Many founders feel their marketing is busy and expensive, yet their pipeline stays flat. They see plenty of activity, although very little of it turns into steady growth. This gap is where I focus.

I build growth systems for companies in tech, SaaS, proptech and services. My work brings clarity to the story, consistency to the funnel and confident decisions to the leadership table. I look at how sales, product and marketing operate, then shape them into one engine that produces qualified demand and measurable results.

The approach is straightforward. I help teams simplify their message so customers understand the value quickly. I set up processes that help them think clearly, test ideas and learn from the data they already have. I help founders replace guesswork with a structure that gives them predictable progress.

Some outcomes from my recent work include the following.
-I helped a tech company build their ANZ presence and reach two point five million dollars in new business during their first year in the region.
-I supported a proptech firm in growing their user base from zero to over fifteen times their starting point within six months.
-I shaped the digital marketing setup for a UCaaS company that once relied on printed brochures and helped them shift to a modern inbound engine.

These results come from a simple belief. Growth improves when the story is clear, the process is steady, and the decisions come from real signals rather than hope. This is the type of work I enjoy, and I work closely with founders who want a more stable way to grow.

If you lead a company where the marketing motion looks full yet the revenue is uneven, I am open to a conversation. The right structure can reduce pressure on the team and give the business a cleaner path forward.

Rahul Bakaya

I sat in a pipeline review last month where the marketing team was celebrating 312 inbound leads.
 
Sales closed 4 of them.
 
Nobody in the room thought that was weird.
 
The VP of Marketing showed cost-per-lead charts. The Head of Sales talked about “lead quality.” Everyone agreed they needed to “better align.”
 
Meanwhile, I’m looking at their CRM and seeing:
 
38-minute average response time on demo requests. A rep who hadn’t logged a follow-up in 9 days. 74 leads sitting in a stage called “New” with zero activity.
 
This company was spending $40K a month to fill a bucket with a hole in it.
 
And here is the worst part? They were about to increase ad spend.
 
I see this constantly. 

The conversation is always about getting more in the door. Rarely about what happens after someone walks through it.
 
The gap between “hand raised” and “deal created” is where most revenue quietly disappears. 

But it doesn’t show up in any marketing dashboard, so nobody’s accountable for it.
 
Next time your pipeline review starts with lead volume, ask one question:
 
What happened to the last 100 leads that didn’t close?
 
The answer will tell you more than any acquisition metric ever will.

Chief Growth Officer | Marketing, Growth, Positioning | Builds scalable systems for brand, demand and revenue | Known for transforming scattered activity into outcomes

I keep seeing the same job listing.

“Hiring: Head of Demand Gen. Must have experience with ABM, paid social, SEO, content marketing, email automation, event strategy, and analytics.”

Salary: $130K.

So you want one person to own strategy and execution across 7 channels, report to the CMO, manage a budget, and somehow also build the systems underneath all of it.

Good luck.

This is the mistake I see over and over with Series A and B companies. They think hiring a demand gen person solves demand gen. It doesn’t. Not if there’s no system underneath them.

What actually happens: the new hire spends 3 months trying to understand the existing mess. They duct-tape some tools together. They launch a few campaigns. Pipeline looks okay for a quarter. Then they burn out or get blamed when the CEO expected 3x growth from one headcount.

Before you hire for demand gen, you need to answer one question honestly:

If a great demand gen lead walked in the door today, would your system convert them? Or would they get lost in the same mess everyone else does?

Hire the person after you’ve built the machine they’ll operate.

Not the other way around.

15 years in marketing.
Millions in pipeline generated.
Still can't get my dad to understand what I do for a living.

But apparently someone thinks I know enough to put me on a stage, so here we are.

Speaking at Intrigue MAdverse Sydney on March 4th about "Building Trust in a Distracted Digital World", which is essentially what every marketer tries to do every day while the entire internet works against them.

Come through if you're in Sydney. I'll be the one on the panel nervously hoping no one asks a question I can't answer.

#IntMadverse #INTSYD #B2BMarketing #Growth #Sydney

Real talk from today’s panel at Intrigue  Madverse.

I’ve been in marketing for over a decade now, I’ve run campaigns with six-figure budgets. I’ve obsessed over funnels, conversion rates, and attribution models.

But today my world is changing. 

And 

My amazing panel taught me one thing today about the new world.

