the number one thing you wanna do
to connect to the market is back
to your first principles and,
and really think about the why.
Like, why do you want to
connect to the market?
Welcome to Connect to Market.
I'm Casey Cheshire.
Join the conversation with the
marketing leaders driving the
fastest growing B2B brands.
We're sponsored by Ringmaster,
building B2B podcasts and communities
to reconnect you with your audience
All right, here we go.
We are launching this thing.
This rocket is taking off, and I can't
wait to introduce my guest today.
He's awesome.
I just gotta tell you, I, I do- I don't
even know why he's talking to me, but
I can't wait to learn so much from him.
I feel like the learning and balance
going on here for everyone listening,
and myself included, I think we're
all just gonna benefit so well.
But let me tell you about who he is.
He is a seasoned 5X CMO, maybe by the
time this airs, maybe six or seven.
Who even knows?
He, he has experience, marketing
thought leader and leader, CTM member.
You might have seen him in a breakout
session, might, might have swapped some
ideas or shared some thoughts with him.
He's been a startup CEO at least
twice, and, and that's really
helped shape his thinking about
marketing leadership, strategy,
P&L, owner first kind of mentality.
We're gonna get into that.
It definitely helps, um, come budgeting
season coming up around the corner.
He has scaled revenues from 25 million to
500 million across multiple organizations.
What is that like?
We'll dig into it.
GTM advisor for Storm
Ventures, CMO at Qualio
suresh Balasubramanian,
welcome to the show.
Thank you for that warm
welcome and those kind words.
Uh, I kept looking over my shoulder
to see who you were talking about, so
Yeah, there's actually a, there's
a more seasoned CEO behind you.
I just… Bring, bring
him up to the microphone.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah, it's a pleasure to be here.
I'm really, uh, looking forward to the
conversation and, uh, yeah, enjoyed
our, um, uh, that monthly, um, podcast
that we were doing a, a few weeks back.
So yeah, thank you.
Glad to be
Yeah, it was great to have you.
That was the, uh, for those
listening, we have a, a
roundtable for marketing leaders.
We hop on a Zoom, we kick out all the
note takers, and we have just real
conversations about, you know, what
marketing needs to do these days.
So yeah, it was great having you in there.
And so now I get a chance to just
one-on-one with you, just crack open
that head and learn from your brains.
You know, I just get to
learn from you today.
So in order to ask you the first question
though, I need to elicit the help
of this giant blue foam finger here.
And I need to ask you Sir, Sir
Raj, what is the number one thing
that marketers need to do in
order to connect to the market?
Yeah, it's a great question and a
great way to start our conversation.
And, uh, you know, I, I would say that
nowadays, uh, connecting to the market
is, is really sort of the, almost
like the tale of two cities, right?
In that you have an embarrassment
of riches in terms of the kind of
signals that you can gather through
automation, through technology,
you know, just from, from sort of
putting your listening ears on.
And at the same time, it gets really
hard to sift the, uh, the, the real
signal from the noise, if you will.
And so for marketers who are listening
today, I would say the number one
thing you wanna do to connect to the
market is back to your first principles
and, and really think about the why.
Like, why do you want to
connect to the market?
Who do you want to listen to?
Be very clear about the kind of
folks, either they are influencers
or buyers or operators or users.
Be very, very explicit in terms of who
you wanna listen to, uh, why do you
wanna listen, because a lot of times you
get so enamored by the technology, the
listening technology itself, we forget.
Uh, so I would say the number one thing,
um, a, a marketer should do is, is have
exceptional clarity, especially these
days, around, um, why are they listening?
Who do they wanna listen to?
What are they listening for?
Uh, and the tools and technology
and other things will just help
you do your job better, but it's
really kind of that clarity.
It, it, it's sort of, you know, uh,
being very, very ruthlessly clear
about, um, of, of why you wanna listen.
So I would say, you know, it's, it's
back to first principles in many ways,
but just, you know, we, we just get to
do things much faster and much better.
That's, that's the secret today, so.
I love that.
