From the leaders.
Recent posts from tracked thought leaders, grouped by author. Last 7 days.
What is the best marketing play you’ve run in 2026? We are looking to feature a few B2B marketers that can share one specific campaign / play they’ve executed at work so far this year that has delivered great results. Could be an ad campaign. And influencer play. Content. Video. Heck even a sales enablement play. The catch: you have to be able to explain it and in TWO quick minutes on our Live Session (not a webinar) and then if you survive the first round you’ll have more minutes to showcase your work in front of hundreds of your peers! Leave a comment here so Marisa Forsman (Timko) and Maria Vasserman can sort through the best ones. NOTE: our preference for this session is plays from current in-house marketers. This is not out of disrespect for our agency and contractor friends - just we want specific examples in-house from companies right now!! 🗣️❤️ we have found those are the examples people want more of … “give me specific examples that you actually did at work in B2B” But if you’re not in-house and have a banger of example …. Of course we will listen …..
We know you pay for ChatGPT and Claude and Perplexity and you use Google to ask questions and you listen to seven podcasts and follow 100 accounts on Instagram. So why spend time with Exit Five? Why get our newsletter? Listen to our podcast? Spend an hour on a webinar, or get on a plane and travel to one of our events? We're a people business. We believe that there's a difference between knowledge in marketing and wisdom in marketing. Wisdom comes from having real experiences at real companies with real stakes. Someone who’s actually done the thing before, or trying to navigate the same challenge you are. We're built by a team of former marketers and over the last four years we've spent 300+ hours talking to top B2B marketers. We've had over 50,000 conversations and comments in our community. We’ve sent - I dunno - 250 newsletters and get hundreds of replies each week. We know what you need, what you want, and what you care about as a student of the craft of B2B marketing and it's our mission to help provide you with content and community that helps you grow your career -- so AI doesn't go and take all the marketing jobs...
One of the best investments I can make as a marketing leader is investing in my team's thinking…not just their execution. That's why I'm bringing my team to Drive (Exit Five) in September. Not just because the speaker lineup is incredible (although...it absolutely is!!). But because it’s rare that we get to step away from the day-to-day, learn from marketers we admire, spend intentional time together planning for what's next, and hear how other teams are solving the same problems we're facing (but maybe thinking about them differently!!) We're using the time together to: - Learn from some of the smartest minds in B2B marketing - Meet peers and people I've known online but never in person (👀 Dave Gerhardt) - Step back from the day-to-day to plan Q4 and set ourselves up for 2027 - Come home with ideas we can actually put into practice I'll admit...I'm also fully prepared to fan girl a little. Okay… yes...I'll be sitting front row for Jess Cook's session. Everything she's been building with Vector has reminded me that great B2B marketing can be both creative and memorable. I'm also looking forward to finally meeting so many of my CMO Council friends in person. If you're going to Drive, or you've been before... Who's one person I absolutely need to meet while I'm there?! #drive2026 #exitfive
One of the best investments I can make as a marketing leader is investing in my team's thinking…not just their execution. That's why I'm bringing my team to Drive (Exit Five) in September. Not just because the speaker lineup is incredible (although...it absolutely is!!). But because it’s rare that we get to step away from the day-to-day, learn from marketers we admire, spend intentional time together planning for what's next, and hear how other teams are solving the same problems we're facing (but maybe thinking about them differently!!) We're using the time together to: - Learn from some of the smartest minds in B2B marketing - Meet peers and people I've known online but never in person (👀 Dave Gerhardt) - Step back from the day-to-day to plan Q4 and set ourselves up for 2027 - Come home with ideas we can actually put into practice I'll admit...I'm also fully prepared to fan girl a little. Okay… yes...I'll be sitting front row for Jess Cook's session. Everything she's been building with Vector has reminded me that great B2B marketing can be both creative and memorable. I'm also looking forward to finally meeting so many of my CMO Council friends in person. If you're going to Drive, or you've been before... Who's one person I absolutely need to meet while I'm there?! #drive2026 #exitfive
I don't want to rush the summer, but it's almost that time of year again. We've create a new ritual - our annual event for Exit Five called Drive in Vermont. I almost made a HUGE mistake and moved this event to Boston after two successful years in Vermont, but wisely realized that Exit Five and the event being in Vermont are a big part of this product. Vermont is part of the brand. It's two days of getting outside of the office to learn and connect with peers, and it's all built off of our community - which is why this event is unlike any other in the space. It's about the people first and who's in the room vs. a software companies "user conference" (no disrespect). This year's lineup is packed with subject matter experts in marketing - here to share things they've learned about SEO, advertising, product marketing, storytelling, and strategy. You could certainly stay home and talk to ChatGPT and Claude about all of your marketing challenges ... OR you could come learn from a group of your peers and make new friends outside of work. We're expecting ~400 marketing professionals from all slices of B2B: software, hardware, manufacturing, supply chain, HR, finance, construction, and some AI I'm sure. This is my favorite week of the year; I get to MC and host the best event there is for B2B marketing professionals. Hope to see you in Vermont in September for year 3 of Drive by Exit Five. Still a few tickets available on the site now: https://lnkd.in/gPSpEWWK
HubSpot's belief is simple, to stop interrupting people and start solving for them. Halligan and Shah wrote it as a guiding principle in their inbound marketing playbook in 2009. That mindset stuck. Hubspot's alumni now include many of today's top CMOs and founders. The alumni as marketers: 1/ Dave Gerhardt (Content) Dave then built Exit Five, the largest B2B marketing community with 6,000+ members. Was VP Marketing at Drift and wrote Founder Brand. 2/ Kipp Bodnar (CMO) & Kieran Flanagan (SVP, Agentic GTM & Systems) Together they host Marketing Against the Grain, with 400+ episodes. 3/ Mike Volpe (5th employee and founding CMO) Mike grew HubSpot's marketing from 0 to 100 people. Later CMO at Cybereason. Has advised and invested in 50+ startups since. 4/ Joe Chernov (Content) Ran content at HubSpot, then CMO at Pendo, Robin, and InsightSquared. Now an operating partner at Battery Ventures. 5/ Meghan Keaney Anderson (Marketing) Led marketing at Jasper & HubSpot, now leads at Watershed. 6/ Ellie Mirman (First marketing hire) Later VP Marketing at Toast, CMO at Crayon and Mulberry. 7/ Ryan Bonnici (Head of Global Marketing) Went on to CMO roles at G2 and Later. Twice on Forbes' most influential CMOs. 8/ Jay Acunzo (Head of Content Marketing) Became one of the most-followed voices on marketing storytelling. The alumni as founders: 9/ Drift, a Salesloft company - David Cancel (CPO) & Elias Torres Built conversational marketing, sold to Vista for around $1.2B, then folded into Salesloft in 2024. After Drift, Torres ships AI for customer success teams. 10/ Crayon - Jonah Lopin (6th employee, VP of Customer Success) One of the biggest competitive intelligence platforms. 11/ Vendr - Ryan Neu (Sales) Vendr is a SaaS procurement company. It hit $1B valuation in June 2022. 12/ Reforge - Brian Balfour (VP of Growth) Built the platform every growth marketer trains on, later acquired by Miro. 13/ Metaplane - Peter Casinelli & Guru Mahendran (Founding engineers, HubSpot's CRM) Metaplane was later acquired by Datadog. 14/ Stage 2 Capital - Mark Roberge (CRO) Mark scaled HubSpot sales past $100M. Now he runs a VC firm backed by GTM operators and teaches at HBS. Nearly all of the alumni built software for marketers and GTM teams. -- Who else came out of HubSpot?