The world with AI looks like this: infinite content, infinite noise, and a shrinking premium on anything that feels genuinely human.

Here’s where I think this goes: in 5 years, AI-generated content will be so abundant it becomes invisible, like elevator music. 

Nobody listens to it. Nobody trusts it. And the brands that invested in being genuinely worth trusting? They’ll be the only signal in a room full of noise.

Don’t be the noise. 

Thank you Maricel Custodio Tom Willis Bayu Eka Putra and Matt for an amazing session.

No alternative text description for this image

Let me walk you through what should happen in the first 5 minutes after someone requests a demo on your website.


Not what happens at most companies. What should happen.

👉 0:00 — Form submitted. Lead hits your CRM. Immediately.
Not in a batch sync every 15 minutes. Not via a Zapier chain with three steps. Direct integration. Real-time.

👉0:01 — Lead gets scored. Company size, title, intent signals from page visits, and whatever enrichment data you can pull in automatically. This decides what happens next.

👉0:02 — Routing fires. High-intent enterprise lead? Goes to an AE directly. Mid-market? SDR team. Small company, low intent? Nurture sequence. The lead never sits in a queue waiting to be triaged by a human.

👉0:03 — The assigned rep gets a notification they can’t ignore. Not an email buried in their inbox. A Slack ping, a mobile push, something that interrupts. With the lead’s name, company, what they requested, and their last 3 page visits.

👉0:04 — If the rep hasn’t acknowledged within 90 seconds, it escalates to the next available rep. No leads sitting in limbo because someone’s in a meeting.

👉0:05 — The prospect gets a response. A real one. Not a “thanks, someone will be in touch” email. A personalised message that references what they asked for and gives them something useful immediately — a calendar link, a relevant case study, a short video from the rep.

That’s five minutes. Most companies take 45.

And here’s the part that frustrates me: none of this is technically hard. Every CRM on the market can do some version of this. The gap isn’t capability. It’s that nobody sat down and actually mapped the first five minutes as if it mattered.

Because it’s the only five minutes that do.

A founder messaged me 11 weeks ago. Exact words: “We’re generating leads, but nothing’s converting. I think our sales team might be the problem.”

It wasn’t the sales team.

I asked him to walk me through what happens when someone fills out a demo request on their site. He paused. Then: “It goes into HubSpot. And then... I think someone picks it up.”

That pause told me everything.

Here’s what was actually happening behind the scenes:

A lead comes in. It lands in a general inbox. No assignment rules. Whoever checks the CRM first claims it, if they check at all. There’s one pipeline with six stages, used for everything from a $500 self-serve signup to a $60K enterprise deal. Same stages. Same follow-up cadence. Same expectations.

An enterprise prospect requesting a custom demo was getting the same automated email as someone who downloaded a free PDF.

So they had to rebuild it from scratch.

Three separate pipelines. One for self-serve, one for mid-market, one for enterprise. Each with its own stages, its own assignment logic, its own follow-up sequences. Lead comes in, gets scored based on company size and intent signals, routes to the right rep in under 2 minutes. First touch is relevant to what they actually asked for.

They didn’t add a single new lead source. Same traffic. Same budget.

Conversion from lead to qualified meeting went from 3.1% to 8.7% in seven weeks.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every time someone tells me they need “better salespeople,” I ask the same thing: show me what happens in the first 10 minutes after a lead comes in.

That’s usually where the answer lives.

Weird thing happened last Tuesday.

A company reached out saying they wanted to “automate their follow-up.”

Small company, but decent revenue.

Thirty minutes into the call, I told them automation was the last thing they needed right now.

Here’s why.

Their problem wasn’t speed. They had fast response times. Their SDRs were dialing within minutes. The issue was that every single lead got the same treatment. 

A CMO at a $50M company requesting a strategy call was handled identically to a marketing coordinator downloading a checklist.

Same sequence. Same messaging. Same timeline.

Automating that would just mean doing the wrong thing faster.

What they actually needed was segmentation. Different entry points triggering different journeys. The CMO gets a personalised Loom video from an AE within an hour. The coordinator gets a nurture sequence with case studies over two weeks.

We mapped four buyer journeys in 90 minutes on that call. 

They’re three weeks into implementing it. Early signs: qualified meeting rate is up 23%.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a prospect is tell them "the thing they think they need isn’t the thing they need."