Any-- Hey, you get my attention talking
about, you know, bringing things back
to first principles, just boiling it
down, getting to the, the heart of it,
and poof, man, the idea of starting
with why, who, what, and not starting
with, "I got this cool tool that some AE
sold me that blew my mind on the demo,
and I haven't even implemented it yet,
but that's gonna shape my strategy."
Why do we, we fall into these
traps where our strategy is, like,
shaped by the, the tools we have?
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's true 'cause it's,
it's the easy button, right?
It's the easy path, and it's
the shiny new thing that could
be an interesting distraction.
And I'm not saying everybody's like
that, but sometimes, you know, the,
the right things to do are actually
the hardest things to do, right?
Because you, you, you may not have
clarity, or you may have defined something
that the, the overall strategy might have
changed or, or you, you're given a mandate
that you're not quite sure how to do it.
So sometimes it's, it's the
easy button, the ver- the vendor
tries to shape your strategy.
But yeah, I would highly recommend that
go back to that first principle, uh,
and really start with the why because
a lot of the other things, um, can, can
follow from the why, but, but really,
you know, don't forget the why, right?
It's like, like if you're doing an
activity, a listening activity, if
you're connecting to the market,
uh, be brutally honest with yourself
in terms of why am I doing this?
Uh, and then that'll help declutter
a lot of the things and make it
super simple to then put the rest
of the things in place, right?
'Cause you start with the end in mind.
You're like, "Okay.
Well, I'm, I'm gonna listen because not
clear where, um, I'm gonna find my next 20
buyers." Well, if, if your why is I gotta
find my next 20 buyers, that's a much
better starting point than just saying,
"I gotta listen to the market," or, "I
gotta connect to the market," right?
So I think that's, that's the way
to put it in practice is really
write down the question in words.
use AI to write the question down,
but write down the question and
that'll, that'll really help you, start
putting the right things in place.
So
Yeah.
Beware of, uh, a SaaS app that has a
ready-made strategy that you can just
absorb into your own and make it your own.
That's… Yeah.
Um, I-- You know what?
It's such interesting… Y-you can tell
it's, it's like this first principle
thinking because it makes me pause
because, you know, we've had a lot of
podcast episodes and different people
say different things, and there's
only a coup- there's a couple where
we're not even answering the question.
We're saying befo- "Okay, you
wanna connect to the market?
Cool.
But hold on, before you even
try to do that, like, why?
Why do you wanna, why do you wanna
connect to the market?" You know?
Like, "Oh, to… I need 20 more buyers."
Oh, it's just some kind of intentionality.
Otherwise, I, I, I kind of b- when
you were describing that, I kind of
visualized myself in like, you know,
one of these like, you know, farmers
markets or like a souk somewhere or just
like, just a giant, you know, market
and you're just like people all around
you and you're like, "Don't even…
No, I'm m- Are you there for
f-food for the week or like, what?
That's
You getting a souvenir?
Like, why?
You're in the market.
You're…"
Right.
But like, why?
And, and you get lost
if you don't have it.
People will sell you tech
trinkets you don't need, and
That's
might start listening to the wrong person.
Man, all the bad things happen
Yeah.
And, and next thing you know,
um, you know, because time is
the most precious thing, right?
Like, that's another reason why
having kind of that ruthless
prioritization helps, because you
could easily blow an hour or two hours
in that market or SU- uh, browsing.
And sometimes people wanna do it
intentionally, but a lot of times if
they don't have the question figured
out, um, you've basically burnt the
most thing, which is even more precious
than, than money, which is time,
because that's not coming back, right?
So, so I think, I think part of that is,
is really the, the reason for why you
wanna be very clear about, um, why you
wanna connect to the market and then,
uh, and then find ways to effectively
connect to those things once you've got
some of those early questions answered.
So
100%. I heard you say a cool phrase.
I don't know if you just invented
this or if this is an actual, a method
for you, but ruthless prioritization.
Yes.
practice ruthless prioritization.
How can I practice that?
I feel like prioritization
is an overlooked thing, and
know,
we never have enough resources in
marketing, time, people, money, whatever
Absolutely.
