Generic GTM is dead → Go to my featured section for actionable GTM insights and elevate your marketing game 🔥| Co-Founder of TACK | Creating the category of People-first GTM 👥| 13+ Years in B2B Marketing 📈

I help B2B companies build go-to-market strategies that prioritize real connection because relationships, not just reach, drive growth.

After 14 years in B2B marketing, I’ve led field marketing, demand gen, community, and influencer programs. I know what works, what doesn’t, and what’s changed.

Too many companies still treat buyers like leads. That’s not how modern GTM works.

I’ve helped 35+ B2B brands shift from transactional tactics to connection-driven growth, building scalable strategies, launching communities, running 30+ webinars, and rolling out on-demand models that replaced bloated in-house teams.

Today, I work directly with brands, founders, and marketers to build go-to-market engines that scale—without the spam.

What I do:
→ Build integrated campaign strategies that drive pipeline
→ Coach creators and brands on influencer marketing
→ Design community-led and field programs that actually work
→ Speak on GTM, content, and creator-led growth
→ Act as a fractional marketing leader or advisor

📚 Author of B2B Influencer Marketing: Work With Creators to Generate Authentic and Effective Marketing (Kogan Page, 2025)

👋 Let’s work together: DM me or visit https://linktr.ee/NickBMarketing

Nick Bennett

Sent this to my parents last spring.

Their response? "Did you make that with AI?"

No mom. That's a real billboard. In Times Square. With my face on it.

I made the GTM 100 list. Nasdaq billboard. The whole thing.

And my parents thought I photoshopped myself into New York City.

Here's the thing though. That billboard was cool for about 48 hours. Then it was back to work. Back to client calls. Back to figuring out how to grow this thing I built from scratch.

Nobody sees the years before the billboard.

13 years in-house learning the craft. Started posting on LinkedIn as a Covid hobby back in Feb 2020. Had no idea what I was doing. Just started sharing what I knew.

Almost 3 years ago I bet on myself and went out on my own. The late nights building something when nobody's watching. The moments you wonder if this was the dumbest decision you ever made. The times you almost went back to a "real job" because steady paychecks sound pretty nice when you're staring at an empty pipeline.

But that billboard didn't change anything.

What changed everything was the decision to start. To bet on myself when it made zero sense on paper. To keep going when it would've been easier to quit.

If you're thinking about starting your own thing, here's what I'll tell you:

The recognition is nice. But it's not why you do it.

You do it because you can't not do it. Because the alternative of wondering "what if" is worse than failing.

So yeah. My parents still think I'm pretty good at Photoshop.

And I'm just trying to keep doing work I'm proud of.

15+ Year B2B Marketing Leader Turned Founder | ABM, Field Marketing & Events, Influencer Marketing & More | DM Me to Learn More

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A campaign that should've taken 2 weeks took me a few hours.

Not because I moved faster. Because there was nothing to wait on.

Most marketing teams aren't slow because they lack ideas. They're slow because they're waiting. Waiting on ops to pull a list. Waiting on copy approval. Waiting on sales to confirm follow-up. By the time everything aligns, the moment is gone.

The play was a cold pipeline re-engagement campaign.

We pulled accounts that showed intent over the past 6 months but never converted. Segmented by product interest and role. Launched a 3-touch email and LinkedIn sequence.

Total time from idea to live: one day.

What made it possible:

→ Segments already built in Common Room
→ Messaging templates ready to adapt
→ No dependency on ops for list pulls or triggers
→ Sales aligned on follow-up the same morning

Within the first week we had replies, meetings booked, and a handful of deals reopened.

The lesson isn't about moving faster. It's about removing the waiting before you need to move.

Segments defined ahead of time. Triggers ready to go. Ownership clear before the play even exists.

The fastest marketing teams don't sprint harder. They've already done the setup so execution is simple when the moment shows up.

What's slowing down your team's ability to act on ideas?

Most event marketers can't defend their budget.

Not because events don't work. Because they're reporting the wrong things.

Finance asks: What did we get from that $50K conference?

And the answer is usually badge scans and booth traffic. That's not ROI. That's activity.

Here's what an actual event report should include:

ICP Accounts Attended
How many Tier 1, 2, or 3 accounts had someone at the event? This tells you if you were even in front of the right people.

Contacts Added
Net-new contacts from attending accounts. Not total scans. New names in your CRM that didn't exist before.

Meetings Booked
Sales meetings scheduled as a direct result of the event. Not "good conversations." Actual meetings on the calendar.

Qualified Pipeline (New)
Net-new opportunities created post-event that meet your qualification criteria. Stage, ICP fit, value threshold. Real pipeline, not maybes.

Influenced Pipeline
Existing opportunities where the event helped move things forward. Deals that accelerated, re-engaged, or unstuck because of a conversation at the booth.

Closed-Won Revenue
Revenue from deals directly attributable or influenced by the event. The number finance actually cares about.

Then calculate two ROI metrics:

Pipeline ROI
(Qualified Pipeline + Influenced Pipeline) ÷ Total Event Cost
Use this to compare efficiency across events.

