As the creator of The Marketing Meetup, Joe Glover has built one of the most popular, respected, and emotionally resonant communities in the industry.

In this episode, he shares a refreshingly human take on community building, leadership, and the kind of cultural values that drive real engagement—both online and off.

Explore in this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(01:41) How do you know if you have a community

(04:20) What exactly IS a community

(11:37) Community is NOT a sales channel

(21:36) Don’t build a community; build a culture

(29:58) Finding the sprouts of community culture

(37:44) Getting people to keep coming back

(44:59) Can a community continue without its founder?

(58:04) Why is TMM an Events Company vs a Media Company(

01:02:21) Promoting events(

01:05:32) The role of storytelling in community

(01:07:47) The purposefully planning behind the first TMM conference

(01:10:51) The power of good (and bad) networking events

(01:23:57) Mobilizing a team of event organizers

(01:29:34) The 10 magic moments essential for event success

(01:36:34) Baiting Ryan Reynolds to join TMM

(01:38:43) Outro

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Where to find Joe: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/josepheglover/)

Website: https://themarketingmeetup.com/

Where to find Tim: LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

------------------------------------------------

Referenced in this episode:

👤 People Mentioned

Dave Gerhardt (Founder of Exit Five)LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegerhardt/)

Website: https://www.exitfive.com

Crystal Carter (Head of SEO Communications at Wix)

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalcarterseo/)

Kelvin Newman (Founder of BrightonSEO)

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelvinnewman/)

Event: https://brightonseo.com

#mentalhealth, #communitybuilding, #marketing, #selfawareness, #culture, #followership, #emotionalconnection, #communitydynamics, #community, #events, #culturalvalues, #engagement, #leadership, #storytelling, #humanexperience, #networking, #onlineevents, #eventplanning, #ai, #personalbranding, #localorganizers, #valueexchange, #generosity

Louis Grenier has built a reputation for calling bullsh*t on conventional marketing. In this episode, he delivers sharp, unfiltered insights on what it really takes to stand out in saturated markets. As the founder of Stand The F*ck Out and host of Everyone Hates Marketers, Louis breaks down why most branding efforts fail, how to create a truly unique positioning, and what marketers get wrong about differentiation and audience engagement.

Discover:

(00:00) Intro

(00:57) Parental advisory

(03:24) How do you know if your positioning is bad?

(07:02) Positiong vs product-market fit

(16:00) Step 1: Insight foraging

(40:02) Step 2: Unique positioning

(56:36) Step 3: Creating a distinctive brand

(1:12:59) Step 4: Continuous reach

(1:36:17) The book that cost him $36,000

(1:48:02) Outro

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Where to find Louis:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgrenier/

Website: https://www.stfo.io/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

-----------------------------------------------

Referenced in this episode:

👤 People

Seth Godin

Website: https://www.sethgodin.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgodin/

Gary Vaynerchuk

Website: https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk/

Neil Patel

Website: https://neilpatel.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/

Jason Hennessey

Website: https://www.jasonhennessey.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhennessey/

David C. Baker

Website: https://www.davidcbaker.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcbaker/

Martin Neumeier

Website: https://www.martinneumeier.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinneumeier/

⸻

🏢 Companies & Podcasts

Hotjar

https://www.hotjar.com

Everyone Hates Marketers Podcast

https://www.everyonehatesmarketers.com

Duolingo

https://www.duolingo.com

Ryanair

https://www.ryanair.com

Dentsu

https://www.dentsu.com

VaynerMedia

https://www.vaynermedia.com

NP Digital

https://npdigital.com

Hennessey Digital

https://www.hennessey.com

HubSpot

https://www.hubspot.com

Compare the Market (UK)

https://www.comparethemarket.com

⸻

📚 Books

Stand the Fck Out* by Louis Grenier

https://link.stfo.io/amazon

The Business of Expertise by David C. Baker

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Expertise-Entrepreneurs-Firms-Clients/dp/1605440590

Zag by Martin Neumeier

https://www.amazon.com/Zag-Strategy-High-Performance-Voices-Matter/dp/0321426770

How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp

https://www.amazon.com/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560

Borko Kovacevic is the co-founder of Poddster, a fast-growing podcast studio network with locations in Dubai and Singapore, with upcoming locations in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Borko is also the co-founder of podcast operations software, Podyx.