Even when it’s the thing they wanted to pay you for.

The best-performing B2B companies I work with have stopped measuring MQLs.

Completely.

They’ve replaced them with one metric: revenue-qualified pipeline. 

Meaning: opportunities that have been validated by sales as real, with a timeline, a budget conversation, and an identified decision-maker.

Why does this matter?

Because MQLs created a perverse incentive. Marketing optimised for volume. More form fills. More downloads. More “leads.” And the dashboard looked fantastic every month.

But pipeline didn’t grow. Close rates didn’t improve. Sales kept complaining about quality. Marketing kept pointing at quantity. And the executive team kept wondering why revenue was flat despite record lead numbers.

When you measure revenue-qualified pipeline, something shifts. Marketing starts caring about what happens after the handoff. They want to know which campaigns produce opportunities that actually close, not just opportunities that exist.

It’s a harder metric to hit. It takes longer to report on. And it’s the only one that correlates with the number your board actually cares about.

If your marketing and sales teams are still arguing about lead quality vs. lead quantity, you’re having the wrong conversation.

Measure the thing that matters. Everything else follows.

Quick math that nobody does at board meetings.
 
Your average deal is $30K ARR. You close 2.5% of inbound leads. You generate 150 leads a month.
 
That’s roughly 3.75 new customers per month. $112K in new ARR monthly.
 
Now. What if you didn’t touch the top of funnel at all, but improved conversion to 3.25%?
 
That’s 4.8 customers. $146K monthly. An extra $400K+ in ARR annually.
 
From zero additional ad spend. Zero new channels. Zero new headcount.
 
Just from getting slightly better at converting what’s already coming in.
 
I ran these numbers with a SaaS founder two weeks ago and watched his face change. 

He’d been arguing with his board about a $200K increase in marketing budget. The conversion improvement I was describing would have cost less than $50K to implement.
 
You may obsess over the top of the funnel because it’s visible. You can point to impressions. Clicks. Leads generated. There’s a dashboard for it.
 
The middle of the funnel has no dashboard. So the $400K sitting there stays invisible.
 
Until someone runs the math.

A Sales Director from Sydney asked me last week why I insist on separate pipelines for different deal types.

“Isn’t that overcomplicating things? We just need one pipeline with clear stages.”

Let me explain why one pipeline is quietly killing your conversion rate.

You sell a $5K self-serve product and a $60K enterprise solution. Both go into the same pipeline. Same stages: New, Qualified, Demo, Proposal, Closed.

Seems clean on paper. In reality, here’s what happens:

Your $5K buyer goes from New to Closed in 8 days. Your enterprise buyer takes 90. In the same pipeline, the enterprise deal looks stalled. Your weekly review flags it. Reps start getting pressure to “move it along.” But the deal isn’t stalled. It’s just... enterprise. It has procurement. Legal. A buying committee. It moves differently.

Meanwhile, your $5K deals are flying through stages so fast that your pipeline always looks healthy from a volume standpoint. So nobody notices that the close rate on enterprise, where the real revenue is, has been dropping for two quarters.

One pipeline averages everything into a single number. That number lies to you.

When you separate them, something clicks. You start seeing that enterprise deals have a 60% drop-off between Demo and Proposal. That’s specific. That’s fixable. You discover that self-serve deals with more than one stakeholder close at half the rate, so you adjust the nurture.

Different buyers move differently. Your system should reflect that.

I’ve seen this structure for a dozen companies now. The average impact on overall conversion is 20–40% improvement within two months. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your VP of Sales can’t tell you the close rate for each distinct buyer type you serve, that's on the system. 

And system problems become revenue problems faster than anything else I’ve seen.

If you are head of events or field markting and you want to show ROI, do this 👇👇




First rule.
Stop paying for bigger booths.
INSTEAD
Negotiate for at least 10 free passes instead.

Next.
Open your CRM.
Look at deals already in negotiation.
Those are your real targets.

Now do the part most teams skip.
Identify the real decision-makers tied to those deals.

Send them a handwritten invite.
Make it feel personal. Make it feel limited.
Make it feel like it wasn’t sent to everyone.

Prepare a small, thoughtful giveaway.
Spend your money here, not on banners.

At the event, don’t “network.”
Use the time to move the deal forward.

Afterwards, tag the event as deal-influenced in your CRM.

Then take the data back to leadership.