ARR ROI
Closed-Won ARR ÷ Total Event Cost
Use this for long-term performance.

One more metric worth tracking: Revenue Coverage in the Room. A directional estimate of potential new and expansion revenue based on who attended. Not a forecast. A planning tool.

When you report like this, the budget conversation changes completely.

You're not defending why events should exist. You're showing which ones deserve more investment.

What metrics do you use to prove event ROI?

P.S. let me know if there are metrics you want me to go deeper on here, too!

School vacation week starts Monday.

Here's what I think will happen vs. what will actually happen.

Expectation: I'll knock out that strategic project I've been putting off.
Reality: I'll negotiate screen time limits like a hostage negotiator by 9am.

Expectation: The kids will play quietly while I take calls.
Reality: Someone will scream "SHE HIT ME" during my most important meeting of the week.

Expectation: I'll maintain my normal work schedule.
Reality: I'll be answering Slack messages from the bathroom because it's the only room with a lock.

Expectation: We'll do fun family activities in the evenings.
Reality: Everyone will be too tired and annoyed with each other by 5pm.

Expectation: I'll meal prep healthy lunches.
Reality: Goldfish crackers count as a food group now.

A realistic survival guide for the week:

Step 1: Lower your expectations.
Step 2: Lower them again.
Step 3: Accept that "productivity" means everyone is still alive by Friday.

Here's the thing though. I'm taking the end of next week off. And it still feels weird to say that.

When you work for yourself, stepping away is harder than it sounds. There's always something. A client email. A project to tweak. A "quick" thing that turns into two hours.

But this is exactly why I went out on my own. The flexibility to be present when it matters.

So I'm logging off. Mostly.

To all the parents balancing work and a house full of chaos next week: I see you. We're all just trying to make it to the weekend.

Good luck out there.

Let's stop debating who owns event follow-up.

Because you're solving the wrong problem.

I've been in those post-event meetings. Marketing says sales didn't follow up fast enough. Sales says the leads weren't qualified. Everyone points fingers. Nothing changes.

Here's what I've learned after years of running events: the ownership question is a distraction. The real problem is context evaporating before anyone can act on it.

Think about it. Your rep has a killer conversation at the booth. Gets back to the hotel. Checks email. Has dinner. Flies home. By Monday morning, that conversation is a blur. Name, company, maybe a vague note in a spreadsheet.

Now they're supposed to write a personalized follow-up? Good luck.

The solution isn't assigning owners earlier. It's about capturing context before it disappears.

Here's what actually works:

→ 15-minute debrief before anyone leaves the venue
→ Every rep records a voice note for each priority conversation
→ Raw context while it's still fresh

That's it. No fancy system needed. Just capture the moment.

Why this works:

1. You get the real details. Not sanitized CRM notes written three days later.
2. Follow-up becomes delegatable. Anyone can listen to that voice note and write a solid email.
3. It eliminates the "I forgot what we talked about" excuse. Because you literally have a recording.

Effective follow-up isn't about who sends it. It's about having something valuable to say.

And you can't say something valuable if you can't remember the conversation.

Next event, try this. Debrief on-site. Voice notes for every meaningful conversation. Then watch what happens to your follow-up quality.

What's your system for capturing context before it disappears?

Most teams run ABM like a campaign.

Launch it. Measure it. Move on to the next one.

That's why most ABM programs fail.

ABM isn't a campaign. It's an operating system.

Here's the difference:

Campaign mindset: Pick some accounts, run ads, send emails, hope something sticks.

Operating system mindset: Build a repeatable engine with prioritization, signals, feedback loops, and clear rules for when to invest and when to cut.

The operating system has five parts:

1. Account Tiering

Not all accounts deserve the same effort. Build T1, T2, and T3 tiers based on revenue potential and strategic fit. Your T1 accounts get intensive, personalized engagement. T3 gets scaled plays. Stop treating every account the same.

2. Buying Group Mapping

Enterprise deals aren't won by reaching one contact. Map 6-10 stakeholders per account across functions. Operations, IT, Finance, whoever touches the decision. Multi-thread or lose.

3. Signal-Led Prioritization

Stop guessing who's ready. Track event engagement, website activity, content consumption, and sales intel. Prioritize accounts showing real signals, not just the ones sales "feels good about."

4. Channel Orchestration

Your channels should work together, not in silos. Events, content, paid, SDR outreach, sales follow-up. All coordinated around the same accounts at the same moments. Timing matters more than volume.

5. Investment Rules

This is where most teams fail. You need clear criteria for when to increase spend and when to cut it.

Invest more when:
→ Sales has real insight into the account
→ Multiple stakeholders are engaging
→ There's a clear path to pipeline

Cut when:
→ No meaningful engagement signals
→ No sales alignment or account knowledge
→ Activity isn't translating to opportunities

The teams that win at ABM aren't running better campaigns.

They're running a system that compounds over time.

Are you running campaigns or building a system?

The biggest mistake heading into event season?

Teams start planning the next event before learning from the last one.

