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by Pavilion
The #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech. Tune in to hear Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman discuss and debate the trends, news, and developments impacting the B2B tech world. Enjoy the hot takes, strong opinions, and dry humor.
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- Today1h 6m
CRM As A Business World Model: The Future For GTM Teams? | Keith Peiris, CEO @ Lightfield
Keith Peiris, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightfield, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to talk about building an agentic CRM that launched in November 2025, has been adopted by more than 5,000 customers, and just raised a $47 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz. Topics include why every system of record was really a forecasting tool, how to get reliable output from non-deterministic models, and the two reasons companies actually rip out Salesforce or HubSpot. Plus, a spirited debate on whether the SaaS partner ecosystem is dead, why AI-native deal sizes at 200-person companies can rival enterprise contracts, and how Lightfield landed on a mix of seat-based and consumption pricing. Key Takeaways: - Plan for models that will always make some mistakes. Keith builds Lightfield on the assumption that models stay non-deterministic, and calls reliability "a harness problem" that they're making fantastic progress against. - Use LLMs for insight and plain code for arithmetic. When Asad asked whether auditing AI forecasts saves anyone any time, Keith described a one-time implementation where Lightfield's head of finance checked every formula: "We converted some things from prompts to real code, right? I don't want LLMs doing math. I want real code doing math." That got the dashboards 95% of the way there, leaving the models to flag which deals were on the cusp because of missing features or competition. - Slightly better AI output won't justify replacing a CRM. After several rip-and-replace projects off Salesforce and HubSpot, Keith said marginally better agentic emails are "not a good enough reason to change a system of record." The two reasons that do move customers are believing one model of the business improves every stage of the revenue funnel, with SDRs pulling real-time case studies from customer success, and higher-level scenario planning, where "the modeling really matters. The data completion really matters." - Put predictable work in the seat price and meter the work with visible ROI. Lightfield tried both extremes, and pure consumption backfired: "It's like going to a store where everything's really expensive, that our customers didn't touch anything." The seat and platform fee now covers the core CRM, call recording, and the data model, while pipeline generation, AI workflow automations, and scenario planning run on consumption, because "most revenue leaders, CEOs… have an uncapped budget for business intelligence." Connect with the Hosts & Guests: Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Keith Peiris, Co-Founder & CEO at Lightfield - https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithpeiris/ Topline is more than a Podcast: Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Check us out on YouTube for the #1 video podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack
- 3 days ago20 min
SPOTLIGHT: What It Takes to Step into the CEO Role | Eric Anderson, CEO @ Walnut
What happens when a seasoned GTM leader becomes CEO for the first time and steps into a founder-led company with a global team? In this episode, Eric Anderson, CEO of Walnut, shares what it's really like to take over a business built by someone else. He talks with AJ Bruno about building trust across time zones, rebuilding the go-to-market motion, and making bold decisions while honoring legacy culture. From listening tours to tough calls on pricing and segmentation, Eric opens up about the challenges and wins of his first six months in the role. Eric talks about: - What it's really like to step into a founder-led company as a first-time CEO - Building trust and alignment across a global, distributed leadership team - Why CEOs need to be willing to make bold and unpopular decisions - The challenge of walking away from revenue that doesn't fit the business - How pricing and market segmentation can force difficult but necessary changes - Why rebuilding the GTM organization can unlock a company's next stage of growth Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Eric Anderson and Walnut 02:30 From GTM Leader to First-Time CEO 06:49 Leading Across Cultures and Time Zones 09:11 The Boardroom: A New CEO's Balancing Act 11:36 Why CEOs Have to Make the Hard Calls 15:00 The Cost of Trying to Serve Everyone 16:52 Rebuilding Walnut for What's Next 18:30 Where to Find Eric and Walnut Try Walnut: walnut.io
- 1 weeks agointerview1h 0m6-min read
RevOps for Hypergrowth (Fireworks AI, Perplexity, Exa & More) | CEO @ Go Nimbly, Jen Igartua
Jen Igartua, founder and CEO of GoNimbly, shares how high-growth AI-native companies like Fireworks, Perplexity, and Whisperflow are scaling revenue operations at breakneck speed despite lagging infrastructure. The key to fast ROI in RevOps lies in top-of-funnel automation, but long-term success requires embedding technical talent within a unified RevOps function—not siloed GTM engineering roles.
- 1 weeks agointerview30 min5-min read
SPOTLIGHT: Skipping the SMB Trap and Building for Big Brands | Matt Allison, CEO & Founder @ Handraise
Matt Allison, co-founder and CEO of HandRays and former president of TrendKite, discusses how AI is transforming media intelligence by automating labor-intensive analysis that once required massive human effort. HandRays leverages AI to deliver real-time narrative clustering and executive-level insights for enterprise communications teams, focusing on high-value clients like Walgreens, Hershey, and the Clooney Foundation.
- 2 weeks agoconversational1h 11m6-min read
Forget Growth. Your Valuation Depends On Your AI Story | Tomasz Tunguz, GP @ Theory Ventures
Venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz joins Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and AJ Bruno on Topline to discuss how the AI boom is distorting traditional sales metrics, reshaping go-to-market strategies, and redefining investment dynamics. He argues that current revenue surges are driven not by sales team productivity, but by a tenfold increase in enterprise demand and budgets, warning leaders not to mistake market tailwinds for operational excellence.
- 2 weeks agointerview25 min6-min read
SPOTLIGHT: Surviving the Inbox Apocalypse | Evan Huck, CEO & Co-Founder @ UserEvidence
Evan Huck, CEO and co-founder of User Evidence, shares how his team shifted from an outbound-heavy go-to-market strategy to a long-term brand and content play that took eight quarters of patience before finally accelerating pipeline growth from 150 to 450 opportunities per quarter. The key insight: brand isn’t a quick win, but a compounding investment that, when paired with a clear ideal customer profile and authentic community engagement, can unlock enterprise demand.
- 3 weeks agoconversational1h 18m5-min read
How To Make Your ARR 20% More Valuable To Investors | Keenan, CEO @ A Sales Growth Company
Revenue leader Keenan argues that not all revenue is created equal, and companies relying on heroic, reactive sales cultures — despite hitting targets — face up to a 20% valuation discount because their growth lacks predictability and systemization. True value comes from building a problem-centric operating system that focuses on outcomes, not rigid processes, enabling scalable, repeatable performance.
- 3 weeks agointerview32 min5-min read
SPOTLIGHT: AI Isn't Just Faster Translation, It's a $40B Tug-of-War for Global Attention. | Bryan Murphy, CEO @ Smartling
Smartling CEO Bryan Murphy discusses how his company leveraged the AI revolution to transform the $40 billion global translation industry. After recognizing that AI could finally close the quality gap in machine translation, Murphy led a rapid organizational pivot to integrate AI across Smartling’s platform, enabling faster, cheaper, and higher-quality multilingual content for enterprise clients like Apple, Tesla, and Disney.
About Topline
The #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech. Tune in to hear Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman discuss and debate the trends, news, and developments impacting the B2B tech world. Enjoy the hot takes, strong opinions, and dry humor.
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