Paige O'Neill

The evolving B2B tech landscape makes competitive displacement the default path for GTM teams. Simultaneously, it adds new layers of organizational risk, internal scrutiny, and emotional complexity for buyers. We created The Definitive Guide for Competitive Displacement to give GTM teams a smarter way forward—rooted in precise intelligence, not spray-and-pray ABM. Inside, you’ll discover: ▪️ Why traditional competitive intelligence leaves Sales, Marketing, CS, and Product flying blind ▪️ The exact data signals that show which accounts are truly ready to switch — and which never will ▪️ A step-by-step campaign framework for turning competitor intelligence into pipeline ▪️ GTM best practices from strategy to execution ▪️ How to fuse data, content, and activation into a single displacement play The switching window opens for buyers when the cost of staying exceeds the risk of moving. This guide helps you locate that window and act before it closes:

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Why should Partnerships operate differently than the rest of your SaaS GTM org? 🤔 Too often, I see partnerships teams build bespoke processes to recruit and onboard partners—disconnected from how the rest of the organization operates. It’s well-intentioned, but it creates silos. Other teams lack visibility. Alignment suffers. And ultimately, so does growth. But here’s the thing: Partnerships can and should operate in lockstep with the broader GTM motion. That means aligning to the same (partner) lifecycle stages—from Awareness to Expansion—and applying the same SaaS growth principles that drive success across every revenue function. The classic funnel has evolved 🎯 into the Bowtie model, built for recurring revenue. And that evolution applies just as much to partner-led growth as it does to direct sales. From partner activation and enablement (Onboarding) to joint GTM execution (Retention & Expansion), the same rigor, and orchestration apply. This isn’t about folding Partnerships into Sales—it’s about bringing the same operational discipline to how we recruit, enable, and grow with partners. Partnerships aren’t an adjacent strategy. When done right, they are the engine of SaaS growth. 🚀 Let’s stop building in silos—and start scaling as one system. #SaaS #Partnerships #GTM #RevenueArchitecture #BowtieModel #CRO #RecurringRevenue #PartnerEcosystem #TechLeadership #B2BGrowth

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MIT’s recent report found that 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to deliver ROI, with value trapped in workflows, slow scaling, and misplaced bets in sales and marketing instead of back-office and integration wins. But these are symptoms, not the root cause. The real issue is strategic misalignment, as oftentimes organizations don’t clearly define the kind of bet they’re making. At the core, every pilot is a capital allocation and risk management decision. Pilots fail without clarity on the business angle, hypotheses, and go/no-go criteria. To address this, I’ve developed The Pilot Strategy Framework™, a structured approach to categorizing AI pilots based on their strategic intent and business impact. 1️⃣ Validation pilots - validate feasibility before scaling and committing further resources. 2️⃣ Internal adoption pilots - phased rollout of AI within departments, inside existing workflows, to see if it can unlock ROI. This can often signal market readiness to customers, competitors, investors, and the industry overall. 3️⃣ Customer-facing pilots - test whether existing customers will adopt new AI capabilities and whether it’s commercially safe to scale. 4️⃣ Legacy integration pilots - answer if AI can unlock value in legacy systems. 5️⃣ New product pilots - test whether additional AI offerings can be introduced; offerings that are core or adjacent to our current products and generate new ROI. Each pilot is a bet: upfront decide how much capital to risk, what value it’s meant to unlock, tradeoffs to consider, and the conditions under which you’ll scale or stop. Ultimately, it's about prioritizing the one(s) that provide the most enterprise value. Which pilot types is your organization running, and how are they moving the needle on your business outcomes? I am currently talking to leadership teams to apply this framework to drive clarity and ROI; if your organization is navigating similar questions, I'd be happy to connect. #productstrategy #aistrategy #aitransformation