I've watched it happen dozens of times. Event ends Friday. By Monday everyone's already deep into the next one. No debrief. No data review. No honest conversation about what actually worked.

Then six months later someone asks why events aren't driving pipeline.

Because you never stopped to figure out what was broken.

I've spent years talking about this on podcasts. Field marketing. Event strategy. Pre-event playbooks. Attribution. Follow-up systems. All of it.

Finally put it all in one place.

24+ hours of podcast episodes where I break down everything I've learned running events across multiple companies.

Topics covered:
→ Why 80% of your event ROI happens before you land
→ How to build a repeatable event system
→ The follow-up gap that kills most event pipeline
→ Pre-event outreach that actually gets responses
→ Attribution that proves events work

Free. No gate. Just hit play.

Spotify playlist: https://lnkd.in/d74TQgus

If you're prepping for Q1/Q2 events right now, this might save you from repeating the same mistakes.

PS: I'll be at B2BMX in early March. Will you?

Most teams start event marketing when they land at the airport.

By then you've already lost.

The companies generating real pipeline from events aren't doing anything fancy at the booth. They're winning in the 2-3 weeks before anyone shows up.

Here's the pre-event playbook that actually moves deals.

Step 1: Build your hit list early

Pull your target accounts attending the event. Cross-reference with open opportunities, churned accounts worth revisiting, and prospects who've engaged with your content recently.

You're not trying to meet everyone. You're trying to meet the right 15-20 people.

Step 2: Earn the meeting before you ask for it

Cold outreach saying let's grab coffee at the conference gets ignored. Everyone sends that.

Instead:
→ Reference something specific. Their recent funding round. A post they wrote. A challenge their company is likely facing.
→ Offer something useful upfront. A relevant resource. An intro to someone they should meet. A coffee voucher with no strings attached.
→ Make it easy. Suggest a specific time and place. Remove friction.

The goal is to feel like a warm intro not a cold pitch.

Step 3: Create a reason to be remembered

Most booths blend together. Same swag. Same pitch. Same forgettable experience.

Think about what would make someone talk about your booth at dinner that night.

→ Interactive elements that require participation
→ Giveaways tied to engagement not just badge scans
→ Conversations that feel like advice not demos

Step 4: Coordinate your team

Nothing kills event ROI faster than three reps talking to the same prospect while missing a decision maker two booths away.

→ Assign target accounts to specific people
→ Share context on each account before the event
→ Daily syncs to adjust based on who you've actually talked to

The event itself is just the middle of the funnel. The work before is what determines whether you leave with pipeline or just a pile of badge scans.

What's your pre-event outreach look like?

Your outbound isn't a messaging problem. It's a deliverability problem.

I watched a team spend three months optimizing subject lines, rewriting sequences, and testing new CTAs. Open rates stayed flat. Reply rates kept dropping.

Turned out 40% of their emails were landing in spam. They had no idea.

Here's the thing. You can have the best copy in the world. If your emails aren't hitting the inbox, none of it matters.

Most operators never check this stuff until something breaks. By then you've already burned your domain.

Here's what to actually monitor:

1. Sender Reputation

Check Google Postmaster Tools weekly. If your domain reputation drops to "Low" or "Bad," you're already in trouble. Aim to stay in "High" consistently.

Microsoft SNDS gives you similar visibility for Outlook. If you're selling to enterprise, this matters.

2. Authentication Stack

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC aren't optional anymore. They're table stakes.

But "set up" isn't the same as "configured correctly." Most teams have partial implementations that still leak trust signals.

Run a check monthly. If any of these are failing or misconfigured, inbox placement tanks.

3. Domain Age and Warm-Up

New domains need 2-4 weeks of warm-up before you scale. Sending 500 cold emails from a fresh domain is a fast track to spam.

Volume ramp matters too. Start with 10-20 emails per day. Increase gradually. Jumping from 50 to 500 overnight triggers filters.

If you're running multiple campaigns, use subdomains for outbound. Protect your primary domain reputation.

4. Inbox Placement Testing

Open rates lie. Tracking pixels fire even in spam folders sometimes.

Run seed list tests before launching campaigns. Know where your emails actually land across Gmail, Outlook, and corporate domains.

This is where Warmy comes in.

It automates warm-up, monitors inbox placement, validates your authentication setup, and flags issues before they tank your campaigns.

I've been using it to stress-test deliverability for outbound programs. The visibility alone is worth it.

If you want to boost your deliverability, drop a comment and I'll send you the link.

If your outbound has been underperforming and you've already optimized the obvious stuff, check your deliverability first.

It might be the invisible thing killing your pipeline.

I used to be every CMO's favorite "go-to" person.

Need a deck by tomorrow? Done.
Campaign launch in 3 days? I'll figure it out.
Last-minute event pivot? On it.

I delivered everything. Except results.

Being reliable felt like winning. But I was just busy. Not effective.

That's what I'm talking about at EPNow The BIG Event on February 26.