And finally. 
Ask for more budget.

Because this time, you’re not asking on faith

Had a call with one of my industry mates who said, “I’m thinking about firing my marketing agency.”

I asked why.

“They’ve been running campaigns for 6 months. We’re getting leads, but revenue hasn’t moved.”

I asked to see the data. Not the agency’s report. The actual CRM data.

Turns out the agency was doing a solid job. Lead volume was up 70% over six months. Cost per lead had come down. The leads were in-market, right titles, right companies. By any marketing metric, the campaigns were working.

The problem was on the other side of the handoff.

Leads were coming in and sitting in a queue for an average of 4 hours. Follow-up sequences hadn’t been updated since they were built 18 months ago. Half the leads were going to a rep who’d been underperforming for two quarters. And nobody could tell me the conversion rate from lead to qualified meeting, because that metric didn’t exist in their reporting.

The agency was filling the top of the funnel. The company was letting it drain out the middle.

So I asked him to fix the response time, rebuilt the assignment rules, create stage-specific follow-up sequences, and set up the three numbers he actually needed to see every Monday morning.

Let's see if the revenue goes up from here. I will update in the post.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. Before you blame your lead source, check what happens after the lead arrives. That’s usually where the story changes.

A question I get at least once a month: “What should our revenue dashboard actually show?”
 
 
Here’s what I’d build if I was starting from zero.

 
🤜For the founder or CEO, you need three numbers, updated daily. Total revenue-qualified pipeline (what’s real right now). Pipeline created this month vs. target (are we on pace). And average days from lead to qualified opportunity (is the machine getting faster or slower).
 
That’s it. Three numbers. If any of them are off, you dig in. If they’re on track, you move on with your day.
 
🤜For the VP of Sales, you need pipeline by stage with conversion rates between stages. Not overall conversion. Stage-to-stage. Because that’s where you spot the specific bottleneck. If Demo-to-Proposal is dropping, that’s a different problem than Proposal-to-Close. Each one has a different fix.
 
🤜For the marketing lead, you need one view that most marketing dashboards don’t have: what happened to the leads we generated? Not how many. What happened to them. Which ones became qualified opportunities. Which ones died and at what stage. Which campaigns are producing leads that actually convert downstream, not just leads that fill a form.
 
The pattern across all three: nobody needs more data. Everyone needs the right data for the decision they’re making this week.
 
Every time I strip a dashboard down from 40 widgets to 8, the same thing happens. People start actually looking at it. And when people look at their data, they make better decisions.

If I had 30 days to fix a broken growth engine, I'd do it in this order.

Week 1 → ICP + qualification + one metric
Week 2 → Fix tracking + build one pipeline report
Week 3 → Align sales follow-up + run two tests
Week 4 → Review + double down on what moved conversion

That's it.

Minimum viable everything.

I've diagnosed systems where founders thought their sales team was the problem.

But this is the real issue, they have:

General inbox.
No assignment rules.
One pipeline for everything.
Same follow-up for enterprise demos and PDF downloads.

You can't scale what you can't see.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲.

If you ask me....
"Should we try account-based marketing? Everyone's talking about it."

My answer: I don't know yet.

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮.

This is the pattern I see constantly.

A tactic works for someone else.
It gets written about.
It becomes the new "best practice."

Then founders adopt it based on hope, instead of signals.

Hope that it'll work for them too.
Hope that this is the missing piece.
Hope that following the trend will fix the pipeline.

Meanwhile, their own data is screaming different answers.

Before you chase the next shiny tactic, ask yourself:

→ What is your current customer feedback telling you?
→ Where are your best leads actually coming from?
→ What conversion data do you already have?

The right strategy is hiding in your existing signals.

Not in someone else's LinkedIn post.

What's one marketing trend you adopted that your data never actually supported?

If Narcos was made with ChatGPT

Helmer: Pablo, a lot of business owners ask me — our merchandise is being seized. Is that a security problem?

Pablo: It's not a security problem. It's a clarity problem.

Helmer: I agree, that's a great starting point. Let's dwell more into it.

Pablo: Here are 3 mistakes our crew is making that no one is talking about…

Mistake #1: We're not documenting our processes. The DEA isn't outperforming us. We're just not systemising our workflows.

Mistake #2: We're optimising for short-term shipments instead of long-term brand equity. Escobar & Co. needs to be a legacy, Helmer. Not just a Q3 revenue play.

