If you think outbound is dead, you’re either lying or you’re bad at it. Quotas keep rising, your people are grinding, and the pipeline isn’t growing. It’s an equation that drives you mad. While everyone wants more opportunities, only a few know how to build an outbound culture that delivers. I’m Todd Busler, former VP of Sales, now co-founder of Champify, and I’ve spent my career sharpening how to build a company pipeline that’s self-sufficient. On this show, I’m talking to sales leaders who ...
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Champify Podcasts
This podcast is about scaling tech startups. Hosted by Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan, together they look at the full funnel. With a combined 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS and 3 exits, they discuss growing pains, challenges and opportunities they’ve faced. Whether you're working in RevOps, sales, operations, finance or marketing - if you care about revenue, you'll care about this podcast. If there’s one thing they hate, it’s talk. We know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron. But execution and focu ...
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The secret sauce to your sales success? It’s what happens before the sale. It’s the planning, the strategy, the leadership. And it’s more than demo automation. It’s the thoughtful work that connects people, processes, and performance. If you want strong revenue, high retention, and shorter sales cycles, the pre-work—centered around the human—still makes the dream work. But you already know that. The Unexpected Lever is your partner in growing revenue by doing what great sales leaders do best ...
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Conversations with early employees at startups, and how they figured it out...or didn't... Cover art: Vic de Aranzeta...Music intro: Alex MakeMusic
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What’s Wrong About So Much Go-to-Market Advice with Todd Busler, Champify
6:30
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6:30Are bold LinkedIn takes helping or hurting your sales motion? In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene sits down with Todd Busler, CEO and co-founder of Champify, to question the certainty behind today’s loudest go-to-market opinions. Todd sees a problem with the way leaders chase what’s trending, speaking in absolutes about which industries and approac…
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Conversation: What’s Overhyped and Underrated in Revenue today (w/ Todd Busler, CEO of Champify)
56:57
56:57
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56:57AI SDRs, pipeline starvation, and overhyped tools dominate today’s revenue conversations. But how much of it actually works in practice? Toni sits down with Todd Busler, CEO of Champify, to cut through the noise. They dig into the reality of AI in sales, the pressure to chase shiny tools, and why short-term thinking is breaking go-to-market strateg…
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Chris Walker on why you should look for a new job
1:11:00
1:11:00
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1:11:00Feeling burned out or stuck in your job? Chris Walker says the real problem might not be your boss or your paycheck, it’s the frequency you operate in. In this episode, he shares with Toni how trusting his intuition led him to sell Refine Labs and step away from the company he built, and why he believes we’re leaving the Information Era and enterin…
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Why Great Reps Still Win with Outbound in the Age of AI
8:35
8:35
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8:35Is outbound selling still worth the effort in the AI era? In this episode, we explore how AI tools are changing outbound sales, and what separates average reps from great ones. Jarod Greene sits down with Austin Hitchcock, Senior Director of Account Development at Highspot, to discuss the future of pipeline generation, how AI is being misused by sa…
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What It Took to Get 400 New Customers a Month with Terry Falk
46:35
46:35
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46:35Many sales leaders come from quota-carrying roles. Terry Falk started as a corporate lawyer. Now VP of Software Sales at 8am, he oversees a team closing 400 new customers every month. He shares with Todd Busler how legal training shaped his approach to sales and why his time managing complex contracts helped him think clearly under pressure. He als…
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Stop Spamming, Do This Instead (w/ JB Daguené, CEO of Evergrowth)
56:16
56:16
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56:16Automation and cheap data turned outbound into spam and Google’s new rules are shutting the door on mass email. AI only made the noise louder. In this episode we break down how the predictable-revenue model collapsed, why reply rates keep falling, and why phone calls and research-driven outreach are proving more effective. JB Daguené, founder and C…
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The Real Job of Sales Isn’t Selling, Says Salesloft’s CRO Mark Niemiec
6:14
6:14
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6:14Is sales really a job or just the outcome of doing your real work well? On this episode of V5, Jarod Greene chops it up with Mark Niemiec, CRO at Salesloft, to unpack what sales is when you strip away the pipeline noise and pressure to close. Mark believes a sale serves as proof that you helped a customer solve a priority business problem. He share…
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Making Your Sales Process the Product with Meredith Chandler
39:00
39:00