💡 From "Reliable" to "Effective" — Stop Being Busy, Start Driving Real Impact
8:40 AM PT

Here's what we'll cover:

→ How to shift from reactive execution to intentional, strategic impact
→ How to protect your time and prioritize what actually drives pipeline
→ How to earn influence across the business, not just praise for being helpful

This is for anyone who's tired of being the person who gets things done but wants to become the person who drives growth.

If that sounds like you, I'll see you there.

Register here → https://lnkd.in/eXxUPcvt

I've gotten to see 3 years of Navattic putting out their annual State of Interactive Demos report. They shared their 4-step process that anyone creating a "State of" report can learn from.

Step 1: Start with questions

They kick off every year at their fall offsite by gathering questions from their entire go-to-market team. They ask:

→ What questions are you getting day in and day out on calls?
→ What were the most common follow-up questions from last year's report?

They compiled everything in Notion, organized by category, validated feasibility with engineering, and got final sign-off from leadership and their Head of CS.

Learning: Most reports fail because they answer questions nobody's asking. Starting with real customer questions means you're solving actual problems, not just showing off data.

Step 2: Get the data in order

They don't rely on just one source. They combine:

→ Product data (pulled from SQL queries)
→ Manual website research (reviewing top-performing sites)
→ Industry benchmarks (tracking the same 5,000 B2B SaaS sites year over year)

Each data source gets its own spreadsheet, labeled to match its original outline.

Learning: Messy data leads to messy insights. Label everything upfront. You'll thank yourself when you're knee-deep in analysis and can't remember where a number came from.

Step 3: Analyze the data

They go question by question in the outline and start answering them. Work with your data team to make sure you've labeled where each question ties to a data set.

Gut-check the initial analysis with CS and the data team. See if there are any outliers to account for or data that just looks off.

Learning: Always gut-check with the people closest to customers. Data can tell you what happened. CS can tell you why.

Step 4: Write and refine

With the data organized, writing becomes straightforward. They draft, and their core team (Head of Product, Head of CS) reviews for accuracy and clarity.

Because one person manually reviewed all websites and analyzed the data, the core themes became obvious. They also share drafts with advisors and customers for feedback before publishing.

Learning: Get feedback before you ship. Fresh eyes catch things you've gone blind to after staring at the same doc for weeks.

Pro tip: They built a CMS template instead of designing static graphics in Figma so they can update data dynamically. Makes the report feel more interactive too.

What's your process for creating reports?

3 years ago I wrote a post about driving G2 reviews.

500k views. 1,500+ likes. 500+ comments. Over 200 DMs. Remember that? Was wild!

All I did was share what worked.

I've run this playbook multiple times since then. Just ran it again. 100 reviews in 3 days. Pushed us to 1,031 total reviews. We're averaging 85 net new reviews per quarter.

Word of mouth is our #2 source of inbound at Reachdesk.

This stuff compounds.

Here's the playbook:

1. Build your list with intent

Use your CRM to filter by customers who actually use the product, not one-off senders. The goal isn't to cherry-pick positive reviews. It's to get feedback from people with enough experience to give you something useful.

2. Write the email like a human

No corporate speak. Keep it simple: thank them, ask for the review, offer a gift when it's live.

3. Make confirmation easy

Instead of screenshots, I added a form where they drop their review link. Less friction. Easier to verify.

4. Send real gifts

Not gift cards. Actual things. The Amazon integration within Reachdesk lets me send stuff that feels personal, not transactional.

Conversion rate this time: ~40%.

But collecting reviews is only half the job.

Most teams let reviews sit on G2. That's a waste.

Here's how to activate them:

→ Tag by use case. Sales, marketing, CS, events. Now you have proof for every vertical conversation.
→ Mine for language. Customers describe your value better than you will. Use their words in ads, decks, and outbound.
→ Route feedback to product. Complaints are free research.
→ Identify champions. Detailed reviewers are case study and reference candidates.
→ Build a proof bank by objection. Sales should have reviews organized by the concerns they answer.

Reviews on G2 are social proof. Reviews organized and activated are a sales weapon.

Word of mouth being our #2 inbound source isn't just G2. It's the team doing great work across CS, product, and marketing. But reviews are one piece of the flywheel that compounds when you stay consistent.

Most teams pick gifts by guessing.

Scroll through a catalog. Hope it lands. Cross fingers it feels personal enough.

That's not strategy. That's wishful thinking.

Personalized gifting works. We know this. The problem has always been the tradeoff: do it right and it takes forever, or do it fast and it feels generic.

Gifty removes that tradeoff.

It's an AI assistant built into Reachdesk that handles the research, matches gifts to role, region, budget, and goal, and drafts a note that actually sounds like you thought about it.

What used to take 15-20 minutes per send now takes a few.

That changes the math on when gifting makes sense.

You can use it for the high-value T1 plays you're already doing. But now you can also use it for the moments you'd normally skip because they weren't worth the time. The no-show follow-up. The deal that went dark. The post-event touch that usually gets deprioritized.

More personalized sends. Same bandwidth.

That's the unlock.

DM me if you want to see it in action.

Most teams pick gifts by guessing.

Scroll through a catalog. Hope it lands. Move on.

We're changing that at Reachdesk.

Coming soon.