Mistake #3: We're not leveraging our network effects. We have 400 armed men. But are we nurturing those relationships with consistent value delivery?

Helmer: This is gold, Pablo. Can you summarise this in a LinkedIn carousel?

Pablo: Absolutely. Slide 1: "Stop running from the DEA. Start running toward your vision."

Helmer: Should I add — "Save this post. Your competitors won't."

Pablo: Always.

(The colonel arrests them both while they're debating the hook for slide 7.)

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 &amp; 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 does it look like to see the same city with fresh eyes in the age of AI?

It starts with the familiar. The rush of footsteps, the glow of corner bodegas, the skyline you think you already know. But somewhere between the morning coffee steam and the late-night city lights, the ordinary shifts.

A saxophone echoing in a subway tunnel.
A sunset turning glass towers into gold.
Strangers becoming part of your story for a moment.

I spent so much of my career here covering financial services and tech, watching the city through the lens of innovation, disruption, and data. Coming back now with time to simply experience it, I am reminded that not everything meaningful can be optimized or automated.

That is the magic of New York. Even in the digital era, in the age of AI, it does not just impress you, it transforms you. From wonderful sights to moments that make you stop, look up, and feel the wonder.

This video captures a few of the human moments that still define the city behind the algorithms.

When was the last time you experienced a familiar place in a completely new way?

#NewYork #Innovation #AgeOfAI #FinancialServices #Tech

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

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

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 
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

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

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 if you no longer have to choose between cost management and traveler experience?

That's the bold vision I explored with Charlie Sultan, President of Concur Travel SAP Concur and Evan Konwiser, Chief Product and Strategy Officer American Express Global Business Travel on CXO Spice recently.

In an industry where competition is vigorous, these two companies are building something revolutionary together: Complete; a truly co-developed solution with AI embedded from day one.

Here are two most striking moments for me:
✅ Charlie's warning: "It's actually gonna be irresponsible for CXOs to cobble together solutions from different players. The cleanest data makes for the cleanest AI."
✅ Evan's moonshot: "My goal is for people to ask before taking a job: 'Who do you use to manage travel?'"

My Three Key Takeaways
✅ AI is the new operating system for business travel. It's no longer an add-on feature but the fundamental architecture connecting booking, servicing, payments, and expense into one intelligent flow.
✅ True innovation requires deeper collaboration. Integration isn't enough. Shared investment, shared data, and shared accountability across partners is the new competitive advantage.
✅ The opportunity is both strategic and human. Organizations can now achieve both cost management and exceptional employee experience, with compliance and security embedded throughout.

Watch the full conversation on CXO Spice: https://lnkd.in/gjz8XtJV

What's your biggest travel pain point? 👇

#BusinessTravel #AI #Leadership #CFOs 

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

"I think it is actually gonna be irresponsible for CXOs to choose solutions from a variety of different players to try to cobble them together. The cl

Open article: The Future of Business Travel: SAP Concur and Amex GBT Reimagine AI-Powered Innovation in Business Travel by Helen Yu • 6 min read

The Future of Business Travel: SAP Concur and Amex GBT Reimagine AI-Powered Innovation in Business Travel

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 
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

5 Key Learnings from OECD Responsible AI Due Diligence

What's the biggest challenge facing #manufacturers today?

Following up on my #CES2026 newsletter...
I rediscovered this moment from my conversation with Steve Dertien, EVP of Customer and Technology Partnership at PTC that answers this question.

In just 60 seconds, Steve outlines the full spectrum of complexity manufacturers must navigate:
✅ Consumer demand for choice and customization
✅ Aesthetic design and material trade-offs
✅ Global supply chain decisions
✅ Manufacturing scalability
✅ Multi-country regulatory compliance

As I explored in my newsletter, AI is transforming how companies manage this complexity; freeing up the half of engineering time currently spent on change management to focus on actual innovation.

This clip explains WHY intelligent product lifecycle management matters before we dive into HOW AI solves it.

Here is the CXO Spice newsletter - https://lnkd.in/gJqXJM_5

Full conversation where Steve shares specific examples of AI saving manufacturers hundreds of millions: https://lnkd.in/gMk9wNHY

#Manufacturing #AI #ProductLifecycle #Innovation #PTCPartner

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 if your voice agent sounded human and could help any customer, anywhere, instantly?

