How Each Value Path Stage
Requires Different Data

Casey Hawkins

Panelist

Founder | Casey Co Marketing, Casey Co Marketing

## Professional Headline Casey Hawkins launched her consulting business from a sailboat—and that experience taught her everything about what matters in business systems. When you're living on the water, you need tools that work reliably without constant intervention. The same principle applies to lead scoring: if your team constantly adjusts point values to hit MQL quotas, the framework is wrong, not the team. As co-developer of the Value-First Scoring framework, Casey is leading the reformation from arbitrary activity metrics to relationship health scoring—proving what customer success teams already knew: authentic signals predict partnership readiness far better than email opens and form submissions ever could. --- ## Professional Background ### From Sailboat to Scoring Reformation Casey's career reflects a deliberate progression from digital marketing execution to strategic operations leadership and consulting. Starting as a Digital Marketing Strategist at WebMechanix, she built comprehensive expertise across marketing technology, paid media optimization, and data-driven marketing strategy. But the pivotal moment came when she launched Casey Co Marketing as an independent consultant—from a sailboat, no less. Spending time as a liveaboard sailor taught her adaptability, resilience, and the value of having the right tools. **That lived experience of resource constraints and needing maximum reliability shaped her entire approach to HubSpot consulting.** Every recommendation Casey makes passes the "sailboat test": Will this work reliably without constant intervention? Will it serve the actual business need, or just create more work? This practical filter has made her one of the most trusted voices in the HubSpot admin community. ### The Lead Scoring Reformation Casey's transformation from traditional marketer to lead scoring reformer came from watching organizations struggle with the same pattern: high activity scores that didn't predict deal closure, MQL quotas that drove behavior but not results, and sales teams that stopped trusting marketing's "qualified" leads. When she discovered what customer success teams had been doing for years—scoring based on relationship health instead of activity—everything clicked. The problem wasn't that lead scoring didn't work. The problem was that the entire industry had been measuring the wrong things. This realization led to co-developing the Value-First Scoring framework with Chris Carolan and Rylee Powell, creating a three-dimensional approach that tracks Contact Fit, Company Fit, and Recent Engagement instead of arbitrary point values for downloads and demo requests. --- ## Areas of Expertise **Value-First Scoring Framework Development** Co-creator of relationship health scoring approach that replaces traditional lead scoring with authentic readiness signals aligned to natural human progression **HubSpot Platform Mastery** Portal optimization, workflow automation, data architecture, and system implementation for complex organizations **Revenue Operations Strategy** Sales and marketing alignment, qualification frameworks, handoff optimization, and measurement systems that sales teams actually trust **Marketing Operations Excellence** Email marketing, conversion rate optimization, paid media strategy, and data analytics with focus on what actually predicts success **Systems Thinking & Integration** Multi-platform coordination (Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, Workday), data migration, and ensuring systems serve humans rather than constraining them **HubSpot Admin Community Leadership** Active educator in HubSpot Admins HUG, Sprocketeers community, and broader marketing operations networks --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Casey Sees That Others Miss ### Activity ≠ Readiness Your entire lead scoring system is built on measuring activity—email opens, form submissions, website visits—when what actually predicts success is relationship health and authentic readiness signals. Casey recognizes the uncomfortable truth: **That high-activity contact who's downloaded every piece of content? They might just be researching, not buying. Meanwhile, the low-activity executive who asked one specific question might be ready to sign today.** ### The Arbitrary Number Problem Watch a demo = 50 points. Download a whitepaper = 10 points. Why 50? Why 10? Casey recognizes the real reason: **Because someone needed to hit an MQL quota, not because those numbers reflect business reality.** Your scoring system was designed to create qualified leads on paper, not predict actual partnerships. ### Customer Success Teams Knew This All Along For years, customer success has been using relationship health scoring and achieving superior results. Casey recognizes the insight: **The approach isn't new—it's just never been applied strategically to prospecting.** They knew that engagement quality matters more than engagement frequency. They knew that fit matters more than activity. Marketing and sales are finally catching up. ### The System vs. Reality Gap HubSpot's recent scoring updates created the technical possibility for relationship value scoring, but Casey recognizes the real challenge: **Your team knows traditional scoring doesn't work—they just don't know what should replace it. And they're worried changing the system will make things worse before they get better.** ### Good Tools Work Reliably Her sailboat background teaches that good tools should work without constant intervention. Casey recognizes when frameworks are wrong: **If your team has to constantly adjust point values, change thresholds, or explain why "marketing qualified" doesn't mean "sales ready," the framework is wrong. Not the team. The framework.** ### Your Scores Are Only Useful If They Trigger Action Most organizations obsess over perfecting their scoring model while ignoring whether anyone actually uses it. Casey recognizes what actually matters: **The score itself doesn't matter if it doesn't change behavior and improve outcomes.** Sales teams don't trust scores that don't predict real readiness. Marketing teams chase MQL quotas disconnected from revenue. --- ## The Value-First Scoring Framework Casey co-developed this framework with Chris Carolan and Rylee Powell to transform how organizations think about qualification: ### Core Principle Move from measuring activity (which is easy to track but doesn't predict success) to measuring relationship health (which requires more sophisticated thinking but actually predicts partnership readiness). ### Three-Dimensional Scoring Approach **1. Contact Fit Scoring** Individual alignment with collaboration patterns—not "do they have a pulse?" but "are they positioned to be an effective partner?" This includes role, decision-making authority, and alignment with how successful partnerships typically form. **2. Company Fit Scoring** Organizational readiness for partnership—not "can they afford us?" but "are they ready for transformation?" This includes company maturity, current systems, organizational structure, and capacity for change. **3. Recent Engagement Scoring** Authentic signals of growing interest and trust—not "how many emails did they open?" but "are they showing signs of active exploration and readiness?" This tracks meaningful interactions that indicate progression through natural decision-making stages. ### Alignment with Value Path Stages The framework explicitly maps to natural human progression: - **Audience**: Aware a category exists - **Researcher**: Actively exploring options - **Comparison Shopper**: Evaluating specific approaches - **Evaluator**: Making partnership decisions - **Value Creator**: Building new value together - **Adopter**: Using and validating value - **Advocate**: Amplifying value naturally - **Champion**: Co-creating and championing methodology **Key Insight:** "What if this has all been done backwards? Building scores for our goals instead of for their natural progression?" --- ## Value-First Shows Hosted ### VF Scoring (Co-Host with Rylee Powell) **Show Focus:** Weekly deep dives on relationship value scoring, replacing traditional lead qualification metrics with health-based approaches **Why This Show Matters:** Traditional lead scoring is built on a lie: that activity equals readiness. Organizations have spent years assigning arbitrary points to behaviors (watch demo = 50 points, download whitepaper = 10 points) without asking whether those numbers actually predict partnership readiness. VF Scoring proves there's a better way. By focusing on relationship health—Contact Fit, Company Fit, and authentic Recent Engagement—organizations can build scoring systems that sales teams actually trust because they predict real business outcomes. **Notable Series:** - **Lead Score Showdown with Chris Carolan** - Debating whether lead scoring still has strategic value - **Value-First Scoring Masterminds** - 8-week intensive program teaching teams how to implement relationship health scoring in HubSpot - **Lead Scoring Lab Series** - Real client scenarios demonstrating scoring transformation with actual results ### VF Data (Co-Host with Klemen Hrovat) **Show Focus:** Data readiness, quality, and architecture in transformation contexts **Why This Show Matters:** Everyone talks about AI and advanced analytics, but nobody wants to admit their CRM data is a mess. VF Data addresses the uncomfortable truth: if your data isn't ready, nothing else matters. No AI implementation, no scoring system, no automation will work if it's built on garbage data. Casey and Klemen explore what data readiness actually means, how to clean systems strategically, and how to maintain quality without creating full-time data janitor roles. --- ## Lead Score Mondays **Series Focus:** Weekly exploration of scoring frameworks, HubSpot implementation strategies, and best practices **Format:** Video series on YouTube and LinkedIn, often featuring collaborative sessions with other HubSpot experts **Why It Matters:** Lead Score Mondays demonstrates Casey's commitment to practical education. Rather than keeping frameworks proprietary, she shows exactly how to configure HubSpot for relationship health scoring, shares real client transformation stories (including failures), and debates controversial positions like "Should we score at all?" The series launched in August 2025, took a hiatus, and resumed in November 2025 based on community demand—proof that practitioners want honest, practical guidance on scoring transformation. --- ## Teaching Philosophy Casey's approach combines technical precision with strategic thinking: **Live Demonstration** "Here's exactly how you configure HubSpot for relationship health tracking"—not abstract concepts, but actual field-by-field instructions **Real Client Stories** Uses actual case studies of scoring transformation, including what didn't work and why failures happened **Debate-Oriented** Willing to explore controversial positions (Lead Score Showdown: "Should we score at all?") rather than defending orthodoxy **Systems Thinking** Connects lead scoring to broader revenue operations architecture—it's never just about the score, it's about the whole system **Patient Educator** Explains complex concepts in accessible language for both technical and non-technical audiences without dumbing down the substance **Responsive Collaboration** Known for rapid follow-up and collaborative problem-solving—the sailboat principle of reliability extends to how she works with people --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On Traditional Lead Scoring:** "What if this has all been done backwards? Building scores for our goals instead of for their natural progression?" **On Usefulness:** "Your scores are only useful if they trigger action." **On The Real Problem:** "High activity ≠ sales ready. We've been measuring the wrong things." **On Customer Success:** "Customer success teams already proved relationship health scoring works better than lead scoring." **On Sales Alignment:** "If sales doesn't trust your scores, you're just creating reports nobody reads." --- ## Professional Contributions **Casey Co Marketing** (Founder, 2022-Present) Independent HubSpot consulting practice specializing in Value-First approaches to portal optimization, scoring transformation, and revenue operations strategy **Value-First Scoring Framework** (Co-Developer) Three-dimensional relationship health scoring approach replacing traditional activity-based lead scoring **VF Scoring Show** (Co-Host, 2025-Present) Weekly educational series exploring scoring reformation and practical implementation strategies **VF Data Show** (Co-Host, 2025-Present) Exploring data readiness, quality, and strategic architecture with Klemen Hrovat **Lead Score Mondays** (Creator, 2025-Present) Video series providing practical guidance on scoring frameworks and HubSpot implementation **Value-First Scoring Masterminds** (Program Creator) 8-week intensive program teaching teams how to implement relationship value scoring in HubSpot **HubSpot Community Leadership** Active educator in HubSpot Admins HUG, Sprocketeers community, and marketing operations networks **WebMechanix** (Digital Marketing Strategist) Built foundational expertise in marketing technology, paid media optimization, and data-driven strategy --- ## Who Benefits from Casey's Expertise **HubSpot Administrators Managing Complex Portals** Teams responsible for portal optimization, workflow automation, and system reliability **Marketing and Revenue Operations Professionals** Leaders seeking to move from MQL-obsessed metrics to relationship health tracking that sales teams trust **B2B Companies with Complex Sales Cycles** Organizations with multiple decision-makers where traditional lead scoring creates false positives and sales frustration **Teams Struggling with Traditional Lead Scoring Ineffectiveness** Marketing teams hitting MQL quotas but not seeing revenue impact; sales teams ignoring "qualified" leads **Organizations Seeking Sales-Marketing Alignment** Companies where scoring has become a source of friction rather than collaboration between teams **HubSpot Users Preparing for Scoring Evolution** Teams navigating HubSpot's platform updates and seeking modern approaches to qualification --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/casey-hawkins](https://linkedin.com/in/casey-hawkins) - Website: [caseycohub.com](https://caseycohub.com) - YouTube: Lead Score Mondays series - HubSpot Community: Active contributor and Admins HUG participant **Value-First Shows:** - **VF Scoring** (Co-host with Rylee Powell) - Weekly scoring reformation deep dives - **VF Data** (Co-host with Klemen Hrovat) - Data readiness and quality strategies **Casey Co Marketing Services:** HubSpot consulting specializing in portal optimization, Value-First Scoring implementation, and revenue operations strategy **Collaboration Interests:** - Expanding Value-First Scoring adoption across organizations - Developing measurement frameworks that predict real business outcomes - Teaching teams to move from metrics-obsession to value-obsession - Creating scoring systems that sales teams actually trust - Helping organizations escape the MQL trap - Mentoring next-generation HubSpot admins --- ## Why Casey Contributes to Value-First Casey's independent consulting practice already embodied Value-First principles before the formal framework existed. When you launch your business from a sailboat, you learn quickly that systems either serve humans reliably or they create more problems than they solve. Her co-development of the Value-First Scoring framework represents the culmination of years watching traditional lead scoring fail organizations—and recognizing that customer success teams had solved this problem years ago with relationship health metrics. Through Casey Co Marketing, her co-hosting of VF Scoring and VF Data, and her Lead Score Mondays series, Casey proves that moving from activity metrics to relationship health isn't just theoretically better—it's practically achievable and demonstrably more effective. Her participation in the Data Summit and ongoing Value-First work demonstrates her commitment to helping organizations build systems that serve natural human progression rather than artificial marketing quotas. --- **Value-First Scoring with Casey Hawkins & Rylee Powell** Transforming lead qualification from arbitrary activity metrics to authentic relationship health **Casey Co Marketing** HubSpot consulting for organizations ready to move beyond the MQL trap **The Sailboat Test** If it doesn't work reliably without constant intervention, the framework is wrong