Um, it's, it's one of my favorite
words actually because … Or
favorite phrases because it is hard.
Uh, it requires a lot of intentionality.
Uh, it requires clarity.
And worst of all is it requires
you to say no to a lot of things.
Um, people generally don't like to say no.
Um, but if you're a marketing leader, um,
especially if you As we all know, right,
everybody in, in the company outside
of marketing think they know how to do
marketing best, and, and they always
have ideas, they always have things.
Uh, but I think, you know, and this
is something you can practice, you
know, at whatever level you are.
You don't have to be a CMO
to be a ruthless prioritizer.
You can be doing it at, at
a mid-manager level or an IC
level to some extent, right?
Like, it may be harder to
control your time when you're IC.
But, uh, but I would say yeah, I
mean, it, it's all about clarity.
It's like, 'cause you … We, we all
have the same X number of hours in
the day, and if you're very clear on
the question you wanna answer, and you
have a certain amount of time in which
you wanna answer that question, it
helps you get very clear on how do you
prioritize your, your time and effort
to help answer those questions, right?
Or you figure out at the end of it,
you know, amount of time, you're
like, "I, I don't think this … I'm
gonna get any further," and then
you move on to the next thing.
So, but, but I think it, it just
allows everybody to, you know,
for you to operate at a certain
cadence at the organization, so.
If your no muscle, you know, is, is a
little weak and you take it to the no gym,
Mm-hmm.
are some ways that you get better at that?
Yeah, it's a great question 'cause
it's, it's a hard one and it's,
it, it does get easier, um, as you
build up more expertise or more
experience in your, um, in your career.
But I would say a lot of times, um, no
doesn't mean that you're being bad, right?
Or you're being, you know, an ass.
I'll just use that word.
Uh, no just means that you're able to
say, um, and you can say no in many ways.
I, I think the best way is to think
about where that other person is coming
from, uh, and where you're coming from.
And a lot of times, uh, when you see
that there's not quite an alignment
of what they're looking to get out
of it, what you can best do, whether
it's your particular talent, uh, your
particular skill or particular time or
priority, you got a priority in mind.
Uh, it, it's about, it's about framing
the no in a way that, um, helps the other
person understand why you're saying no.
And if at, in a, in a, in a
workplace setting, it's al- almost
often framed in the context of
some business priorities or goals.
And I would open it-- I would, I would
encourage people to approach it with an
open mind, you know, constructive mind.
Like you say, "Look, know you asked
me for this, but here's kind of why
I'm thinking it's not making a lot
of sense for me to do it this week or
next week. Help me understand if this
is, you know, I'm thinking the right
way." So you can always be, you know,
'cause it's hard sometimes to say no to
somebody, maybe somebody who's two levels
above in your organization, uh, or, or
your peer or somebody else like that.
So the situation also matters.
But I think there are ways in which
you can, um, approach and still
protect your time to d- deliver on
those prioritization, prioritize
things you need to do while
having a constructive dialogue.
And a lot of times I think
people would appreciate that.
They, they feel like, okay, the
person has a thoughtful way of
approaching and getting things done.
The flip side also matters, which
means that they know that if they
give you a task and that's a priority,
you're gonna get it done because
you're ready to say no to other
things that was not a priority, right?
So that, that works as well, so.
Okay.
Uh, man, yeah, I, and I could see even
as you were saying that, I was like,
"Okay, yeah." I, you know, constructively
done, like a good dialogue like that
can, can convey respect, and then even
if you are told no, then, you know,
it doesn't, doesn't sting as much
'cause you have the, the context there.
And, and it, it, it just
like you said, it's a muscle.
Um, you gotta give it a few tries.
First time's gonna suck.
Uh, but I would ex- I would encourage f-
folks to stay at it because this is one
of those valuable skills that it gets
better as you, as you practice more,
and it does make you, make you more
productive at the end of the day, so
Well, at the beginning we, we-- I talked
about how you've been an entrepreneurial
founder several times, and curious
how this gives you that bigger picture
of, you know, having the, the bigger
responsibility even than the CMO of saying
like, "Okay, we're growing
this organization."