At the ElevenLabs Summit in London, Co-Founder Mati Staniszewski delivered a live demo; showcasing how ElevenAgents can power voice and chat agents for customer operations with near-instant responses, seamless multilingual support, and the ability to serve users anytime, anywhere.

What made it compelling was seeing how the platform’s modular components can be applied to virtually any organization. The example of a national government agent painted a clear picture of what the future of citizen support could look like: accessible, responsive, and global by default.

Moments like this show where customer operations is going next: AI-first, always-on, and built for global scale.

👉 If you’re curious about what this means in practice, Lauren Rothwell (Head of Agent Growth at ElevenLabs) and I will be talking about Voice and Chat Agents for Customer Operations on the upcoming CXO Spice.

#ElevenLabsPartner #VoiceAgents 

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

Is your mobile infrastructure empowering your team or quietly holding them back?

I’ve worked with hundreds of businesses and seen that mobile-first teams have unparalleled efficiency. When I led large, distributed teams, I saw firsthand how the right mobile setup removes friction. No more workarounds. No more “let me get back to my desk.” Just real-time collaboration, wherever the work happens.

That’s why I was excited to learn about SuperMobile from T-Mobile For Business and how it’s enhancing productivity with:
✅ Intelligent performance that adapts in real-time - keeps teams, content and negotiations moving while on the go
✅ Seamless coverage – even in areas where traditional cell towers don’t reach
✅ Built-in security – enterprise-grade protection, wherever work happens

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4b45CVj

#TMobileForBusinessPartner #5G #SuperMobile

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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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 happens when innovation, enterprise tech, and real conversations collide? 

I’m getting excited for Enterprise Connect and wanted to share a sneak peek from a recent interview with the event’s emcee, Justin Robbins. We talked about what’s shaping the future of enterprise communications and CX.

This clip is a short conversation gives you a preview of the kind of discussions you can expect at the event.

I’ll be there on March 12, connecting with leaders, exchanging ideas, and diving into what’s next for enterprise technology, and look forward to speaking at "Hot Takes and Cold Drinks" fireside chat with Women in Communications Spotlight Award Winners!

👉 Register and join us at Enterprise Connect
Use code HELEN500 to save $500 on registration and let's connect at the event. https://lnkd.in/gbafd56w

Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

#EnterpriseConnect #EC26 #CX #Enterprise #Leadership Informa

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

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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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
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

Digital Public Services Whitepaper

When was the last time a single week changed how you think about technology? For me, it happens every time I attend NVIDIA GTC.

There's something about #GTC that's hard to replicate. No matter how many times you've attended, you never run out of things to learn. This year, I'm focusing on three areas that I believe are reshaping the foundation of our industry: Robotics, Networking & Communications, and Data Center & Cloud.

Last year, two moments stayed with me long after I left: shaking hands with Neo and meeting Blue. Those genuine interaction with robots makes you realize the future is already here.

Sessions on my radar this year:
✅ Jensen Huang's Keynote - There's no other way to put it: Jensen's keynotes are in a league of their own in tech. I always walk away inspired.
✅ S81573 - Building the Future of Manufacturing (Tuesday, 11am)
✅ S81667 - How Open Models Are Powering the Next Breakthroughs in Physical AI (Tuesday, 3PM)
✅ S81501 - Industrial Virtual Twins with Dassault Systèmes (Tuesday, 2pm)

I'll also be hosting two very special guests for conversations on Secure AI Factory and Data Center Sustainability.  Stay tuned.

Beyond the sessions, the Hands-On Training Labs, Physical AI developer meetup, and the Inception Pavilion tour are experiences I look forward to every year. Nothing compares to seeing what's being built at the frontier up close.

If you're attending, I'd love to connect. Register here if you haven't yet: https://nvda.ws/4kfWXS8

Catch the keynote live stream or follow #CXOSpice for the latest updates from the floor.

See you in San Jose on March 16-19.

#NVIDIAGTC #GTC2026 #PhysicalAI #DataCenter #Robotics #AI #NVIDIAPartner

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

The Battle

Rahul Bakaya

Helen Yu

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Performance ScoreRahul Bakaya's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Rahul Bakaya

Helen Yu

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);}Rahul Bakaya's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreHelen Yu's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreRahul Bakaya's LinkedIn Performance