HubSpot's belief is simple, to stop interrupting people and start solving for them. Halligan and Shah wrote it as a guiding principle in their inbound marketing playbook in 2009. That mindset stuck. Hubspot's alumni now include many of today's top CMOs and founders. The alumni as marketers: 1/ Dave Gerhardt (Content) Dave then built Exit Five, the largest B2B marketing community with 6,000+ members. Was VP Marketing at Drift and wrote Founder Brand. 2/ Kipp Bodnar (CMO) & Kieran Flanagan (SVP, Agentic GTM & Systems) Together they host Marketing Against the Grain, with 400+ episodes. 3/ Mike Volpe (5th employee and founding CMO) Mike grew HubSpot's marketing from 0 to 100 people. Later CMO at Cybereason. Has advised and invested in 50+ startups since. 4/ Joe Chernov (Content) Ran content at HubSpot, then CMO at Pendo, Robin, and InsightSquared. Now an operating partner at Battery Ventures. 5/ Meghan Keaney Anderson (Marketing) Led marketing at Jasper & HubSpot, now leads at Watershed. 6/ Ellie Mirman (First marketing hire) Later VP Marketing at Toast, CMO at Crayon and Mulberry. 7/ Ryan Bonnici (Head of Global Marketing) Went on to CMO roles at G2 and Later. Twice on Forbes' most influential CMOs. 8/ Jay Acunzo (Head of Content Marketing) Became one of the most-followed voices on marketing storytelling. The alumni as founders: 9/ Drift, a Salesloft company - David Cancel (CPO) & Elias Torres Built conversational marketing, sold to Vista for around $1.2B, then folded into Salesloft in 2024. After Drift, Torres ships AI for customer success teams. 10/ Crayon - Jonah Lopin (6th employee, VP of Customer Success) One of the biggest competitive intelligence platforms. 11/ Vendr - Ryan Neu (Sales) Vendr is a SaaS procurement company. It hit $1B valuation in June 2022. 12/ Reforge - Brian Balfour (VP of Growth) Built the platform every growth marketer trains on, later acquired by Miro. 13/ Metaplane - Peter Casinelli & Guru Mahendran (Founding engineers, HubSpot's CRM) Metaplane was later acquired by Datadog. 14/ Stage 2 Capital - Mark Roberge (CRO) Mark scaled HubSpot sales past $100M. Now he runs a VC firm backed by GTM operators and teaches at HBS. Nearly all of the alumni built software for marketers and GTM teams. -- Who else came out of HubSpot?
Get in, loser, we're going to Exit Five's DRIVE conference! 😎 I've watched from afar the last couple of years, and now I'm excited to finally cross this one off my bucket list. Here's what I'm most looking forward to: 🖥️ Networking with other B2B marketers, which is harder to find than you'd think. Most conferences skew B2C, small biz, or nonprofit folks. This was one of the biggest draws for me. 👻 My girl Jess Cook is leading a brand workshop and sharing her marketing playbook. I'll be taking VERY detailed notes. 🗓️ Attending so many great sessions by Ross Simmonds, Brianna Doe, Christina Le, and so many others I could tag. 🤩 Meeting the man, the myth, the legend, Dave Gerhardt, IRL. His LinkedIn posts already keep me motivated, and I can't wait to hear him live. 🍁 Fingers crossed for early fall colors in Vermont! Are you attending? Let's make sure to connect! If not, there's still time to grab your ticket. Get all the details on DRIVE here: https://lnkd.in/eJECYuK7
Get in, loser, we're going to Exit Five's DRIVE conference! 😎 I've watched from afar the last couple of years, and now I'm excited to finally cross this one off my bucket list. Here's what I'm most looking forward to: 🖥️ Networking with other B2B marketers, which is harder to find than you'd think. Most conferences skew B2C, small biz, or nonprofit folks. This was one of the biggest draws for me. 👻 My girl Jess Cook is leading a brand workshop and sharing her marketing playbook. I'll be taking VERY detailed notes. 🗓️ Attending so many great sessions by Ross Simmonds, Brianna Doe, Christina Le, and so many others I could tag. 🤩 Meeting the man, the myth, the legend, Dave Gerhardt, IRL. His LinkedIn posts already keep me motivated, and I can't wait to hear him live. 🍁 Fingers crossed for early fall colors in Vermont! Are you attending? Let's make sure to connect! If not, there's still time to grab your ticket. Get all the details on DRIVE here: https://lnkd.in/eJECYuK7
What if your growth problem isn’t a marketing problem at all? Sangram recently shared a thought that stuck with him after hearing Dave Gerhardt make a simple but powerful point: Most B2B founders don’t have a marketing strategy problem. They have an operating system problem. That aligns exactly with what GTM Partners sees when auditing companies. The strategy is usually fine. The frameworks exist. The ideas are there. But nothing connects. Demand generation runs one play. Sales runs another. Customer Success is doing its own thing. And the CEO sits in the middle wondering why growth feels so random. The common response? Hire a new CMO. Bring in an agency. Switch channels. Six months later, it’s the same conversation. After assessing more than 2,000 B2B companies, one lesson has become clear: You can’t fix a broken operating system with a new strategy. You’ll simply run the new strategy on the same broken foundation—and get the same inconsistent results. That’s why the GTM Operating System exists: eight interconnected pillars working together. Positioning feeds ICP. ICP feeds demand generation. Demand generation feeds pipeline. Pipeline feeds revenue. When one pillar breaks, everything downstream feels it. The question every founder should ask isn’t: “What’s our next marketing strategy?” It’s: “Do we actually have a GTM operating system—or just a collection of tactics that no one connects?” Those are very different problems. And they require very different solutions. What do you think?
What if your growth problem isn’t a marketing problem at all? Sangram recently shared a thought that stuck with him after hearing Dave Gerhardt make a simple but powerful point: Most B2B founders don’t have a marketing strategy problem. They have an operating system problem. That aligns exactly with what GTM Partners sees when auditing companies. The strategy is usually fine. The frameworks exist. The ideas are there. But nothing connects. Demand generation runs one play. Sales runs another. Customer Success is doing its own thing. And the CEO sits in the middle wondering why growth feels so random. The common response? Hire a new CMO. Bring in an agency. Switch channels. Six months later, it’s the same conversation. After assessing more than 2,000 B2B companies, one lesson has become clear: You can’t fix a broken operating system with a new strategy. You’ll simply run the new strategy on the same broken foundation—and get the same inconsistent results. That’s why the GTM Operating System exists: eight interconnected pillars working together. Positioning feeds ICP. ICP feeds demand generation. Demand generation feeds pipeline. Pipeline feeds revenue. When one pillar breaks, everything downstream feels it. The question every founder should ask isn’t: “What’s our next marketing strategy?” It’s: “Do we actually have a GTM operating system—or just a collection of tactics that no one connects?” Those are very different problems. And they require very different solutions. What do you think?
We have a private group of 100 B2B VPs and CMOs inside of Exit Five that we've be running over the past 6 months. Here's what makes it different: 1. Every member has to apply so we can assess fit. It's all about who's in the room. We're building the best peer group for B2B marketing execs. I can see it first-hand. 2. After the application our Memberships Team (hi Sheery and Paige if you're reading this) reviews every applicant manually. 3. We only allow VPs and CMOs (currently in-house) at companies >$25M in revenue. 4. We don’t allow any members top 2 competitors (even though it’s not a great growth strategy to turn down great fit customers ... well it actually IS a great growth strategy... have to say no sometimes to make the product better). 5. Everyone signs an NDA upon joining. This has been huge because of the trust it creates. Execs in our community are sharing comp, equity, the CEO asking about negotiation, severance, having hard conversations with their team, etc. It is important to keep these things truly private. 6. We do a 1:1 onboarding call with every new member to learn their pain points and try to help them out right away. A big part of the product is the 1:1 match making and ways we can help our as a concierge service to these execs. 7. Our team is super close to the members - in the community everyday helping, tagging people in the right discussions, etc. We're tapping into our network and helping these top B2B marketing execs get unstuck, meet new talent, figure out which PR company those people use, find a new ad agency, etc. The team behind this is putting in a ton of work right now and I'm confident we have the best offering out there if you're a B2B marketing exec tired of talking to Claude and looking for a private, high end peer group. If you want to learn more and join us, you can apply here: https://lnkd.in/gaHhp67G Or if it’s easier, comment here / shoot me a DM and I’ll connect you with our team.
