this is where the breakthroughs shaping every industry get unveiled. With 500+ sessions, labs, and workshops, there's no better place to go deep on real-world AI use cases and connect with the people building the future.

Last year's GTC drew 27K in-person attendees and 40M+ keynote views. I can't wait to see what 2026 has in store.

Register now and explore the session catalog: https://nvda.ws/4kfWXS8

#GTC25 #NVIDIAPartner #AI #PhysicalAI #GenerativeAI

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What does a connected, intelligent Commerce Chain look like in action?

At Conga’s 5th Annual Inspire Awards, we celebrated real, measurable business impact with CRO Lisa Martin.

When pricing, quoting, contracting, and revenue operate as one connected system, companies move faster, price smarter, and scale growth.

Here’s what that looked like this year:
✅ Commercial Excellence — IBM
Unified quoting and renewals for 3,000+ sellers and partners worldwide, accelerating deal cycles while improving seller productivity and global customer experience.
 
✅ Future of Commerce — Electronics Digikey
2× market outperformance in 2025 by unifying e-commerce with customer-specific pricing through neural networks and real-time pricing execution.
 
✅ Momentum Leader — Pediatrics Plus
Automated ~50% of monthly billing and reduced DSO from 84 → 54 days.
 
✅ Buyer Experience — Jack Henry 
Eliminated manual pricing errors, unified siloed sales processes, and accelerated time-to-revenue for financial institutions nationwide.
 
✅ Judges’ Choice — Southwest Airlines
Reduced contract creation time to just 5 minutes, delivering enterprise-grade governance with startup speed.
 
✅ Community Champion — Natalie Myers
Amplified peer voices and strengthened knowledge sharing across the entire Conga community.

A connected Commerce Chain unlocks measurable revenue performance across the entire lifecycle.

Stay tuned for my conversation with Conga CRO Lisa Martin with a deeper dive into what the Commerce Chain means for the future of revenue leadership.

#CongaConnect #InspireAwards #CommerceChain #CustomerSuccess #CongaPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

What does it take to turn B2B influencer content into qualified pipeline?

I recently had a great conversation with Heather Barnett about this challenge and it’s clear this topic is rising on many B2B leaders’ agendas.

There’s a smarter way to approach it.

The Insight Collective and Custom Influence have put together an ebook that breaks it all down, featuring insights from leading B2B voices.

If you’re focused on making influencer marketing deliver measurable impact, this is worth your time.

https://lnkd.in/epkRekqz

#B2B #Influencer #Marketing 

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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When was the last time an AI investment delivered what it promised?

I've sat in enough boardrooms to know that question lands differently depending on who's in the room.

For most enterprises, the pattern is the same; a promising pilot, a growing consulting retainer, and a strategy deck that never quite becomes a production system.

That's the cycle Klika Tech built VELOCITY™ to break.

It's a 16-month, fixed-price program that takes organizations from AI uncertainty to a fully operational, self-sustaining AI capability. One contract. Five structured phases. And your team owns everything they build including the models, the infrastructure and the IP.

Team don't get paid for hours. They get paid for outcomes.

ROI validation begins at Month 8 so you get proof mid-journey
If AI is on your roadmap this year, reach out to see what it looks like in practice.

Drop a “Yes” comment if you want to learn more. 👇

#AI #EnterpriseAI #KlikaTech #VELOCITY #DigitalTransformation

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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Ready to launch your #career in #AI in 2026? 

LinkedIn just released its Skills on the Rise 2026 list and the signal is clear: AI is reshaping every role, not just technical ones. 

Here are the fastest-growing skills: Prompt Engineering, RAG, LangChain, Vector Databases, and Model Fine-Tuning along people skills like Stakeholder Management and Leadership Communication. Employers want professionals who can build and lead with AI.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 20% growth in computer and information research roles between 2024 and 2034. The opportunity is real.

I've consolidated what I learned from Coursera and U.S. Bureau of Labor and put together a table of 9 high-demand AI roles with required skills, salary ranges, and core responsibilities to help you find your best fit.