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39:00Most outbound messaging gets ignored, Reps miss their quota, and the pipeline suffers. Why is this happening? Meredith Chandler, Head of Sales at Aligned, joins Todd Busler to analyze and discuss what it takes to build outbound that actually performs. With experience at Samsara, Spiff, and pclub.io, she shares how her team uses PLG signals to drive…
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Leaderrs rarely talk about their own health even though it drives every decision. Toni and Raul share their own experiences and what they learned from interviews with 17 founders and C-level leaders about mental and physical habits. They dig into how stress, sleeplessness and company performance feed into each other, how common burnout and anxiety …
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The Outbound Experiment That Made LinkedIn Recorded Future’s Top Channel
33:05
33:05
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33:05Outdated prospecting playbooks are holding back pipeline growth. Bridget Conneely, Director of NA Business Development at Recorded Future, joins Todd Busler to walk through how her team transitioned from a broad commercial focus to a fully named account strategy. With experience hiring 400+ BDRs and building global programs at Riverbed and Mimecast…
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The Practical Guide to Piss Off Your Best Reps (w/ Antoine Fort, Co-founder & CEO of Qobra)
1:05:00
1:05:00
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1:05:00Want to lose your best sales reps fast? Screw up their comp plan. In this episode, we sit down with Antoine Fort, CEO of Qobra, to dig into the classic mistakes that drive top performers out the door. We talk about why overcomplicated plans kill motivation, how underpaying top reps quietly drains revenue, and why immediacy and trust are non-negotia…
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Rethinking Territory Planning with Andrew Berger, Capchase
7:23
7:23
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7:23Is your team still stuck in the old way of territory planning? In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene is joined by Andrew Berger, VP of Revenue at Capchase, to challenge a long-standing sales tradition. Andrew argues that quarterly and annual planning sessions waste more time than they’re worth. With countless hours spent on formatting, presenting, an…
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Inside the Inbound-to-Outbound Transformation at ChurnZero
36:15
36:15
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36:15ChurnZero turned an inbound-heavy team into an outbound machine. Sarah Kiley, Chief Sales Officer at ChurnZero, joins Todd Busler to share how she transformed a historically inbound-heavy sales team into a consistent outbound pipeline engine. With years of experience in government, nonprofit, and EdTech sales, Sarah brings a unique perspective on o…
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Why People-Centered Leaders Build Resilient Teams with Kelley Hippler, Briefly
9:22
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9:22Why do so many sales leaders fail before they even get started? In this episode, Jarod Greene chats with Kelley Hippler, CRO at Briefly, about why people-centered leadership is the key to building sales teams that last. Kelley explains how CROs fall into the trap of managing up, missing what their team really needs. She talks about the pressure lea…
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How Seismic builds high-performing teams through pipeline ownership
44:52
44:52
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44:52Discipline and ownership are the fuel that drives winning sales teams. Toby Carrington, Chief Business Officer at Seismic, joins Todd Busler to share how leading operations, marketing, and SDRs under one roof has shaped his view of modern pipeline generation. With experience scaling global teams and advising early-stage startups, Toby brings a syst…
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Pipelines are drying up. AI hasn’t delivered the growth it promised. And the old playbooks like SEO and outbound just don’t work the way they used to. We call it the great pipeline starvation, and in this episode we break down what’s really happening, what it means for sales and marketing teams, and how companies are trying to adapt. This episode i…
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Why Stage Two Opportunities Creation is the Lifeblood of any Sales Org
30:06
30:06
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30:06When you’ve been coached by the best, you carry that torch forward. David Boyle, founding partner at RevCentric Partners, shares how a passion for enablement and a history of working alongside sales legends led him to build a consulting firm focused on revenue performance. He reflects on the foundational lessons from PTC and BMC, and why those expe…
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What Video Games Taught Us About Fixing Companies: Levels
37:57
37:57
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37:57What do video games have to do with business growth? More than you think. In this episode, Toni and Raul explain how their gaming past helps them spot company issues almost instantly. Using the idea of levels, just like in video games, they show why businesses get stuck, how to know what level your company is really on, and what it takes to move fo…
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Every Team Needs Rigor Around Their Rebound Funnel
33:28
33:28
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33:28Brian Hamor, CEO of BuyerExperience, shares how a missing answer in a board meeting sparked the idea for his company. He recounts his transition from pro basketball to startup operator and how he uncovered a major gap in how teams handle closed-lost opportunities. In this episode, Brian outlines why win-loss insights alone aren't enough and how rev…