Chris Carolan

Panelist

Founder & Methodology Lead | The Value-First Team, The Value-First Team

## Professional Headline Chris Carolan is the founder of The Value-First Team and creator of the Value-First Framework—a methodology that helps organizations escape 25 years of accumulated B2B complexity by designing systems around natural value flow rather than artificial control structures. For over 20 years, Chris has been at the intersection of established industry expertise and emerging digital possibilities. His journey from chemistry labs in Houston's oil and gas industry to founding an AI-native transformation consultancy revealed a critical insight: **organizations don't fail at digital transformation because they lack tools or talent—they fail because they're applying industrial-age thinking to AI-era challenges.** Through The Value-First Team, Chris has developed methodologies that treat humans as partners rather than objects to be processed. The Value-First Framework, the Value Path methodology (8 stages from Audience to Champion), and the AI-native operating model all emerged from one breakthrough recognition: **When you design systems around natural human progression rather than artificial stages, transformation becomes organic rather than forced.** *For Chris's complete founder story, including his personal journey and the breakthrough insights that shaped The Value-First Team, visit the [full founder profile](/about/founder).* --- ## Professional Background ### From Knowledge Bridge Builder to Transformation Catalyst Chris's professional journey began in an unexpected place: the chemistry labs of Houston's oil and gas industry. While working as a materials scientist in quality control, he noticed something others missed: **the critical knowledge gap between technical expertise and practical application.** This observation changed everything. While colleagues focused on technical precision, Chris became fascinated by how knowledge moved (or didn't move) between organizations. The reference materials weren't just products—they were knowledge bridges. This pattern would define his career: becoming "the spreadsheet guy" who translated complexity into actionable understanding, leading digital transformation initiatives at manufacturing companies, and eventually founding The Value-First Team to address the fundamental flaw in conventional transformation approaches. ### The Digital Transformation Revelation Through multiple marketing leadership roles and platform implementations (Marketo, HubSpot, and others), Chris observed a consistent pattern: **Organizations invest heavily in digital tools and transformation initiatives, yet struggle to achieve lasting change.** The breakthrough came from recognizing that these failures weren't about the technology or even user adoption. They were about a fundamental misunderstanding of how value flows through organizations. Traditional transformation approaches start with what organizations want to control: processes they can standardize, metrics they can measure, stages they can manage, resources they can allocate. But **value doesn't flow through control structures—it flows through relationships, understanding, enablement, and natural human progression.** This recognition led to The Value-First Framework. ### Building an AI-Native Consultancy Chris's collaboration with Claude (Anthropic's AI) proved that **AI multiplication beats human replacement** when used as a thinking partner rather than an automation tool. This insight became central to The Value-First Team's operating model. The consultancy is designed around a constellation model: - Chris handles live collaboration delivery and methodology development - Ryan Ginsberg provides technical implementation on project basis - Data Summit practitioners (24 specialists) contribute based on mission alignment - AI amplifies human capability rather than replacing it This structure proves that transformation consulting doesn't require dependency creation—it requires capability building through partnership. --- ## Areas of Expertise **Value-First Framework Development & Implementation** Creator of methodology that designs transformation around natural value flow rather than artificial control **The Value Path: 8-Stage Customer Journey Architecture** Co-developed with Joshua Oakes: Audience → Researcher → Hand Raiser → HERO → Value Creator → Adopter → Advocate → Champion **AI-Native Transformation Strategy** Proving AI multiplication beats human replacement through partnership-based integration **Live Collaborative Facilitation** Real-time strategy sessions, framework development, and pattern recognition with client teams **HubSpot Ecosystem Architecture** Strategic implementation focused on unified data models and natural business process flow **Trust-Based Milestone Progression** Transformation measured through readiness and value creation rather than calendar-driven phases **Community Orchestration & Knowledge Multiplication** Building practitioner networks that enable collaborative value creation (Data Summit, Media Network) **Framework Teaching & Practical Implementation** Making complex transformation concepts accessible and actionable for organizations --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Chris Sees That Others Miss ### Industrial-Age Thinking Trapped in AI-Era Complexity You've implemented modern tools—HubSpot, Salesforce, marketing automation, AI platforms—but they feel like they're creating more complexity rather than solving it. That's because **you're using AI-era tools with industrial-age frameworks.** The platforms aren't the problem. The assumption that you can control transformation through standardized processes is the problem. You need fundamentally different thinking, not better execution of conventional approaches. ### Transformation Fails When You Fight Human Nature Your digital transformation initiatives have executive sponsorship, budget, training, and technical expertise—but they still don't stick. That's because **conventional transformation tries to force humans to conform to systems rather than designing systems that match how humans naturally progress.** People don't move through your "funnel stages" on your timeline. They follow natural patterns of awareness, exploration, readiness, navigation, co-creation, validation, advocacy, and championship. When you design for that reality, adoption becomes organic. ### Value Flows Through Relationships, Not Control Structures You've optimized processes, standardized stages, and measured activities—but value creation still feels inconsistent. That's because **value doesn't flow through control mechanisms—it flows through trust, understanding, enablement, and partnership.** Your org chart shows reporting lines, but value actually moves through who helps whom, who trusts whom, who enables whom. Until you design systems that serve these natural flows rather than fight them, your transformation investments will underperform. ### AI Multiplication Beats Human Replacement You're implementing AI to automate tasks and reduce headcount, but you're missing the bigger opportunity. **AI used as collaboration multiplier creates exponentially more value than AI used as replacement technology.** When AI handles what humans find difficult (documentation, pattern synthesis, systematic analysis) while amplifying what humans do best (judgment, relationships, strategic insight), you unlock transformation that automation-only approaches can't achieve. ### Your Complexity Is Accumulated, Not Inherent You believe your business is "uniquely complex" and therefore requires custom solutions for everything. Actually, **most organizational complexity is accumulated over 25 years of bolting new systems onto old frameworks without rethinking the foundation.** Your products aren't more complex than others—your processes have calcified around legacy assumptions. What you need isn't customization—you need permission to simplify by designing around natural value flow. ### Dependency-Creating Consulting Blocks Transformation You've worked with consultants who create detailed deliverables, then leave. Months later, nothing has changed and you need them again. That's because **conventional consulting is designed to create dependency, not capability.** When consultants do the work FOR you rather than WITH you, you never build internal capacity to sustain transformation. Real transformation requires partnership that transfers knowledge, not vendor relationships that extract ongoing fees. --- ## The Value-First Framework ### Framework Vision The Value-First Framework addresses the fundamental flaw in conventional transformation: **attempting to control value flow through artificial stages rather than enabling natural progression.** Instead of forcing people through predetermined steps on organizational timelines, Value-First designs systems around how value naturally wants to flow: - Through relationships, not transactions - Through readiness, not pressure - Through enablement, not gatekeeping - Through partnership, not extraction ### The Value Path: 8-Stage Natural Progression Co-developed with Joshua Oakes, The Value Path maps how people actually move from awareness to championship: 1. **Audience** - Becoming aware possibilities exist 2. **Researcher** - Exploring what might apply to them 3. **Hand Raiser** - Signaling readiness to engage 4. **HERO** - Navigating complexity to find best path 5. **Value Creator** - Co-creating solutions through partnership 6. **Adopter** - Validating value through implementation 7. **Advocate** - Sharing success with similar others 8. **Champion** - Creating multiplied impact through community This isn't a marketing funnel—it's natural human progression that respects readiness rather than manufacturing urgency. ### AI-Native, Human-Powered Operating Model The Value-First Team proves that **AI enhances rather than replaces human capability** when used as collaboration multiplier: **What AI Handles:** - Documentation and synthesis - Pattern recognition across large datasets - Systematic analysis and structure - Knowledge organization and retrieval **What Humans Provide:** - Strategic judgment and context - Relationship building and trust - Creative insight and innovation - Ethical reasoning and values alignment This integration creates superior outcomes to either humans-only or automation-only approaches. ### Trust-Based Milestone Progression Value-First transformation measures progress through demonstrated value and relationship development rather than calendar-driven phases: - **Relationship Milestones** - Trust development, partnership formation - **Value Creation Milestones** - Demonstrated progress, capability building - **Framework Evolution Milestones** - Methodology adaptation, knowledge transfer - **Community Formation Milestones** - Network effects, multiplied impact This approach works WITH organizational readiness rather than forcing movement through predetermined timelines. --- ## Value-First Shows & Media Network Chris hosts or co-hosts multiple shows in The Value-First Media Network, proving that education creates better transformation conditions than sales pressure: ### VF AI Daily (Co-host with Nico Lafakis) 260+ episodes annually. Every weekday exploring how AI enhances rather than replaces human capability. Demonstrates real AI-human collaboration through daily practice. ### The Value Path (Co-host with Joshua Oakes) Multi-part series exploring the 8-stage customer journey framework. Shows how natural progression thinking transforms marketing, sales, and service alignment. ### A Value-First Data Model (Solo) Exploring how HubSpot's native data model enables unified business goals when understood as architecture rather than configuration. ### LinkedIn Live Series (Co-host with Amanda Martin & Trisha Merriam) Weekly sessions on HubSpot optimization, marketing ROI, and data readiness. Live collaborative teaching that makes complex topics accessible. **The Mission:** Prove that knowledge multiplication creates more value than information gatekeeping. --- ## Teaching Philosophy Chris's approach to transformation combines strategic thinking with practical implementation: **Live Collaborative Facilitation** Transformation happens through partnership, not deliverables created in isolation **Pattern Recognition Over Prescription** Help organizations see their own patterns rather than forcing external frameworks **Natural Progression Over Forced Movement** Design around human readiness rather than arbitrary timelines **AI Multiplication Over Human Replacement** Prove collaboration creates superior outcomes to automation-only approaches **Capability Building Over Dependency Creation** Transfer knowledge and frameworks rather than creating ongoing vendor relationships **Framework Simplicity Over Process Complexity** Provide clear thinking structures that guide decisions rather than rigid procedures **Community Orchestration Over Individual Heroics** Enable practitioner networks that multiply impact beyond any single consultant --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On Transformation Failure:** "Organizations don't fail at digital transformation because they lack tools or talent—they fail because they're applying industrial-age thinking to AI-era challenges." **On Natural Progression:** "When you design systems around natural human progression rather than artificial stages, transformation becomes organic rather than forced." **On Value Flow:** "Value doesn't flow through control structures—it flows through relationships, understanding, enablement, and natural human progression." **On AI Integration:** "AI multiplication beats human replacement when you use it as collaboration amplifier rather than automation strategy." **On Organizational Complexity:** "Most complexity is accumulated over 25 years of bolting new systems onto old frameworks—not inherent to your business." **On Real Transformation:** "Transformation requires working WITH human nature—including the neurodivergent, the complex, the unconventional—rather than forcing conformity." --- ## Professional Contributions **The Value-First Team** (Founder, 2020-Present) AI-native transformation consultancy helping organizations escape accumulated B2B complexity **Value-First Framework** (Creator) Methodology designing transformation around natural value flow rather than artificial control **The Value Path** (Co-Creator with Joshua Oakes) 8-stage customer journey framework based on natural human progression **Value-First Scoring** (Co-Creator with Casey Hawkins & Rylee Powell) Framework for measuring readiness and value creation beyond conventional metrics **Data Summit** (Founder & Orchestrator) 24-practitioner constellation enabling collaborative transformation delivery **Value-First Media Network** Shows creating educational content that multiplies knowledge rather than gatekeeping it **HubSpot Solutions Partner** Strategic ecosystem integration focused on unified data architecture **Profoundly** (Founding Pro) Early community member demonstrating new collaboration models --- ## Who Benefits from Chris's Expertise **Organizations Trapped in Accumulated Complexity** Companies struggling with 25 years of systems bolted onto legacy frameworks **Transformation Initiatives That Failed Conventionally** Teams that followed "best practices" but didn't achieve lasting change **Leaders Recognizing Industrial-Age Thinking Limitations** Executives understanding that better execution won't solve framework problems **Companies Seeking AI-Native Operating Models** Organizations wanting AI multiplication, not just automation **Teams Frustrated with Dependency-Creating Consulting** Groups that want capability building, not ongoing vendor relationships **Practitioners Building Collaborative Networks** Consultants and agencies seeking constellation models over competition --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [Connect for daily framework insights](https://linkedin.com/in/chriscarolan) - The Value-First Team: [Primary transformation consultancy](https://valuefirstteam.com) - Profoundly: Founding Pro status **Value-First Shows:** - **VF AI Daily** (Co-host with Nico Lafakis) - Daily AI collaboration insights - **The Value Path** (Co-host with Joshua Oakes) - Customer journey framework - **A Value-First Data Model** (Solo) - HubSpot architecture insights - **LinkedIn Live** (With Amanda Martin, Trisha Merriam) - Weekly optimization **Services:** - AI Skills Bootcamp ($495-$9,995) - Value-First Scoping ($2,495-$7,495) - Value-First Scoring & CVP Implementation ($4,995-$39,995) - Managed Partnerships ($4,995-$24,995/month) **Collaboration Interests:** - Expanding Value-First methodology adoption - Building AI-native transformation capabilities - Developing practitioner constellation models - Proving multiplication beats replacement - Helping organizations escape complexity traps - Enabling knowledge multiplication over gatekeeping --- ## Why Chris Built The Value-First Team *This section provides context. For the complete founder story with full vulnerability and personal journey, visit [Chris's Founder Profile](/about/founder).* Chris built The Value-First Team because conventional transformation consulting was creating dependency rather than capability, applying industrial-age frameworks to AI-era challenges, and fighting human nature rather than working with it. His 20+ year journey from chemistry labs to digital transformation leadership revealed that **most organizational failure isn't about lacking better tools or smarter people—it's about using frameworks that assume value flows through control when it actually flows through relationships.** The Value-First Framework emerged from living these patterns: - Watching technical implementations succeed but organizational adoption fail - Seeing AI used for replacement when multiplication creates more value - Recognizing that humans don't progress through artificial stages on organizational timelines - Understanding that complexity is usually accumulated, not inherent - Discovering that partnership-based consulting transfers more capability than deliverable-based approaches Through The Value-First Team, the Data Summit practitioner constellation, the Media Network, and AI-native operating practices, Chris proves daily that **transformation happens when you design around natural human progression rather than forcing conformity with conventional approaches.** His methodology works because it starts with how value naturally wants to flow—then builds systems that serve that reality rather than fight it. --- **Founder & Transformation Catalyst** Proving that organizations escape complexity by working WITH human nature, not against it **The Value-First Team** AI-native transformation through partnership, not dependency **Ready to explore a different approach?** [Read the complete founder story](/about/founder) • [Connect on LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/chriscarolan)

Danielle Urban

Panelist

Co-Founder | Cartographer Consulting, Cartographer Consulting

## Professional Headline Danielle Urban has spent over a decade helping small and medium-sized companies make sense of their data in HubSpot. As co-founder of Cartographer Consulting, she specializes in solving the behind-the-scenes challenges that prevent growth—transforming messy data into reliable, actionable intelligence. But here's what makes her different: she recognizes that most organizations mistake activity tracking for intelligence measurement. Page views, email opens, form submissions, demo requests—these are activities. Intelligence is understanding which signals predict partnership readiness, which patterns indicate risk, and which behaviors demonstrate value recognition. The difference determines whether your reporting serves theater or transformation. --- ## Professional Background ### Building Cartographer Consulting As co-founder of Cartographer Consulting alongside Bryan, Danielle has built a consultancy focused on helping organizations navigate their business landscape—understanding systems, processes, and team dynamics to identify where they are and where they want to go. The name itself signals their philosophy: like cartographers mapping unexplored territory, they help businesses create their unique map, aligning people, process, and technology into cohesive systems that support growth. Danielle's expertise emerged from over a decade of hands-on experience at B2B SaaS startups, where she honed her operational expertise while executing campaigns for growth. Her prior roles included implementing HubSpot, designing automations, managing all copywriting and content development, and increasing organic web traffic and e-commerce conversion rates significantly. That startup experience revealed a universal challenge: **organizations would implement sophisticated systems, track comprehensive data, and still struggle to make data-driven decisions.** The problem wasn't lack of data or poor implementation. The problem was mistaking measurement for intelligence. ### The Measurement Challenge Danielle's breakthrough came from recognizing what leadership actually needs from reporting systems. They don't need more metrics. They need answers to strategic questions: - Are we attracting the right people? - Are relationships progressing naturally? - Where is value getting stuck? - Which patterns predict success? - What should we do differently? Most reporting systems can't answer these questions because they're designed to track activity, not measure intelligence. Danielle's work transforms measurement from "what happened?" to "what does this mean and what should we do about it?" ### Dashboard Design as Strategic Communication Danielle's specialization in dashboard design isn't about making things look pretty—it's about strategic communication. A well-designed dashboard tells a story that leadership can understand and act on. A poorly-designed dashboard creates information overload that paralyzes decision-making. Her approach combines technical HubSpot knowledge with strategic communication: understanding what the data reveals, determining what leadership needs to know, and designing visualizations that make intelligence accessible without dumbing down complexity. --- ## Areas of Expertise **Sales Reporting Strategy** Transforming raw CRM data into strategic intelligence that answers leadership's actual questions **Dashboard Design & Visualization** Creating reporting systems that communicate insight rather than just displaying metrics **GTM Data Strategies** Aligning measurement across go-to-market teams to create unified intelligence **HubSpot Reporting Architecture** Technical implementation of custom reporting, calculated properties, and data visualization **Intelligence vs. Activity Measurement** Distinguishing between tracking what happened and understanding what it means **Strategic Communication Through Data** Making complex patterns accessible to leadership without oversimplifying **Value Path Progression Tracking** Measuring natural human progression rather than forced funnel advancement **Leading vs. Lagging Indicators** Identifying which signals predict future outcomes vs. which report past results --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Danielle Sees That Others Miss ### Activity Tracking Isn't Intelligence Your reporting system tracks everything: page views, email opens, form submissions, demo requests, deal stages. You have dashboards showing all this activity. But when leadership asks "Are we attracting the right people?" or "Why aren't deals closing?" you can't answer. Danielle recognizes the fundamental gap: **You're measuring activity, not intelligence.** And there's a massive difference. ### Your Dashboards Create Information Overload You built comprehensive reporting because you wanted "data-driven culture." Now you have 47 dashboards with 300+ metrics and nobody looks at them because they're overwhelming. Danielle recognizes what happened: **More data doesn't create better decisions—it creates paralysis.** Your team needs answers, not more numbers. ### You're Tracking What's Easy, Not What Matters Email opens are easy to count. Relationship health is hard to measure. So you track opens and call it "engagement." Form submissions are easy to count. Partnership readiness is hard to measure. So you track forms and call it "conversion." Danielle recognizes the trap: **You optimized your measurement system for convenience, not insight.** ### Hitting Metrics Doesn't Hit Goals Your team hits their MQL numbers every month. Your pipeline looks healthy in reports. But revenue isn't growing like it should. Danielle recognizes why: **Your metrics measure the wrong things.** Your measurement system is optimized for reporting theater, not business outcomes. ### Leading Indicators Are Missing Your dashboards show what happened (lagging indicators): deals closed, revenue generated, customers acquired. But they don't show what's about to happen (leading indicators): relationship health declining, value recognition growing, readiness signals emerging. Danielle recognizes the problem: **By the time your dashboards show problems, it's too late to prevent them.** ### The Strategic Question Problem When leadership asks strategic questions ("Should we change our approach?" "Are we attracting the right people?" "What's causing deal stalls?"), you have to export data, run analysis, build custom reports. Danielle recognizes the design flaw: **Your measurement system wasn't designed to answer the questions that actually matter.** --- ## Value-First Measurement Show **Show Focus:** Exploring how measurement systems can track authentic value creation and natural progression rather than artificial activity metrics **Format:** Host exploring transformation from activity tracking to intelligence generation **Why This Show Matters:** Every organization measures something. Most measure the wrong things. They track email opens instead of relationship development. They count form submissions instead of readiness signals. They measure activities instead of outcomes. And then they wonder why hitting their metrics doesn't translate to hitting their goals. VF Measurement addresses the uncomfortable truth: **your measurement system was designed for industrial-age management, not collaborative transformation.** It tracks what's easy to count (activities) rather than what actually matters (intelligence and value creation). **The Mission:** Transform measurement from activity tracking to intelligence generation—helping organizations understand not just what happened, but what it means and what to do about it. **Key Themes:** - Activity ≠ Intelligence - Understanding why tracking actions doesn't create insight - Dashboard Design as Strategy - How visualization choices communicate meaning and drive decisions - Leading Indicators - Identifying signals that predict outcomes rather than report history - Value Path Measurement - Tracking natural progression rather than forced funnel advancement - Strategic Questions - Designing measurement systems that answer what leadership needs to know - Data Stories - Making patterns visible and actionable for decision-makers --- ## Teaching Philosophy Danielle's approach combines technical depth with strategic communication: **Question-First Design** Starts with "What does leadership need to know?" rather than "What can we measure?" **Story-Based Visualization** Designs dashboards that tell coherent stories rather than displaying disconnected metrics **Strategic Prioritization** Identifies the 3-5 metrics that actually predict outcomes rather than tracking everything **Leading Indicator Focus** Emphasizes signals that predict future outcomes over reports of past activities **Practical Implementation** Shows exactly how to configure HubSpot reporting to generate intelligence, not just track activity **Executive Communication** Makes complex patterns accessible to leadership without dumbing down the insight **Value Path Alignment** Measures natural progression through relationship stages rather than forced funnel movement --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On Activity vs. Intelligence:** "Most teams mistake activity tracking for intelligence measurement. They're not the same." **On Dashboard Design:** "A well-designed dashboard tells a story. A poorly-designed one creates information overload." **On Metrics:** "You're tracking what's easy to count, not what actually matters for business outcomes." **On Leading Indicators:** "By the time your dashboards show problems, it's too late to prevent them." **On Strategic Questions:** "Your measurement system should answer the questions that actually matter, not just report what happened." **On Data Theater:** "Hitting metrics doesn't hit goals when your metrics measure the wrong things." --- ## Professional Contributions **Cartographer Consulting** (Co-Founder) Consultancy helping organizations align people, process, and technology through HubSpot data strategy, system optimization, and operational excellence **Value-First Measurement Show** (Host, 2025-Present) Exploring how measurement systems can track authentic value creation and natural progression **HubSpot Data Strategy Expertise** Over a decade helping small and medium-sized companies make sense of their data in HubSpot **Dashboard Design & Reporting Architecture** Creating systems that communicate strategic intelligence rather than just displaying metrics **B2B SaaS Operational Excellence** Prior experience at startups implementing HubSpot, designing automations, and executing growth campaigns **Marketing Operations Thought Leadership** Contributing articles and insights on making data work for business growth --- ## Who Benefits from Danielle's Expertise **Leadership Teams Drowning in Data** Executives with comprehensive dashboards who still can't answer strategic questions **Sales and Marketing Teams Tracking the Wrong Things** Organizations hitting their metrics without hitting their goals **HubSpot Users Seeking Better Reporting** Teams recognizing their current dashboards create information overload, not insight **Organizations Building Data-Driven Cultures** Companies wanting measurement systems that actually drive better decisions **Go-to-Market Teams Needing Alignment** Sales, marketing, and customer success seeking unified intelligence and shared understanding **Growing Organizations Scaling Measurement** Companies recognizing that what worked at 10 deals/month doesn't work at 100 --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/daniellesandahlurban](https://linkedin.com/in/daniellesandahlurban) - Website: [danielleurban.com](https://danielleurban.com) - Cartographer Consulting: [cartographerconsulting.com](https://cartographerconsulting.com) **Value-First Shows:** - **VF Measurement** (Host) - Transforming measurement from activity tracking to intelligence generation **Cartographer Consulting Services:** HubSpot data strategy, system optimization, reporting architecture, and operational excellence for software businesses **Collaboration Interests:** - Transforming measurement systems from activity tracking to intelligence generation - Teaching organizations to identify leading indicators that predict outcomes - Designing reporting systems that communicate strategic insights clearly - Building measurement aligned with natural business progression - Helping teams make data-driven decisions with confidence - Creating reporting that serves transformation, not theater --- ## Why Danielle Contributes to Value-First Danielle's work at Cartographer Consulting already addressed Value-First measurement principles before encountering the formal framework: **measurement systems should reveal authentic progress and value creation, not just track activities that look like progress.** Her decade-plus of experience helping companies make sense of their HubSpot data revealed what most organizations won't admit: they're measuring the wrong things because their measurement systems were designed for industrial-age management (tracking worker productivity) rather than collaborative transformation (understanding relationship health and value creation). When she encountered the Value-First methodology, she recognized it as articulating what her client work had proven: most organizations measure activities (what's easy to count) rather than intelligence (what actually predicts outcomes). Her hosting of VF Measurement demonstrates commitment to transforming how organizations think about reporting—moving from "comprehensive dashboards tracking everything" to "strategic intelligence answering what actually matters." Through Cartographer Consulting and the VF Measurement show, Danielle proves that measurement can serve transformation rather than control, reveal patterns rather than just report activities, and enable decisions rather than create information overload. Her participation in the Data Summit and ongoing Value-First work shows dedication to not just building better reporting—but fundamentally rethinking what measurement is for and how it should serve human-centered business transformation. --- **Value-First Measurement with Danielle Urban** Transforming measurement from activity tracking to intelligence generation—revealing what actually predicts success **Cartographer Consulting** Making data reliable and actionable for software businesses: Aligning people, process, and technology into systems that support growth **The Intelligence Question** What does your data mean, and what should you do about it?