In this episode, Borko shares the behind-the-scenes story of building Poddster, the trends shaping podcasting today, and what it really takes to create a podcast that drives business results.

What you’ll learn:

1. Why podcasting is shifting from audio-only to video—and how YouTube is winning the game

2. How businesses and creators approach podcasts differently (and why only 5% of Poddster’s clients are full-time creators)

3. The biggest mistakes businesses make when starting a podcast—and why “interesting guests” aren’t enough

4. Why every small business owner needs to be a content creator in today’s world

5. The role of trust and authenticity in podcasting—and how mainstream media’s decline has fueled the format’s growth

6. The untold challenges of podcasting (hint: it’s way harder than it looks)

7. Why podcasting is the ultimate networking hack—and how it can be used as a business development tool

8. How production quality impacts discoverability and engagement

9. The surprising reasons 99% of podcasts don’t make it past 20 episodes

10. Much more

In this episode: (0:00) Intro

(1:25) Why podcasting is the wave of the future

(5:05) Who is podcasting?

(10:58) Creator vs business podcasting

(16:18) Motivations and goals behind business podcasts

(34:53) What makes a good podcast or podcast episode

(41:37) Common challenges in podcasting

(53:40) Zoom vs in-person interviews

(1:03:35) Different podcast strategies

(1:08:37) Types of podcasts

(1:16:12) How to market a podcast

(1:35:34) The benefits of video studios beyond podcasting

(1:38:31) Where to find quality studios

(1:46:47) Outro

Where to find Borko

LinkedIn

Poddster

Podyx

Where to find Tim

LinkedIn

X

Website

ReferencedMagnus Grimeland: https://youtu.be/6dNFsSWcQFY

Nir Eyal: @nirandfar

Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee): @garyvee

Lex Fridman: @lexfridman

Joe Rogan: @joerogan

Scott Galloway (Prof G): @TheProfGPod

Steven Bartlett" @TheDiaryOfACEO

Tom Bilyeu: @TomBilyeu

Meet Magnus Grimeland - the founder and CEO of Antler - a one BILLION dollar venture capital firm dedicated to investing in startups at the earliest stages.

As of today, Antler has invested in over 14 hundred companies, making it the largest day-zero investor in the world. And they have an audacious goal to invest in 6 thousand companies before 2030.

In this episode, you'll learn:

(0:00) Intro

(02:36) Why are people more important than ideas?

(06:04) Examples of iterating on ideas

(19:17) Hipster, Hacker, Hustler vs. Spike, Drive, Grit

(29:22) Can marketers be good founders

(34:39) Soft skills vs hard skills

(39:03) The role of marketing in zero-day investments

(46:07) What do experts get out of advising zero-day startups?

(53:45) Borrowing other people’s platforms

(1:00:54) The first marketing steps for any startup

(1:05:42) Building a brand

(1:15:27) Founder brand vs. building local networks

(1:22:03) How Antler gets referrals

(1:29:52) Why VC firms don’t use SEO

(1:37:33) How Antler decides who to invest in

(1:40:06) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Magnus:

LinkedIn

Website

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn

X

Website

-------------------------

Referenced:

• Zalora

• Lion

• Basket of goods

• G&A

_______________

Ahrefs Podcast

Host: Tim Soulo

Podcast Producer: Michelle Lindner

Intro Storyboard: Michelle Lindner & Tim Soulo

Intro Video Lead: George Dolgikh

Intro Video Animations: Ilya Yakymchuck

Filmed at: @PoddsterSingapore

Early-stage marketing can be full of challenges, but what if there were a playbook to follow?