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Trigger Warning: The Truth about AI and Remote Work
42:28
42:28
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42:28Remote work and AI promised to make us more productive. The data says otherwise. In this episode, we unpack new research showing remote workers put in about two and a half hours less each day than office teams, and studies suggesting AI tools can weaken critical thinking and slow skill growth. We explore what happens when these trends collide, how …
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How a former IT buyer rebuilt sales from the inside out
50:08
50:08
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50:08Rick Kickert, co-founder and CEO of revlogic, joins Todd Busler to share how his time managing million-dollar budgets shaped a radically different approach to sales. Now advising some of the fastest-growing SaaS companies, Rick brings a buyer-first lens to pipeline generation, sales enablement, and revenue process design. In the episode, Rick share…
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Founder-Led Sales and Other Scary Transitions
38:45
38:45
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38:45In this episode, we talk about the messy shift from founder-led sales to something more scalable. A lot of teams trip up here. It's not just about hiring the right people, it's about whether the company is actually ready for them. Early sales hires often fail because the structure, process, or timing is off. The conversation introduces the idea of …
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The Outbound Overhaul That Cut Ramp Time in Half and grew pipeline 142% in 3 months with Kyle Asay
44:14
44:14
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44:14Kyle Asay, VP of Global Growth Sales at LaunchDarkly, shares how he revamped the company’s outbound motion during his first few quarters. He outlines the territory planning shifts, structural changes, and leadership plays that helped drive a 142% increase in pipeline and cut the time to first sale nearly in half. In this episode, Kyle describes how…
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Did AI Kill SEO? (with Sam Dunning from Breaking B2B)
52:13
52:13
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52:13Did AI actually kill SEO? Or are recent traffic drops for sites like HubSpot a sign of something else entirely? In this episode, we’re joined by Sam Dunning, founder of Breaking B2B and a leading expert on search strategy, to unpack what’s actually happening in the world of SEO. We talk about how AI overviews are changing the way people find inform…
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How Highspot Scaled and Restructured Outbound - A Decade Long Journey for SDR Leader, Austin Hitchcock
42:35
42:35
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42:35More pipeline doesn’t always mean more revenue. Austin Hitchcock, Senior Director of Account Development at Highspot, joins Todd Busler to reveal how he transformed a global ADR organization from product-market fit to a revenue-driving outbound engine. Austin shares the hard truth: more pipeline doesn’t always mean better pipeline. He discusses why…
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No One Wants to Touch Pricing. Here's why You Should.
33:25
33:25
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33:25Nobody wants to touch pricing. It’s political, it’s messy, and if it goes wrong, everyone remembers who led the project. But here’s the thing—when it works, it really works. In this episode, Toni and Raul talk about why pricing changes freak people out, what actually happens when you go through with them, and how even small tweaks can drive serious…
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Fixing the Broken B2B Buying Journey with James Kaikis, TestBox
6:15
6:15
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6:15Is your buying experience built for the customer or just convenient for you? In this episode, Jarod Greene welcomes James Kaikis, CRXO at TestBox, to challenge how SaaS companies treat their customers after the deal closes. James shares his frustration with buying software today, calling out the friction, the lack of follow-through, and the disappe…
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Mastering Outbound Strategy: Tactical tips from founding AE turned CRO in 2.5 years
45:58
45:58
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45:58Isaiah Crossman, former CRO at Tropic, shares his unique journey from account executive to sales leader, discussing how he led his team through explosive growth. He reflects on the importance of finding the right product-market fit and how his approach to outbound sales evolved from his time at Wunderkind to Tropic. In this episode, Isaiah explains…
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Why weak Product-Market Fit is quietly destroying your Go-To-Market strategy (with Chris Tottman of Notion Capital)
51:32
51:32
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51:32In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Tottman from Notion Capital. Before becoming a VC, Chris co-founded MessageLabs and helped grow it into a $700 million exit, so he’s seen the startup journey from both sides of the table. We talk about what really happens when your product-market fit starts to slip—and why it quietly wrecks your entire go-to-m…
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“Empathetic, but firm” – Sales Leadership principles from one of the best CROs in tech
43:24
43:24