George B. Thomas

Panelist

Owner | Sidekick Strategies, Sidekick Strategies

## Professional Headline George B. Thomas has 35+ HubSpot certifications—almost every certification HubSpot offers. He's spoken at events with thousands of attendees. He's trained corporations who have gone on to earn millions of dollars. He's created thousands of marketing and sales videos. And he's a high school dropout. This isn't a humble brag. It's the evidence that human potential thrives when artificial barriers are removed. George's entire career demonstrates what happens when you stop judging people by credentials and start enabling them through genuine support, authentic connection, and tools that serve rather than constrain. As creator of the Superhuman Framework and co-host of Value-First Humans, George proves that human-centered business frameworks sound beautiful—but fail spectacularly when implemented in organizations still running on industrial-age structures. The problem isn't the frameworks. It's the compensation plans, KPIs, and systems that make human-centered decisions impossible. --- ## Professional Background ### From High School Dropout to HubSpot Authority George's career arc isn't just impressive—it's instructive. Over 30+ years in sales and marketing and 12+ years specializing in HubSpot, he's built a reputation not just for technical knowledge but for his ability to inspire organizational transformation. His progression shows deliberate evolution: from individual contributor doing hands-on work, to educator teaching others, to content creator reaching thousands daily, to professional speaker influencing entire organizations, to agency founder creating systematic transformation. Each transition demonstrated his ability to scale impact—from helping individual teams to helping thousands through daily content to influencing entire organizations through his Superhuman Framework. ### The Breakthrough Recognition George's breakthrough came when he realized the most valuable work wasn't tactical HubSpot help—it was teaching people to think differently about how technology should serve humans, not vice versa. This insight led to his Superhuman Framework (four cornerstones: Love, Purpose, Passion, Persistence + 10 H-pillars) and his evolution toward Value-First thinking. But implementing his framework across organizations revealed a harder truth: **most organizations can't actually implement human-centered frameworks because their compensation plans, KPIs, and systems prevent the very decisions those frameworks require.** This recognition became the foundation for Value-First Humans—exploring not just what human-centered business should look like, but why it fails in industrial-age structures and what must change for it to succeed. ### Sidekick Strategies: A New Generation of HubSpot Partner In April 2024, George founded Sidekick Strategies with positioning as "A New Generation of HubSpot Partner Agency." The name itself signals the philosophy: sidekick, not hero. The agency exists to enable client capability, not create vendor dependency. Sidekick Strategies combines George's unmatched HubSpot expertise with his human-centered transformation approach—proving that technical excellence and authentic care for client success aren't competing priorities. --- ## Areas of Expertise **HubSpot Platform Mastery** Unmatched depth across all hubs and capabilities with 35+ certifications covering Inbound Marketing, Inbound Sales, Contextual Marketing, CMS Implementation, Email Marketing, Content Marketing, and many others **Superhuman Framework** Four-pillar approach (Love, Purpose, Passion, Persistence + 10 H-pillars) for human-centered business growth **Inbound Marketing Strategy** How to attract, engage, and delight audiences authentically rather than through interruption and extraction **Modern Sales Process Excellence** Sales approaches based on trust and relationship building rather than manipulation and pressure **Content Strategy & Creation** Teaching-focused content, video production, written content, podcast format across multiple platforms **AI-Human Partnership** Using AI to augment human capability without replacement—AI handles mechanical tasks so humans can focus on creativity, judgment, and connection **Leadership & Organizational Development** Helping leaders create cultures where human potential flourishes and innovation emerges naturally **Business Growth Strategy** Scaling organizations while maintaining human values and authentic relationships **Video Marketing Strategy** Harnessing video for storytelling and trust-building in educational contexts **Community Building** Creating engaged audiences and facilitating meaningful connections that compound over time --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What George Sees That Others Miss ### The Tool/Culture Gap Your organization blames HubSpot for adoption failures when the real problem is organizational culture and leadership behavior. George recognizes the uncomfortable truth: **"If leaders don't live in it, no one else will either."** The tool works fine. Your leadership team just isn't modeling the behavior they expect from everyone else. ### Adoption Is a Leadership Issue, Not a Training Issue You can't train your way to adoption. You have to lead your way there. George recognizes what kills implementations: **Adoption fails when leaders don't model the behavior they expect.** Every time a VP asks for an Excel export instead of opening HubSpot, they signal that the CRM doesn't matter. Training can't overcome that signal. ### Frameworks Don't Survive Industrial-Age Structures His Superhuman Framework is brilliant in theory, but George recognizes the implementation barrier: **Most organizations can't implement it because their compensation plans, KPIs, and systems prevent the human-centered decisions it requires.** This is why transformation initiatives fail—not because people don't understand the framework, but because the structure makes it impossible to act on. ### AI Amplifies Existing Approaches AI won't save teams with extractive cultures. George recognizes what most miss: **AI will just make them more efficient at extraction instead of value creation.** If your current approach treats humans as resources to optimize, AI will help you optimize that exploitation faster. The technology amplifies your philosophy—it doesn't change it. ### Questions Unlock Collective Intelligence The biggest missed opportunity in most organizations is that leadership provides answers instead of asking powerful questions. George recognizes the leverage point: **Questions unlock human intelligence and creativity. Answers shut them down.** When leaders spend more time telling than asking, they waste the collective intelligence of their entire team. ### Voice Matters in the AI Era As voice becomes the primary interface with AI, the ability to communicate clearly, ask good questions, and engage in dialogue becomes more valuable than ever. George recognizes the shift: **Organizations that develop voice communication capability will thrive. Those that don't will struggle.** --- ## The Superhuman Framework ### Framework Vision George developed the Superhuman Framework to help organizations create environments where humans thrive and technology serves human flourishing. ### Four Cornerstones **1. Love** Genuine care for customer and team—not as marketing rhetoric, but as operational reality **2. Purpose** Clear mission beyond profit—understanding why the organization exists and who it serves **3. Passion** Energy and commitment to excellence—bringing full self to work rather than manufactured professionalism **4. Persistence** Long-term thinking and resilience—building for sustainable success rather than quarterly extraction ### 10 H-Pillars Specific practices supporting the cornerstones (content, communication, education, systems, culture, leadership approaches) ### The Hard Truth The framework is brilliant in theory. But most organizations can't implement it because their compensation plans, KPIs, and systems prevent the human-centered decisions it requires. **This is the real barrier to transformation—not lack of good frameworks, but organizational structures that make those frameworks impossible.** --- ## Value-First Humans Show **Show Focus:** Exploring why human-centered frameworks fail in industrial-age organizations and what transformation actually requires **Co-Host:** Chris Carolan **Launch:** October 2025 **Episode Highlights:** - **Episode 1: "The Superhuman Foundation"** - Origin story of Superhuman Framework and why organizational structures prevent its implementation **Why This Show Matters:** The business world is full of human-centered frameworks: servant leadership, conscious capitalism, people-first cultures, stakeholder value. They all sound beautiful. And they all fail in most organizations. Not because the frameworks are wrong. Because organizations implement them inside structures designed for industrial-age extraction, control, and measurement. You can't build human-centered businesses with industrial-age blueprints. VF Humans explores the **seven Value-First Humans commitments** that address specific barriers to human-centered transformation: 1. Addressing industrial-age structures that make human-centered decisions impossible 2. Moving from KPI-driven extraction to relationship-driven value creation 3. Replacing command-and-control management with curiosity and empowerment 4. Designing systems that enable rather than constrain human potential 5. Measuring success through human flourishing, not just financial metrics 6. Building cultures where questions unlock collective intelligence 7. Using AI to amplify human capability, not replace human judgment **The Mission:** Show why so many human-centered frameworks fail—and what must change for transformation to actually work. --- ## Teaching Philosophy George is known for exceptional ability to inspire and educate simultaneously: **High-Energy Presenter** Electrifying presence that leaves audiences energized and motivated, not just informed **Accessible Expert** Makes complex HubSpot concepts understandable without dumbing them down—respects audience intelligence **Story-Based Teaching** Uses narratives and examples rather than abstract concepts—shows rather than tells **Servant-Leader Approach** Genuinely focused on audience benefit, not personal promotion—"I don't just show up to talk—I show up to inspire action, ignite growth, and equip your audience with the tools they need to create lasting change" **Practical & Inspirational Balance** Both "here's the tactical approach" AND "here's why this matters for humanity" **Authentic Personality** Brings genuine self to all interactions—not manufactured persona or corporate polish **Continuous Learner** Models ongoing growth and evolution of thinking—demonstrates that mastery includes admitting what you don't know **Makes Complex Simple** Philosophy that "if you come from a content creation place of 'it's all about the humans,' you quickly realize that simplifying the complex, writing to be understood, and leaving the jargon at the door are all superpowers" --- ## HubSpot Helper & Content Creator Access ### Subscription Model Innovation George pioneered a subscription model for HubSpot expertise: **HubSpot Helper** ($25/month) On-demand access to George's expertise without agency retainer costs **Content Creator Access Group** Subscription model for teams needing ongoing HubSpot education and guidance ### Why This Matters The subscription approach demonstrates George's commitment to removing barriers to expertise. Not every organization can afford $10K/month agency retainers, but they still need expert guidance. The Helper model makes George's 35+ certifications and 12+ years of experience accessible to teams at every stage. ### Delphi AI Integration George uses AI to maintain his teaching voice across high-volume content (HubSpot daily updates, educational materials). This isn't AI replacing George—it's AI amplifying his ability to serve more people while maintaining authentic voice and genuine care. --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On Leadership:** "If leaders don't live in it, no one else will either." **On Training vs. Culture:** "You can't train your way to adoption. You have to lead your way there." **On Framework Implementation:** "Superhuman Framework is brilliant in theory, but most organizations can't implement it because their structures prevent the human-centered decisions it requires." **On AI:** "AI won't save teams with bad cultures. It will just make them more efficient at extracting value instead of creating it." **On Intelligence:** "Questions unlock collective intelligence. Answers shut it down." **On Content Creation:** "If you come from a content creation place of 'it's all about the humans,' you quickly realize that simplifying the complex, writing to be understood, and leaving the jargon at the door are all superpowers." **On His Journey:** "I've spoken at events with thousands of attendees. I've trained corporations who have gone on to earn millions of dollars. I have 30+ HubSpot Certifications. And I'm a high school dropout." --- ## Professional Contributions **Sidekick Strategies** (Owner, April 2024-Present) "A New Generation of HubSpot Partner Agency" focused on enabling client capability through human-centered transformation and technical excellence **Value-First Humans Show** (Co-Host, October 2025-Present) Exploring why human-centered frameworks fail in industrial-age organizations with Chris Carolan **HubHeroes Podcast** (Creator) Long-running podcast exploring critical human-centered topics in business transformation **Superhuman Framework** (Creator) Comprehensive methodology for creating organizations where humans thrive and technology serves human flourishing **HubSpot Helper** (Founder, April 2024) $25/month subscription providing on-demand access to expert HubSpot guidance **Content Creator Access Group** (Founder) Subscription model for teams needing ongoing HubSpot education **Professional Speaking** Regular keynotes and workshops at industry events (sales, marketing, leadership conferences) **HubSpot Academy** 35+ certifications demonstrating unmatched platform mastery **Daily Content Creation** LinkedIn Live shows, blogs, videos, and educational content reaching thousands **30+ Years Sales & Marketing Experience** Including 12+ years specializing in HubSpot implementation and strategy --- ## Who Benefits from George's Expertise **HubSpot Users Seeking Platform Mastery** Teams wanting to move beyond basic usage to strategic implementation and adoption **Marketing and Sales Leaders Undergoing Transformation** Organizations recognizing that technical tools require cultural transformation to succeed **Teams Struggling with Tool Adoption and Change Management** Companies where HubSpot implementation failed not because of the tool but because of leadership and culture **Leaders Frustrated with Command-and-Control Management** Executives recognizing that industrial-age management approaches prevent innovation and growth **B2B Organizations Prioritizing Relationship Building** Companies seeking to move from extraction-based to value-creation-based approaches **Organizations Wanting Human-Centered Business Culture** Teams committed to creating environments where human potential flourishes --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/george-b-thomas](https://linkedin.com/in/george-b-thomas) - Website: [georgebthomas.com](https://georgebthomas.com) - Sidekick Strategies: [sidekickstrategies.com](https://sidekickstrategies.com) - YouTube: Various channels and appearances - Podcasts: HubHeroes, Women of HubSpot, multiple guest appearances **Value-First Shows:** - **VF Humans** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Exploring barriers to human-centered transformation **Sidekick Strategies:** A New Generation of HubSpot Partner Agency enabling client capability through technical excellence and human-centered transformation **HubSpot Helper:** $25/month subscription for on-demand HubSpot expertise **Collaboration Interests:** - Expanding human-centered business thinking across industries - Bridging gap between transformation frameworks and organizational implementation - Creating conditions for human potential to flourish in business contexts - Teaching organizations to use AI for human augmentation, not replacement - Building cultures where questions unlock collective intelligence - Demonstrating that technical excellence and authentic care aren't competing priorities --- ## Why George Contributes to Value-First George's Superhuman Framework already embodied human-centered transformation principles. But implementing it across organizations revealed the deeper challenge: **frameworks fail when organizational structures prevent the decisions those frameworks require.** When he encountered the Value-First methodology, he recognized it as addressing the structural barriers his framework couldn't overcome alone. Value-First doesn't just describe what human-centered business should look like—it confronts why industrial-age structures make it impossible. Through Sidekick Strategies, his co-hosting of VF Humans, and his HubSpot Helper model, George demonstrates that transformation requires both excellent frameworks AND structural changes that enable those frameworks to work. His participation in the Data Summit and ongoing Value-First work proves his commitment to not just teaching human-centered business—but creating the conditions where it can actually succeed. His high school dropout story isn't inspirational rhetoric. It's evidence that when you remove artificial barriers and provide genuine support, human potential flourishes. That's not just George's career story. That's the Value-First principle in action. --- **Value-First Humans with George B. Thomas & Chris Carolan** Exploring why human-centered frameworks fail in industrial-age structures—and what transformation actually requires **Sidekick Strategies** A New Generation of HubSpot Partner Agency: Technical excellence meets human-centered transformation **The High School Dropout with 35+ HubSpot Certifications** Evidence that human potential thrives when artificial barriers are removed