DM me if you want a sneak peek 👀

Ashley Amber Sava

Content, Editorial & Employee Communications Leader | Recovering Journalist | Storyteller | The Editor | Unpopular Opinion Podcast Host | Incurably Cheerful

There’s a moment in every LinkedIn scroll where you feel it—a slow, gnawing nausea. It creeps in with the motivational TED Talk masquerading as a post. You know the one: a guy in an ill-fitting blazer whisper-screaming about “unlocking potential." Keep scrolling. Enter the grind-bro. Eyes bloodshot. Skin like a haunted drumhead. He’s been awake since 2:47 a.m. for...reasons. His post reads like a deranged love letter to burnout culture, all caps yelling about “discipline."

And then, the fluff prophet/AI oracle. Their face is slack, mouth twitching as they whisper, “AI is going to disrupt everything,” like a doomsday preacher on a street corner with a cardboard sign. “We’re living through the next industrial revolution,” they declare, conveniently ignoring the fact that their entire strategy is pasting ChatGPT outputs into Canva templates.

The clap emojis pile up. The buzzwords snowball. And you sit there, wondering why we're applauding this nervous breakdown.

Welcome to my profile. I don’t do that here.

Here, you’ll find stories that make you laugh, flinch, maybe even even stop mid-scroll to reread. I write to jolt you awake—not to whisper sweet nothings about KPIs. My posts are jagged, human and unapologetically real. They’ll linger like a scar you can’t stop tracing. Because that’s what good writing does—it takes your attention hostage.

I’ve been called irreverent, abrasive, “not for everyone.” I take that as a compliment. My words are a protest against the beige corporate sludge clogging up this platform. I write for the people who hate white noise, and who crave a voice that’s sharp, raw and distinctly human. My content is for those who want something real, even if it stings. If that’s you, stick around. If it’s not, go back to clapping for the guy trying to sprint through his midlife crisis.

Here’s what to expect: Stories about the absurdity of modern work culture. Rants about the dumbest trends. Tactical advice wrapped in cynicism. And maybe, just maybe, a small dose of hope—wrapped in barbed wire, because I’m not a monster.

Because while this platform loves its safe, saccharine posts about “growth” and “hustle,” I’d rather talk about the messiness of actually trying to get there. The fumbles, the failures, the outright catastrophes. It’s not pretty, but it’s honest. And honesty’s in short supply these days.

If you’re tired of scrolling through LinkedIn posts that feel like a bad infomercial for someone’s personal brand, stick around. Let’s be human, even when the algorithm begs us not to be. 

And yes, I still use em dashes. Fight me.

Head Of Content

Them: Do you work well under pressure?

Me: I watched the trailer for “Gone Girl” one morning in 2014 while it was still playing in theaters. When I learned it was based on a book, and there were evening showings that day, I immediately bought tickets. I then drove straight to Barnes & Noble, beelined for the book, went home and totally canceled being a human.

I ate nothing. I drank nothing. I ignored my phone. I read 400+ pages in one sitting like my life depended on it.

I finished with less than an hour to spare and proceeded to re-enter society. I made the movie and still caught previews.

So yes, I work well under pressure but require morbid curiosity, immediate psychological escalation and a deadline that threatens my identity.

Very normal. Very employable. No further questions.

P.S. I did not get the job.
#ThatAshleyAmber

Content Anarchist | Recovering Journalist with a Vendetta | Writing What You’re All Too Afraid to Say | Keeping Austin Weird | LinkedIn’s Resident Menace

Middle schoolers now have access to software that can digitally undress a classmate with a prompt. High schoolers don’t need scissors and glue anymore. They don’t need Photoshop skills. 

There’s a scene in "A Walk to Remember" where they cut out Jamie’s head and paste it onto a half-naked body. It was cruel. Analog cruelty. You could see the seams. You could see the glue. You could hold the evidence in your hands.

Now there are no seams. Now it renders in seconds. Frictionless. Shared before the bell rings.

Caroline B. wrote a piece on AI-generated porn and the legal, psychological and reputational fallout. It’s sharp. It’s sourced. It walks through creator attorney Brittany Ratelle’s warnings about morals clauses and contract clawbacks. It includes research from Dr. Asia Eaton on PTSD-level trauma. It explains the TAKE IT DOWN Act and the limits of legislation once harm is already airborne.

I'm linking it in the comments.

Kids are going to use this on each other. They already are. And it won’t stop at classmates. It will hit teachers, too.

All it takes is one angry sophomore who failed algebra. One kid with a grudge. One “joke” that metastasizes in a group chat. A face scraped from a school website. A body pulled from anywhere. A render button.

Suddenly a teacher who has worked 15 years to build credibility is defending themselves against a synthetic image that looks real enough to ignite suspicion. You think every administrator is AI-literate enough to immediately identify a deepfake? Do you think parents and school board members are?

I doubt guidance counselors are staffed for this. I doubt districts have policies ready.

Reputation used to be something you could protect with your behavior. Now it’s something someone else can fabricate.

We are entering an era where adolescence + generative AI = reputational accelerant. And the damage is real.