Which role excites you most? Drop it in the comments 👇

#SkillsOnTheRise #FutureOfWork #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCareers
#AI #Jobs #MachineLearning #DataScience #WomenInTech

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉#CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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9 AI Jobs to Consider in 2026

What are the two things that define a world-class data center?

Here's what I learned from Equinix team at last year's NVIDIA GTC 
(watch the 1-minute clip below)
→ Environment - power, space, and cooling
→ Interconnectivity - dense access to public clouds and GPU-as-a-service

Equinix operates 280 data centers across 77 global markets. The London facility Aaron showcased was built with his in mind: 170,000 sq ft, 100% renewable energy, 99.999% availability, and 200+ cloud interconnection points all water-cooled.

Equinix also announced they'll be the first to offer the NVIDIA Instant AI Factory; fully provisioned AI infrastructure powered by DGX GB300 and B300 systems, across 45 global markets.

This year, I'm going deeper on the #sustainability side of all of this.
I look forward to speaking with Christopher Wellise, Global VP of Sustainability at Equinix to talk about what it takes to build and operate AI infrastructure responsibly; from closing the gap between pledges and results, to whether the industry is measuring the right things.

Tune in to our upcoming CXO Spice from #NVIDAGTC. What would YOU ask Chris? Drop it below 👇

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation,
Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

Where are the real conversations about the future of revenue lifecycle happening right now?

At Conga Connect.

Just arrived at the venue and the energy is already building. This quick clip gives a glimpse of the space and a great catch-up with Amy Williams from the Conga team as things get underway.

Looking ahead to a packed agenda for Day 1:
✅ The future of commerce keynote from David Osborne CEO of Conga
✅ Accelerating Innovation across the commerce chain from Rohit Chhabra, CPO
✅ My 1:1 with Lisa Martin, CRO, diving into Commerce Chain
✅ Tonight’s customer panel and awards
✅ And wrapping the evening with the VIP dinner with Conga executives, select customers and fellow analysts Shelly DeMotte Kramer, Roy Atkinson, Eric Kavanagh.

Events like this are where product vision, customer experience, and strategy come together. I’m interested in hearing how organizations are approaching revenue lifecycle transformation and connected commerce.

Let's connect if you're here at Conga Connect. Or follow #CXOSpice to get the latest updates.

#CongaConnect #RevenueLifecycle #CPQ #CommerceChain #Analysts #CongaPartner

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What does responsible AI governance look like when the infrastructure at stake is an entire city?

It's a question that I'm proud to have helped answer along with an exceptional group of experts in collaboration with AI & Partners.

In this whitepaper, Digital Public Services: Governance Challenges in AI-Enabled Smart Cities, we explore how we can build trustworthy, interoperable urban infrastructure as AI becomes central to transport, energy, health, and public administration.

Key takeaways:
✅ Interconnected systems create cascading risks - resilience must be built in by design
✅ Interoperability and open standards are governance tools rather than just technical ones
✅ Privacy-by-design is essential as sensor networks and data fusion expand across cities
✅ The EU AI Act creates real obligations for municipalities deploying high-risk AI

Thank you to my fellow contributors for making this such a rigorous and timely piece of work:
Sean Musch, Michael Charles Borrelli, Dr. Don Liyanage, Dr. Benedikt Kohn, Harvey Castro, Lisa Ventura MBE FCIIS MBCS, Mariia Shcherbakova, Patrick Orsos, Shreyas Karanjkar, Edward Cole, Mitko Karushkov, Vibhav Mithal, FHCA, Mateo Jarrin Cuvi, Michael Boevink, Ina Schöne, Richard Chiumento, and Carolyn Harrison.

If you work in urban policy, AI regulation, or digital public services, this one is for you. 

#SmartCities #AIGovernance #EUAIAct #DigitalTransformation #AI

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation,
Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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Alexander Estner

Helen Yu

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taplio

The Battle

Alexander Estner

Helen Yu

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Alexander Estner's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreAlexander Estner's LinkedIn Performance