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43:24Ryan Heinig, Chief Revenue Officer at 2X, shares his journey from leading top B2B SaaS companies like Qlik and AppDynamics to shaping outbound strategies at a growing tech-enabled services firm. He reveals how he successfully scaled outbound efforts by focusing on repeatable systems, strong leadership, and a balance of empathy and accountability. I…
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Not All Consultants Are Worth It (Here’s How to Tell)
37:07
37:07
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37:07Not all consultants are worth it. Some drive real impact. Others just burn your time and budget. In this episode, Toni and Raul dive into how to tell the difference. They break down when it actually makes sense to bring in outside help, how to vet someone properly, and the biggest red flags to avoid. You'll learn why consulting is a real skill, wha…
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Reimagining Sales Leadership via a Non-Traditional background to multi billion dollar IPO with Em Daigle
40:41
40:41
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40:41Understanding your buyer changes everything. In this episode, Todd Busler sits down with Em Daigle, Founder & Chief Automation Officer at OTTO-MATES, to talk about what it really takes to sell to accounting and finance professionals. Em shares how her background in public accounting shaped her approach to go-to-market strategy, and why trusted rela…
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How Cliff Simon Drives Millions by Simply Showing Up
37:27
37:27
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37:27In a world of AI-generated noise and automated outreach, Cliff Simon has built a multi-million dollar business by doing something simple but rare: showing up in person. In this episode, Cliff shares how he turned events, community dinners, and authentic relationships into a powerful go-to-market strategy. He breaks down why most event-based approac…
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The State of Outbound in 2025: Nurture is King
18:57
18:57
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18:57Outbound sales strategies are evolving faster than ever with AI. The best teams are starting to look inward at their existing data. In this episode, Todd Busler, Co-Founder and CEO of Champify, explores the shifts in outbound sales, particularly the move from traditional email tactics to more personalized approaches. He discusses how cold calling i…
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Think CEO life is easy? Here's what they're really dealing with
37:55
37:55
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37:55We sat down and unpacked the messy, unfiltered reality of being a startup CEO. The kind no one tells you about. Not at panels. Not in TechCrunch puff pieces. And definitely not on LinkedIn. This isn’t a “how I built this” highlight reel. It’s what actually happens when you’re juggling investors, layoffs, spin cycles, fundraising failures, and the k…
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Rob Anderson on Fixing the Grenade Toss: Systems That Push SDRs Beyond Just Booking Meetings
41:32
41:32
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41:32Building a successful sales team goes beyond just numbers. Rob Anderson has built outbound programs at some of the most respected names in SaaS, from scaling Docebo’s SDR engine pre-IPO to shaping enterprise pipeline strategy at Gong. In this episode, he breaks down the systems-level thinking behind it all. At the center of Rob’s approach is his Th…
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How to not do outbound in 2025 (and what to do instead)
38:23
38:23
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38:23Is outbound dead? Not exactly. But it is changing fast. In this episode, Raul and Toni break down why the old outbound playbook is failing, where it still works, and how AI is reshaping the SDR role. We get into why brute force cold calls and emails are hitting their limits, why connect rates keep dropping, and where smart teams are still seeing su…
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We just leaked Jacco's new playbook. Here's what's inside.
52:24
52:24
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52:24We got our hands on Jacco van der Kooij’s latest GTM playbook. The one he’s only been sharing behind closed doors at high-ticket, invite-only events. And yes, we’re leaking it. This isn’t just a few new tactics. It’s a complete shift in how revenue leaders think about growth. No more chasing leads at all costs. No more funnels that fall apart at sc…
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How John Ley Built Brex' Sales Enablement Playbook and Advice for Other Enablement Leaders
23:27
23:27
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23:27How to lead enablement by fixing what’s actually slowing your team down. In this episode, Todd Busler talks with John Ley, Sr. Director of GTM Strategy & Operations at Brex, about what it really means to make enablement a strategic lever from day one. John shares how his time at Square and Brex shaped his thinking, why you need more than playbooks …
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Replacing Sales Bloatware with AI That Works
21:36
21:36
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21:36Why does so much sales tech still feel like extra work? And how can AI actually make life easier for AEs and SEs instead of adding to the noise? In this episode, Vivun’s senior selling team, Account Executive Mike Capitolo and Sales Engineer Clay Killgore, join Vivun CEO Matt Darrow to reveal where most sales tools go wrong and what it looks like w…
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25% of SaaS Execs Are on the Bench. Here's Why.