Yeah
has that helped you with
ruthless prioritization?
How has it helped you with being
a, a good marketing leader?
It really helps give you the
foundational business context, right?
So if you've been in the operator
seat, um, if you've been … You
know, you don't have to be a CEO.
You could be a GM.
You could be running a, a
business unit within, uh, or a
group within a larger company.
Um, but what it does is it gives you
exposure and hands-on experience with
other aspects of the business, right?
Because marketing is obviously one
of the, the main aspects of business,
how you're gaining customers, how
you're connecting to the market,
how you are, how you're, you know,
positioning the product, et cetera.
But there are other aspects of the
business, you know, building the product,
you know, servicing the product, you know,
all the other pieces that go with it.
Uh, and, and there's, there's
finance, you know, that, that's
sort of the, the gasoline that
powers the whole engine, right?
Like, if there, there's no money and,
and no fuel in the gas tank, you know,
no matter how beautiful your car is, it's
just not gonna move from the driveway.
So being able to understand finance,
uh, and then the role finance plays.
And I know as marketers, we all
kind of have our, our favorite
finance persons in, in dartboard.
We try to throw darts at them,
be like, "Oh, these guys make
my life suck," et cetera.
Um, but I would say that in a broader
business context has helped me be
a better marketer because of the
things is allows you to build bridges
with other departments, right?
Like, so marketing
doesn't work in isolation.
You gotta connect with the product teams
to understand how products get built.
You gotta connect with the finance team to
understand how your campaigns get funded
Right
obviously is a natural
relationship, right?
So over the years I've been fortunate
to be in roles where I've had this
broader business perspective, uh,
and an operator mindset that I bring.
So I bring that to the marketing role
because I don't think of myself as,
"Hey, you know, I just do marketing
here and I don't really care. Just give
me the budget, I'll get you the leads,
and then, you know, closing business,
that's not my problem, that's sales'
problem." you think that way, you're
definitely gonna fail because you're…
That's not how real
companies operate, right?
Like, it's not that, you know, at the
end of the day the marketer will be
like, "Well, I can't close the deals.
I can't be held responsible for
revenue." Yes, at the very end stage
that makes sense, but have enough,
um, enough of a span of control,
if you will, to understand how that
machinery works so that you can do a
better job in how you're generating
pipeline, how you're generating, you
know, more qualified opportunities.
You know, et cetera.
Or how do you, um, you know, be a better
stakeholder when it comes to finance?
You know, I always say this to
folks that are, are talking about
marketing finance sort of friction.
I'm like, "If you're at a, in a CMO seat
in a mid-sized company or even a, or,
you know, mid-size, you know, series BC
startup, you probably have, you know, a
decent amount of equity in the company."
I said, "Think of, think of you are
the… You are as much an owner in that
company as you are a marketer, right?
So in a way, you wanna be a better and
a smarter, um, uh, spender of money
in marketing because ultimately it
affects your overall company's finances.
So bring that sort of operator mindset
for your marketing activities," right?
Like, that's, that's what I encourage
people to say is, "Look, don't wait
for a finance person to tell you that
you're spending too much." You should be
able to ask those questions yourself to
say, it really worth spending this much
money on this?" on not just my marketing
hat that gives you the, the quality
of that channel, but put on your, your
operator and your investor hat and say,
Right.
" Would I, spend this money?
Is this a good ROI?"
Right
um, having that experience, makes
a person a better marketer because
it, it gives them a different
lens, if you will, to look through.
Man.
It's just, uh… You know what?
You know, it's interesting that the CEO
does have e- that even larger expanse
like that, but marketing does too.
So I don't-- I feel like it, we're
not starting from zero as the head of
marketing, 'cause I feel like maybe
other than CEO marketing and maybe
finance are the only ones looking
across departments, across the customer
experience, and everyone else tends to
be kind of siloed in a particular role.
Yeah.
Marketing touches a lot of
different things, right?
And, and I think that's another
reason why if you're a marketing
leader, it really behooves you to
build those strong bridges, right?
Like build a strong bridge with
the finance leader, build a strong
bridge with the product leader.