Is webinar the worst word in B2B marketing? I think it's definitely up there. You just feel your soul leave your body when you read it, webinar 🤮 Tbh I care quite a bit about video, I spent 4 years at TwentyThree talking with the world class marketers about their video strategy, even running workshops on how to do it, for some of the world's largest companies and brands. This morning I was listened to Dave Gerhardt and Matthew Carnevale on the Exit Five podcast. And I was brought right back! As Dave put it sometime during the session: "this is nearly criminal good advice, maybe I should just keep it for myself". Some of the insights Matthew came with were 🔥 And they were exactly the ones I already brought for my workshops. I love live video. And I am still a customer of TwentyThree, brought it 3 times already, since I left. I've seen the strategy work first hand. And it just really works! So how to do it well? When it comes to on-demand video, like your YouTube strategy, the thumbnail decides everything, then the sound. In live video, the email invite decides everything. You REAALLY need to give people a reason to join. There are just too many others things to do. Scarcity is not a trick. It is the whole point of live. So accept that some people will miss out, it's better in the long round. Because FOMO is real. And you want to build raving fans that share the insights, that happens only when it's live and only live. Over time, this wins. The format (live, ondemand, podcast, written, etc) is a delivery vehicle, not the idea. Please do the idea first. Sometimes the same idea could be a podcast, an article, a dinner. And why would it be 60 minutes? That's just lazy. Most of the time, 10 minutes and one useful tip, beats 40 slides and "any questions?" Matt's idea of 22 mins is great! People add 30 mins to their calendar, and they can get a coffee or a bio break before the next meeting. 22 mins also means you need to think about what you'll share and how. You can invite Nicole Kidman, or another celeb, I've heard David Beckham is up for a good deal - and hey it will probably be worth it! Even if he's speaking about email marketing. Sometimes a weekly or biweekly format is a killer, where you go really deep on a specific subject over many episodes. And please, if you find no fun in being on video, then don't do it. Just write something instead. People feel you when they join, that's the power. You can actually make people feel something. Do you agree on the webinar part? Live though, that feels so much better and real!
Everyone says B2B marketing is getting more complicated. I think it's becoming simpler. Not easier. Simpler. That might sound like a contradiction. We have more AI tools. More channels. More data. More dashboards. More automation. More content than ever before. So why do I think marketing is becoming simpler? Because AI is removing friction from execution. Need a first draft? AI can help. Need market research? AI can summarize it. Need campaign ideas? AI can generate them. Need a presentation? AI can create one in minutes. The time spent doing marketing is shrinking. Which means the time spent thinking about marketing matters more. And that's where the fundamentals haven't changed. Your customer still asks the same questions: Can you solve my problem? Why should I trust you? Why are you different? Is this worth my investment? Why should I choose you instead of someone else? AI doesn't answer those questions. You do. That's why I believe the best marketers over the next decade won't necessarily be the ones using the most AI. They'll be the ones who understand their customers the best. Technology changes. Human decision-making doesn't. Great marketing has always been about understanding people, communicating value, and building trust. AI simply gives us more time to focus on those things. Maybe we've been asking the wrong question. Instead of asking: "How do we use more AI?" We should be asking: "What customer friction can AI help us remove?" That's where the real opportunity lies. Do you think AI is making marketing more complex—or is it helping us get back to the fundamentals? #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #CustomerExperience #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalTransformation #BusinessGrowth #MarketingLeadership #BuyerJourney Karthik Srinivasan Sangram Vajre Dave Gerhardt Christopher Penn
Everyone says B2B marketing is getting more complicated. I think it's becoming simpler. Not easier. Simpler. That might sound like a contradiction. We have more AI tools. More channels. More data. More dashboards. More automation. More content than ever before. So why do I think marketing is becoming simpler? Because AI is removing friction from execution. Need a first draft? AI can help. Need market research? AI can summarize it. Need campaign ideas? AI can generate them. Need a presentation? AI can create one in minutes. The time spent doing marketing is shrinking. Which means the time spent thinking about marketing matters more. And that's where the fundamentals haven't changed. Your customer still asks the same questions: Can you solve my problem? Why should I trust you? Why are you different? Is this worth my investment? Why should I choose you instead of someone else? AI doesn't answer those questions. You do. That's why I believe the best marketers over the next decade won't necessarily be the ones using the most AI. They'll be the ones who understand their customers the best. Technology changes. Human decision-making doesn't. Great marketing has always been about understanding people, communicating value, and building trust. AI simply gives us more time to focus on those things. Maybe we've been asking the wrong question. Instead of asking: "How do we use more AI?" We should be asking: "What customer friction can AI help us remove?" That's where the real opportunity lies. Do you think AI is making marketing more complex—or is it helping us get back to the fundamentals? #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #CustomerExperience #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalTransformation #BusinessGrowth #MarketingLeadership #BuyerJourney Karthik Srinivasan Sangram Vajre Dave Gerhardt Christopher Penn
I heard myself say it on a client call this week: I don't know that marketing's job is creating inbound leads anymore. I explain why in this week's "Air Cover" edition. What is driving my thoughts? You may have guessed some of it if you've read any of my prior Air Cover editions. But these voices and studies stand out: Mimi Turner and LinkedIn's B2B Institute found 94% of B2B buying groups ask an LLM before they ever talk to sales. AI works as a retrieval system, so it can only pull what already exists about you. It builds on the zero-click reality Rand Fishkin and Amanda Natividad have been documenting at SparkToro: 68% of Google searches now end without a click. Earning influence where the audience already is, that's their Zero Click Marketing thesis, and it's the water this whole issue swims in. Byron Sharp and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute mastered the concept of mental availability, leaving us with a mantra of "Easy to mind, easy to find." Ann Handley's caution from the Clutch and Conductor State of Content report: traffic misleads when it stands alone as the measure of success. And the scoreboard I trust most right now: branded search over time. A branded search is a memory, typed.