30:47
30:47
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30:47Why are so many SaaS executives struggling to get hired? In this episode, Raul and Toni dive deep into the surprising stat that 25% of Pavilion members—many of them seasoned SaaS execs—are currently “on the bench.” We explore what’s really going on in the market, how layoffs and short stints are damaging even top-tier CVs, and why CROs are applying…
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Low Ego and High Adaptability – The Secret to Staying in Seat from $0 to $100M
26:45
26:45
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26:45Becca Lindquist, Vice President for the Americas at dbt Labs, tells Todd Busler how she helped grow the company from under $1M to over $100M in ARR, and what it takes to scale outbound without gimmicks. In the episode, Becca digs into what separates good sales leaders from great ones: evolving your seat as the company grows, investing early in enab…
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$10M ARR per founder. No Employees. All Agents. (with Amos Bar-Joseph)
43:23
43:23
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43:23What if a company could hit $10M ARR per founder—with zero employees? In this episode, Amos Bar-Joseph (CEO of Swan) joins Toni to break down their radical vision: scaling to $30M ARR with just three founders and an army of AI agents. They unpack what it really means to run an "autonomous business," why headcount isn't always the answer, and how AI…
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Burn the old playbook (With Jacco van der Kooij)
49:46
49:46
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49:46AI won’t fix your sales model if the foundation is broken. In this episode, Jacco van der Kooij explains why the old go-to-market playbook is collapsing—and what the new, AI-powered future actually looks like. Never miss a new episode, join our newsletter on revenueformula.substack.com (00:00) - Introduction (02:32) - AI and the old playbook (10:34…
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Scale Outbound Sales with One Clear Metric, Andrew Berger
36:43
36:43
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36:43How to rethink outbound by focusing on quality, efficiency, and what actually moves the needle. In this episode, Todd Busler sits down with Andrew Berger, VP of Revenue at Capchase, to talk through how outbound has changed since the early days of cold calling with a phone book. Andrew reflects on lessons from building Square’s outbound engine, how …
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Thinking about adding AI SDRs to your sales team? In this episode, we break down what actually works—and what doesn't—when implementing AI in your sales development process. From common onboarding mistakes to where AI truly shines (and stumbles), here’s what you need to know before you plug it in. Articles mentioned in the episode: 11x CEO Hasan Su…
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Is AI Exposing Marketers Who Can’t Connect? with Lucas Welch
16:28
16:28
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16:28Can AI make us more human in how we go to market? In this episode, Jarod Greene sits down with Lucas Welch, VP of Corporate Marketing at Highspot, for a conversation about authenticity, AI, and the power of personal connection in modern marketing. Lucas shares how AI isn’t replacing relationships but encouraging deeper ones, especially when go-to-m…
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RevOps to VP? Here's why you're not getting promoted
32:36
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32:36Why aren’t more RevOps leaders getting promoted to VP or CRO roles? In this episode, we break down the biggest career blockers holding Revenue Operations professionals back, from focusing too much on tooling to missing what execs actually care about. (00:00) - Introduction (03:00) - RevOps not getting promoted? (05:40) - What does the CRO want to h…
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Creating a winning outbound sales culture starts with the right ingredients. In this episode, Todd Busler, Co-Founder and CEO of Champify, breaks down the six key ingredients for creating a successful outbound sales motion. He talks about the importance of commitment, setting clear expectations, and maintaining a rigorous process. Todd also highlig…
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How to build a $5M SaaS with 3 people and no VC funding (With Esben Friis-Jensen)
43:02
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43:02After building a successful VC-backed company, Esben Friis-Jensen took a different path — bootstrapping his next SaaS startup to $5M ARR with just a team of 3. In this episode, he shares why he turned down venture funding, how he built an efficient, product-led growth engine, and lessons on scaling smart without sacrificing ownership or speed. (00:…
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