Map & Fire

Map & Fire is a Los Angeles based research and brand consultancy. We help you own a unique space in your market with a mix of research, positioning, and messaging – so you can connect with more customers and grow with confidence.

View happy client testimonials at: https://mapandfire.com

Founder, Brand Strategist

HelloAdvisr LLC

Strategy Advisor

TVGla

• Led a team of 14 producers and was responsible for defining the department's vision and planning, managing overall budget, conducting individual reviews, setting goals and providing guidance on all project work.

• Provided strategic insights and oversaw production efforts for the agency's two largest Digital Agency of Record accounts, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, along with a wide array of campaigns for companies including Sony, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Hard Rock Cafe, Cinemax, A&E, History Channel, Dreamworks and Gruppo Campari.

• Unified and facilitated cross-training of a production department that had been historically split between a team of digital banner producers and web/app-focused producers. In addition, established dedicated production support for the company's quickly expanding social department.

• Worked to build strong relationships with all team members by providing personal support, empowering them to take on deeper responsibilities and challenging them to work on projects outside their immediate areas of expertise.

• Improved overall efficiency and expertise of the department through process refinement, mentorship and the introduction of improved project management and communication tools.

Executive Producer

• Played a key role in building the strategy and relationship that led to the agency's first major Digital Agency of Record account with Wheel of Fortune.

• Beyond production responsibilities, provided additional insight and value by helping to guide UX decisions, as well as input on creative and technical implementations.

• Led over 75 projects for clients such as Google, Sony, Universal Pictures, Mattel, and FOX. 

• Managed and oversaw between $1.5 - 2MM of project revenue annually, consistently delivering work under projected budgets.

Senior Producer

Better You

• Founding partner in startup, responsible for full UX, product management, and technical life cycle of project.

• Wrote business requirements, defined user experience, user flows, and created interactive wireframes for the entire site.

• Designed graphical UI elements for site and prototyped frontend experience.

• Managed developers to build out front and back end coding on a LAMP platform.

Co-Founder, Head of Product Development

Bird Branch

• Worked in a variety of roles including brand strategist, UX designer, creative lead, and developer on over 150 projects.

• Collaborated with a wide assortment of clients on projects ranging from the entertainment industry to consumer products to health care both in project lead and contractor roles.

• Extensive experience with both UI and graphic design.

• Developed front and backend code solutions utilizing existing frameworks as well as fully custom implementations. 

• Responsible for managing project budgets, tracking progress, and coordinating work both with clients and additional resources.

Founder, Strategy, UX, and Design Consultant

G4 Media

Senior Web Developer

Avacus Corporation

Web Developer

O'Neil Data

Unigraphics Solutions

Software Developer

Win with a brand built on research, not guesses | Founder Map & Fire 🔥, SmokeLadder | Contributor at Foundr Magazine

I use a mix of research, positioning, and messaging to help founders and marketing leaders connect with more customers and grow with confidence. 

My writing on strategy and research has been featured in Foundr Magazine and AdWeek. 

More about my background:

I've spent the last 20 years dreaming up and then bringing to life multiple startups as well as a wide range of digital projects. With every twist and turn of that journey there’s been a consistent thread of weaving together strategic problem solving, creative expression, and a curiosity to better understand how people think and make decisions. 

In the businesses I created or co-founded, my primary focus has always been on strategy and user experience. For others, I've worn lots of hats from Executive Producer, to Designer, to Copywriter, to Developer. I've also enjoyed an unofficial Account Services role where I carefully honed the craft of client therapy.

Over the years, I've collaborated with countless passionate small businesses along with several Fortune 500 brands including Google, Sony, Universal Pictures, Mattel, FOX, Dreamworks, CBS, A&E, Home Depot, Roland Keyboards, G4 TV, and the LA Times. 

When not doing mental gymnastics, I like spending time with my amazing wife and son, hiking, surfing, and watching things that make me laugh.

Clay Ostrom

Alon Even

B2B Tech Growth Expert & Fractional CMO | Helping startups & scale-ups accelerate revenue growth | 2x Exits | 2x Founder

If your GTM feels busy but growth isn’t accelerating, the problem isn’t effort. It’s the system.

Most teams respond by doing more: adding channels, campaigns, tools, or headcount. And pipeline gets noisier without getting healthier.

That's where I come in. 

I help B2B SaaS teams get unstuck by building a repeatable GTM system behind pipeline and ARR, so growth comes from clarity, not more activity.

That system includes: ICP and personas, positioning and messaging, GTM motions, channel mix, conversion and handoffs, and execution.

3 ways we can work together (from Seed to growth-stage B2B SaaS):

1- GTM AUDIT SPRINT 
A focused outside-in diagnosis + a clear 90-day action plan. We find the leaks before you pour more capital in.

2- ONGOING GTM & GROWTH ADVISORY
Monthly guidance to keep priorities tight, execution aligned, and performance improving.