Anxiety. Depression. Transfers. Firings. Investigations. 

Teenagers have always tested the perimeter of empathy. The blast radius is now unworldly. 

Caroline’s piece highlights the resource gaps. It forces the conversation into daylight.

Deepfake porn isn't isolated to celebrities and public figures. It’s a hallway problem. A faculty lounge problem. A problem for anyone who's ever had a picture taken of them (possibly even without their knowledge.)

We're raising kids inside tools that can simulate scandal faster than adults can detect it. That should concern you.

Ask whether your school district is prepared for the first time a teacher has to stand in front of a board and say, “That’s not me.” Ask whether your kid understands consent in a world where images can be fabricated. Ask whether platforms are doing enough.

Read Caroline’s work. Share it with someone in education. Send it to a parent. Send it to anyone who thinks this is fringe.
#ThatAshleyAmber

What’s up MTV? Welcome to Cribs: Office Desk edition.

Today we are touring a 60-inch slab of laminated ambition and emotional instability.

Step in. Cross your chest. You are entering sacred hardwood.

First of all, yes. My MacBook did not make the cut. Why? Because if I put the MacBook here, you wouldn’t see my goodies. And we did not come here to hide the goodies. We came here to let them BREATHE.

(Don't worry, though, an in-depth look at how I've defaced my laptops can be found in another post I will link in the comments)

That monitor you see? It does not display anything.  It is a $400 charging cable with self-esteem.  That’s it. That’s her job. She’s decorative infrastructure.

I could be writing novels. I could be solving crimes. I could be staring into the void.

You will never know.

*Pan left.*
Gallery wall of emotional plot twists.
Picture one: tiny human smiling before a softball game.
Picture two: two cats (Mufasa and Cleo) posed like they’re about to drop a mixtape. 
Picture three: wedding photo. We’re radiant. We’re in love. We have no idea how many shared Google calendars are coming for us.
Picture four: same small child in a sunhat frolicking in a field of bluebonnets.

Every photo screams: “I do this for them.” But also whispers: “They are watching.”

*Camera dips down.*
The plaque. “I’m silently correcting your grammar.”
You typo near this surface? The air gets... tense.

*Camera swings right with unnecessary enthusiasm*
Now THIS is where things get unwell.
Cat.
Riding.
Whale.
That cat is running the ocean. That whale is just payroll.
Right next to it? Laser-eye cat. This cat does not chase the laser pointer. The laser pointer chases HIM.

Underneath? Gold-tier organizer. If you’re going to hoard paper, you do it like a tasteful villain.
Inside these slots are:
*Books.
*Notebooks.
*Stickers.
*Ransom notes.
*Possibly secrets.

You don’t know. MTV doesn’t know. HR definitely doesn’t know.

And right there: “Content Team is a Cult.”
Is it a joke? Or are you already indoctrinated just by enjoying this tour?

Left corner: A book about gun safety for your cat.

Michael Scott. “Somehow I Manage.” Every morning I glance at it and think, “Yes. That is the level of leadership I aspire to. Accidentally successful.”

Anti-affirmation calendar. None of that “You are powerful” nonsense. This calendar wakes up every day and chooses violence. “You can’t pour from an empty cup. But you will try.” 

*Wide dramatic sweep of the desk.*
Look at the real estate. A museum of controlled mania.

*My shrine to cats (must be updated for our newest family member Thomas O'Malley)
*The generational photo montage.
*The grammar aggression.
*The cult literature.
*The whale transportation system.

The whole thing says:
“I will nurture (at least one) child."
“I will pet cats.”
“I will enforce grammatical justice.”
“I will read parody memoirs.”
"I own a monitor that has never once monitored.”

MTV, thank you for pulling up.
#ThatAshleyAmber

I’ve been sleeping under your bed for 11 years just waiting for you to say “we should totally go camping...."

You ever sit on the toilet and feel like something is watching? That’s me, pressed against the porcelain, licking the condensation, whispering the name you stopped using in high school.

I remember everything you forget on purpose. The kid that bullied you in fourth grade? I braid their hair now. The dog you pretended didn’t get hit by the mail truck? I tuck it in at night.

Sometimes, I sit in your guest bathroom just rearranging the Q-tips. Sometimes, I tuck your laundry in tighter than you ever did because I know you’ll never feel clean again.

When someone says “it’s giving spooky,” I grow another tooth. I’m up to 183 teeth. They’re all somewhere. Most of them are in you...

Anyway, now I'm back in the woods. Waiting...

You think it’s all just a silly scary day. You posted a meme. You joked about “surviving the week.”

 Cool.  Let’s see how well you survive the next 14 minutes...

Someone left an air mattress behind and I carved “don’t come back” into it before I even had coffee.

No coffee, actually. I don’t drink it anymore. It shakes my hands too much and I like to keep steady when I’m working...

I didn’t choose this path but was summoned by the sound of laughter too close to the edge of the woods. By people kissing with their eyes closed and their throats exposed. 

Disgusting.

I only speak in gasps. In the crack of a twig beneath your shoes. In the wet thud of bad decisions.