Joshua Oakes

Panelist

Principal | FranDev Lab & Who First, FranDev Lab & Who First

## Professional Headline Joshua Oakes spent years consulting with organizations on product marketing and customer acquisition challenges—repairing broken processes, connecting disjointed systems, removing roadblocks, building measurement strategies. But every engagement revealed the same underlying problem: **Companies simply did not understand who their customers were, what they wanted, or how they felt.** This pattern led to a profound conclusion that became the Who First Framework: Without documented, validated, actionable customer understanding, it doesn't matter what else you get right—systems, processes, hiring, unit economics, pricing. **Companies that don't know their customers are living on borrowed time or borrowed money.** --- ## Professional Background ### The Pattern That Changed Everything Joshua's career included head of client services at a Nashville consultancy, founding Measurable Advantage consultancy (2014-2017), and digital marketing analytics across multiple industries: SaaS, higher ed, healthcare, music licensing, non-profit, entertainment, telecom. He worked with companies at every stage—100-year-old organizations, enterprise firms, 2-person startups, pre-seed ventures. Regardless of company size, industry, or maturity, the same problem appeared: **The company did not understand who their customers were.** At best, every executive and employee had their own uncommunicated assumptions. At worst, they thought demographics explained everything. Traditional personas weren't helping. They were made-up, unvalidated assumptions that sat unused in folders. Teams couldn't apply them. They didn't reflect actual customer behavior or needs. And critically—**they weren't validated against reality.** This realization became Joshua's life's work: creating frameworks for documented, validated, actionable, measurable customer understanding that organizations can actually use. ### Who First Framework: Beyond Demographic Assumptions The Who First Framework provides an alternative to traditional personas and ICPs (Ideal Customer Profiles): **Audience Profiles™** - Not personas based on demographics and assumptions, but validated profiles based on documented customer understanding: - **Documented** - Written down, not in people's heads - **Validated** - Tested against actual customer behavior - **Actionable** - Teams can actually apply them to decisions - **Measurable** - Connected to business outcomes This isn't customer research for the sake of research. It's strategic understanding that drives every business function from product development through customer success. **The Who First principle:** If you don't have a strategic, disciplined understanding of your customers that you can apply from signal recognition through partnership advocacy, then no level of process, tools, or talent will bring sustainable growth. ### FranDev Lab: HubSpot for Franchise Growth In November 2024, Joshua launched FranDev Lab—specialized HubSpot consulting for franchisors using the platform for franchise sales and development. The positioning is clear: **"Turn HubSpot from a source of stress to a source of truth for Franchisors."** Franchising presents unique challenges: - Non-transactional, high-friction acquisition process - Multiple stakeholders (franchisee candidates, franchisors, existing franchisees) - Long sales cycles with complex evaluation - Need for both sales tracking and relationship management FranDev Lab provides: - Franchisor-specific HubSpot configuration and setup - Custom object strategies for assessments and diagnostics - Deal tracking optimized for franchise development stages - Reporting that shows what's actually working - Training and enablement for franchise development teams **The FranDev Lab Report** newsletter delivers twice-monthly guidance for franchisors, with paid tier offering deep-dive playbooks, templates, frameworks, and executive-level strategic content. ### Value-First Contributions: Path to Value Co-Development Joshua's collaboration with Chris Carolan produced one of the Value-First Team's core frameworks: **The Value Path**—an 8-stage customer journey model that recognizes natural human decision patterns rather than artificial funnel stages. **The Value Path Stages:** 1. **Audience** - Aware a category exists 2. **Researcher** - Actively exploring options and approaches 3. **Hand Raiser** - Signaling specific interest and readiness 4. **HERO** - Navigating organizational complexity and buy-in 5. **Value Creator** - Building new value together 6. **Adopter** - Using and validating value 7. **Advocate** - Amplifying and defending value 8. **Champion** - Amplifying and creating value together **The breakthrough insight:** People don't move through linear funnels based on marketing's arbitrary stages. They follow natural patterns of discovery, evaluation, implementation, and advocacy based on **their own readiness, not your process.** **Shows Hosted:** - **The Value Path** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Multi-part series exploring all 8 stages of customer journey - **Let's Build Your Audience in HubSpot** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Customer-centric HubSpot strategy **Guest Appearances:** - HubSpot Setup Secrets (with Casey Hawkins) - SprocketPod - HubSpot Community sessions on custom objects, deal tags, assessments --- ## Areas of Expertise **Customer Understanding Frameworks** Creating documented, validated, actionable customer knowledge that drives business decisions—not assumptions or demographic guesses **Franchise HubSpot Specialization** Unique expertise in configuring HubSpot for franchisor sales, development, and franchisee relationship management **Who First Framework & Audience Profiles** Alternative to personas/ICPs that are actually usable, validated against customer behavior, and connected to business outcomes **Path to Value Methodology** Customer journey framework recognizing natural human decision patterns and readiness stages over artificial funnel progression **HubSpot Architecture for Complex Sales** Sales Hub and Marketing Hub configuration for non-transactional, high-friction, multi-stakeholder acquisition processes **Custom Object Strategy** Using HubSpot custom objects for assessments, diagnostics, configuration tools, and unique business data models **Traps, Gates, and Signposts** Understanding barriers customers face (traps), qualification points (gates), and progression indicators (signposts) in their journey **Product Marketing & Positioning** "Oh Sh!t products"—when customers are so excited they say "Oh shit!"—understanding what creates that reaction **Bullseye Content Strategy** Content actually tailored to specific customer understanding rather than generic audience assumptions **Measurement Strategy** Making performance visible with actionable data—reporting that drives decisions rather than dashboards nobody uses **Fractional Product Leadership** Translating vision into executable product strategy for early-stage organizations not prepared for full-time product roles **Know Who Reporting™** Measurement approach for customer understanding—tracking whether your knowledge of customers is improving --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Joshua Sees That Others Miss ### Customer Understanding as Foundation Organizations obsess over systems, processes, tools, hiring, pricing, and unit economics. Joshua recognizes the futile pattern: **None of that matters if you don't understand your customer.** Everything else fails without this foundation. It's not that customer understanding is important—it's that it's **prerequisite** to everything else working. ### Personas Are Fiction, Audience Profiles Are Reality Most organizations use personas created in workshops based on assumptions. Joshua recognizes the uncomfortable truth: **Traditional personas are made-up, unvalidated assumptions that teams can't actually apply to decisions.** Audience Profiles are documented, validated against actual customer behavior, and actionable—fundamentally different tools despite appearing similar. ### Path vs Funnel: Natural Patterns vs Manufactured Stages Marketing loves funnels with stages (awareness, consideration, decision). Joshua recognizes the flaw: **People don't move through linear funnels based on your stages—they follow natural patterns of discovery, evaluation, implementation, and advocacy based on their own readiness.** This isn't semantic difference; it changes everything about how you serve customers. ### Traps vs Objections Sales teams handle "objections"—things prospects say that prevent closing. Joshua reframes completely: **Customers face "traps"—barriers in their decision journey that have nothing to do with your sales process.** This reframing shifts focus from overcoming resistance to removing genuine obstacles customers experience. ### Most Data Is Useless Noise Organizations drown in data and struggle with "what to measure." Joshua recognizes the real problem: **Most organizations have more data than they can use; the challenge is getting actionable data in the hands of the right people at the right time.** Useful measurement is a curation problem, not a collection problem. ### Implementation Reality: The Gap Between Framework and Execution Consultants love frameworks. Joshua recognizes what clients actually face: **Understanding a framework and implementing it are separated by a massive execution gap.** That's why he provides 30-day roadmaps, progressive approaches, and practical templates—not just conceptual models. --- ## Teaching Style Joshua brings unique characteristics to his educational approach: **Brutally Honest and Direct** Self-described as "unflinching" or even "mean"—but caring. **"I criticize because I care. I'm not doing this for the money."** This directness cuts through politeness to address actual problems. **Framework-Driven Thinking** Systematic approaches (Who First, Path to Value, Audience Profiles) that provide structure for complex problems **Live HubSpot Demonstrations** Shows actual implementation in HubSpot portals—custom objects, deal tags, assessments, reporting—not just theory **Strategic Vision AND Implementation Specifics** Bridges the gap between conceptual frameworks and "how do I actually build this in HubSpot on Monday morning" **Question-Led Exploration** Socratic method revealing what people don't know about their customers through targeted questions **Validation Over Assumption** Relentless emphasis on testing customer understanding against actual behavior rather than accepting assumptions **Progressive Implementation Approach** "Evolution, not revolution"—rolling out changes in 2-4 week sprints based on team bandwidth to avoid overwhelming organizations --- ## Value-First Shows Hosted ### The Value Path (Co-Host with Chris Carolan) **Format:** Multi-part series exploring customer journey **Focus:** Deep dives on each stage from Audience through Champion **Why This Show Matters:** Most customer journey discussions remain abstract. The Value Path series makes natural progression concrete by: - Explaining how each stage differs in customer mindset and needs - Identifying traps customers face at each stage - Recognizing signposts that indicate readiness progression - Building HubSpot systems that support natural movement through stages The co-development of this framework with Chris represents one of the Value-First Team's foundational contributions—creating shared language for customer-centric approaches that replace traditional funnel thinking. ### Let's Build Your Audience in HubSpot (Co-Host with Chris Carolan) **Format:** Multi-part series on customer-centric HubSpot strategy **Focus:** Practical implementation of audience understanding in HubSpot **Topics Covered:** - Custom objects for assessments and self-diagnostics - Deal tags for better sales-marketing handoff - Tracking unstructured data to understand Path to Value progression - Creating HubSpot systems that reflect business logic rather than impose rigid processes --- ## Notable Content & Contributions **The FranDev Lab Report** (Newsletter) Twice-monthly guidance for franchisors using HubSpot, with deep-dive playbooks for paid subscribers **Who First Framework Resources** Comprehensive documentation, templates, bootcamps, and tools for creating Audience Profiles and implementing customer understanding **HubSpot Community Content:** - "Enable Your Customer's Path to Value in HubSpot" (series with Chris Carolan) - "Track Your Customer's Path to Value in HubSpot Part 2" (operationalizing unstructured data) - "HubSpot Custom Objects for Assessments and Self Diagnostics" (deep dive) - "HubSpot Deal Tags for Better Sales & Marketing Handoff" (with Chris Carolan) - "Path to Value vs Customer Journey" (conceptual frameworks comparison) **FranDev Lab Content:** - "6 Quick Tests—Is Your CRM Doing What You Need Right Now?" - "Highlight Deals with Active Prospects" (spotting inactivity before ghosting) - "3 Custom Properties for Attributing FranDev Leads" - "Better Discovery Calls with HubSpot Playbooks" - "Your First 4 Breeze Assistants" (custom AI tools for franchise teams) - "Meetings Are Not A KPI" (measuring what actually matters) **Podcast Appearances:** - Half Geek Half Human Podcast - "Understand Your Customer with the Who First Framework" - HubSpot Setup Secrets (with Casey Hawkins) --- ## Who Benefits from Joshua's Expertise **Franchisors Using HubSpot** Primary audience for FranDev Lab—franchise systems needing HubSpot configured for non-transactional, multi-stakeholder franchise development **Organizations with High-Friction Acquisition** Companies where customer decisions involve long evaluation, multiple stakeholders, complex implementation—not transactional purchases **Product Teams Struggling with Customer Understanding** Development teams building products based on assumptions rather than validated customer needs **Marketing/Sales Teams with Disjointed Understanding** Organizations where different team members have conflicting assumptions about customers—no shared, validated understanding **Companies Beyond Demographic Segmentation** Organizations recognizing that age, company size, and industry don't explain why customers buy or what they actually need **Businesses Seeking Progressive Implementation** Teams wanting evolution rather than revolution—rolling out changes without overwhelming existing operations **Early-Stage Ventures Needing Product Discipline** Startups and founder-led organizations requiring fractional product leadership without full-time commitment **Anyone Wanting Honest Assessment** Leaders seeking brutal honesty and unflinching analysis rather than polite consulting that avoids hard truths --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/joshuaoakes](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaoakes) - Who First: [who-first.co](https://www.who-first.co) - FranDev Lab: [frandevlab.co](https://frandevlab.co) - Personal Site: [joshoakes.com](https://joshoakes.com) - Newsletter: [frandevlabreport.com](https://frandevlabreport.com) - HubSpot Community: Active contributor - Sprocketeers: Active member **Value-First Shows:** - **The Value Path** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Customer journey framework exploration - **Let's Build Your Audience in HubSpot** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Practical implementation series **FranDev Lab Services:** - Franchisor-specific HubSpot configuration and optimization - Custom object implementation for franchise development - Deal tracking and reporting for franchise sales - Team training and enablement - Ongoing support and system evolution **Who First Services:** - Audience Profile development workshops - Customer understanding framework implementation - Fractional product leadership engagements - Product marketing and positioning strategy - Advisory engagements on specific customer understanding challenges **Collaboration Interests:** - Expanding Who First framework adoption - Teaching organizations to move from demographic assumptions to validated understanding - Building HubSpot systems that reflect business logic rather than impose rigid processes - Creating measurement frameworks that drive decisions - Mentoring teams on progressive implementation approaches - Developing Path to Value applications across industries --- ## Why Joshua Contributes to Value-First Joshua's Who First Framework already embodied Value-First principles before the formal framework existed. When he discovered that every consulting engagement revealed the same underlying problem—companies don't understand their customers—he recognized this wasn't a marketing problem or a product problem. **It was a foundational business problem that invalidated everything else.** His co-development of the Path to Value with Chris represents the culmination of years watching traditional "funnel" thinking fail organizations. The 8-stage framework recognizes that **people follow natural patterns of discovery, evaluation, implementation, and advocacy based on their own readiness—not arbitrary marketing stages.** Through Who First, FranDev Lab, and Value-First Team collaboration, Joshua proves that moving from assumption-based personas to validated Audience Profiles isn't just theoretically better—it's practically achievable and demonstrably more effective. His participation in the Data Summit and ongoing Value-First work demonstrates his commitment to helping organizations build systems that serve natural human progression rather than artificial marketing quotas. The brutal honesty he brings—"I criticize because I care"—challenges organizations to confront uncomfortable truths about their customer understanding. Because **companies that don't know their customers are living on borrowed time or borrowed money.** --- **Understanding Your Customer** Creating documented, validated, actionable customer knowledge that drives business decisions **The Value Path** Co-developing customer journey frameworks with Chris Carolan **FranDev Lab** Turning HubSpot from source of stress to source of truth for franchisors **Who First** Because without customer understanding, everything else fails