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The product leader’s role keeps expanding. First it absorbed engineering as CPTO. Now it’s crossing the chasm into GTM and marketing. I got to talk with Karen Chao this week on LaunchPod. She started at Flowspace as CPO and has since been elevated to Head of Marketing in addition. We're not just talking a dotted-line responsibility; she's owning discovery to messaging to activation. It was really eye opening to hear what it’s like to “cross the chasm” from Product into GTM leadership and why Product increasing aperture is becoming more common. Full episode here: 📰 Read/Subscribe on Substack: https://lnkd.in/e6HVnVu2 📺 Watch on YT: https://lnkd.in/ejqCkBAQ 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/eFp9d4Nw 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eV3vDGGh Here are some of the biggest themes she breaks down: 1️⃣ Why the CPO role is expanding Product and Marketing share the same inputs: value, positioning, and customer insight. Combining them reduces friction and aligns teams around what customers actually care about. 2️⃣ Crossing the CPO to Marketing chasm Karen described the shift as learning a new toolkit for the same terrain. Product discovery and marketing experiments use the same muscles. The language is different. The thinking is familiar. 3️⃣ PMs skills in AI are perfect to accelerate GTM Her team uses AI for PRDs, competitive research, channel exploration, and even codebase analysis. The effect is a shared workflow where Product and Marketing learn together, not in silos. 4️⃣ With AI, PMs can go deeper than ever before With tools like Cursor and Claude, Karen’s PMs can explore architecture, propose small fixes, and prototype real flows. Engineers focus on high-leverage work. Marketing benefits from product leaders who truly understand the system. 🥡 The takeaway: The role of the product leader is expanding, just like many executive roles today. Product and Marketing already share many of the same inputs, and companies are stronger when those teams are tightly aligned. Whether they roll up to one leader or remain separate, closing the gap between Product and GTM creates a faster, clearer, more customer-centered organization. Have you seen this? Is this the future of product leadership? Full episode here: 📰 Read/Subscribe on Substack: https://lnkd.in/e6HVnVu2 📺 Watch on YT: https://lnkd.in/ejqCkBAQ 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/eFp9d4Nw 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eV3vDGGh (Also, "Crossing the CPO to Marketing Chasm" book isn't real...yet. I feel like we should make a collection of these. What do people think?)

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The board question that reframed how I think about going global: "Marie, should we hire locally, partner globally, or just buy our way in?" My answer? Yes. After experiencing all three across different contexts, here’s what I’ve learned: There’s no one-size-fits-all playbook. The key? Choosing the right path for your stage, market, and team. Here’s how that played out: 1. Hire Locally - Potloc Context: We needed cultural fluency and deep local intel What we did: Hired exceptional MDs who build like founders Result: UK growth is ahead of plan. We’ve just hired MDs for the UAE and US. 👉 Local leaders don’t just understand the market, they are the market. Their EQ can’t be outsourced. 2. Partner Smart – Coveo Context: We needed scale and trust without overbuilding infrastructure What we did: Formed alliances with Salesforce, SAP, and key regional integrators Result: Partnerships became one of our fastest growth levers 👉 The real unlock? Customers trusted us because trusted players vouched for us. 3. Acquire Strategically – Thryv Context: We had scale but needed speed, expertise, and access What we did: Acquired proven local players with strong presence Result: APAC expansion accelerated our international growth by 12 months and gave us instant cultural legitimacy 👉 Integration didn’t mean assimilation. It meant co-creating a culture that honored both legacy and ambition. Across all three, the pattern is clear: - Emotional intelligence beats market intelligence - Local autonomy fuels global coherence - Cultural curiosity compounds competitive edge - Success requires systematic empathy Companies that win internationally don’t just go global. They become global in mindset, in structure, in cultural fluency. #GlobalExpansion #InternationalStrategy #Partnerships #Acquisitions #CulturalIntelligence #SaaS #OperatorEdge #EQ #GlobalTeams #StrategicGrowth

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Grammarly's CEO just published a great piece on decision-making rituals in the age of AI! He breaks down four principles—check out his advice in Fast Company Executive Board on how the best leaders can make choices faster, fairer, and more consistently.