Last night some over-lotioned meat puppet knocked over my bones-in-a-bucket. I made that bucket. With skin still under the nails. And they laughed.

One of them took a selfie with it.
 
I don't know what a "close friends story" is but I hope it's the last thing she ever posts.

So today, I walk. Not run. Walk.

Because you will always tire first. Your lungs will betray you before I do. And your flashlight will flicker the exact moment your ankles give out.

Your thighs slap like wet ham and your sneakers are squealing. I can smell the guilt leaking from your pores. Or is that vanilla oatmilk deodorant? Still. Revolting.

I love when the WiFi goes out. I love when you split up to “cover more ground.” I love when you think “he’s gone.”

I wear this mask so you don’t have to see what happens when grief goes septic. I wear this mask because your mom liked it...

People think this life is glamorous. They think it’s all jump-scares and dramatic violins.
 
No one talks about the cleanup. The absolute viscera casserole left behind in a canoe. The brain matter in the BBQ pit.

The one boot, still warm, sitting inside the tent like it’s waiting for its owner to come back and apologize.

Happy Friday the 13th, sluts. Sleep tight tonight. If your eyes stay shut, maybe I won’t peel them open just to say "hi."

Whatever you do, don’t look behind you.

No really. Don’t.

I hate when they look. I like it better when they still have hope. 🪓
#ThatAshleyAmber

Something is very wrong if your posts are so boring that LinkedIn has to write the replies for the people reading them.

“Great post!”
“Thanks for sharing!”
“Totally agree!”

You’ve been outperformed by a system designed to comfort you while highlighting that you're not interesting enough to elicit real responses.

LinkedIn posts often feel like reading the diary of someone who survived corporate natural selection by being AGGRESSIVELY unremarkable and inoffensive. There is overlap between people who post this stuff and people who have never once in their life been the most interesting person in a room.

Here's the career arc.

STEP 1: Graduate with a “marketing” degree so you know the acronyms and have some credibility. 

STEP 2: Get hired somewhere small but growing fast enough that you have a shot at a promotion if you're obedient enough.

STEP 3: Show up. Smile. Never disagree. Laughs at the jokes of those above you. Learn the ancient art of ass-kissing. “Love this direction.” “Totally aligned.” “Great call.” Be smooth. Be agreeable. Be mayonnaise.

STEP 4: Survive long enough that everyone cooler quits. The talented ones burn out. The weird ones get pushed out. The honest ones get labeled “difficult.”

But you, you great human wallpaper, you're keeping that seat warm. 

STEP 5: Get a better title by default. “Wow, you’ve been here five years. Better give you that VP title."

Yes. Because mold grows slowly.

Now you're “Head of Growth.” You've never shipped anything risky. You've never pissed anyone off with a bigger title. You've never bet your reputation on a real idea. Your biggest career moment is successfully running a meeting guaranteed to bore the masses.

And on LinkedIn, this shows up as building alibis with terrifyingly dull content. What gets posted are the receipts for why they "deserve" their title.

Look! I think thoughts!
Look! I mentor!
Look! I leadership!

They love talking about AI, but they do not understand AI. They love talking about “engagement," but they panic when someone actually comments. They don’t have enough knowledge to be specific. Specificity requires experience. Experience requires risk. Risk requires courage.

They have none of those. So they live in Abstract Land.

You could swap their posts between industries, and nobody would notice. Their entire feed is Mad Libs. “Marketing in [YEAR] vs. Marketing in [YEAR]”

They are terrified of being wrong, so they are permanently vague. Because what if someone smart chimes in?

Suggested Replies can't parse nuance, risk, anger, humor, horror or grotesque specificity. It can’t hold a sentence that bends and tangles and spits in the face of corporate aphorisms. That’s why I get real comments with dozens of thoughtful responses, screenshots, people DMing me to argue and someone threatening to quit their job over my opinion.

The "Suggested Reply" feature cannot compute a post like mine. It is useless. It is irrelevant. It is ashamed. 
*laughs wickedly*
#ThatAshleyAmber

Does anyone else have a full-blown stadium tour happening in their brain during long meetings and presentations, or is that just my specific neurological curse?

I am LOCKED IN. Eyes forward. Listening like a court stenographer for capitalism.

And then my skull opens like a jukebox...

I did not press play. No one asked me. My brain commands: "We're doing a concert now. Pack light."

Why does focus do this to me? This doesn't happen when I'm multitasking. It's like I'm TOO present. So present my subconscious is like: "Cool, now let’s DJ."

It will not stop.

Certain words said at the meeting can ignite an immediate shuffle, though.

Is this a shared condition? 

Endorse me. 
#ThatAshleyAmber

Okay. I know. LinkedIn is not “Ashley’s Austin Yellow Pages.”

BUT.

I have spent years building this chaotic, brilliant, unreasonably well-connected corner of the internet… and if there is ONE place I can crowdsource a “my uncle runs a charter fleet in Texas” situation, it is here.