Nico Lafakis

Panelist

VP of GTM | Smoke Signals AI, Smoke Signals AI

## Professional Headline Nico Lafakis brings comprehensive mastery of 20+ generative AI platforms combined with deep HubSpot and RevOps expertise to make AI implementation practical for business. As VP of GTM at Smoke Signals AI and co-host of Value-First AI Daily (260+ episodes annually), he bridges the gap between AI's massive potential and real-world business application. His breakthrough recognition: **AI doesn't eliminate the artist; it enhances their vision—and the magic happens not in the first response but in the conversation that follows.** --- ## Professional Background ### From Graphic Design to Full-Stack GTM Infrastructure Nico's journey through marketing technology mirrors the complexity of automotive engineering, as he describes it. He's worked across multiple crucial domains: - **Graphic design** (the body and frame of marketing) - **Revenue operations** (the engine and mechanics) - **Automation/solutions/AI** (the electrical systems that integrate everything) This full-stack perspective gives him a unique understanding of how AI fits into complete go-to-market infrastructure rather than being bolted onto existing processes. Over 5+ years in the HubSpot ecosystem, Nico developed comprehensive expertise across virtually all generative AI platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Groq, DeepSeek, Replit, Lovable, Windsurf, Cursor, MidJourney, Leonardo, Suno, MS Designer, Canva, Gamma, Pica, n8n, Agent.AI, Manus, Operator, and more. As he jokes: "Yes, all of 'em, lol." This breadth isn't just tool collection—it's strategic understanding of **which AI capabilities work for which business problems**, knowing when to use reasoning models versus standard models, text versus image generation, no-code solutions versus custom development. ### Smoke Signals AI: AI-First HubSpot Strategy At Smoke Signals AI, Nico brings his AI implementation expertise to an agency built on a fundamental principle: **AI isn't a bolt-on to marketing and sales—it's an entirely new way of going to market.** The agency's approach centers on three stages: 1. **Create Signal** - Content plays (podcasts, founder stories, partner collaborations) that generate real engagement 2. **Capture Signal** - Custom agents and systems that recognize when ideal customers show signs of life (not "intent"—real engagement with context) 3. **Activate Signal** - Playbooks enabling relevant, engaging outreach that drives revenue impact This signal-based approach aligns perfectly with Value-First principles—recognizing that traditional "lead generation" and "intent data" miss what actually matters: real human engagement and authentic context. ### Previous Experience: Technical Solutions at HarvestROI As Technical Solutions Engineer & AI Specialist at HarvestROI (a HubSpot Diamond partner agency), Nico brought practical AI applications to drive innovation in marketing technology. His role bridged comprehensive AI platform knowledge with HubSpot implementation expertise, helping organizations transform AI concepts into business solutions. ### Value-First Contributions: Daily AI Education Nico's most visible contribution to the Value-First Team is **co-hosting Value-First AI Daily with Chris Carolan—a daily show cutting through AI replacement hype to reveal collaboration multiplier approaches.** This isn't a weekly commitment or monthly series—it's **260+ episodes per year**, demonstrating extraordinary dedication to AI literacy building. The show's mission is simple: **Transform how people think about AI from threat to multiplier.** Each episode delivers practical insights on human-AI partnership, breaking down the latest news, tools, and trends through the lens of authentic collaboration. --- ## Areas of Expertise **Comprehensive AI Platform Mastery** Expert across 20+ generative AI tools spanning text (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini), image (MidJourney, Leonardo), video, audio, and workflow automation (n8n, Agent.AI)—understanding which tools work for which business problems **AI Implementation Strategy** Transforming complex AI concepts into practical business solutions that enhance (not replace) human capabilities across marketing, sales, and revenue operations **RevOps & Marketing Operations** HubSpot automation, CRM strategy, workflow design, lead scoring, and full revenue operations infrastructure **Prompt Engineering Excellence** Advanced techniques for getting optimal AI outputs—understanding that breakthrough happens in conversation with AI, not just first response **AI Model Selection Strategy** Knowing when to use reasoning models (O1, O3) versus standard models, ChatGPT versus Claude versus Gemini, and how to leverage each platform's unique strengths **No-Code AI Application Development** Building functional AI-powered apps without traditional coding using platforms like Replit, Lovable, Windsurf, and Cursor **HubSpot AI Integration** Breeze AI, agent building, AI-enhanced workflows, and leveraging HubSpot's 200+ AI-powered features for business transformation **Content Creation & Automation** Using AI to enhance (not replace) creative processes—making humans more capable rather than obsolete **Educational Content Development** Daily show production, podcast hosting, live demonstrations, community education across multiple platforms --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Nico Sees That Others Miss ### AI as Partner, Not Replacement While tech media breathlessly covers "AI replacing jobs" and automation eliminates humans, Nico recognizes the fundamental misunderstanding: **AI doesn't eliminate the artist; it enhances their vision.** The organizations winning with AI aren't replacing people—they're multiplying human capability by handling repetitive tasks so humans can focus on relationships, creativity, and strategic thinking. ### The "Magic After First Response" Most people try AI once, get a mediocre result, and give up. Nico recognizes what separates breakthrough from disappointment: **The magic happens in the conversation with AI, not the first output.** Persistence and iteration matter. The best AI outcomes come from collaborative dialogue, refining prompts, asking follow-up questions—exactly how humans work together. ### Meaning in Sales Through AI Sales professionals fear AI will eliminate their roles. Nico recognizes the opposite opportunity: **AI can automate minutiae so sales teams focus on building relationships and meaningful work rather than data entry and administrative tasks.** This isn't replacement—it's liberation from soul-crushing busywork that prevents actual selling. ### Performance Reality: Capabilities AND Limitations Hype merchants claim AI solves everything. Skeptics dismiss AI entirely. Nico understands nuance: **"At its worst, O1 Pro is better than the best human in PhD-level science"—but that doesn't mean AI replaces human judgment, relationships, or strategic thinking.** Knowing both capabilities and limitations enables practical implementation. ### Leveling the Playing Field AI democratizes access to capability, but not automatically. Nico recognizes the paradox: **"AI can make you as smart as the smartest person—if you're smart enough to use it effectively."** The tool doesn't eliminate skill requirements; it shifts what skills matter from memorization to orchestration, from execution to strategy. ### Voice as Interface Revolution While most focus on text-based AI interactions, Nico recognizes the emerging shift: **"Voice is the next mouse. Your voice will matter a lot in the future of human-AI interaction."** Organizations preparing for voice-first AI interfaces will have advantages over those stuck in text-only thinking. --- ## Value-First Shows Hosted ### Value-First AI Daily (Co-Host with Chris Carolan) **Publishing Frequency:** Daily (260+ episodes/year) **Mission:** Cut through AI replacement hype to reveal collaboration multiplier approaches **Why This Show Matters:** Most AI content falls into two camps: breathless hype or apocalyptic fear. Value-First AI Daily provides a third path—**practical guidance on human-AI partnership that enhances rather than replaces capability.** Each episode explores: - Latest AI news, tools, and trends through collaboration lens - Real implementations where humans and AI achieve what neither could accomplish alone - Practical insights for business leaders navigating AI strategy - Breaking down complex AI developments into actionable guidance The daily format enables **agile response to AI's rapid evolution**—discussing new model releases, platform updates, and strategic implications while they're still relevant rather than weeks later. **Target Audience:** - Business leaders navigating AI strategy without replacement anxiety - Team members exploring AI tools for capability multiplication - Organizations seeking competitive advantage through enhanced human capability - Anyone wanting to understand AI as strategic partner, not existential threat ### GPT with Me (Co-Host) **Focus:** Teaching AI implementation for marketers **Topics:** GPT models, customization, workflow optimization, practical business applications ### Discover AI with Nico (Founder) **Focus:** AI education for practical business solutions **Topics:** Platform comparisons, implementation strategies, no-code development, AI tool selection --- ## Teaching Philosophy Nico's educational approach reflects his augmentation-first philosophy: **Energetic, Enthusiastic Educator** Makes AI accessible and exciting rather than intimidating or overly technical—removing barriers to adoption **Live Demonstrations and Hands-On Building** Shows rather than tells—building applications live, troubleshooting in real-time, demonstrating practical capability **Works with All Skill Levels** From complete beginners to advanced users, meeting people where they are rather than assuming technical expertise **Focus on Practical Applications** Always connecting AI capabilities to real business value and measurable outcomes rather than theoretical possibilities **Ethical AI Development Emphasis** Addressing concerns about AI misuse, child safety, privacy, and responsible implementation—not just capability but conscience **Step-by-Step Guidance with Clear Reasoning** Breaking down complex processes into understandable steps, explaining the "why" behind the "how" **Comfortable with Imperfection** Admits when things don't work, troubleshoots collaboratively, shows that AI implementation isn't always smooth—building realistic expectations --- ## Notable Content & Contributions **Value-First AI Daily** (260+ episodes) Daily show with Chris Carolan demonstrating AI-human collaboration across news, tools, trends, and practical implementations **HubSpot Community AI Sessions** Teaching GPT models, customization, workflow optimization, and Breeze AI capabilities to HubSpot users **Podcast Appearances:** - **RevAmp Podcast (DealHub)** - "AI-First CRMs and What They Mean for RevOps" - **Sidekick Strategies Expert Interviews** - "Unlock the Power of ChatGPT for Marketers" - **Built Hapily Podcast** - AI implementation and marketing technology **LinkedIn Live Sessions:** - Building content intelligence systems with Chris Carolan - AI implementation strategies for revenue teams - Tech stack optimization and workflow automation **Educational Resources:** - HubSpot GPT customization and prompt engineering guides - Agent.AI Builder beta demonstrations - Multi-model AI strategy frameworks (when to use different tools) - No-code AI application development tutorials **Community Leadership:** - Active Sprocketeer community member - HubSpot Community contributor on AI and automation topics - Regular participant in HubSpot events and learning initiatives --- ## Who Benefits from Nico's Expertise **Marketing and Sales Teams Exploring AI Tools** Teams overwhelmed by AI options needing guidance on which tools actually deliver business value **RevOps Professionals Seeking AI-Enhanced Workflows** Revenue operations leaders wanting to leverage AI capabilities without replacing their teams **HubSpot Users Wanting AI Capabilities** Organizations using HubSpot (especially Breeze, agents, automation) needing expert guidance on platform AI features **Business Leaders Navigating AI Strategy** Executives seeking human-centered AI approaches rather than automation-first replacement strategies **Content Creators Enhancing Capabilities with AI** Marketers and creators wanting to use AI to amplify their creative work rather than replace their voice **Non-Technical Users Building AI Solutions** Business people wanting to build AI-powered applications without traditional coding expertise **Organizations Pursuing AI Literacy** Companies recognizing they need education before implementation—building understanding across teams **Teams Burned by Previous AI Hype** Organizations that tried AI tools and failed, needing realistic guidance on what actually works --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/nlafakis](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nlafakis) - Smoke Signals AI: [smokesignals.ai](https://smokesignals.ai) - HubSpot Community: Active contributor - Sprocketeer Community: Active member **Value-First Shows:** - **VF AI Daily** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Daily AI literacy and collaboration insights - **GPT with Me** (Co-host) - AI implementation for marketers - **Discover AI with Nico** (Founder) - Practical AI business solutions **Smoke Signals AI Services:** AI-first HubSpot agency specializing in: - Signal creation (content plays, podcasts, founder stories) - Signal capture (custom agents, engagement recognition) - Signal activation (relevant outreach enabling real revenue impact) - HubSpot AI integration and optimization - Custom AI agent development **Collaboration Interests:** - Expanding AI literacy across organizations - Building practical AI implementations that enhance human capability - Developing educational content demonstrating collaboration over replacement - Teaching teams to leverage multiple AI platforms strategically - Creating no-code AI solutions for business problems - Mentoring next-generation AI practitioners with ethical foundations --- ## Why Nico Contributes to Value-First Nico's comprehensive AI platform mastery combined with his augmentation-first philosophy made him a natural Value-First collaborator. When organizations approach AI implementation, most fall into two traps: breathless adoption without strategy, or fearful resistance without understanding. His **daily show commitment** (260+ episodes annually) isn't just content production—it's missionary work in AI literacy. Each episode proves that transformation happens when humans and AI work together, not when one replaces the other. Through his role at Smoke Signals AI, Nico demonstrates that AI-first doesn't mean AI-only—it means **building go-to-market approaches natively designed for human-AI collaboration rather than retrofitting AI onto industrial-age processes.** His work bridges the gap between AI's massive potential and practical business reality. Organizations get guidance from someone who's actually mastered 20+ AI platforms, understands which tools work for which problems, and can teach implementation at any skill level. The Value-First AI Daily show proves what the entire framework asserts: **AI multiplies human capability when approached as partnership rather than replacement.** Nico's daily presence in the AI conversation ensures that voice gets heard above both hype and fear. --- **Making AI Practical & Accessible for Revenue Teams** Daily education on AI as collaboration multiplier, not human replacement **Value-First AI Daily** Your essential source for understanding how AI enhances rather than replaces human capability **Smoke Signals AI** AI-first HubSpot agency that knows HubSpot, custom agents, and tools that deliver pipeline

Ryan Ginsberg

Panelist

Technical Lead (Project-Based) | Founder, Unified Support Solutions, Unified Support Solutions

## Professional Headline Ryan Ginsberg has architected complex HubSpot implementations and system integrations that drove measurable business transformation—including a 51% conversion rate increase at HR Cloud through strategic CRM migration. As Founder of Unified Support Solutions and project-based Technical Lead for The Value-First Team, he bridges the gap between strategic vision and technical reality, embedding with teams as a co-builder rather than a surface-level consultant. His breakthrough recognition: **Systems should adapt to people, not people to systems—and architecture-first design makes the difference between CRM that constrains and infrastructure that enables.** --- ## Professional Background ### From Automation at Age 12 to Enterprise Systems Architecture Ryan's technical instincts emerged early. At age 12, helping his family run seven Subway franchises, he started programming custom scripts to automate franchise reporting tasks and leverage data for better customer insights—far before it was the norm. This childhood experience shaped a fundamental belief: **automation should serve humans, not replace them.** At HR Cloud (a VC-backed HR software startup), Ryan led a 7-person Customer Support and Implementations team. During his 3-year tenure, he achieved a 98% retention rate while managing multiple overseas development teams to coordinate product improvements. The defining achievement: **migrating the company from Salesforce to HubSpot and driving a 51% increase in conversion rate** through strategic CRM architecture rather than just system switching. His path included deep experience with Drupal content management as Support Manager at Digital Deployment (supporting 200+ clients), technical support operations, process automation, and cross-system integration expertise. Each role reinforced a core insight: **the best systems are invisible to users because they match natural workflows.** ### Unified Support Solutions: The Embedded Partner Model In January 2023, Ryan founded Unified Support Solutions with a clear positioning: **"We don't just implement—we architect and integrate your full tech stack."** The company's approach reflects his embedded partnership philosophy—working alongside teams as a co-builder, not an outside consultant who delivers and disappears. Client testimonials reveal his impact: - "Ryan's expertise has played a key role in developing features that have significantly improved our efficiency, including a powerful proximity search tool that allows us to instantly locate the nearest customers to any deal we're working on." - "He built a highly customized Stripe integration at the company level, giving us a clear, real-time view of subscriptions and invoicing directly within HubSpot—eliminating the need for constant context-switching." - "His ability to understand our unique needs and translate them into robust, intuitive solutions has been invaluable." ### Value-First Team Collaboration: Project-Based Technical Lead Ryan's relationship with The Value-First Team represents a unique collaboration model—neither employee nor traditional partner, but **project-based technical orchestration when implementations require his specific expertise.** This structure enables him to bring AI-orchestrated HubSpot implementation capabilities to Value-First client engagements while maintaining his independent consultancy. The collaboration leverages Ryan's strengths: - **Architecture-first design** that reflects business logic rather than imposing new processes - **AI orchestration** within HubSpot ecosystem to amplify (not replace) human capability - **Complex systems integration** (ERP/CRP connectivity, third-party platforms, custom APIs) - **Future-proofing approach** that moves organizations from legacy tech to scalable infrastructure --- ## Areas of Expertise **Technical CRM Architecture** Enterprise HubSpot implementations, custom object design, complex workflow automation that reflects natural business processes rather than forcing artificial stages **Systems Integration Mastery** ERP/CRP connectivity, API development, third-party platform integration (Stripe, FreshDesk, Drupal, and beyond)—making disparate systems work together seamlessly **AI Orchestration** Building AI-enhanced systems within HubSpot ecosystem that multiply human capability rather than attempting replacement **Data Architecture & Migration** Database design, data migration strategy, quality assurance protocols that protect data integrity while enabling transformation **Operations Hub Expertise** Leveraging HubSpot's Operations Hub for process improvement, automation, and cross-functional visibility **Embedded Partnership Model** Integrated collaboration with teams as co-builder—understanding context, building together, enabling internal capability **Business Operations Context** Process improvement informed by customer success operations experience, support team management, and understanding how systems serve (or hinder) daily work **Future-Proofing Strategy** Moving organizations from legacy technology to scalable infrastructure without disrupting ongoing business --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Ryan Sees That Others Miss ### Architecture First, Customization Thoughtfully Most HubSpot implementations start with requirements gathering and customization discussions. Ryan recognizes the trap: **You can't customize effectively until you understand the architecture that should serve your business model.** He begins with business logic, then designs systems that reflect natural workflows—avoiding the consultant dependency that comes from customizing before architecting. ### Embedded Partnership vs. Surface-Level Consulting Traditional consultants deliver implementations and move on. Ryan recognizes what clients actually need: **Someone embedded with the team who understands context, builds collaboratively, and enables internal capability rather than creating vendor dependency.** This isn't consulting—it's co-building with knowledge transfer built into the process. ### Systems Should Adapt to People, Not People to Systems Most CRM implementations force people to change their workflows to match the system. Ryan recognizes the fundamental flaw: **When systems require people to adapt, adoption fails and value never materializes.** His architecture-first approach designs systems that match how people naturally work—making technology invisible because it just makes sense. ### Integration Is Strategy, Not Just Technical Plumbing Organizations often treat integration as a technical task—connecting System A to System B. Ryan recognizes the strategic opportunity: **How systems integrate determines whether you have a unified business view or fragmented operations.** His integration architecture creates single sources of truth and reduces context-switching that kills productivity. ### AI Orchestration Enhances, Never Replaces As AI capabilities expand in HubSpot and surrounding tools, many see automation as human replacement. Ryan recognizes the breakthrough approach: **AI orchestration should multiply human capability by handling repetitive tasks, surfacing insights, and enabling faster decision-making—never attempting to replace judgment, relationships, or strategic thinking.** ### From Salesforce Complexity to HubSpot Clarity Organizations often assume Salesforce complexity equals sophistication. Ryan's HR Cloud experience proved otherwise: **Moving from Salesforce to HubSpot can drive better business outcomes (51% conversion increase) because clarity and usability often matter more than feature depth.** The right architecture in a simpler system beats complex customization in a powerful platform. --- ## Teaching Philosophy Ryan's approach to knowledge transfer reflects his embedded partnership model: **Hands-On Demonstration** Building live rather than showing slides—letting teams see how architecture decisions translate to practical functionality **Solution-Oriented Troubleshooting** When challenges arise, treating them as collaborative problem-solving opportunities rather than technical obstacles **Clear Technical Communication** Bridging the gap between IT language and business needs—explaining complex technical concepts in terms of business impact **Patient, Methodical Approach** Taking time to understand context before proposing solutions, avoiding the rush to customize before understanding needs **Technical Excellence with Business Mindset** Never treating implementation as purely technical—always connecting system design to business outcomes and user experience --- ## Notable Work & Contributions **HR Cloud Transformation** Led migration from Salesforce to HubSpot, achieved 98% retention rate with 7-person team, drove 51% conversion rate increase through strategic CRM architecture **Unified Support Solutions Positioning** "We don't just implement—we architect and integrate your full tech stack" philosophy serves as alternative to surface-level HubSpot consulting **SprocketPod AI Application Demonstration** Built Coffee Chat app with AI in live demonstration, showing no-code AI application development within HubSpot ecosystem **HubSpot Community Leadership** Active contributor on Operations Hub topics, custom objects strategy, complex integration challenges, and architecture discussions **Client Success Stories** Proximity search tool for customer location mapping, customized Stripe integration for subscription visibility, customer upgrade process architecture **Digital Deployment Customer Success** Supported 200+ clients with Drupal content management platform, built reputation for making customer success second to none --- ## Who Benefits from Ryan's Expertise **Organizations Requiring Complex HubSpot Architecture** Companies needing enterprise implementations beyond basic setup—custom objects, advanced workflows, sophisticated automation **Businesses with System Integration Requirements** Teams needing to connect HubSpot with ERP systems, e-commerce platforms, support tools, payment processors, or custom applications **Companies Scaling Operations** Organizations outgrowing simple tools and requiring reliable data architecture that supports growth without constant rework **RevOps Teams Implementing Advanced Automation** Revenue operations professionals seeking to leverage AI orchestration and workflow optimization for multiplied capability **Teams Burned by Previous Implementations** Organizations that experienced failed CRM projects due to over-customization, poor architecture, or consultant dependency **Value-First Client Engagements** Projects where strategic transformation requires technical orchestration to make vision operational reality **Businesses Moving from Legacy Systems** Companies transitioning from Salesforce, custom-built systems, or outdated platforms to modern, scalable infrastructure **Organizations Seeking Embedded Technical Partnership** Teams wanting co-building relationships rather than vendor dependency—internal capability building rather than ongoing consulting needs --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - Website: [unifiedsupportsolutions.com](https://unifiedsupportsolutions.com) - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/ryan-ginsberg-0b4432347](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-ginsberg-0b4432347/) - Digital Deployment: [digitaldeployment.com](https://www.digitaldeployment.com) - HubSpot Community: Active contributor on technical topics **Unified Support Solutions Services:** - Complex HubSpot architecture and implementation - Full tech stack integration (ERP, CRM, e-commerce, support platforms) - AI-orchestrated workflow optimization - Data architecture and migration strategy - Embedded technical partnership for ongoing development - Operations Hub implementation and optimization **Project-Based Collaboration Interests:** - Value-First client engagements requiring technical orchestration - Complex system integration projects - AI-enhanced HubSpot implementations - Architecture consulting for scaling organizations - Technical enablement for strategic transformation --- ## Why Ryan Contributes to Value-First Ryan's embedded partnership philosophy and architecture-first approach already aligned with Value-First principles before the formal framework existed. When he helped HR Cloud achieve a 51% conversion increase through CRM migration, it wasn't just about changing platforms—it was about **designing systems that served natural human workflows rather than forcing artificial processes.** His project-based collaboration with The Value-First Team enables a unique capability: **bringing AI-orchestrated technical implementation to strategic transformation work without creating consultant dependency.** Organizations get embedded technical partnership that builds internal capability—not vendor lock-in. Through Unified Support Solutions and Value-First Team collaboration, Ryan proves that technical excellence combined with business context understanding creates superior outcomes to either technical expertise alone or strategic vision without implementation capability. His work demonstrates that **systems integration isn't just technical plumbing—it's strategic architecture that determines whether organizations have unified business views or fragmented operations.** And that architecture-first design creates the foundation for transformation rather than just automation. --- **Your Embedded Systems Partner for HubSpot & Beyond** Building infrastructure that enables rather than constrains **Unified Support Solutions** Architecture and integration for the full tech stack behind your CRM