3- FRACTIONAL CMO
Hands-on leadership when you need an owner to run the GTM system with your team.

I’ve done this for 18 years as a 3× CMO, 2× CEO, and GTM advisor, including work with CipherHealth, Justt, nSure.ai, ClicData, and more.

If you’re a CEO/CRO/CMO and you want to grow faster and more efficiently, let’s make your GTM system work.

👉 Book a quick intro call: https://calendly.com/even-alon/linkedin-discovery

Mentor

I joined Hubble Cohort 26 because some conversations don’t belong in DM, and Hubble turns “let’s connect” into a real 1:1 that actually moves things forward.

A lot of the GTM advice I’m seeing focuses on symptoms, not the system.

So teams add budget to channels that aren’t working, tweak messaging without fixing who it’s for, and hire sales before getting clear on what they’re actually selling.

If any of that sounds familiar, I’m opening a small number of 1:1 sessions on Hubble.

We’ll focus on what matters most right now: clarity, priorities, and your next move.

You can book a 1:1 with me here: https://lnkd.in/d-n8-dnK

P.S. Thank you Kevin for the invite, excited to be part of Cohort 26.

Fractional CMO | GTM & Growth Advisor | B2B SaaS | 3× CMO, 2× CEO, 2× Exits

If search CAC is creeping up and SDR connect rates are down, this is why: you’re missing the pre-conditioning layer.

Factors.ai’s LinkedIn Benchmarks report quantifies something most GTM dashboards hide:

LinkedIn isn’t where demand converts, but where conversion rates get set across other channels. 

Here’s what’s actually happening (the multiplicative effect):

1- Your attribution is mis-crediting the win

14.3% of leads CRMs typically attribute to paid search actually started on LinkedIn. So when LinkedIn looks “weak” on last-touch and you cut budget, you’re actually making search more expensive.

2- LinkedIn makes search convert better

When ICP accounts see a LinkedIn ad first, their paid search conversion rate jumps 46%. That’s how you can lower your CAC/payback.

3- It improves sales efficiency

Accounts exposed to LinkedIn ads show a 43% lift in meeting-to-deal conversion. LinkedIn makes sales easier by closing the trust gap before the first sales call.

4- The efficiency gap is hard to ignore.

Cost to engage an ICP account: $257 on LinkedIn vs $560 on Google.

So the GTM question isn’t: “Did LinkedIn generate the lead?”, but it should be: “Is it reducing the cost and friction of every other motion we run?”

When buyers are pre-conditioned, everything downstream performs better: search, outbound, sales cycles, CAC/payback, and more. 

Because at the end of the day, GTM is a system, and every motion is connected. Run it in silos, and the whole engine leaks efficiency.

P.S. If you’re interested, I can pressure-test your GTM system to spot where efficiency is leaking. DM me or book a quick call: https://lnkd.in/d-aMZgF5

AI companies are about to lose deals for the exact same reason. And it’s not because of their product, but because their buyers can’t decide.

Let me show you what I mean. 

I looked at how the big players position “AI for customer service”: Zendesk, Intercom, Salesforce, Freshworks, and ServiceNow.

Blur the logos and it’s basically one homepage:

AI agents → 24/7 coverage → faster resolution → productivity → human handoff for edge cases.

You get it. Same promise & same outcomes, which means your buyers have more options… and less clarity.

That’s the sameness problem, or in other words, the AI knife-fight is here. 

And when the category promise converges, differentiation matters more than ever, it decides whether growth comes from better economics or bigger spend.

Because buyers don’t evaluate the “what” for long. Once everything sounds interchangeable, the question changes to:

“Who do I trust to run this in production without breaking my workflow?”

That’s a totally different decision. Especially in enterprise, where people don’t buy innovation, but “I won’t get fired.”

So if your plan is louder claims… good luck.

The only durable move I’m seeing is tradeoffs + proof:

→ Tradeoffs= Make it obvious who you’re for (and who you’re not). 
Quick test: If you can’t name a segment you’re intentionally NOT optimizing for, your positioning isn’t tight.

→ Proof= Show how it holds up in the real world:
- Mechanism: What is actually different about how it works?
- Outcome: What specific, measurable result does it reliably change?
- Defensibility: Why does it survive production? (controls, edge cases, rollout)

In the end, you win by making it easy for your buyers to say internally: this is built for us, and I can defend the decision.

That’s the game now.

I unpack this in my latest newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dGUPhnZW

Not sure if you noticed, but companies are hiring “storytellers” again, and paying a lot for it.

LinkedIn data says US job postings that include the term “storyteller” doubled over the last year.

And I love it.

Because it signals something important: companies are realizing they can’t rely on AI to earn & hold buyer attention.

Yes, AI can help you write, but it can’t make people care. And it definitely can’t earn trust.

So we’re going back to basics, where marketing has always worked best: human motivation.