We don't sell speaker slots at Ahrefs Evolve. Neither do we book speakers just for a big logo. Every name on our San Diego lineup this October is someone I *personally* wanted to hear speak. Some I've followed and learned from for years. Others I've only just discovered, and I can't wait to hear what they've got. ...and I'm really hoping you share my taste in speakers. 😇 🔸 Ann Handley - Digital marketing & content expert. Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Keynote speaker. 🔸 Ross Simmonds - CEO @ Foundation & Distribution.ai 🔸 Rand Fishkin - Founder of SparkToro, Alertmouse, & Snackbar Studio. 🔸 Aleyda Solís - Founder of Orainti & SEOFOMO. Co-Founder of Finchling. 🔸 Austin Lau - Growth Marketing at Anthropic, Growth Advisor for Notion, Webflow, Canal, etc 🔸 Tara Robertson - CMO at Bitly (prev. Teamwork, Sprout Social, Hotjar) 🔸 Brianna Doe - Founder of Verbatim (influencer marketing agency), Writer & Host, Stop the Scroll. 🔸 Ethan Smith - CEO at Graphite.io, Partner at Reforge, Adjunct Professor at IE Business School. 🔸 Alina Vandenberghe 🌶️ - Co-founder & co-CEO at Chili Piper 🔸 Harry Dry - Founder of MarketingExamples.com, copywriting extraordinaire 🔸 James Brockbank - Managing Director at Digitaloft (digital PR and SEO agency) ^^ If that's your kind of speaker lineup, I'll see you in San Diego on October 12–13. 😉
We don't sell speaker slots at Ahrefs Evolve. Neither do we book speakers just for a big logo. Every name on our San Diego lineup this October is someone I *personally* wanted to hear speak. Some I've followed and learned from for years. Others I've only just discovered, and I can't wait to hear what they've got. ...and I'm really hoping you share my taste in speakers. 😇 🔸 Ann Handley - Digital marketing & content expert. Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Keynote speaker. 🔸 Ross Simmonds - CEO @ Foundation & Distribution.ai 🔸 Rand Fishkin - Founder of SparkToro, Alertmouse, & Snackbar Studio. 🔸 Aleyda Solís - Founder of Orainti & SEOFOMO. Co-Founder of Finchling. 🔸 Austin Lau - Growth Marketing at Anthropic, Growth Advisor for Notion, Webflow, Canal, etc 🔸 Tara Robertson - CMO at Bitly (prev. Teamwork, Sprout Social, Hotjar) 🔸 Brianna Doe - Founder of Verbatim (influencer marketing agency), Writer & Host, Stop the Scroll. 🔸 Ethan Smith - CEO at Graphite.io, Partner at Reforge, Adjunct Professor at IE Business School. 🔸 Alina Vandenberghe 🌶️ - Co-founder & co-CEO at Chili Piper 🔸 Harry Dry - Founder of MarketingExamples.com, copywriting extraordinaire 🔸 James Brockbank - Managing Director at Digitaloft (digital PR and SEO agency) ^^ If that's your kind of speaker lineup, I'll see you in San Diego on October 12–13. 😉
Marketing without data is just guessing. This carousel was created for digital marketing agencies, growth teams, SaaS startups, and B2B brands that want to turn insights into measurable results. I design premium marketing carousel posts that simplify complex strategies, build authority, and capture attention. ✔ Modern & professional design ✔ Clear visual storytelling ✔ Optimized for LinkedIn & Instagram 📩 Open for freelance projects. Let's create content that stands out. Relevant Companies & People @HubSpot, @Semrush, @Ahrefs, @Google, @Meta, @Neil Patel, @Rand Fishkin, @Ann Handley, @Dharmesh Shah, @Ross Simmonds #DigitalMarketing #CarouselDesign #SaaS #LinkedInDesign
Marketing without data is just guessing. This carousel was created for digital marketing agencies, growth teams, SaaS startups, and B2B brands that want to turn insights into measurable results. I design premium marketing carousel posts that simplify complex strategies, build authority, and capture attention. ✔ Modern & professional design ✔ Clear visual storytelling ✔ Optimized for LinkedIn & Instagram 📩 Open for freelance projects. Let's create content that stands out. Relevant Companies & People @HubSpot, @Semrush, @Ahrefs, @Google, @Meta, @Neil Patel, @Rand Fishkin, @Ann Handley, @Dharmesh Shah, @Ross Simmonds #DigitalMarketing #CarouselDesign #SaaS #LinkedInDesign
One of the most talked-about pieces on the internet this month was The Atlantic’s The End of Reading Is Here, which argued that our appetite for deep reading is fading fast. Read it in full here: https://lnkd.in/eFsPu9dw Not everyone agreed. In her recent newsletter, marketing writer Ann Handley pushed back, pointing out that she’d read the whole thing – proof, she said, that people aren’t abandoning reading so much as getting choosier about what earns their attention. Maybe the question isn’t whether people are reading less, it’s whether we’re giving them anything worth reading. But we’re with Ann on this one. Reading is a business advantage. Build a reading habit. Read outside your industry. Collect ideas. Notice language. What are you reading that has changed the way you think? #TheEndOfReadingIsHere #LongFormContent #ReadingHabit ------------ >>> We’re Felicity and Manfreda – former journalists, now strategic storytellers. Salt & Sage exists to make your brand stand out. If you want thoughtful content marketing analysis and practical storytelling insights, sign up to The Smudge, our weekly email with editorial edge: http://bit.ly/4gYU1aP <<< 🔔Ring our bell so you don't miss our salty musings🔔
One of the most talked-about pieces on the internet this month was The Atlantic’s The End of Reading Is Here, which argued that our appetite for deep reading is fading fast. Read it in full here: https://lnkd.in/eFsPu9dw Not everyone agreed. In her recent newsletter, marketing writer Ann Handley pushed back, pointing out that she’d read the whole thing – proof, she said, that people aren’t abandoning reading so much as getting choosier about what earns their attention. Maybe the question isn’t whether people are reading less, it’s whether we’re giving them anything worth reading. But we’re with Ann on this one. Reading is a business advantage. Build a reading habit. Read outside your industry. Collect ideas. Notice language. What are you reading that has changed the way you think? #TheEndOfReadingIsHere #LongFormContent #ReadingHabit ------------ >>> We’re Felicity and Manfreda – former journalists, now strategic storytellers. Salt & Sage exists to make your brand stand out. If you want thoughtful content marketing analysis and practical storytelling insights, sign up to The Smudge, our weekly email with editorial edge: http://bit.ly/4gYU1aP <<< 🔔Ring our bell so you don't miss our salty musings🔔
There are 9 books every real Content Strategist has read. Most "content marketers" on LinkedIn haven’t read 3 of them. The last 3 are must-reads for a newbie. Here’s what actually changed everything for me: 1. They Ask, You Answer — Marcus Sheridan I used to hide from hard questions. This book told me to run toward them. My inbox got 10x better after that. 2. Marketing Built on Love — Jonathan Sacks It called me out. If I didn’t mean it, people could tell. 3. Made to Stick — Chip Heath + Dan Heath I was making content people scrolled past. This taught me how to make ideas that stay. 4. The Art of Storytelling — John Walsh I learned tension beats information. Every single time. 5. Room 121 — John Simmons This book stripped my writing down. No big words. Just say the thing. 6. Content Rules — Ann Handley + C.C. Chapman This made me delete posts. A lot of them. If it doesn’t help someone, why publish it? Now the 3 that rewired me completely. 7. Content Inc. — Joe Pulizzi I stopped chasing clients. Started building an audience instead. That's what a good content does. 8. Everybody Writes — Ann Handley I’ve read both editions. The first time I picked it up, I underlined half the book. I’ve read it every year since. Oh, "Everything that the light touches is... content". My go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content. Ann writes like she’s talking to you over coffee. No ego, no buzzwords. Just: here’s how to be useful. Here’s how to be human. Her book taught me that good writing is being clear and useful. 9. Epic Content Marketing — Joe Pulizzi This is the one that made me realize content isn’t marketing alone. It’s the product. If you have no idea what exactly content or content marketing is and you hate buzzwords as much as I do, read this book. If you’re calling yourself a Content Strategist and you’ve never read Pulizzi or Handley, are you even into content? Which book would you recommend too?