Bill Barlas

Panelist

Co-Founder & Solution Architect | Quick2Bid, Quick2Bid

## Professional Headline Bill Barlas proves that the most powerful CPQ implementations aren't the ones with the most rules—they're the ones that remove barriers between customer intent and deal closure. As co-founder of Quick2Bid, he's spent over a decade solving one of B2B manufacturing's most persistent challenges: how to sell complex, configurable products without complexity killing the sale. Through his Value-First Commerce show, Bill demonstrates that commerce transformation isn't about forcing business logic into system constraints—it's about designing systems that multiply natural value flow from inquiry to order. --- ## Professional Background ### The Journey to Quick2Bid Bill's CPQ journey began with a single plumbing company implementation using Blueprint CPQ (now Xait CPQ). That first project revealed a truth most vendors miss: **organizations view CPQ as a technical tool when its real value is enabling faster, more confident deal closure.** After years consulting on CPQ implementations for companies ranging from mid-market to enterprise (some exceeding $1 billion in revenue), Bill recognized a pattern. Implementations were failing not because of platform limitations but because organizations approached CPQ from the wrong angle—forcing business logic into system constraints rather than designing systems around business logic. This realization led to founding **Quick2Bid in 2021** as a consultancy specifically focused on helping manufacturers and service companies implement CPQ solutions that actually solve their problems. In less than five years, Quick2Bid became known for elegant, practical CPQ implementations that reduce implementation timelines and improve user adoption. ### Prior Experience at Zurn Industries Before Quick2Bid, Bill led CPQ implementation at Zurn Industries, a water management industry leader, where he managed the full end-to-end implementation including product models, business rules, integrations, and testing. Starting as a Senior Business Analyst and progressing to Lead and then Manager roles, he architected CPQ solutions supporting digital specification and e-commerce environments. This progression taught him that **successful CPQ isn't about building the most sophisticated configurator—it's about enabling the right level of complexity for each use case.** --- ## Areas of Expertise **Configure Price Quote (CPQ) Strategy & Implementation** Specializing in manufacturing complexity: configured products, guided selling, business rules that enable rather than constrain **Product Data Architecture** Data modeling for e-commerce, portal, and configurator environments where HubSpot (not ERP) owns the master of truth for selling **HubSpot Commerce Implementation** Quote-to-cash processes, deal acceleration, and integration with CPQ platforms **Manufacturing Sales Processes** Complex, multi-product configurations that require guided selling without overwhelming buyers **Guided Selling Engine Design** Moving from rules-heavy configurators to user-friendly guided selling based on what customers actually want **Integration Architecture** Connecting CPQ with ERP, CRM, and e-commerce platforms while maintaining data integrity and business logic **AI in CPQ** Exploring how AI transforms CPQ implementation from rigid rule engines to intelligent configuration assistance --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Bill Sees That Others Miss ### The ERP Trap You inherited product data structures from ERP systems designed for operations and inventory, not sales. Bill recognizes the fundamental flaw: **"The data is built for shipping, not for selling."** Every time your sales team struggles with configuration, it's because you're asking them to think like your warehouse instead of like your customer. ### Rules Are a Crutch When your team defaults to rules-driven configurators, they're solving for edge cases instead of core use cases. Bill recognizes what kills adoption: **"You're creating barriers when you focus on the products instead of what the customer wants."** Every new rule you add makes the next deal harder to close. ### The Complexity Paradox Your products are complex, but that doesn't mean your selling process needs to be. Bill recognizes the gap: **The distance between "our system can do that" and "should it do that?" is where real value lives.** Simple processes outperform complex rule engines. ### Data Mastery or Data Prison If sales doesn't have a clear master of product data (and it's not in HubSpot), configuration and quoting will remain broken. Bill recognizes the choice: **You're either mastering data to serve customers or imprisoned by data designed for operations.** ### The AI Disruption Nobody's Preparing For Traditional CPQ with rule engines is about to be disrupted. Bill recognizes the transformation: **AI can understand customer intent and recommend configurations more naturally than rigid rules.** The question isn't if this changes your approach—it's whether you're ready when it does. ### Speed = Trust When quoting is fast and easy, deals close faster. When it's slow, prospects lose confidence. Bill recognizes the truth: **"86% of deals stall at some point during the sales process due to slowness in quoting."** Every delay in your quote process is a vote of no confidence in your customer's eyes. --- ## The Value-First CPQ Framework Bill developed this framework in collaboration with the Value-First Team to help organizations rethink CPQ implementation: ### Core Principle CPQ should enable faster deals and customer confidence, not create barriers to closing. ### Three Pillars **1. Product Data Mastery** HubSpot (not ERP) should be the master of product data for sales and customers. When sales teams access data designed for warehouse operations, they're forced to translate between systems built for different purposes. Your CRM should own the selling truth. **2. Principle-Driven Configuration** Move from rule-heavy systems to guided selling by product attributes. Instead of building rules for every possible configuration, design systems that guide customers through principles: "What problem are you solving?" not "Which SKU combination is valid?" **3. Value Acceleration** Every configuration decision should move deals closer to closure. If a step in your CPQ process doesn't accelerate value recognition, it's friction that needs elimination. ### Key Insight "Why do we let ERPs designed for inventory management dictate how we sell? If sales is easier and the math works out, that's what CPQ should enable." --- ## Teaching Philosophy ### Elegance Over Complexity Bill's approach to CPQ implementation prioritizes practical problem-solving over technical sophistication: **Simple configurations when possible** Use HubSpot quotes for straightforward scenarios **Guided selling when complexity requires** Help customers navigate choices without overwhelming them **Configurators only when absolutely necessary** Reserve heavy rule engines for truly complex scenarios **Always start with questions, not rules** "What questions are we asking?" not "What rules do we need?" ### The 80/20 Principle in Practice "Let's solve the 80% case elegantly instead of building rules for the 20% edge cases." This isn't about ignoring edge cases—it's about refusing to let edge cases dictate the core experience. When organizations design for exceptions first, they make the common case uncommon. ### Collaborative Problem-Solving Bill doesn't impose solutions—he works with clients to understand their actual business process before designing systems. This reveals whether the problem is truly technical or whether it's a business process that needs redesigning before automation. --- ## Value-First Commerce Show **Show Focus:** CPQ, commerce strategy, and enabling customer self-service in complex B2B selling **Publishing:** Series format **Co-host:** Chris Carolan **Why This Show Matters:** Commerce transformation is where Value-First principles meet their greatest test. When selling complex, configurable products, organizations face a choice: build systems that control and constrain, or build systems that enable and accelerate. Bill's show demonstrates how the latter approach creates sustainable competitive advantage. **Notable Episodes:** **"Value-First CPQ: Designing Configuration Systems that Multiply Value"** (Episode 1, July 2025) Deep dive on how CPQ can enable rather than constrain value creation, moving from rules-driven to principle-driven configuration where product data becomes the master of truth for selling experiences. --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On CPQ Strategy:** "86% of deals stall due to quoting slowness—this is solvable." **On Data Architecture:** "Why do we let ERPs designed for inventory management dictate how we sell?" **On User Experience:** "You create barriers when you focus on products from the company perspective instead of what the customer wants." **On Implementation Philosophy:** "Elegance is the opposite of rules-driven complexity." **On AI's Impact:** "AI can understand customer intent and recommend configurations more naturally than rigid rules. The question is whether you're ready." --- ## Professional Contributions **Quick2Bid Consultancy** (Co-Founder & Solution Architect, 2021-Present) Specialized CPQ implementation consultancy serving manufacturers and service companies seeking elegant, practical solutions that improve user adoption and reduce implementation timelines **Value-First Commerce Show** (Host, 2025-Present) Educational series exploring how commerce transformation enables rather than constrains value creation in complex B2B selling **HubSpot Let's Unbox Series** "Value-First CPQ with Bill Barlas" (July 2025) - Conversation with Ethan Kopit on AI-powered CPQ in HubSpot, exploring how AI transforms configuration and quoting **The CPQ Channel Podcast** "From Blueprint to Breakthrough" (July 2025) - 30-minute deep dive on Quick2Bid's approach to CPQ implementation and the balance between Xait CPQ, HubSpot CRM, and PandaDoc **LinkedIn Thought Leadership** Regular articles on CPQ strategy, product data readiness, and implementation best practices **Zurn Industries CPQ Leadership** Led full end-to-end CPQ implementation including product models, business rules, integrations, and testing for water management industry leader --- ## Who Benefits from Bill's Expertise **Manufacturing Companies with Complex Product Configurations** Organizations selling engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, or highly customized products **Service Companies with Custom Pricing** Professional services and technical services requiring configuration of scope, resources, and pricing **B2B Sales Organizations Seeking Faster Deal Closure** Teams experiencing deal stalls during quoting and configuration phases **HubSpot Partners Implementing CPQ** Partners seeking to deliver elegant CPQ solutions that clients actually adopt **Organizations Struggling with Quoting Slowness** Companies where configuration complexity creates bottlenecks and lost deals **Companies Seeking to Improve Buyer Experience** Organizations recognizing that configuration should enable customer decision-making, not complicate it --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/bill-barlas](https://linkedin.com/in/bill-barlas) - Quick2Bid: [quick2bid.com](https://quick2bid.com) **Value-First Commerce Show:** Listen to Bill's show exploring how commerce transformation enables value creation in complex B2B selling **Quick2Bid Services:** CPQ strategy and implementation for manufacturers and service companies seeking elegant solutions to complex selling challenges **Collaboration Interests:** - Helping manufacturers solve quoting and configuration challenges - Bridging the gap between ERP systems and sales-focused tools - Exploring AI's role in CPQ evolution - Scaling elegant solutions rather than rule-heavy complexity - Mentoring next-generation CPQ consultants --- ## Why Bill Contributes to Value-First Bill's work at Quick2Bid already embodied Value-First principles before he knew the framework existed: **systems should enable natural value flow, not control it through constraints.** When he encountered the Value-First methodology, he recognized it as the articulation of what he'd been practicing—CPQ implementation that serves human decision-making rather than forcing humans to conform to system logic. His participation in the Data Summit and hosting of Value-First Commerce demonstrates his commitment to proving that commerce transformation, even in highly complex manufacturing contexts, can embrace collaborative principles over extractive approaches. Through Quick2Bid, Bill shows that elegant CPQ implementations create sustainable competitive advantage not through technical sophistication but through genuine understanding of how humans actually buy and sell complex products. --- **Value-First Commerce with Bill Barlas** Exploring how commerce systems can multiply rather than constrain value creation **Quick2Bid** Elegant CPQ implementation for complex B2B selling **The CPQ Philosophy** Elegance over complexity, principles over rules, speed over control