Obviously sales and marketing,
there's gonna be a much natural
connection because they tend to
work much more closely hand-in-hand.
Um, and the r- and customer success.
I mean, as a marketer, if you're
not in, you know, strong, tight
connection with the person who runs
the customer success team, where are
you gonna get your case studies from?
Where are you gonna get your
customer stories from, right?
It's like So I think every connection, um,
has, um, real value to helping marketing
do a much better job, even to employees.
There's a lot of companies where I
worked as a marketing leader where
employee communications sort of
naturally in that, in that remit and the
bucket because they need to be able to
present a strong story to the employee.
So HR, you know, a lot of times I've
been in, in companies where HR and
marketing have had, you know, you've had
to really work that relationship and,
and nurture that for strength because
you're kind of this function that, to your
point, Casey, you're sort of a bit of a
all-rounder function, and you can kind
of play in those different areas, right?
So it's a, it's a very helpful skill
to have to build those strong bridges.
Hey marketing leaders.
It's Amanda here from Ringmaster
B2B, podcasting in today's market.
B2B buying is built on one thing,
trust, and there's no better way to
build that trust than through a podcast
that builds connection at Ringmaster.
We hope you launch and grow shows.
That will amplify your brand
and can help drive real demand.
The best part, we handle all
the heavy lifting so you can
focus on the big picture.
So if you've been thinking about starting
a podcast for your brand or taking your
existing one to the next level, visit
ringmaster.com to chat and book a call.
I mean, my next question for you
is, is really like, who are you?
Who are you?
How do you know these things?
Can you, can you take me back in
time, like little Suresh days?
Did you know you were gonna be a,
you know, five times CMO, multi-time,
you know, CEO, like just doing
things l- you know, left and right?
What was it like?
I think I've been very fortunate to, to
be, have been, uh, presented opportunities
that allowed me to make these things.
I mean, I'm an engineer by background,
so I, I, uh, grew up writing software
and I was a s- a computer science
major, so, and, and bachelor's
and master's computer science.
I, um, wrote software
for, like, five, 10 years.
So I think I have a very, you know,
engineering, analytical orientation
from a mindset perspective.
And I know we were talking before, but
you know, I used to be the only engineer
on my team who loved going to meetings.
So I was like, okay, I enjoy
connecting to customers, really
liked the, a market-facing role,
uh, moved into marketing and then,
um, ran global marketing teams
at, um, you know, large companies.
Um, but you know, one of the things that,
that's a pattern for me is I always,
uh, um, want to understand the adjacent
function, like we talked about, right?
Like
Yeah.
I wanted to understand how finance works
so that I could be a better marketer.
Uh, so I actually went and got a
finance degree, uh, and tried my
hands at building, you know, models
and financial models, et cetera.
Uh, and that really helped me, um, and
it gave me sort of the broader, um,
understanding for how to run a business.
And at Adobe, I was a GM there
for about five years, ran a global
organization and really enjoyed
building and running things at scale.
And I said, "Hey, I think I'm
ready to do a startup CEO role."
And that was like, that was, you
know, two lifetimes in, in two years.
Yeah
it, uh, zero to one twice.
Uh, and yeah, again, it gave me a
really good understanding of how uh, an
executive mindset, uh, has to operate
in order to be successful, right?
And then how does that
translate to marketing?
But I really enjoyed my role.
Uh, I like being in the marketing
role, to, to our earlier conversation,
because really is that intersection of,
you know, um, good, strong, you know,
product capabilities, understanding
the market, connecting to the market,
and then really solving these problems
for people, uh, and finding joy in when
they put your software in place and
then they turn around and they're like,
"Man, you guys really saved my butt."
Like, you know, or… And,
and, and those do happen.
I know a lot of times you hear only
negative stories, but the happy thing
about in marketing is you can hear
positive customer success stories
where, you know, they bought something
from you and, and, and their, you
know, the, their life improved, right?
Or their value improved, et cetera.
So that's, there's a
real joy in that, right?
So to me that, um, as I did that more
and more, I really enjoyed it and I kept
coming back to sort of the marketing
leadership role because it really brought,
you know, the elements I like, right?