There are 9 books every real Content Strategist has read. Most "content marketers" on LinkedIn haven’t read 3 of them. The last 3 are must-reads for a newbie. Here’s what actually changed everything for me: 1. They Ask, You Answer — Marcus Sheridan I used to hide from hard questions. This book told me to run toward them. My inbox got 10x better after that. 2. Marketing Built on Love — Jonathan Sacks It called me out. If I didn’t mean it, people could tell. 3. Made to Stick — Chip Heath + Dan Heath I was making content people scrolled past. This taught me how to make ideas that stay. 4. The Art of Storytelling — John Walsh I learned tension beats information. Every single time. 5. Room 121 — John Simmons This book stripped my writing down. No big words. Just say the thing. 6. Content Rules — Ann Handley + C.C. Chapman This made me delete posts. A lot of them. If it doesn’t help someone, why publish it? Now the 3 that rewired me completely. 7. Content Inc. — Joe Pulizzi I stopped chasing clients. Started building an audience instead. That's what a good content does. 8. Everybody Writes — Ann Handley I’ve read both editions. The first time I picked it up, I underlined half the book. I’ve read it every year since. Oh, "Everything that the light touches is... content". My go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content. Ann writes like she’s talking to you over coffee. No ego, no buzzwords. Just: here’s how to be useful. Here’s how to be human. Her book taught me that good writing is being clear and useful. 9. Epic Content Marketing — Joe Pulizzi This is the one that made me realize content isn’t marketing alone. It’s the product. If you have no idea what exactly content or content marketing is and you hate buzzwords as much as I do, read this book. If you’re calling yourself a Content Strategist and you’ve never read Pulizzi or Handley, are you even into content? Which book would you recommend too?
If you're in B2B Marketing, you know that the buyer funnel is not *actually* a funnel anymore. What's a better analogy? A swamp? A maze? A group project with no project manager? Paul Ince thinks the buyer journey is more of a mysterious pit filled with detours, doubts, rogue stakeholders, and vanishing budgets. And at B2B Forum, he's teaching a day-long workshop to help! He'll be outfitted with a hazmat suit and pickaxe to help YOU uncover your buyers and then help them through the chaotic journey they actually take. You'll understand how to map the content, perspectives, and proof your buyers need at every messy stage. It’s not pretty down there. But Paul’s got you. Come learn from him during his day-long workshop in Boston: https://lnkd.in/gAAZDayQ #MPB2B #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #BuyerJourney #B2BForum Ann Handley
If you're in B2B Marketing, you know that the buyer funnel is not *actually* a funnel anymore. What's a better analogy? A swamp? A maze? A group project with no project manager? Paul Ince thinks the buyer journey is more of a mysterious pit filled with detours, doubts, rogue stakeholders, and vanishing budgets. And at B2B Forum, he's teaching a day-long workshop to help! He'll be outfitted with a hazmat suit and pickaxe to help YOU uncover your buyers and then help them through the chaotic journey they actually take. You'll understand how to map the content, perspectives, and proof your buyers need at every messy stage. It’s not pretty down there. But Paul’s got you. Come learn from him during his day-long workshop in Boston: https://lnkd.in/gAAZDayQ #MPB2B #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #BuyerJourney #B2BForum Ann Handley
Would you take a page out of Taylor Swift's book for your marketing strategy? According to Ann Handley, you definitely should and here's how. Taylor writes about her own life and somehow makes you feel like she's writing about yours. That's the standard we all need to hold our content to now that AI has made passable content virtually invisible. The content that captures audience's attention and hearts isn't built for everyone. It's hyper specific. It's rooted in actual, individual experience. And that's what makes it universal. Is the marketing industry ready to get bravely specific or are we still afraid to shake off the generic? Drop your thoughts below.
Would you take a page out of Taylor Swift's book for your marketing strategy? According to Ann Handley, you definitely should and here's how. Taylor writes about her own life and somehow makes you feel like she's writing about yours. That's the standard we all need to hold our content to now that AI has made passable content virtually invisible. The content that captures audience's attention and hearts isn't built for everyone. It's hyper specific. It's rooted in actual, individual experience. And that's what makes it universal. Is the marketing industry ready to get bravely specific or are we still afraid to shake off the generic? Drop your thoughts below.
Would you like medical device technical documentation, software project workflows or construction specifications to be TikToks or Reels? Sound much more engaging and basically fun, right? Hold my coffee 😉 Today I read Ann Handley's newsletter. She was pitching that The Atlantic shared that reading is dead, which is honestly a shame for any content and marketing go-getter. The Atlantic article is 5,500 words long btw :) And here it is AGAIN: reading is dying, long form is not engaging, AI is replacing writers... and Shorts, Reels and TikToks now rule the world. I can agree with one thing, which Ann actually highlighted so nicely: faster formats don't automatically destroy reading, they change it. People are deliberately choosing long form, on purpose, because they recognise what it does for them that social scrolling does not. One of the dozen things fast formats can't do for us is depth. When we assume reading is dying, not only because of short-form content but also because AI slop "helps" so much, then we as B2B marketers should also assume that construction companies, medical equipment & hardware producers and software development teams should now start their TikTok channels to make documentation, specification and assessment materials "engaging". Well. It might be a real revolution in B2B marketing. 😁 But there is something we miss at its core. The trend of independence is looming too. While many marketing strategies eliminate early sales contact, prospects prefer to educate themselves independently. They actually WANT to change the gear to speed 5 and read several long materials steadily. They want the undistracted depth: understand the offer without emotional interactions or hard pitches. And actually they don't need "synergize", "streamline", "all-in-one solution". They just need what they need 😁
Would you like medical device technical documentation, software project workflows or construction specifications to be TikToks or Reels? Sound much more engaging and basically fun, right? Hold my coffee 😉 Today I read Ann Handley's newsletter. She was pitching that The Atlantic shared that reading is dead, which is honestly a shame for any content and marketing go-getter. The Atlantic article is 5,500 words long btw :) And here it is AGAIN: reading is dying, long form is not engaging, AI is replacing writers... and Shorts, Reels and TikToks now rule the world. I can agree with one thing, which Ann actually highlighted so nicely: faster formats don't automatically destroy reading, they change it. People are deliberately choosing long form, on purpose, because they recognise what it does for them that social scrolling does not. One of the dozen things fast formats can't do for us is depth. When we assume reading is dying, not only because of short-form content but also because AI slop "helps" so much, then we as B2B marketers should also assume that construction companies, medical equipment & hardware producers and software development teams should now start their TikTok channels to make documentation, specification and assessment materials "engaging". Well. It might be a real revolution in B2B marketing. 😁 But there is something we miss at its core. The trend of independence is looming too. While many marketing strategies eliminate early sales contact, prospects prefer to educate themselves independently. They actually WANT to change the gear to speed 5 and read several long materials steadily. They want the undistracted depth: understand the offer without emotional interactions or hard pitches. And actually they don't need "synergize", "streamline", "all-in-one solution". They just need what they need 😁
We’re proud to see Tokenized listed as No1 Stablecoin Podcast out of the 11 best shows in the space by Feedspot . To be at the very top of a list this competitive, in a category moving as fast as this one, means a lot to us. When we started Tokenized, the bet was simple: stablecoins and the tokenization of real-world assets are the future of how money and markets work. Every week since, Simon Taylor and Cuy Sheffield (Head of Crypto at Visa) have sat down with the sharpest guests in the industry - the founders, operators, bankers, and builders actually shipping this stuff to break down the news, the market moves, and the ideas shaping onchain finance. The operators' view of where finance is really heading. Thank you for tuning in every week, for sharing episodes with your teams, for the DMs and the debates, and for pushing us to the top of the list. If you care about the future of money where stablecoins go next, how banks and fintechs are moving onchain, and what it all means for payments and markets this is the show for you. Not subscribed yet? Now's the time. Stalk all our previous podcasts at your favourite streaming platform or just go to Tokenizedpod.com