Klemen Hrovat

Panelist

Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer | Sellestial, Sellestial

## Professional Headline Klemen Hrovat's career path reveals an unconventional truth: pharmacy studies prepare you surprisingly well for AI-powered sales automation. Both require precision, systematic thinking, and recognition that the quality of inputs determines the quality of outcomes. In pharmacy, contaminated ingredients create dangerous products. In AI sales automation, dirty data creates worthless personalization. As co-founder of Sellestial and creator of the Contact Cleaner AI agent, Klemen proves that the future of sales automation isn't about replacing humans—it's about removing the mechanical tasks that prevent salespeople from focusing on authentic connection. His work demonstrates that when AI handles data quality and personalization mechanics, humans can finally focus on what they do best: building relationships. --- ## Professional Background ### From Pharmacy to RevOps to AI-First SaaS Klemen's journey from pharmacy studies to AI sales automation demonstrates pattern recognition across seemingly unrelated domains. After discovering that sales and revenue operations aligned better with his strengths than pharmaceutical work, he spent years building Legion agency—an email marketing and sales automation consultancy that scaled to 80 clients with a small team through custom systems. That agency experience revealed a universal challenge: **salespeople and marketers lack user-friendly tools to work at scale.** They handle personalization, data management, and follow-up inefficiently because tools either don't exist or require too much technical skill. Every hour spent on mechanical tasks is an hour not spent building authentic relationships. This insight—that technology should remove barriers to human connection, not create new ones—became the foundation for Sellestial. ### Building Sellestial: AI That Augments, Not Replaces Sellestial emerged from a simple recognition: AI makes personalization economics completely different. Traditional approaches cost thousands per campaign. AI enables personalization across entire databases for a fraction of that cost—but only if your data is clean enough for AI to work with. Klemen's approach is notably different from typical AI vendor hype. He's honest about what didn't work (11 months of wrong direction before pivoting), transparent about limitations (AI should only automate decisions you're confident about), and ethical about implementation (conservative confidence scoring that flags uncertain entries for human review). This honesty reflects his core philosophy: **AI should make humans more effective at being human, not replace the human entirely.** ### The Contact Cleaner Revolution In October 2025, Klemen launched Contact Cleaner—an AI agent that automatically identifies and fixes data quality issues in HubSpot. It fixes typos, validates phone numbers and postal codes, removes role-based emails, and standardizes names and titles. But here's what makes it different: it uses conservative confidence scoring and only makes changes when certain. This product embodies Klemen's entire philosophy: data quality is the prerequisite for everything else, and AI should augment human judgment, not override it. --- ## Areas of Expertise **AI Sales Automation Architecture** Building AI-powered personalization at scale, prompt engineering, model selection strategy, and cost optimization (achieving 96% reduction in personalization costs) **CRM Data Quality Systems** Data deduplication, enrichment, validation using AI with conservative confidence-based decision-making **Multi-Model AI Strategy** Understanding when to use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and emerging models—recognizing that model selection creates competitive advantage **Email Personalization at Scale** Technical approaches to writing personalized messages across large databases at low cost while maintaining authentic voice **RevOps & Marketing Operations** Building systems that enable sales and marketing teams to work efficiently without losing personal touch **HubSpot AI Integration** Native integration of AI capabilities into HubSpot workflows and data management **Sales Process Automation** Communication automation that augments rather than replaces human relationship-building **Ethical AI Implementation** Conservative approaches that flag uncertain decisions for human review rather than confidently making wrong decisions --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Klemen Sees That Others Miss ### Data Quality Is the Real Bottleneck Everyone talks about AI implementation and model selection, but nobody talks about the data quality prerequisites. Klemen recognizes the foundation problem: **Your CRM data is so dirty that AI has nothing reliable to work with.** The real opportunity isn't implementing AI faster—it's cleaning data first, then applying AI to actually clean data. You're trying to build on a foundation that doesn't exist. ### Personalization Economics Have Completely Changed Traditional personalization costs thousands per campaign because it requires human effort at scale. Klemen recognizes the shift: **AI makes it possible to personalize newsletters, sequences, and outreach for ~$100 per database.** If you're still sending generic emails because "personalization doesn't scale," you're operating with outdated assumptions. The economics changed. Your approach hasn't. ### The Model Matters More Than You Think ChatGPT isn't the right tool for everything. Klemen recognizes competitive advantage: **O1 Pro excels at reasoning. Claude excels at consistency. Gemini excels at different tasks.** Understanding which model to use for which task is the real competitive advantage, not just "using AI." Most organizations pick one vendor and force-fit it to every use case. That's like using a hammer for every home repair. ### Conservative AI > Aggressive AI Better to flag uncertain decisions for human review than to confidently make wrong decisions. Klemen recognizes the ethical approach: **The best AI implementation helps humans make better decisions, not pretends to replace human judgment.** Your team doesn't need AI that acts human—they need AI that makes them better at being human. ### Prompt Engineering Is an Undervalued Skill The difference between mediocre AI output and transformative AI output is often just knowing how to write better prompts. Klemen recognizes the opportunity: **This skill is more valuable than most organizations realize, and it's trainable.** You don't need AI specialists—you need people who understand your business and can communicate clearly with AI. ### Timing + Context = Relevance AI can identify the perfect moment to reach out and the perfect message content. But Klemen recognizes what matters: **Ignoring timing and context makes that AI useless.** Value-First Communication means respecting both. Most sales automation violates this principle by optimizing for volume over relevance. --- ## Value-First Shows Hosted ### VF Communication (Host) **Show Focus:** Respecting timing, context, and authentic communication in sales and marketing automation **Episode Highlights:** - **Episode 3: "Principle 3: Respect Timing"** - Exploring how AI and urgency interact in sales communication **Why This Show Matters:** Most sales automation focuses on volume and velocity: send more emails faster, automate more touchpoints, accelerate the cadence. But acceleration without respect for timing and context doesn't create authentic connection—it creates noise. VF Communication explores how AI makes it technically possible to personalize at scale while maintaining respect for human decision-making rhythms. Klemen demonstrates that **timing + context = relevance**, and that AI's real value isn't sending faster—it's knowing when to reach out and with what message. The show addresses the uncomfortable truth: your prospects aren't slow responders. Your timing is off, your context is wrong, or your message doesn't merit response. ### VF Data (Co-Host with Casey Hawkins) **Show Focus:** Data readiness, quality, and architecture in transformation contexts **Why This Show Matters:** Everyone talks about AI implementation and advanced analytics, but nobody wants to admit their CRM data is a mess. VF Data forces the conversation about what actually matters: **if your data isn't ready, nothing else works.** Klemen and Casey explore data quality as the foundation for everything else—scoring systems, AI implementation, reporting, and automation all depend on clean, structured, usable data. The show provides practical approaches to cleaning systems strategically and maintaining quality without creating full-time data janitor roles. --- ## Sellestial: AI-Powered Personalization Platform ### Product Vision Sellestial solves the personalization-at-scale problem that plagued Klemen's agency work and affects millions of salespeople: how to write personalized messages across large databases without requiring hours of manual effort or losing authentic voice. ### How It Works The platform integrates natively with HubSpot, using contact data (activity timeline, previous conversations, persona information) to generate personalized messages through AI. It employs multi-model strategy, cost optimization, and prompt engineering to maintain consistent output and brand voice. ### Key Differentiators **Cost Optimization:** 96% reduction in personalization costs vs. traditional approaches **Multi-Model Strategy:** Uses the right AI model for each specific task **HubSpot Native:** Integrated directly into existing workflows **Human-in-the-Loop:** Validation without losing efficiency **Contextual Intelligence:** Leverages full HubSpot data for truly relevant personalization ### The Honest Pivot Story After 11 months building in one direction, Klemen recognized the approach wasn't working and pivoted based on user feedback. This honesty about failure and willingness to change direction demonstrates his commitment to solving real problems over defending initial assumptions. --- ## Contact Cleaner: AI Agent for Data Quality ### Product Vision Launched in October 2025, Contact Cleaner automatically identifies and fixes data quality issues in HubSpot portals—the prerequisite work that makes everything else possible. ### What It Fixes **Typos and Formatting:** Corrects common data entry errors **Phone & Postal Code Validation:** Ensures contact information is usable **Role-Based Email Removal:** Filters out info@, sales@, contact@ addresses **Name & Title Standardization:** Creates consistency across records ### Conservative Confidence Approach Contact Cleaner uses conservative confidence scoring—it only makes changes when certain. Uncertain entries get flagged for human review. This ethical approach recognizes that **confidently wrong is worse than uncertain and asking.** ### Why It Matters Data quality isn't a one-time project—it's an ongoing challenge. Contact Cleaner acts like "a meticulous data analyst who never sleeps," continuously maintaining data quality so your team can focus on using that data rather than cleaning it. --- ## Teaching Philosophy Klemen's approach combines real-world experience with technical expertise: **Honest About Limitations** Openly admits when approaches don't work (11-month pivot story) rather than defending mistakes **Data-Driven Everything** All advice backed by actual metrics and case studies from Sellestial usage and agency experience **Practical Over Theoretical** Focuses on "here's what actually works" rather than AI hype and vendor promises **Collaborative Problem-Solving** Engages podcast hosts and audiences in exploring challenges rather than lecturing solutions **Continuous Learning** Demonstrates ongoing evolution of thinking based on user feedback and market changes **Accessible to Non-Technical Audiences** Makes complex AI concepts understandable without dumbing down the substance **Ethical Framing** Emphasizes responsible AI use and conservative decision-making that respects human judgment --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On Data Quality:** "Data quality is the real bottleneck in AI implementation—everyone talks about models, nobody talks about garbage data." **On Personalization Economics:** "Why would you only stick to sales personalization when you can affordably personalize everything?" **On Product Development:** "Honest feedback is crucial for product development and iteration." **On Contact Cleaner:** "The Contact Cleaner is like having a meticulous data analyst who never sleeps." **On Conservative AI:** "Better to flag uncertain entries for human review than confidently make wrong decisions." **On Timing:** "AI can find the perfect moment and message, but ignoring timing makes it useless." --- ## Professional Contributions **Sellestial** (Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, 2025-Present) AI-powered personalization platform for HubSpot users, enabling personalization at scale with 96% cost reduction **Contact Cleaner AI Agent** (Creator, October 2025) Automated data quality solution for HubSpot with conservative confidence-based decision-making **VF Communication Show** (Host, 2025-Present) Educational series exploring timing, context, and authentic communication in AI-powered sales automation **VF Data Show** (Co-Host, 2025-Present) Data readiness and quality strategies with Casey Hawkins **Legion Agency** (Co-Founder & CEO, ~5 years) Email marketing and sales automation agency that scaled 80 clients through proprietary systems **Podcast Appearances:** - **DealHub RevAmp Podcast** (January 2025) - "AI's Place in the GTM Tech Stack in 2025 and Beyond" - **Admin Arena Podcast** (August 2025) - Email outreach automation - **Konsyg Fireside Chat** (May 2025) - "AI Sales Secret You Need to Know" - **RevOps 500 Podcast** (November 2025) - "The Power of Honest Feedback" **HubSpot Community Contributions** Sessions on GPT models, customization, workflow optimization, and AI implementation --- ## Who Benefits from Klemen's Expertise **RevOps Professionals Seeking AI-First Strategies** Teams ready to implement AI but unclear where to start or which models to use **Sales and Marketing Teams Struggling with Personalization at Scale** Organizations sending generic emails because traditional personalization doesn't scale economically **HubSpot Users Wanting Native AI Capabilities** Teams seeking integrated solutions rather than cobbled-together tools **Organizations Navigating Data Quality Challenges** Companies recognizing their CRM data is too dirty for effective AI implementation **Sales Leaders Seeking Competitive Advantage Through Technology** Leaders who understand that AI augmentation (not replacement) creates sustainable advantage **B2B Companies with Large Prospect/Customer Databases** Organizations where manual personalization is impossible but generic communication fails --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/klemen-hrovat](https://linkedin.com/in/klemen-hrovat) - Sellestial: [sellestial.com](https://sellestial.com) - HubSpot Community: Active contributor **Value-First Shows:** - **VF Communication** (Host) - Respecting timing and context in sales automation - **VF Data** (Co-host with Casey Hawkins) - Data readiness and quality strategies **Sellestial Products:** - **Personalization Platform** - AI-powered message generation for HubSpot - **Contact Cleaner** - Automated data quality maintenance **Collaboration Interests:** - Scaling AI implementation across RevOps organizations - Solving data quality at scale with ethical AI approaches - Teaching prompt engineering as a business skill - Building human-AI collaboration models that augment rather than replace - Creating ethical AI frameworks for sales and marketing - Expanding personalization capabilities in HubSpot ecosystem --- ## Why Klemen Contributes to Value-First Klemen's work at Sellestial and his agency experience already embodied Value-First principles before he encountered the formal framework: **technology should remove barriers to human connection, not create new constraints.** When he recognized that most AI implementations violate timing and context principles—optimizing for volume over relevance—he saw the Value-First Communication framework as the articulation of what ethical AI sales automation should be. His development of Contact Cleaner demonstrates commitment to the foundational work: data quality is the prerequisite for everything else, and conservative AI that flags uncertain decisions respects human judgment rather than overriding it. Through Sellestial, his co-hosting of VF Communication and VF Data, and his honest sharing about what doesn't work (the 11-month pivot), Klemen proves that AI-powered sales automation can embrace collaborative principles—augmenting human capability rather than replacing human connection. --- **Value-First Communication with Klemen Hrovat** Exploring how AI enables personalization at scale while respecting timing, context, and authentic human connection **Sellestial** AI-powered personalization for HubSpot users who refuse to choose between scale and authenticity **Contact Cleaner** The meticulous data analyst who never sleeps

Pedro Miquellasso

Panelist

Revenue Systems Architect & Operational Design Expert, elefante RevOps

Pedro Miquellasso hosts VF Revenue Architecture, bringing expertise in revenue system architecture and operational design. With deep understanding of how commercial infrastructure enables or constrain

Rylee Powell

Panelist

Rylee Powell co-hosts VF Scoring, specializing in pattern recognition and readiness assessment methodologies. With expertise in developing intelligence systems that recognize genuine signals of intere

Tony Dowling

Panelist

Director | CONVRG, CONVRG

## Professional Headline Tony Dowling has spent years solving a problem most consultants won't acknowledge: **HubSpot implementations don't fail because of the platform—they fail because leaders won't change how they lead.** As Director of CONVRG (formerly Real Inbound Marketing), Tony specializes in helping B2B technology manufacturers close what he calls the "HubSpot Adoption Gap"—the critical disconnect between implementing CRM technology and achieving actual organizational adoption. His SIMPLIFI framework doesn't just address technical implementation. It addresses the leadership transformation required for technology to actually work. Through his Value-First Leadership show with Chris Carolan, Tony proves that successful digital transformation requires redistributing decision rights throughout an organization rather than centralizing control. The technology part is easy. The leadership part determines success or failure. --- ## Professional Background ### Closing the HubSpot Adoption Gap Since 2017, Tony has been Director of Real Inbound Marketing (now rebranding to CONVRG), building specialized expertise in B2B technology marketing with particular focus on manufacturing complexity. This isn't generic digital marketing consulting—it's deep understanding of how manufacturers need to professionalize their sales and marketing operations through effective CRM adoption strategies. Tony's breakthrough recognition came from watching pattern after pattern: organizations would implement HubSpot successfully from a technical standpoint, configure everything correctly, train their teams thoroughly—and still fail to achieve adoption. The issue wasn't technical. It was organizational. **Most consultants blame the teams: "They're resistant to change." Tony recognized the real problem: leadership behavior.** ### The Manufacturing Context Tony's specialization in B2B technology and manufacturing gives him perspective most HubSpot consultants lack. Manufacturing sales processes are complex, multi-touchpoint, often technical, and require coordination across multiple departments. If HubSpot adoption can work in manufacturing complexity, it can work anywhere. But manufacturing also reveals leadership challenges more clearly: engineering-driven cultures, hierarchical decision-making, departmental silos, and resistance to processes that feel like they constrain technical expertise. Tony's work in this context taught him that **technology adoption requires leadership transformation, not just training programs.** ### CONVRG: The Evolution The rebrand from Real Inbound Marketing to CONVRG signals the evolution of Tony's thinking. The original name emphasized methodology (inbound marketing). The new name emphasizes outcome (convergence)—bringing together sales, marketing, service, and leadership around shared CRM usage and unified customer intelligence. This isn't just branding. It's recognition that successful digital transformation requires convergence: departments converging around shared data, leaders converging around distributed decision-making, and organizations converging around customer-centric operations rather than internally-focused efficiency. --- ## Areas of Expertise **HubSpot Adoption Strategy Through Leadership Transformation** Specialized approach addressing adoption as management challenge rather than technical problem **B2B Technology & Manufacturing Marketing** Deep expertise in complex, multi-touchpoint sales processes requiring cross-functional coordination **Sales and Marketing Alignment** Uniting sales, marketing, and service teams around shared CRM usage and customer intelligence **CRM-Driven Business Transformation** Moving beyond "implementing a tool" to transforming how organizations operate and make decisions **Data-Driven Decision Making for Executive Teams** Helping leadership use CRM data for strategic decisions rather than just operational reporting **Management-Led Technology Adoption** Top-down and bottom-up simultaneous approach ensuring leadership drives adoption while teams implement practically **Cross-Functional Team Integration** Breaking down departmental silos through shared systems and aligned incentives **Change Management for Digital Transformation** Addressing organizational resistance through leadership behavior change and structural evolution --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Tony Sees That Others Miss ### The Adoption Gap Nobody Discusses Your HubSpot implementation is technically successful—everything is configured correctly, workflows work, reports display properly. But your team doesn't actually use it. That's not a training problem or a technical problem. **That's a leadership problem.** And most consultants won't tell you that because fixing leadership is harder than fixing configurations. ### Leadership Behavior Defeats Technology Every time a VP asks for an Excel export instead of opening HubSpot, they signal that the CRM doesn't matter. Every time a leader makes decisions without consulting the data, they demonstrate that data isn't actually driving decisions. **Your team is watching leadership behavior, not listening to leadership words.** Technology adoption fails when these don't align. ### The Authority Trap You implemented HubSpot to centralize customer intelligence and improve decision-making. But you're still making every decision yourself. The technology can't work when the organizational structure prevents teams from acting on the intelligence it provides. **Digital transformation requires redistributing decision rights, not just implementing new systems.** ### Manufacturing Complexity Reveals Truth If you can achieve HubSpot adoption in manufacturing (complex products, technical sales, engineering-driven culture, departmental silos), you can achieve it anywhere. Manufacturing doesn't create unique adoption challenges—it just reveals organizational dysfunction more clearly. Most companies have the same issues; manufacturing can't hide them behind simple products and short sales cycles. ### Silos Are Structural, Not Cultural Your departments don't collaborate poorly because they have bad attitudes. They don't collaborate because your systems, processes, and incentives are designed for departmental optimization, not organizational success. **You can't culture-statement your way to collaboration when structures prevent it.** ### Management Question, Not Technology Question You keep trying to solve adoption through better training, clearer documentation, more features, improved workflows. The real question is: "Are leaders demonstrating that this system matters through their daily behavior?" If the answer is no, no amount of technical optimization will create adoption. --- ## The SIMPLIFI Framework ### Framework Vision Tony developed the SIMPLIFI framework to help organizations close the HubSpot Adoption Gap by addressing both strategic leadership and practical implementation challenges. ### Framework Approach **Strategic Layer (Top-Down):** - Leadership vision and commitment - Organizational structure and decision rights - Incentive alignment across departments - Management behavior modeling **Implementation Layer (Bottom-Up):** - Practical configuration and setup - User training and support - Workflow design and optimization - Ongoing refinement based on usage ### The Unique Dual Approach What makes SIMPLIFI different: **Tony works simultaneously from the top down AND bottom up within organizations.** This ensures that CRM adoption is driven by leadership vision while being practically implemented at all operational levels. Most consultants work either top-down (strategy without implementation) or bottom-up (implementation without leadership buy-in). Tony's framework recognizes that **both are required, and they must be synchronized.** ### Key Insight Successful digital transformation requires redistributing decision rights throughout an organization rather than centralizing control. Leaders must shift from providing answers to asking questions, from controlling information to enabling access, from making decisions to empowering teams. **This is why CRM adoption is fundamentally a leadership challenge.** --- ## Value-First Leadership Show **Show Focus:** Exploring how leadership creates conditions for natural value flow by removing artificial barriers and enabling authentic collaboration **Co-Host:** Chris Carolan **Why This Show Matters:** Every organization says they want digital transformation. Most implement the technology. Few achieve the transformation. The difference isn't technical capability—it's leadership willingness to redistribute decision rights throughout the organization. **Digital transformation fails when leaders implement new systems while maintaining old power structures.** VF Leadership explores the uncomfortable truth: if you want your team to "live in HubSpot," you have to live in it first. If you want cross-functional collaboration, you have to stop making every decision. If you want data-driven culture, you have to trust the data even when it conflicts with your intuition. **The Mission:** Show how leadership can enable rather than restrict natural business processes—and why that's harder than implementing any technology. **Key Themes:** - **The Adoption Gap** - Understanding why implementations succeed technically but fail organizationally - **Top-Down + Bottom-Up** - Working simultaneously from leadership vision and operational practicality - **Distributed Decision Rights** - Moving from centralized control to empowered teams with clear accountability - **Leadership Behavior as Signal** - Every time a leader bypasses the system, they signal it doesn't matter - **Management vs. Technology** - Recognizing that adoption is a management challenge, not a training challenge --- ## Teaching Philosophy Tony's approach combines strategic thinking with manufacturing-tested practicality: **Dual Perspective** Works simultaneously from executive leadership vision AND operational team implementation **Manufacturing-Tested** Solutions proven in complex, technical, multi-department environments **Leadership-Focused** Addresses management behavior and organizational structure, not just technical configuration **Cross-Functional Emphasis** Unites sales, marketing, service, and operations around shared intelligence **Data-Driven Pragmatism** Helps organizations actually use CRM data for decisions, not just reporting **Honest About Barriers** Names the organizational dysfunction that prevents adoption rather than blaming teams **Change Management Integration** Recognizes that technology implementation requires organizational transformation --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On The Adoption Gap:** "The critical disconnect isn't between what HubSpot can do and what you need—it's between implementing the technology and achieving organizational adoption." **On Leadership:** "If leaders don't live in it, no one else will either." **On Decision Rights:** "Successful digital transformation requires redistributing decision rights throughout an organization rather than centralizing control." **On The Real Challenge:** "CRM adoption is a management challenge rather than a technology issue." **On Structure vs. Culture:** "You can't culture-statement your way to collaboration when your structure prevents it." **On Manufacturing Context:** "If you can achieve adoption in manufacturing complexity, you can achieve it anywhere." --- ## Professional Contributions **CONVRG** (Director, 2017-Present) Formerly Real Inbound Marketing, specializing in B2B technology and manufacturing CRM adoption and digital transformation **Value-First Leadership Show** (Co-Host, 2025-Present) Exploring how leadership enables or restricts natural value flow with Chris Carolan **SIMPLIFI Framework** (Creator) Dual approach (top-down + bottom-up) for closing the HubSpot Adoption Gap **B2B Manufacturing Specialization** Deep expertise in professionalizing sales and marketing operations for technical manufacturers **HubSpot Community Contributions** Thought leadership on adoption strategy and manufacturing implementation --- ## Who Benefits from Tony's Expertise **B2B Technology Manufacturers** Organizations selling complex, technical products requiring cross-functional coordination and professional sales/marketing operations **Organizations Experiencing HubSpot Adoption Failures** Companies where technical implementation succeeded but organizational adoption failed **Leadership Teams Recognizing Culture/Technology Disconnect** Executives understanding that their systems work fine but their organization doesn't use them **Cross-Functional Teams Stuck in Silos** Departments wanting to collaborate but blocked by structural barriers and misaligned incentives **Companies Seeking Digital Transformation** Organizations recognizing that transformation requires leadership change, not just technology change **Sales, Marketing, and Service Alignment Initiatives** Teams attempting to unite around shared customer intelligence and unified operations --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/tony-dowling](https://linkedin.com/in/tony-dowling) - CONVRG: Contact through company website **Value-First Shows:** - **VF Leadership** (Co-host with Chris Carolan) - Leadership transformation for digital adoption **CONVRG Services:** HubSpot adoption strategy and B2B technology marketing for manufacturers seeking to professionalize operations and close the adoption gap **Collaboration Interests:** - Expanding HubSpot adoption strategy across industries - Teaching leadership teams to enable rather than control - Bridging gap between technical implementation and organizational adoption - Demonstrating that manufacturing lessons apply universally - Creating frameworks that address both strategy and execution - Helping leaders redistribute decision rights effectively --- ## Why Tony Contributes to Value-First Tony's work closing the HubSpot Adoption Gap already addressed Value-First principles before he knew the framework existed: **systems should enable natural value flow, but leadership behavior determines whether they can.** When he encountered the Value-First methodology, he recognized it as articulating what his SIMPLIFI framework addressed: the gap between what organizations say they want (collaboration, data-driven decisions, customer-centricity) and what their leadership behavior actually enables. His specialization in manufacturing gives him unique credibility—if the approach works in complex, technical, engineering-driven environments with deep departmental silos, it works everywhere. Manufacturing doesn't create unique problems; it reveals universal organizational dysfunction more clearly. Through CONVRG, his co-hosting of VF Leadership, and his SIMPLIFI framework, Tony demonstrates that digital transformation is fundamentally a leadership challenge. The technology is the easy part. The question is whether leaders are willing to redistribute decision rights, model the behavior they expect, and create structures that enable what they say they want. His participation in the Data Summit and ongoing Value-First work proves his commitment to not just implementing technology—but transforming the leadership approaches that determine whether technology can actually work. --- **Value-First Leadership with Tony Dowling & Chris Carolan** Exploring how leadership enables or restricts natural value flow—and why that's harder than implementing any technology **CONVRG** Closing the HubSpot Adoption Gap through leadership transformation and practical implementation **The Leadership Question** Are you willing to redistribute decision rights, or just implement new systems?