Humans still make the decisions. And humans are wired to care about a few timeless things:

→ They want to look good to their boss, team, and company.
→ They want to save time and remove friction.
→ They want to make or protect money.
→ They want to avoid pain, risk, and embarrassment.
→ They want to level up in their role and career.

If you don’t speak to buyers in their language tied to these motivations, no amount of AI will save it.

And the more AI-generated noise fills the feed, the more buyers crave something real: a POV, a voice & a story that feels like it came from someone who actually understands their world.

That’s why storytelling is becoming a serious GTM lever again.

Not “better copy”, but clarity, credibility, and customer truth people remember… and repeat (in their team chats, DMs, and internal meetings).

If your buyers can’t retell your story, it won’t travel, and it won’t convert.

P.S. If you’re interested, DM me your homepage headline, and I’ll tell you if it hits. Or book a quick call: https://lnkd.in/d-aMZgF5

Zapier is the num 1 cited source in the tech vertical… and only num 44 in brand mentions. And that’s exactly the AI visibility trap for B2B SaaS: 
being a “trusted explainer” ≠ being a “recommended buy.”

Semrush’s AI Visibility Index shows AI discovery has split into 2 games:

1- Mentions (Stage 1: Discovery)
You get pulled into the answer based on third-party conversation: reviews, forums, community consensus.

2- Sources (Stage 2: Authority)
Once you’re “in,” the model looks for structured, factual proof on your site/docs to validate it.

And here’s the thing:

Brands overlap across platforms, sources don’t. 

Semrush found 65% overlap in the top brands mentioned across ChatGPT + Google AI Mode, but only 32% overlap in the sources they cite.

So AI optimization is less a checklist and more a distribution strategy.

And two GTM implications you should pay attention to:

→ Pricing = narrative control
If your pricing is hidden behind contact sales, AI will still answer pricing questions using third-party info + sentiment you don’t control.

→ Crawlability = distribution plumbing
AI crawlers struggle with dynamic content. If your proof isn’t accessible in static HTML, the “authority” step breaks.

You get it. AI visibility isn’t an SEO project, but a GTM system: mentions + proof + crawlable facts.

Let’s face it: the playbook to win this is still not clear. But one thing is already clear: if your brand isn’t showing up in answers, you won’t make the shortlist.

P.S. checkout the report here: https://lnkd.in/d5ccjtuK

Your B2B buyers aren’t ghosting. They’re re-entering the buying journey again and again, with new context, new questions & new people.

Just take these examples:

They had a shortlist… then a new requirement shows up… and everything gets re-evaluated.

A buyer has a great first call… then disappears for 4 weeks… then comes back with: “we’re revisiting this.”

A project pauses as priorities shift… then returns during budget planning.

They go quiet to validate with peers and “dark social.”

You get it. This is how buyers actually buy today. It’s not deal friction, they’re moving toward a decision, just iteratively. And it doesn’t follow the neat, linear funnel we like to draw.

Now, when it comes to your GTM, these re-entry moments are what really matter. 

Because buyers don’t restart, they just pick up where they left off. So, your job isn’t to force them down a funnel, but to be the most trusted choice when they choose to re-engage.

Which means your GTM needs 3 things:

1- Continuity 

Make every re-entry feel like progress, not a restart. Keep one clear narrative across marketing→sales→CS.

2- Two buyer modes- ​running in parallel, not one after the other

→ Exploration: Build a POV that earns memory share with the ~95% who aren’t ready to buy yet (brand), before they start researching solutions.
→ Decision: Provide proof that reduces risk for the 5% in-market (success stories, ROI models, stakeholder one-pagers, etc.).

3- Feedback loop 

Whatever stalls deals late should become content early, so objections get handled months before the evaluation begins.

You should stop building for "stages," and build for re-entry, where buyers actually decide who’s in the running.

If you’re seeing 3+ of these, tactics aren’t the problem, even if it feels like you’re one campaign away from a breakthrough:

1- No one can clearly explain your best customers in one sentence
2- Expansion into new segments is justified by a single inbound logo or a board suggestion
3- People can’t explain the top buying triggers, or why good-fit prospects don’t buy
4- “Voice of the customer” is cherry-picked instead of systematically gathered
5- You don’t talk to closed-lost, no-decision, or strong fits who ghosted
6- Lots of pipeline ends in “no decision,” and nobody trusts the reasons logged
7- Decks get edited on the fly because messaging doesn’t land in real discovery calls
8- You’re surprised by churn, low adoption, or weak expansion

If this is you, you don’t have GTM execution problems, but foundation problems in disguise.

And when the foundation is weak (= buyer and market understanding), the symptoms show up everywhere.

That’s because GTM is a system.

If the inputs are fuzzy, the output is always the same: message drift, pipeline stall, and “no decision.”

So it’s your choice: fix the inputs, or keep arguing about the output.

taplio

The Battle

Clay Ostrom

Alon Even

Followers

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taplio

The Battle

Clay Ostrom

Alon Even

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);}Alon Even's LinkedIn Performance

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