So here’s the deal:
I need to move a dozen unhinged but enjoyable adults
Austin → Dallas
Leave around 8 a.m.
Max four-hour event
Back to Austin same day
Friday, March 27

The quotes I’ve gotten so far feel like:
“Would you also like to purchase the vehicle?”
“Does this include ownership equity?”
“Is the bus handcrafted from rare Italian oak?”

I might be wrong. Maybe that’s market rate. But before I set our budget on fire, I’m asking you...

Do you have:
*A charter bus connect
*A sprinter van company that isn’t pricing like ACL weekend
*A “text this guy, he owes me a HUGE favor” situation
*Someone who has a party bus that they want free marketing for?

And let me be clear: we are an excellent group to transport. We are loud in a funny way. We will absolutely bring snacks. The right driver will laugh a lot.

We are a rolling bus of content and creative goblins. We will film things, tag you, probably make a Reel about the journey, absolutely shout you out if you save us from highway robbery and turn the ride into lore.

Save me from explaining to finance why our roundtrip team outing required a small capital raise!
#ThatAshleyAmber

The Human Species, in no particular order, as the horror it actually is:

1. We excrete performance art.
Poop, sweat, pee, snot, spit, phlegm, tears, it’s a grotesque theater of chemical warfare. Our intestines are alchemists turning what we call food into stinking, living sludge. You flush, you pretend it’s gone, but your legacy is still in the pipes, singing lullabies of decay.

2. Our mouths are sloppy murder dens.
We kiss, we speak, we laugh, but inside lives a jungle of microbes feasting on the remains of everyone and everything we’ve ever eaten. Our tongues are hunting grounds. Our teeth are covered in plaque jungles. You brush, yes, but that’s really just rearranging the nastiness.  

3. Our skin is a cadaverous quilt.
We’re covered in dead cells, oils and invisible armies of parasites. Every scratch, every rash, every pimple is a battlefield where mites, bacteria and fungus negotiate peace treaties we will never begin to understand.

4. Our blood is a sludge highway.
Pumping waste, hormones and the occasional mutated cell through a network of veins that could double as sewers. Every heartbeat is a pulse of inevitability: we are slowly poisoning ourselves.

5. We die like soft compost.
Eventually, all of this, the sweat, the spit, the shit, the bacterium thriving in our warmth, becomes literal rot. Every breath we take is an advance toward maggots, fungus and worms we don’t see coming.

6. We reproduce like biohazards with forethought.
Bodies rubbing together is microbial trading, organs steaming, fluids dripping, skin sloughing off into the air like fine dust. Every new human is another carnival of vomit, mucus and germ kingdoms, ready to add themselves to the endless parade of our horror show. And we smile, call it love, family, legacy.

Take another minute to think about your insides, wet and writhing. Think more about how your intestines coil like sewage tunnels, slick with slime and colonies of microscopic marauders.

We are ecosystems of rot. And if you try to look away, remember: you are still inside it, still feeding it, still part of the nightmare.

Happy Friday!
#ThatAshleyAmber

Who is coming to hang out with me at SXSW this year?

SXSW is 90%...
*Warm tequila
*Panels you pretend to care about
*“Let’s definitely reconnect”
*Business cards that go straight into a tote bag graveyard

We’re not doing that.

Manychat is building a Creator Club Hub in the middle of SXSW and it’s going to feel less like a conference and more like a controlled collision. 

150 curated creators. In one space. Operators. Sellers. Builders. Culture drivers.

And we’re inviting brands, agencies, sponsors, product partners, (the ones who actually want to do something,) into that room.

This is club-style. Intentional. Energizing.
1. You walk in.
2. You meet creators face-to-face.
3. You talk about real distribution. Real launches. Real money.
4. You leave with partnerships that didn’t require 14 follow-up emails.

We’re designing this space to connect and disconnect.
Connect:
*Brands ↔ creators who convert
*Agencies ↔ talent who move product
*Products ↔ audiences that actually buy

Disconnect:
*From stiff corporate energy
*From awkward “so what do you do?” loops
*From fake proximity to culture

If you're a brand that understands creators are the distribution layer of the internet, you need to be here.

If you're an agency tired of chasing “influencer lists” that convert at 0.3%, you'll kick yourself for not showing up.

If you want to sponsor something that doesn’t feel like you just slapped a logo on a lanyard, this is your opportunity.

This is a “if you know, you know, and you should probably DM right now.”

You want to sponsor? Collaborate? Send your team to meet creators directly? 

We’re actively looking for:
– Brands
– Agencies
– Sponsors
– Product & experience partners
– Smart weirdos who understand that creator relationships > logo slaps

Send your people. Meet creators face-to-face. Test ideas. Start something that outlives the festival.

Comment. DM. Or send someone who actually has budget authority.

SXSW is about to become a networking Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your tote bag.
#SXSW #SXSW2026 #SXSW26

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The Battle

Nick Bennett

Ashley Amber Sava

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Performance ScoreNick Bennett's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAshley Amber Sava's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Nick Bennett

Ashley Amber Sava

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);}Nick Bennett's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAshley Amber Sava's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreNick Bennett's LinkedIn Performance