Meet Madhav Bhandari, first marketing hire at Hubstaff and one of the first marketers at Close.io, and Weflow, all of which he helped to cross $10M+ in ARR.

He's currently the CMO of Storylane, where he has helped grow their ARR by 250% in 2024 alone.

In other words, Madhav has pretty much mastered the art of scaling SaaS companies from $5M to $15M+ ARR.

Here's what you'll learn in this episode:

(00:00) Intro


(1:01) Early-stage marketing playbook


(12:25) Why Madhav only scales to $15M

(15:42) The average tenure for a CMO

(19:50) The ideal CEO/CMO fit

(26:46) Earning your CEO’s trust

(36:01) Employee advocacy as a marketing tool

(49:10) Easing friction by bringing community together (Demo Days)

(56:16) Creativity in community awards (Demo Dundies)(1:05:40) 10xing traffic in 6 months through demo-led SEO(

1:13:36) Hot take on backlinks

(1:15:41) Strategies for growing a brand

(1:24:08) Defining and codifying a brand

(1:31:20) When rebranding makes sense

(1:34:18) Founder brand vs company brand

(1:40:50) Is testing multiple tactics in a short period of time a good idea?

(1:45:17) The best channels for early stage founders

(1:47:47) Fixing burnout in marketing

(1:52:45) Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Madhav:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhavbhandari/)

Website: https://earlystagemarketing.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

-------------------------

Referenced:

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com

• Canva: https://www.canva.com

• Notion: https://www.notion.so

• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com

• Slack: https://slack.com

• Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com

• Hubstaff: https://hubstaff.com

• Close: https://close.com

• Weflow: https://www.getweflow.com

How can you rise to unicorn status in an industry dominated by legacy players? Jon Stona, VP of Global Marketing at B2B global payments processor Airwallex shares his insights into growing the company from a coffee shop in Australia to a dominant player in the fintech space.

Today, Airwallex has a $5.6B valuation and handles $100B in processing volume. So, what's the marketing machine behind this financial challenger brand?

00:00 Intro

01:29 What is the marketing budget for a $5B company?
02:55 Sponsorships and the theory of economic value
10:48 Celebrity partnerships

22:04 The mechanics of sports marketing
23:48 Bringing structure to a marketing team
26:53 The role of product marketing within a company
33:14 Transforming company culture
35:47 The difference between leadership and therapy
45:17 Building a sustainable brand
59:43 Measuring growth through branded search

1:06:20 Are operating principles important for a company?

1:12:01 Differentiating yourself as a commodity
1:14:08 Building out PMM teams for different products
1:16:57 Allocating SEO budget
1:18:48 The usefulness of industry reports
1:26:11 How to use case studies in marketing
1:31:04 Getting your name in the press
1:34:33 Driving growth through industry events
1:41:17 Industry awards

1:46:48 Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Jon:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstona/)

Website: https://www.airwallex.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)

X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

-------------------------
Referenced:

McLaren: @mclaren
F1: @Formula1
Lando Norris: @LandoNorris
Shifted Perspectives: https://www.airwallex.com/airwallex-mclaren-racing-shifted-perspectives
Michael Murphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Murphy_(sculptor)
Mere exposure effect (psychology): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect
Forrester: @forrester
Edgar, Dunn & Company: https://www.edgardunn.com/
Skift: @skiftnews
YouGov: https://www.yougov.com/
David Fallarme: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfallarme/)

Stripe Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcoWp8pBTM3CYTQho8i-a_lzx4cq7-ePh
Beyond Black Friday
eCommerce Champion Awards: https://www.airwallex.com/newsroom/amid-online-spending-resurgence-airwallex-unveils-inaugural-airwallex
Money20/20: https://www.money2020.com/

Cloud 100 list: https://www.forbes.com/cloud100/list/