Preservation Capital Partners closed PCP Fund III at its €877m hard cap this week, oversubscribed in six months. The raise proves the financial services PE thesis. The leadership transition in every business PCP acquires next is the harder conversation. Jatender Aujla, Founder and Managing Partner at PCP, said: "To reach our hard cap on an oversubscribed basis within six months, against a difficult market backdrop, is a strong endorsement of our team, our strategy and the relationships we have built." PCP invests exclusively in European mid-market financial and business services: insurance distribution, B2B fintech, asset management platforms, payments firms, financial intermediaries. These are regulated or principal-risk businesses operating inside precisely defined risk frameworks. Their management teams were built for a specific operating environment. In the 2015-2022 era, the defining discipline in a regulated financial services business was compliance-led organic growth. The CFO who thrived was the one who kept the capital ratios clean, managed the FCA relationship, and delivered predictable revenue inside an approved risk framework. The CEO who built a track record was the one who maintained regulatory continuity and grew steadily without testing the boundaries of the permission set. Neither was calibrated for a leveraged capital structure, a four-year exit timeline, or a quarterly investment committee. PCP Fund III deploying at nearly double the capital of its predecessor means more first institutional PE majority investments in European financial services businesses over the next 24 months than at any prior point in the firm's history. In each one, the same transition will unfold. A CFO who has never negotiated covenant headroom does not know how to structure that conversation with a lender when EBITDA misses in quarter three. A CEO who has never been accountable to a PE sponsor board does not know how to translate business-as-usual performance into value-creation language. These are not capability gaps. They are operating context gaps. The distinction matters because the remedy is different. At HMN Capital, we are running CFO and CEO mandates in regulated financial services businesses where the brief centres on demonstrated PE operating context rather than sector expertise alone. In financial services PE, those are rarely the same candidate. Happy to share what a well-scoped executive brief looks like for a regulated financial services business entering PE ownership for the first time. #PrivateEquity #ExecutiveSearch #FinancialServices #CFOSearch #EuropeanPE #MidMarket #PEBacked #CFO #LeadershipHiring #AssetLight #HMNCapital
Morning headline I saw from Reuters, after Simon Taylor’s post first put it on my radar: “Stripe, Advent offer to buy PayPal for more than $53 billion, sources say.” Interesting timing, just as I pondered last week about H2 and what it will mean for us. My first thought wasn’t, “Will this deal happen?” It was, “Maybe I wasn’t imagining where Stripe has been heading.” A few months ago, when the first rumors started circling, I wrote that I was less interested in the acquisition itself than in what Stripe’s positioning had been telling us. As a marketer, I spend a lot of time paying attention to how companies talk about themselves. Messaging giving us a view into strategic direction. Over the last year, I kept coming back to Link. The product, the hiring and the way Stripe was talking about consumer experience alongside merchant infrastructure. It made me wonder if they were thinking beyond being the best payments rails and toward owning more of the relationship between consumers, merchants, and platforms. Maybe this deal happens. Maybe it doesn’t. But it’s another reminder that positioning isn’t just marketing. Sometimes it’s one of the earliest signals of strategy. #fintech #payments #mergerandacquisitions #Stripe #Paypal #KuriouslyKathy *Views expressed are my own.
PayPal shares surged more than 15% in premarket trading to $54.57 after Reuters and the Financial Times reported that Stripe and Advent International had jointly offered more than $53 billion for the payments company. The proposed $60.50-per-share bid, submitted earlier this month, represents a near 28% premium to PayPal’s Tuesday close. It remains below the stock’s $78.22 level a year ago and less than one-fifth of its July 2021 peak of $308.52. Stripe and Advent would hold equal stakes under the reported structure. Fintech Brainfood’s Simon Taylor cited PayPal’s messy internal systems and the potential distraction for fast-growing Stripe. Great Hill Capital Chairman Thomas Hayes said the offer undervalued PayPal given its strong free cash flow and improving margins, adding that even a bid above $80 would remain well below its potential value. #PayPal #Stripe #AdventInternational #Fintech #Payments #MergersAndAcquisitions #PrivateEquity #Takeover #Markets #Stocks #Investing #FinancialMarkets #MarketNews #Premarket #DealMaking
Canada’s consumer-driven banking framework is moving closer to reality, with proposed regulations providing new details on accreditation, data sharing, security, consent and compliance obligations for participating organizations. Adam Taylor, Matt Flynn and Simon Grant examine what the proposed Consumer-Driven Banking Regulations could mean for fintechs, payment service providers, financial institutions and organizations navigating Canada’s evolving privacy and financial services landscape. Read the Insight: https://ow.ly/2Zh750ZnisA #Fintech #Privacy #DataProtection #Cybersecurity
Canada’s consumer-driven banking framework is moving closer to reality, with proposed regulations providing new details on accreditation, data sharing, security, consent and compliance obligations for participating organizations. Adam Taylor, Matt Flynn and Simon Grant examine what the proposed Consumer-Driven Banking Regulations could mean for fintechs, payment service providers, financial institutions and organizations navigating Canada’s evolving privacy and financial services landscape. Read the Insight: https://ow.ly/2Zh750ZnisA #Fintech #Privacy #DataProtection #Cybersecurity
Canada’s consumer-driven banking framework is moving closer to reality, with proposed regulations providing new details on accreditation, data sharing, security, consent and compliance obligations for participating organizations. Adam Taylor, Matt Flynn and Simon Grant examine what the proposed Consumer-Driven Banking Regulations could mean for fintechs, payment service providers, financial institutions and organizations navigating Canada’s evolving privacy and financial services landscape. Read the Insight: https://btjn.es/4pb91q1 #Fintech #Privacy #DataProtection #Cybersecurity
Canada’s consumer-driven banking framework is moving closer to reality, with proposed regulations providing new details on accreditation, data sharing, security, consent and compliance obligations for participating organizations. Adam Taylor, Matt Flynn and Simon Grant examine what the proposed Consumer-Driven Banking Regulations could mean for fintechs, payment service providers, financial institutions and organizations navigating Canada’s evolving privacy and financial services landscape. Read the Insight: https://btjn.es/4pb91q1 #Fintech #Privacy #DataProtection #Cybersecurity
Wild hiring idea! 😳 Ramp's CEO hires people who played 80 to 100 hours of Minecraft a week at 15. Eric Glyman says there's a whole community of people at Ramp they found exactly that way. His two hiring signals: 1. Evidence of a spike 2. Exceptional drive "I'm less interested in what is on the resume. I'm far more interested in proof of work." What I love about the Minecraft example is what it proves. Nobody assigns a 15 year old 100 hours a week of anything. There's no grade, salary, or certificate at the end. That's pure intrinsic drive, sustained for years, entirely by choice. You can polish a CV in an afternoon. You can't fake 5,000 hours of anything. Meanwhile we still treat gaming as the hermit hobby. The thing careers advisors tell you to leave off the application. The timing makes this bigger than a hiring quirk. Recent US grads now have higher unemployment than the workforce overall (5.6% vs 4.2%, New York Fed, Q4 2025). That basically never happened between 1990 and 2018. Credentials are inflating right as AI writes everyone's cover letter. A few thousand hours of visible work is much harder to counterfeit. I have my own version of Glyman's test: anyone who chooses to read about fintech on a Sunday morning is probably a great hire. Which has me looking at Fintech NerdCon again. It's a room full of people who spend a weekend on payments infrastructure for fun. That's evidence of a spike. I'm half tempted to run an intern wall there and see what happens. Maybe the smartest recruiting move in fintech right now is skipping the milkround and hiring the Discord mods, the GitHub gremlins, and whoever turns up to a conference on a Saturday because they wanted to be there. PS. we have the rockstar games co founder as a keynote, will have a giant arcade, smash and MK8 tournaments and more...