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Pipeline isn’t just a sales problem. It’s a messaging, positioning, and enablement opportunity. Over the years, I’ve seen Product Marketing consistently accelerate pipeline velocity by: * Equipping sales with differentiated messaging and persona-driven storytelling * Mapping content to each stage of the buyer journey to reduce friction * Arming teams with competitive intelligence that builds confidence and urgency * Aligning go-to-market teams around value, not just features The takeaway? Product Marketing is a force multiplier. When done well, it doesn’t just support the business, it accelerates it. How is your team using Product Marketing to drive revenue right now? #ProductMarketing #PipelineVelocity #SalesEnablement #GoToMarket #RevenueGrowth #MarketingLeadership

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Turning Engineers into Influencers: A Repeatable System for Thought Leadership The best BD tool in technical services is not an ad. It is your engineers’ credibility. by Jenny K. Toole The problem Most firms agree SMEs are the most trusted voices. The challenge is bandwidth. People are busy, content is ad hoc, and drafts stall in review. You end up with a trickle of assets that do not support pursuits or move pipeline. Good news. There is a simple system you can run every quarter. The framework: Topic mining → SME briefing → 1-hour interview → content atomization → approval lane → distribution plan 1) Topic mining Start with demand signals: upcoming pursuits, client FAQs, RFP themes, regulatory moments, and win–loss notes. Score each idea on buyer value, proximity to revenue, and SME availability. Pick 3 to 5 topics for a 90-day cycle, mapped to target accounts or segments. 2) SME briefing Send a one-page brief 3 to 5 days before the interview: audience, business problem, desired outcome, five guiding questions. Confirm the use case you want: risk reduction, cost avoidance, time to value, or compliance assurance. 3) 1-hour interview Record one focused session with the SME and a facilitator. Use a buyer-first arc: Problem, Impact, Approach, Proof, Next Step. Capture specifics: before and after metrics, constraints, what changed operationally, what the client cared about most. Transcribe right away to speed drafting. 4) Content atomization From one interview, create a cohesive set: One technical paper or long-form article to anchor the theme One case study that shows the approach in the real world One webinar with the SME and a client-facing moderator Three short posts that pull highlights from the paper and case study Sales enablement: a one-slide solution narrative, a two-page brief, and three talk tracks for BD calls 5) Approval lane Predefine reviewers by asset type to prevent endless edits. Technical accuracy: SME and project manager Brand and positioning: marketing lead Legal and confidentiality: compliance owner Limit to two rounds. Use a checklist and a change log. Lock style rules for numbers, acronyms, and claims to cut friction. 6) Distribution plan Publish the anchor piece first. Release the case study within 7 days. Host the webinar within 21 to 30 days and align invites to ABM tiers. Repurpose into three short posts over 30 to 45 days, tag SMEs and partners. Enable BD with a short outreach email, a call script, and tracking codes for attribution. Need a jumpstart? DM me for a plug-and-play template and SME coaching steps. 💬 #ThoughtLeadership #ExecutiveLeadership #MarketingStrategy #GoToMarket #ABM #DemandGeneration #ContentMarketing #SalesEnablement #B2BMarketing #BrandStrategy #DigitalMarketing #MarketingImprovement

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2025 felt like an inflection point 🔀... for Fluvio, and for PMM as a discipline as a whole This year, our work shifted meaningfully up-market. We were brought in for exec and board-level initiatives tied directly to GTM transformation. Think: 1️⃣ Deep, domain-specific research to redefine positioning 2️⃣ Segment-level insight to guide real GTM tradeoffs 3️⃣ Synthesis that shapes product development cycles, not just messaging 4️⃣ Core GTM infrastructure: launch process, tiering, RACI, beta and alpha gating, channel SOPs, cross-functional alignment What stood out most wasn’t the growth metrics, though we’re proud of them: 25%+ growth, nearing $3M in revenue is a special year! What mattered more was where PMM, and Fluvio, were invited into the conversation. When PMM works, it doesn’t sit downstream of strategy. It is strategy, or a critical part of it. Thankfully, companies are realizing growth doesn’t come from more one-sheets, more decks, or “simpler messaging” like LinkedIn wants you to believe🤦‍♂️ It comes from sharper decisions that exploit your unique edge. Something PMMs are uniquely equipped to uncover. The rest is derivative. ..and it doesn’t feel like 2026 will slow this down 🚂

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