Trisha Merriam

Panelist

Trisha Merriam co-hosts VF Platform: AI Data Readiness, bringing expertise in AI-powered data strategies and HubSpot platform optimization. With deep knowledge of how data architecture enables AI coll

Zach Hussion

Panelist

Founder | HUSH Revops, HUSH Revops

## Professional Headline Zach Hussion brings more than two decades of hands-on manufacturing experience to solving a problem most HubSpot consultants don't understand: **manufacturing companies need HubSpot differently than SaaS companies.** As founder of HUSH Revops—a HubSpot Platinum Solutions Partner among the top 5% of US partners specializing in manufacturing—Zach helps B2B manufacturers leverage the HubSpot ecosystem without forcing SaaS playbooks onto manufacturing realities. His breakthrough recognition: when HubSpot implementations fail in manufacturing, it's not because the platform can't handle complexity—it's because consultants try to implement SaaS approaches in manufacturing contexts. Complex products, engineered-to-order processes, technical specifications, multiple stakeholders, long sales cycles, and integration with production systems—these aren't edge cases requiring workarounds. **For manufacturers, this IS the standard case.** And it requires fundamentally different CRM thinking. --- ## Professional Background ### Building HUSH Revops As founder of HUSH Revops, Zach has built a HubSpot Platinum Solutions Partner agency specifically focused on B2B manufacturing and industrial companies. With Platinum Partner status placing them among the top 5% of US partners specializing in manufacturing, HUSH Revops delivers RevOps and HubSpot strategies backed by more than two decades of hands-on manufacturing experience. The company tagline says it all: "Elevate Your Marketing, Sales, and Service Tech Stack with HUSH Revops + HubSpot." But what makes HUSH Revops different isn't just technical expertise—it's deep industry insight that comes from actually working in manufacturing, not just consulting to it. His expertise emerged from watching pattern after pattern: manufacturing companies would implement HubSpot using standard SaaS playbooks, struggle with the mismatch between templates and their reality, blame themselves for being "too complex" for modern CRM, and either abandon the implementation or resign themselves to clunky workarounds. Zach recognized the real problem: **HubSpot works beautifully for manufacturing—when you implement it for manufacturing instead of trying to force manufacturing into SaaS patterns.** ### The Manufacturing Context Manufacturing sales present challenges that SaaS playbooks don't address: **Complex Product Configurations** Not simple SKUs but engineered-to-order solutions requiring technical specifications, compatibility verification, and custom pricing **Multi-Stakeholder Decision Processes** Engineers, procurement, operations, finance, and executives all involved—each with different concerns, timelines, and objections **Long, Technical Sales Cycles** Not 30-day SaaS trials but 6-18 month processes involving RFPs, technical validation, site visits, and production coordination **Integration with Production Systems** CRM must connect with ERP, production scheduling, inventory management, and engineering systems **Specification-Driven Selling** Success depends on technical accuracy and compatibility, not just relationship building These aren't complications—they're the job. And they require purpose-built HubSpot implementation. ### The HUSH Revops Philosophy An overwhelming 90% of manufacturers operate with sales and marketing systems and strategies that are a decade out of date, held back by limited experience, resource constraints, and resistance to change. HUSH Revops addresses this by bringing forward-thinking RevOps and HubSpot strategies specifically designed for manufacturing complexity. The HUSH positioning isn't about being quiet—it's about cutting through noise with focused, industry-specific expertise. When HubSpot is implemented correctly for manufacturing, it elevates marketing, sales, and service operations rather than creating friction. The SaaS approach tries to simplify manufacturing into standard templates. Zach's approach builds manufacturing-specific structure that contains complexity without creating constraints. --- ## Areas of Expertise **Manufacturing Sales Process Implementation** HubSpot configuration specifically for engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, and make-to-order manufacturing **Complex Product Sales in HubSpot** Managing technical specifications, compatibility requirements, and custom configurations without external CPQ systems **Multi-Stakeholder Deal Management** Tracking engagement across engineering, procurement, operations, finance, and executive stakeholders **Manufacturing Integration Architecture** Connecting HubSpot with ERP systems, production scheduling, inventory management, and engineering tools **Specification-Driven Sales Enablement** Supporting technical sales teams with tools, templates, and processes that honor engineering requirements **Long Cycle Deal Tracking** Pipeline management for 6-18 month sales processes with multiple validation stages **RFP & Quote Management** HubSpot workflows for complex quoting, proposal coordination, and technical documentation **Manufacturing-Specific Reporting** Metrics and dashboards that track what matters in manufacturing (not just SaaS metrics) --- ## Recognition-First Positioning: What Zach Sees That Others Miss ### Your Complexity Isn't the Problem—The Playbook Is You've been told your sales process is "too complex" for modern CRM. Your deals have too many stakeholders. Your products require too much technical detail. Your sales cycles are too long. **That's not true. Your sales process is exactly as complex as it needs to be.** The problem is consultants trying to force SaaS playbooks onto manufacturing reality. ### SaaS Templates Don't Work for Engineered Products Your consultant showed you beautiful HubSpot templates from SaaS companies with clean pipelines and simple deal stages. They said "just adapt this to your process." But your process can't be adapted to SaaS templates because **engineering-to-order is fundamentally different from subscription software.** You're not adapting poorly—you're being given the wrong starting point. ### Multi-Stakeholder Tracking Gets Ignored SaaS deals have 1-3 decision-makers. Your deals have engineering reviewing specs, procurement negotiating terms, operations planning implementation, finance approving budget, and executives making final calls. Standard CRM treats this as "too many contacts." **That's not too many—that's manufacturing.** Your CRM should be built for it. ### Integration Complexity Is Real SaaS companies can run entirely in HubSpot. Your production schedule drives delivery dates. Your ERP owns inventory data. Your engineering system has technical specs. Consultants say "just integrate everything!" without understanding that **integration architecture for manufacturing is more complex than the CRM itself.** You need someone who understands both systems. ### Long Cycles Aren't Dysfunction Your 12-month sales cycle seems "too long" compared to 30-day SaaS trials. Your multiple validation stages seem "inefficient" compared to self-service signups. **That's not dysfunction—that's appropriate diligence for capital equipment and production systems.** Your CRM should track long cycles well, not pressure you to speed up inappropriately. ### Technical Accuracy > Relationship Enthusiasm SaaS sales training says "build relationships and show enthusiasm!" Manufacturing sales requires technical accuracy and compatibility verification. A great relationship won't overcome incompatible specifications. **Manufacturing sales requires different skills than SaaS—and different CRM support.** --- ## Value-First Revenue Show **Show Focus:** Exploring how revenue operations can serve manufacturing complexity rather than fighting against it **Why This Show Matters:** Most revenue operations content assumes SaaS reality: simple products, short sales cycles, self-service trials, usage metrics, and rapid implementation. But manufacturing operates differently. VF Revenue addresses the uncomfortable truth: **when you apply SaaS playbooks to manufacturing sales, you're not helping—you're creating friction.** Manufacturing companies don't need to "simplify to fit CRM." They need CRM implemented for their reality. **The Mission:** Show manufacturing organizations that HubSpot can support their complexity when implemented correctly—and that "correctly" means building for manufacturing from the ground up, not retrofitting SaaS templates. **Key Themes:** - **Manufacturing ≠ SaaS** - Understanding why standard playbooks fail in manufacturing contexts - **Complexity as Feature** - Building HubSpot architecture that contains manufacturing complexity rather than fighting it - **Multi-Stakeholder Reality** - Tracking engagement across technical, operational, and financial decision-makers - **Integration Architecture** - Connecting CRM with production systems without creating data disasters - **Engineering Requirements** - Honoring technical specifications and compatibility requirements in sales process - **Long Cycle Management** - Pipeline tracking for 6-18 month processes with multiple validation stages --- ## Teaching Philosophy Zach's approach starts with manufacturing reality, not SaaS templates: **Manufacturing-Specific Design** Build HubSpot for how manufacturing actually sells, not how SaaS companies wish they would sell **Multi-Stakeholder Native** Design pipeline and tracking for 5-10+ stakeholders as standard, not exception **Technical Specification Support** Integrate specification management, compatibility verification, and technical documentation into sales process **ERP-Aware Architecture** Design HubSpot knowing it will need to integrate with production, inventory, and engineering systems **Long Cycle Optimization** Build pipeline stages, reporting, and forecasting for 6-18 month processes **Engineering-Sales Bridge** Create systems that help sales teams communicate with engineers and vice versa **Practical Over Perfect** Implement what manufacturing teams will actually use rather than "best practice" templates they'll abandon --- ## Notable Insights & Quotes **On Complexity:** "Your sales complexity isn't the problem—consultants trying to force SaaS playbooks onto manufacturing is the problem." **On Templates:** "SaaS templates don't work for engineered products because engineering-to-order is fundamentally different from subscription software." **On Stakeholders:** "Five to ten stakeholders isn't 'too many'—that's just manufacturing. Your CRM should be built for it." **On Integration:** "Integration architecture for manufacturing is more complex than the CRM itself. You need someone who understands both." **On Sales Cycles:** "Your 12-month sales cycle isn't dysfunction—it's appropriate diligence for capital equipment. Your CRM should track it well, not pressure you to speed up." **On Sales Approach:** "Manufacturing sales requires technical accuracy over relationship enthusiasm. A great relationship won't overcome incompatible specifications." --- ## Professional Contributions **HUSH Revops** (Founder) HubSpot Platinum Solutions Partner specializing in B2B manufacturing and industrial companies—among top 5% of US partners in manufacturing **Value-First Revenue Show** (Host, 2025-Present) Exploring how revenue operations can serve manufacturing complexity **20+ Years Manufacturing Experience** Hands-on industry expertise informing every HubSpot implementation strategy **Manufacturing-Specific RevOps** Purpose-built HubSpot strategies for engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, and make-to-order manufacturers **HubSpot Platinum Partner Status** Advanced certification and elite partnership tier demonstrating platform expertise **Complex Product Sales Enablement** Supporting technical sales teams without external CPQ requirements **Manufacturing Integration Architecture** Connecting HubSpot with ERP systems, production scheduling, inventory management **Long Sales Cycle Expertise** Pipeline management and forecasting for 6-18 month manufacturing processes --- ## Who Benefits from Zach's Expertise **Manufacturing Companies Implementing HubSpot** Organizations seeking to professionalize sales operations without SaaS-centric consultants **Engineered-to-Order Manufacturers** Companies selling custom or configured products requiring technical specifications **Industrial Equipment Suppliers** Organizations with long sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, and production coordination requirements **Manufacturing Companies Frustrated with CRM** Teams told their process is "too complex" when reality is their consultant used wrong templates **Technical Sales Teams** Sales organizations requiring engineering coordination and specification management **Manufacturing HubSpot Partners** Agencies seeking expertise in manufacturing-specific implementation --- ## Collaboration & Contact **Professional Presence:** - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/zacharyhussion](https://linkedin.com/in/zacharyhussion/) - Website: [hushinbound.com](https://hushinbound.com) **Value-First Shows:** - **VF Revenue** (Host) - Revenue operations for manufacturing complexity **HUSH Revops Services:** HubSpot onboarding, implementation, and training; HubSpot optimization and ongoing support; CRM migration and data integration—all specialized for B2B manufacturing and industrial companies **Collaboration Interests:** - Teaching HubSpot partners about manufacturing-specific implementation - Building frameworks that honor engineering requirements in sales - Creating integration architecture connecting CRM with production systems - Helping manufacturers understand their complexity is legitimate, not problematic - Developing multi-stakeholder tracking that reflects manufacturing reality - Supporting long sales cycles without artificial pressure to compress --- ## Why Zach Contributes to Value-First Zach's work at HUSH Revops already addressed Value-First revenue principles: **systems should serve business reality, not force businesses to conform to system templates.** His 20+ years of hands-on manufacturing experience combined with HubSpot Platinum Partner expertise revealed what most CRM implementations miss: manufacturing companies aren't "too complex" for modern CRM—they're being forced into inappropriate playbooks that don't match their operational reality. When he encountered the Value-First methodology, he recognized it as articulating what his manufacturing client work had proven: most CRM implementations fail not because organizations are "too complex" but because consultants apply inappropriate playbooks that don't match operational reality. His specialization in manufacturing—which places HUSH Revops among the top 5% of US HubSpot partners—gives him unique perspective on a universal challenge: every industry has complexity and context that generic playbooks ignore. Manufacturing just makes this mismatch more visible because the gap between SaaS templates and manufacturing reality is so obvious. Through HUSH Revops, his hosting of VF Revenue, and his manufacturing-first implementation approach, Zach demonstrates that revenue operations should enable natural business processes—not force businesses to change their processes to match consultant templates. His participation in the Data Summit and ongoing Value-First work proves commitment to not just implementing HubSpot—but building revenue operations that honor how businesses actually operate and sell. --- **Value-First Revenue with Zach Hussion** Revenue operations for manufacturing: Building HubSpot that serves complexity rather than fighting it **HUSH Revops** HubSpot Platinum Solutions Partner: Elevating marketing, sales, and service tech stacks for B2B manufacturers—top 5% of US partners specializing in manufacturing **The Manufacturing Question** Does your CRM serve your complexity, or fight against it?