Wild hiring idea! 😳 Ramp's CEO hires people who played 80 to 100 hours of Minecraft a week at 15. Eric Glyman says there's a whole community of people at Ramp they found exactly that way. His two hiring signals: 1. Evidence of a spike 2. Exceptional drive "I'm less interested in what is on the resume. I'm far more interested in proof of work." What I love about the Minecraft example is what it proves. Nobody assigns a 15 year old 100 hours a week of anything. There's no grade, salary, or certificate at the end. That's pure intrinsic drive, sustained for years, entirely by choice. You can polish a CV in an afternoon. You can't fake 5,000 hours of anything. Meanwhile we still treat gaming as the hermit hobby. The thing careers advisors tell you to leave off the application. The timing makes this bigger than a hiring quirk. Recent US grads now have higher unemployment than the workforce overall (5.6% vs 4.2%, New York Fed, Q4 2025). That basically never happened between 1990 and 2018. Credentials are inflating right as AI writes everyone's cover letter. A few thousand hours of visible work is much harder to counterfeit. I have my own version of Glyman's test: anyone who chooses to read about fintech on a Sunday morning is probably a great hire. Which has me looking at Fintech NerdCon again. It's a room full of people who spend a weekend on payments infrastructure for fun. That's evidence of a spike. I'm half tempted to run an intern wall there and see what happens. Maybe the smartest recruiting move in fintech right now is skipping the milkround and hiring the Discord mods, the GitHub gremlins, and whoever turns up to a conference on a Saturday because they wanted to be there. PS. we have the rockstar games co founder as a keynote, will have a giant arcade, smash and MK8 tournaments and more...
Is it 1996 all over again? Swift just announced it’s moving its blockchain-based shared ledger into live pilots with 17 global banking giants (including HSBC , Citi , and UBS ) to orchestrate 24/7 cross-border tokenized deposit transfers. On paper, it sounds like a massive leap forward for corporate liquidity management. But look under the hood, and it feels a lot less like the future of digital assets and a lot more like a corporate Intranet circa 1996. Here is why this new launch feels like a reinforcement of the status quo rather than true innovation: ❌ The Settlement Paradox: While the messaging and orchestration happen on a private ledger 24/7, final interbank settlement still relies on existing legacy payment infrastructure. ❌ No True Interoperability: It connects siloed, bank-specific private ledgers together through a centralized intermediary, missing the point of open, permissionless network effects. ❌ The Programmability Deficit: Moving traditional fiat liabilities faster outside of business hours isn't true Web3 #innovation. It’s just extended banking hours via a shared database. ✅ The Real Vanguard ➡️ Open & Regulated Rails. If we want to actually move the digital asset industry forward, the focus should be on open-source, programmable architectures. Initiatives like #mBridge and the formalized regulated stablecoin frameworks in Hong Kong with Anchorpoint / Standard Chartered / HKT / OSL and HSBC and in Australia with Macropod are what true evolution looks like. They combine the velocity of #onchain assets with programmatic smart contracts and genuine architectural shifts. Swift is a master at protecting its perimeter, but wrapping legacy banking relationships in a #blockchain veneer doesn't make it the "internet of value". Agree, or am I being too cynical about incremental institutional progress? 👇 #DigitalAssets #Web3 #Fintech #Banking #SWIFT #Stablecoins #Tokenization Harvey L. Nick Kerigan ANZ BNY BNP Paribas DBS Bank First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) MUFG Lloyds Banking Group #future Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) #pulse Bloomberg Simon Taylor
Is it 1996 all over again? Swift just announced it’s moving its blockchain-based shared ledger into live pilots with 17 global banking giants (including HSBC , Citi , and UBS ) to orchestrate 24/7 cross-border tokenized deposit transfers. On paper, it sounds like a massive leap forward for corporate liquidity management. But look under the hood, and it feels a lot less like the future of digital assets and a lot more like a corporate Intranet circa 1996. Here is why this new launch feels like a reinforcement of the status quo rather than true innovation: ❌ The Settlement Paradox: While the messaging and orchestration happen on a private ledger 24/7, final interbank settlement still relies on existing legacy payment infrastructure. ❌ No True Interoperability: It connects siloed, bank-specific private ledgers together through a centralized intermediary, missing the point of open, permissionless network effects. ❌ The Programmability Deficit: Moving traditional fiat liabilities faster outside of business hours isn't true Web3 #innovation. It’s just extended banking hours via a shared database. ✅ The Real Vanguard ➡️ Open & Regulated Rails. If we want to actually move the digital asset industry forward, the focus should be on open-source, programmable architectures. Initiatives like #mBridge and the formalized regulated stablecoin frameworks in Hong Kong with Anchorpoint / Standard Chartered / HKT / OSL and HSBC and in Australia with Macropod are what true evolution looks like. They combine the velocity of #onchain assets with programmatic smart contracts and genuine architectural shifts. Swift is a master at protecting its perimeter, but wrapping legacy banking relationships in a #blockchain veneer doesn't make it the "internet of value". Agree, or am I being too cynical about incremental institutional progress? 👇 #DigitalAssets #Web3 #Fintech #Banking #SWIFT #Stablecoins #Tokenization Harvey L. Nick Kerigan ANZ BNY BNP Paribas DBS Bank First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) MUFG Lloyds Banking Group #future Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) #pulse Bloomberg Simon Taylor Henri Arslanian Lex Sokolin Alex Thorn
Chris Skinner invariably "calls" this stuff: "The meeting becomes proactive rather than reactive. The branch transforms into a financial health clinic rather than a transaction factory. Artificial intelligence makes every adviser dramatically more knowledgeable whilst allowing human empathy to remain at the centre of important conversations. That is a fundamentally different proposition. It also explains why banks like JPMorgan continue investing selectively in physical locations while simultaneously investing billions in AI and digital technology. They are not betting on yesterday’s branch. They are building tomorrow’s experience hub." ... nothing to add :) Kevin Smith Nicholas Collinson Mike Ozanne Martin Kearsley FinTech Futures The Future Of Banking
In 2000, I made a short film called “Vision 2020” — my picture of the world twenty years out. No smartphones. No mobile payments. Say “PayPal” and you’d have got a blank stare. Most of it happened. That’s the whole job, really: seeing the shape of what’s coming while it still sounds unlikely. Mobile banking. Digital banks. The cloud. Fintech. Now AI — and what comes after it. Boards don’t need another presentation about the present. They need someone who’s already looking at the next one. That’s what the new advisory practice is for 👉 https://lnkd.in/evJtinUK (The 2000 film is on the site, if you want to see how it aged.)