Which is how do you understand a
particular set of capabilities, the buyer,
the market, and then how do you build a,
um, a scalable demand generation engine?
So I have experience on both sides,
and I bring the two together so
that… 'Cause it's never in isolation.
So a lot of, a lot of times, you
know, companies up with one problem.
Like, it's kind of like, you
know, um, I, I don't know if
you've had this other analogies.
Like, you, you go to your doctor
with, you know, knee pain, um, and
the doctor's like, "Let me take a
look at your ankle and heel first."
And you're like, "No, I have a knee pain."
Hmm.
knee pain is because you have something
going on in your ankle or your heel.
Let me fix that Let's see if you still
have the knee pain." So the, the, the
analogy is sometimes people say like,
"Oh, my pipeline sucks, and I gotta
rebuild demand gen." And if you just
bring in somebody who's just about demand
gen, you miss the knee pain, right?
Which is like, well, it turns out
the real problem is positioning.
You're really not selling it to the right
people 'cause your product has evolved.
So that's, that's kinda how I
think about it, and I enjoy that.
I enjoy kind of going in and
diagnosing, you know, knee pains
and finding out that the real pain
is the ankle or the, or the heel.
So
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
No, you know what's funny?
That happened to me actually
with the, the knee pain.
I, um, I'd done a bunch of hockey and,
like new, it was like a new thing.
I was doing hockey and then,
yeah, I had this knee pain and,
you know, you're right, any kind
of surgeon would use a hammer.
But no, just a sports PT person who
did the whole thing where they test
how strong your muscles are, and
my outside ones, which apparently
get used in skating a lot, were
just like awesome, Hercules strong.
It was the inside one that was weak, like
super weak, like grandma weak, and because
one was stronger than the other, they…
It was pulling it out of alignment.
All I gotta do is just do
exercises on the inside ones,
and lo and behold, it goes away.
So I think your, your example
is absolutely tremendous.
That's, that's so true.
So true.
Well, I have a bit of a hypothetical
question for you if you're ready.
Okay.
All right.
You see, I may or may not have had
or have a time machine here in New
Hampshire, so you gotta get put on the,
the down coat, come visit, customer
experience, customer visitor or something.
I don't know.
Come on over.
Yeah
but it's in the backyard
covered in a tarp.
And so we use this time machine,
and we go back in time, and you
get a chance to meet yourself.
And like you were talking about, you
get a chance to meet yourself when
you're doing school, but this was a
couple days, four days after getting
your undergrad when you were in
hardcore computer science mode, right?
Yeah.
And eventually more computer science,
and eventually came strategic management
and finance and all those goodies.
But, like, this was old school days,
Yeah
NIT, computer science.
You're talking to that Suresh.
What do you tell yourself?
That's a really good question.
Um, I think if, if, um, if I had
the chance to go back, um, and
tell myself something, I would
say, um, be curious always.
I think I kind of developed the curiosity
and developed, um, the love for learning
a lot of new things, um, as I got into
more of the working mindset engineering
and then I went into marketing.
Um, I think when I was in the-- earlier
in my engineering career, I was, um,
kind of more heads down just, you know,
just doing what I was told, right?
So sort of like, uh, you know, I
would say that if, if anything, think
getting exposure to how other parts
of the, of an organization, how, how
the markets and how those things work
Yeah
is, is super interesting and sh-
and no matter what role you're in,
I think is, is very valuable, right?
So, and I would say that, uh, and I
still think curiosity is my superpower.
Uh, I'm, I'm always curious about
things, and I like to learn about things.
But if I were to go back and tell
me, tell me something, I would say,
yeah, I would say be more curious,
be more outgoing in terms of talking
to other departments and other, um…
Learn more faster.
I think there's something about the
speed element that I think, um, we, uh…
There's, there's very few people that run
at a fast speed from the very beginning.
A lot of us sort of develop
it over a period of time.
Um, but I would say, you know, run fast,
more, more curious, talk to more people.
I think those are my, those
are my advice, I would say.
