Leading Marketing at OneScreen.ai | VP-level Revenue Generating Marketing Leader | 3x Dad | Podcast Host & Former CMO

I'm a transformational revenue-generating marketer, having owned a sales number as a former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), blending brand marketing with demand generation, focused on delivering sales. 

I've been recognized as a Top 50 B2B Marketing Influencer to Follow, knowing how to build a sales-aligned marketing function from scratch or capable of upleveling a current marketing team in a variety of ways, leading global internal or growing through outsourcing with partners, agencies, and vendors. 

As a seasoned, experienced marketer, I specialize in standing up demand generation, account-based marketing (ABM), partner marketing and sales enablement, currently delivering 90% of the sales pipeline through inbound channels. My work redefines outdoor advertising with creative innovations that extend beyond traditional formats, empowering brands to elevate their marketing mix.  

I co-host and produce the Beyond the Billboard Podcast, where we engage marketing experts to explore brand strategies and OOH applications. By combining my branding expertise with a passion for growth, I help businesses unlock new opportunities in a competitive SaaS landscape, staying committed to collaboration and measurable outcomes.

I'm passionate about coaching my kids' sports teams, playing competitive soccer, philanthropy, and event planning, including previously co-chairing Buffalo's AAF ADDY Awards and setting up my own fundraiser, the Buffalo Scavenger Hunt, benefiting Camp Good Days that supports kids with cancer.

Charlie Riley

Director, Demand Generation | Demandbase Top 20 Revenue Marketer for 2023

I'm a husband, a father of two boys, and marketer with a focus on demand generation. I focus on growth for B2B SaaS companies, particularly with paid media, SEO, email, and marketing automation. 

Here are some of my values:

— Jesus is Lord

-- We yield greater results when we work as a team.

-- You can learn something from every single person in your organization, regardless of job title.

-- In a world of givers and the takers, be a giver.

Ryan Williams

I had the privilege of spending my week, courtesy of Commonstate, with some lifelong friends in Bend, OR. Spencer Bradshaw Cassidy Dickens 

And yes, Bend is everything it appears to be. 

I remember vividly, about 3 years ago, one of our clients treating us to a steak dinner. This week, we got to treat some of our team to a steak dinner. Grateful for the journey with building a business and the ability to experience things I never would’ve imagined.

Now, back to my wife and boys! Needless to say, this is a future vacation spot for our family.

Head of Marketing @ ZenMaid | Co-Founder @Commonstate | Father, Husband, Christ Follower, Worship Drummer

No alternative text description for this image

💥 We crossed 50%.

In February, ZenMaid hit a 50%+ Trial → Paid conversion rate.

That means 1 out of every 2 people who start a trial become a paying customer.

For context:

In February 2023, we were at 25.5%.

We’ve literally doubled it.

That doesn’t happen because of one clever campaign.

It happens because product, design, engineering, ops, support, customer success, and marketing are aligned around the same goal:

✅ Better activation.
✅ Better onboarding.
✅ Better early-stage experience.

Every tweak compounds:

Onboarding improvements

Activation optimizations

Better demos

Faster follow-up

Clearer content (i.e. more qualified trials)

And this is a big validation moment for “Day 74.”

We said we were going to get serious about early retention and activation.

The numbers are responding.

Now zoom out.

If we continue to:

✔ Improve Month 1 retention
✔ Improve Month 2 retention
✔ Maintain (or grow) this CVR momentum

We don’t just grow.

We compound.

When strong conversion meets stronger retention, MRR accelerates fast. 📈

Huge shoutout to the entire ZenMaid team. 

This is a real milestone.

But we’re not done.

What would doubling your activation rate do to your business? 👇🏻

I haven’t been posting much lately. Here’s why.

We’ve been deep in “Day 74” at ZenMaid.

Amar Ghose literally named me the 'Day 74 CEO.'

I told my mom and everything. 😄 

If you don’t know what Day 74 is, it’s the moment where we earn lifelong customers' trust. The make-or-break window.