¿Hacia dónde va el ecosistema Fintech? La pregunta ya no es quién va a reemplazar a los bancos, si no quién será dueño de la confianza, la identidad y la inteligencia que moverán el dinero en la próxima década. En el artículo que les comparto, Chris Skinner plantea una idea central que puede orientar la conversación: el futuro no estará definido por una única tecnología disruptiva, sino por la convergencia de varias capacidades que se potencian entre sí: identidad digital, confianza, infraestructura basada en Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), IA, IA Agéntica y hasta la computación cuántica. Desde mi perspectiva, hay tres conclusiones especialmente relevantes para quienes trabajamos en servicios financieros: 1.- El verdadero campo de batalla ya no son los pagos. Los pagos se convirtieron en un servicio básico, un utility. La diferenciación está en quién controla la identidad, el consentimiento, los datos y la experiencia del cliente. 2.- La IA dejará de ser una herramienta para convertirse en un actor económico. Los agentes de IA comenzaron a negociar, comprar, invertir o contratar servicios entre sí, y necesitamos una nueva infraestructura de confianza, autenticación y gobernanza. 3.- El futuro pertenece a los ecosistemas, no a un producto o proveedor. Ninguna institución financiera, banco, Fintech o Big Tech, podrá construir por sí sola la próxima generación de servicios financieros. El valor se encuentra en la capacidad de orquestar alianzas, integrar capacidades y generar confianza a escala. Las Fintech ya no son Startups que desafían a la banca. Evolucionaron hacia componentes fundamentales de una nueva arquitectura financiera global, mientras que los bancos también aceleraron su transformación tecnológica y sus modelos de negocio. El sector entró en una etapa de mayor madurez, colaboración y especialización. Comparto este artículo porque nos invita a mirar más allá del corto plazo y preguntarnos sobre qué capacidades debemos construir hoy para seguir siendo relevantes mañana. ¿Cuál crees tú que será el activo más valioso en los próximos 10 años: la IA, los datos, la identidad digital o la confianza? #Fintech #Banking #Payments #DigitalIdentity #AI #AgenticAI #OpenFinance #Innovation #Leadership #FinancialServices https://lnkd.in/dFQhnx8Z
¿Hacia dónde va el ecosistema Fintech? La pregunta ya no es quién va a reemplazar a los bancos, si no quién será dueño de la confianza, la identidad y la inteligencia que moverán el dinero en la próxima década. En el artículo que les comparto, Chris Skinner plantea una idea central que puede orientar la conversación: el futuro no estará definido por una única tecnología disruptiva, sino por la convergencia de varias capacidades que se potencian entre sí: identidad digital, confianza, infraestructura basada en Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), IA, IA Agéntica y hasta la computación cuántica. Desde mi perspectiva, hay tres conclusiones especialmente relevantes para quienes trabajamos en servicios financieros: 1.- El verdadero campo de batalla ya no son los pagos. Los pagos se convirtieron en un servicio básico, un utility. La diferenciación está en quién controla la identidad, el consentimiento, los datos y la experiencia del cliente. 2.- La IA dejará de ser una herramienta para convertirse en un actor económico. Los agentes de IA comenzaron a negociar, comprar, invertir o contratar servicios entre sí, y necesitamos una nueva infraestructura de confianza, autenticación y gobernanza. 3.- El futuro pertenece a los ecosistemas, no a un producto o proveedor. Ninguna institución financiera, banco, Fintech o Big Tech, podrá construir por sí sola la próxima generación de servicios financieros. El valor se encuentra en la capacidad de orquestar alianzas, integrar capacidades y generar confianza a escala. Las Fintech ya no son Startups que desafían a la banca. Evolucionaron hacia componentes fundamentales de una nueva arquitectura financiera global, mientras que los bancos también aceleraron su transformación tecnológica y sus modelos de negocio. El sector entró en una etapa de mayor madurez, colaboración y especialización. Comparto este artículo porque nos invita a mirar más allá del corto plazo y preguntarnos sobre qué capacidades debemos construir hoy para seguir siendo relevantes mañana. ¿Cuál crees tú que será el activo más valioso en los próximos 10 años: la IA, los datos, la identidad digital o la confianza? #Fintech #Banking #Payments #DigitalIdentity #AI #AgenticAI #OpenFinance #Innovation #Leadership #FinancialServices https://lnkd.in/dFQhnx8Z
A heartfelt 🩷 thank you to everyone who joined us at the #EBA Open Forum for 👉 Securing a Bright Future for Payments 👈 on 25 June. It was a privilege for me, to moderate a morning of insightful discussions with an outstanding group of speakers and a highly engaged audience. 👏 The conversations reinforced just how quickly the payments landscape is evolving—and why strategic thinking has never been more important. Together, we explored: 🔷 The next wave of #fintech #innovation + what it means for banks, PSPs 🔷 The future of #crossborderpayments and the industry's progress towards the #G20objectives 🔷 The emergence of #tokenizedmoney, #stablecoins + #CBDCs 🔷 The evolving role of corporate treasury in a changing financial ecosystem 🔷 The battle of the rails and the changing competitive dynamics across #paymentecosystems 🔷 The growing importance of #security, #resilience and trust in an increasingly digital world One message came through clearly: #payments are no longer simply about moving money, they are becoming the #digitalinfrastructure that underpins commerce, financial ecosystems and economic competitiveness. A round of applause to our outstanding speakers for generously sharing their expertise and perspectives: Michele Centemero | Mastercard Floris Lugt | Qivalis Heiko Nix | Siemens Simon Seiter | AllUnity Chris Skinner | The Finanser Ltd Andreas Windmeier | JPMorganChase Philipp Zahn | 20 Squares A special thank you also to the 💙 Euro Banking Association (EBA) and to 🧡 Projective Group for once again supporting me to bring together such an exceptional community of industry leaders, innovators and payments professionals. And finally a special shout out to 📣 our audience who participated with thoughtful questions, lively discussions and valuable insights. Your engagement is what makes these events so worthwhile. I hope to see many of you again at our next EBA Open Forum on Digital Transformation on 16 September, where we will turn our attention to 👉 #WorkingCapital at a Crossroads: Navigating Change, Complexity and Opportunity While Defining a Strategy for the Future 👈 Thank you again for making this such a memorable event! #EBA #Payments #DigitalTransformation #TransactionBanking #CrossBorderPayments #WorkingCapital #InstantPayments #TokenizedMoney #Stablecoins #CBDC #Treasury #Fintech #Innovation #FinancialServices
A heartfelt 🩷 thank you to everyone who joined us at the #EBA Open Forum for 👉 Securing a Bright Future for Payments 👈 on 25 June. It was a privilege for me, to moderate a morning of insightful discussions with an outstanding group of speakers and a highly engaged audience. 👏 The conversations reinforced just how quickly the payments landscape is evolving—and why strategic thinking has never been more important. Together, we explored: 🔷 The next wave of #fintech #innovation + what it means for banks, PSPs 🔷 The future of #crossborderpayments and the industry's progress towards the #G20objectives 🔷 The emergence of #tokenizedmoney, #stablecoins + #CBDCs 🔷 The evolving role of corporate treasury in a changing financial ecosystem 🔷 The battle of the rails and the changing competitive dynamics across #paymentecosystems 🔷 The growing importance of #security, #resilience and trust in an increasingly digital world One message came through clearly: #payments are no longer simply about moving money, they are becoming the #digitalinfrastructure that underpins commerce, financial ecosystems and economic competitiveness. A round of applause to our outstanding speakers for generously sharing their expertise and perspectives: Michele Centemero | Mastercard Floris Lugt | Qivalis Heiko Nix | Siemens Simon Seiter | AllUnity Chris Skinner | The Finanser Ltd Andreas Windmeier | JPMorganChase Philipp Zahn | 20 Squares A special thank you also to the 💙 Euro Banking Association (EBA) and to 🧡 Projective Group for once again supporting me to bring together such an exceptional community of industry leaders, innovators and payments professionals. And finally a special shout out to 📣 our audience who participated with thoughtful questions, lively discussions and valuable insights. Your engagement is what makes these events so worthwhile. I hope to see many of you again at our next EBA Open Forum on Digital Transformation on 16 September, where we will turn our attention to 👉 #WorkingCapital at a Crossroads: Navigating Change, Complexity and Opportunity While Defining a Strategy for the Future 👈 Thank you again for making this such a memorable event! #EBA #Payments #DigitalTransformation #TransactionBanking #CrossBorderPayments #WorkingCapital #InstantPayments #TokenizedMoney #Stablecoins #CBDC #Treasury #Fintech #Innovation #FinancialServices