ZoomInfo powers the world's outbound prospecting — and gets the majority of its own new business from inbound. Tal Raz, ZoomInfo's CMO, explains the flywheel behind a $1.2B ARR go-to-market machine.

Tal is a nine-year veteran of ZoomInfo who joined as a marketing analyst and built her way to the C-suite by obsessing over funnel gaps, data quality, and campaign execution. She now leads a ~100-person global marketing team and is one of the architects behind how ZoomInfo actually goes to market — using its own platform to do it.

In this conversation, Tal explains why AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are doing the buyer research that used to land on your website — and what that means for inbound-dependent companies. She breaks down why most AI-powered outreach fails (it's a data problem, not an AI problem), how GTM Studio compresses a weeks-long campaign launch into hours, and what "no leaders leaders" looks like as a real operating philosophy inside a public company.

EPISODE CHAPTERS

(00:00) Intro

(01:11) Why ZoomInfo — master of outbound — relies on inbound for most new revenue

(07:18) Why AI search (ChatGPT, Gemini) is dismantling traditional SEO-driven inbound

(11:01) The execution gap: why AI-powered outreach so often gets it wrong

(15:33) GTM Studio: how to compress weeks of campaign prep into hours

(23:23) AI SDRs — real replacement for human sales reps, or just hype?

(27:42) Managing a 100-person global marketing team from Israel

(33:11) How to measure marketing by working backwards from ACV, not MQLs

(41:46) What Henry Schuck really thinks about brand marketing

(44:58) The apology billboard: turning a product failure into a campaign

(50:50) Labubu at Dreamforce: making the case for playful B2B marketing

(54:18) "No leaders leaders": why ZoomInfo's C-suite stays in the weeds

(57:56) From marketing analyst to CMO: Tal's 9-year journey at one company

(01:04:56) How AI is changing what it means to be a marketer

(01:10:22) Rapid fire: favorite book, admired company, and thought leader

WHERE TO FIND TAL

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-raz-46529620/

WHERE TO FIND TIM

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

X: @timsouloWebsite: https://www.timsoulo.com/

REFERENCED

ZoomInfo: https://www.zoominfo.com/

ZoomInfo GTM Studio: https://www.zoominfo.com/products/gtm-studio

Gamma (the "Office" campaign): https://gamma.app/

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072.The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

Kieran Flanagan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieranjflanagan

Labubu (Pop Mart): https://www.popmart.com/us

Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com

Gamma is everywhere right now. With viral videos starring Rainn Wilson, massive drone shows over San Francisco, and a valuation of $2.1 billion, this AI startup has mastered the art of capturing attention in a crowded market. But behind these huge stunts is a surprisingly small, scrappy team using a very specific playbook to punch way above their weight class.

My guest today is Kristin Fracchia, the Head of Marketing at Gamma. She’s the architect behind the company’s explosive growth to 70 million users and its transition from a quiet product-led company to a brand that dominates the conversation. Kristin reveals how she orchestrates “audacious” marketing moments that break the internet without breaking the bank.

In this episode, we deconstruct the exact strategies Gamma uses to go viral repeatedly. You’ll learn how to manufacture “luck” in PR, why unscalable influencer marketing is your biggest advantage, and how to execute massive brand stunts like The Sphere and celebrity cameos—even if you’re just a team of ten.

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

(00:00) Intro

(01:29) The “Audacious” Launch Playbook for breaking through AI noise

(05:28) Why constant shipping kills marketing momentum (and what to do instead)

(10:38) The “Twist” Framework: How changing one element makes you viral

(12:30) Landing a New York Times exclusive without a big agency

(16:31) How to find the unique angle journalists actually care about

(20:34) Scaling influencer marketing from manual outreach to 70M users

(23:36) Why you can’t track ROI on influencers (and the proxy metric to use instead)

(28:54) The “How did you hear about us?” attribution model

(35:51) The strategy behind Gamma’s viral video parodies (Severance, Mission Impossible)

(41:00) How Kristin used ChatGPT to negotiate a contract with Rainn Wilson

(46:11) The real cost of celebrity cameos for B2B startups

(48:01) Why distribution matters more than the creative asset itself

(52:52) Production costs: When to go in-house vs. hiring an agency

(56:44) Exploiting the “Gap”: How Gamma hacked The Sphere in Las Vegas

(01:03:28) Orchestrating a 4,000-person drone show using existing events

(01:08:55) “Peacocking”: Why your brand is your marketing budget

(01:12:21) Using AI Tarot cards to win at Dreamforce

(01:13:42) Rapid Fire: Favorite books and marketing inspirations

LINKS:

Connect with Kristin:

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

Twitter: @KristinFracchia

Website: https://gamma.app/

Connect with Tim:

Where to find Tim:

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

X: @timsoulo

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

References:

“Audacious” by Mark Schaefer : https://businessesgrow.com/audacious/

Lenny’s Podcast: ⁨@LennysPodcast⁩

Claire Vo (Product/AI thought leader): https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/