Now, I don't know if I would listen
to those if somebody told me that,
Well, that was my next follow-up
is not only if somebody told you
that, but if you told yourself that,
That's
think younger you would listen?
Uh, yeah, I, I hope so.
I hope so.
I think, um, I think the, you
know, there's always, there's
always an element of that.
But yeah, I would say, you
know, in, in today's world,
that's, that's what it takes.
It takes being curious and running
fast because, um, everything
changes around us so fast.
So you have to be, running full
speed, but you never forget, you
know, you never forget the why, right?
Like, you gotta always center
yourself back to, am I doing this?
You know, what is … The intentionality
matters more than anything, especially
now, because distraction gets more,
as the opportunities to get distracted
multiplies tenfold, the successful folks
in, in marketing, of course, um, are,
are centering themselves by saying,
you know, you know, "What's the why?"
Like, "Why am I doing a
particular activity," right?
So, so if you bring it back to
that and you center on the why,
um, things will get a lot easier.
What happens also is that you get super
productive because if you keep staying
focused on the why, the tools become more
of a force multiplier than a distractor.
Because you're gonna … You're
only gonna use the tools to help
you figure the why out, right?
You're not just using the
tools for the tools' sake.
Um, you're using it to figure out the why.
So you keep coming back to
the, the why am I doing this?
What do I wanna learn from this?
Uh, and then the tools suddenly become
your 10X multiplier as opposed to
you know, and we've all been there.
I'm, I'm not a saint, you know.
I go to LinkedIn for, um, you know,
sending a note to somebody, and
next thing I know is 30 minutes gone
and I was like, "What did I come to
LinkedIn for?" You know, like, so.
But I think having kind of that
intentionality and then not forgetting
the why, I think is, is super helpful
to be a, a very effective marketer.
I totally agree, man.
Hey, where can people reach
out to you to connect with you?
Yeah.
Um, uh, great, um, uh, LinkedIn,
I'm, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn,
so if you go look up, uh, LinkedIn,
uh, Suresh, uh, Balasubramanian or
Suresh B if you're not connected to
me, I think, or, um, if you want a
URL, it's like linkedin.com/in/sbexec.
Uh, that's S-B-E-X-E-C.
welcome connections.
Always happy to, um, you know, spend
time with folks that are looking for,
um, help or if they just wanna, talk
about, uh, prioritization or, you know,
or AI or other things that I know it's,
it's, it's on our top of mind today.
I'm happy to do that.
So
All right.
Well, man, thank you so
much for coming on here.
I feel like it was a, it was a bit of,
um, uh, a first principles masterclass
in the m- marketing leadership space in
that we didn't, we didn't even get to
like the l- let's do the con- No, no, no.
Hold on.
Don't connect.
Why do you wanna connect?
And, and I, I've always found that the m-
the more intentional people win, right?
The more intentional leaders are better
leaders, the more intentional you
are with your health or your family.
Like, it's always better to be
intentional, and I feel like this is the
ultimate intention saying, "Okay, you're
gonna do your job, you're gonna connect
to your market, you're gonna do marketing.
Why?
And then who are you gonna talk to?
And then what are you gonna say?"
But we need it to be in that order,
and I feel like it was such a, such
a wake-up call, like the ice bucket
challenge over the head, you know?
That's right.
That's right.
So thank you.
Thank you for coming on here
Great.
Thank you.
I really enjoyed the conversation
Absolutely.
And for those listening, if you enjoyed
it or if you learned something, and
I freaking know you did because I
literally have two pages of notes over
here, then share this with someone else.
One person, two people, 9,000 is cool.
But honestly, even one person,
like who needs to hear this?
Whose marketing's disjointed?
Who's disconnected?
Who's just firing at the hip or
maybe they're firing at the SaaS
hip and they're just, they're
basing their strategy on the tool?
Get them this episode so that Suresh
can just shake some sense into them.
Um, and with that, Suresh,
thank you again, sir
Thank you, Casey.
All right, everybody.
This has been a crazy cool, very
exciting, very first principles
episode of the Connect to Market pod.
We will see you all next time