Phases 0 and 1 are done.

We’re now in Phase 2.

And for the first time in a long time, we’re attacking retention cross-functionally:

✅ Marketing
✅ Customer Success
✅ Operations
✅ Product

All rowing the same direction.

We just had our highest Month 1 Revenue Retention % in the last 2+ years.

Honestly? This is a dream for me. Working on the highest-level business impact levers.

Trial → Paid CVR is also at 47% this month. A record.

That’s not “more traffic.”

That’s better alignment.

The best part though?

The culture.

We’ve always had a strong one.

But this feels different.

Hard work.
Focus.
Shipping.

And doing it with people you actually like.

Day 74 isn’t about plugging churn leaks.

It’s about building a company that deserves to keep its customers, and building the most world-class cleaning service software. Period.

What’s one operational change that completely changed your team’s momentum? 👇🏻

💥 Leadership is letting someone else take your seat at the table.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting with Ayman Al-Abdullah three times now.

Most recently, this past Tuesday.

Here’s why that matters.

Amar Ghose, our CEO and Founder at ZenMaid, works with Ayman as his executive coach.

This week, Amar was traveling.

Instead of canceling his standing session . . . he gave it to me.

No ego.
No gatekeeping.

What a gift.

We spent the call digging into our “Day 74” project at ZenMaid; thinking deeply about churn, retention, and what actually drives long-term customer value.

Not surface-level stuff.

Real questions like:

✔ Where does retention truly break?
✔ What assumptions are we making about onboarding?
✔ Are we optimizing for activation… or actual habit formation?
✔ What would have to be true for months 1–2 churn to materially drop?

Ayman gave me a lot to think about, but also affirmed the direction we're taking.

It reinforced something I’ve been learning the past year:

Retention isn’t a “Customer Success metric.”

It’s a company-wide alignment problem.

Grateful for leaders who share access.
Grateful for coaches who challenge thinking.
Grateful to be in rooms that make you better.

If you’re leading a SaaS company right now:

Are you spending as much time on months 1–2 as you are on net new MRR? 📈

Proud of this season.

The last 3.5+ years have stretched me in ways I didn’t expect.

Building Commonstate.
Helping scale ZenMaid.
Raising three boys.
Trying to be a decent husband in the middle of all of it.

It’s been a lot.

But here’s what I’m most proud of:

At Commonstate, we didn’t chase growth.

We chased:

✔ Reputation
✔ Retention
✔ Referrals
✔ Real performance inside the CRM

The result?

Steady multi-year growth.
Recurring revenue stability.
A business that runs on trust, not cold outbound.
An agency brand that stands on its own; not on the back of one founder.

No flashy “we 10x’d in 90 days” nonsense.

Just disciplined execution.
Month after month.
Year after year.

At the same time, stepping deeper into ZenMaid has sharpened me in a different way.

Demand gen is fun.

But retention?
Churn?
Revenue quality?

That’s where the real operators live.

Working cross-functionally.
Owning Day 74.
Driving record conversion rates.
Pushing for alignment between marketing and customer success.

It’s forced me to zoom out.

To think in terms of:

Revenue retention
Payback periods
LTV
Operational capacity
Leadership structure
Not just leads and CPL.

And here’s the honest truth:

There were seasons I felt stretched thin.
Moments where I questioned if I was overcommitted.

But I’ve learned something:

You can build two things at once…

If you’re ruthless about focus and honest about your capacity.

Commonstate taught me discipline.
ZenMaid is teaching me scale.

Both are teaching me leadership.

And I’m grateful for the reps.

If you’re in a season of building - maybe even building more than one thing - what’s it stretching in you right now? 💥

taplio

The Battle

Charlie Riley

Ryan Williams

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreRyan Williams's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Charlie Riley

Ryan Williams

Followers

Posts

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);}Ryan Williams's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreRyan Williams's LinkedIn Performance