Always Be Testing

This episode features Jason Fuentes, a seasoned affiliate marketer and active member of the Austin tech community, now working with Wildfire. Wildfire specializes in white-labeling loyalty and rewards platforms for businesses, particularly within the financial sector, helping them boost revenue and engagement through shopping companions like Capital One Shopping. These tools offer cashback, rewards, and coupons while preserving user privacy by avoiding predictive advertising. Instead, Wildfire focuses on highlighting existing benefits within users' shopping experiences. Jason shares insights into the recent launch of the Wildfire Commerce Network, a retail media network that enables partner apps to drive transactions through strategic partnerships. The conversation also explores Jason's background in ad tech, his life with three dogs, and his love for Costa Rican beaches. 

In this episode, Tye DeGrange is joined by Udi Ledergor to dive into Udi’s new book, "Courageous Marketing: The B2B Marketer's Playbook for Career Success," released on April 10th. Drawing from two decades of experience and insights from top CMOs, the book challenges traditional B2B marketing practices and encourages a bold, strategic mindset.The conversation covers key themes like overcoming “death by committee,” prioritizing product-market fit over blindly following so-called best practices, and embracing a human-first approach — even in an AI-driven world. They discuss the power of bold branding (with examples like Gong’s distinct visual style) and the importance of tailoring strategies for both the 5% actively in-market and the 95% who aren’t — known as the “95.5 rule.”Other highlights include building trust through authentic content and personal branding, using frameworks like RAPID for faster decisions in big teams, and leaning into courageous marketing that solves real problems and creates lasting brand impressions — even if they’re not always easy to measure.

In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Pitylak, VP of Growth at NinjaTrader, to talk about the evolving world of performance marketing and how AI is changing the game. We dive into the rise of Google Performance Max and how AI is reshaping ad platforms, why the creator economy and authentic influencer marketing are gaining momentum, and the biggest mistakes growth marketers make—especially when they focus too much on advertising over product fundamentals. Ryan shares why a full-funnel, product-first approach leads to better long-term results, the real role of A/B testing, and what most people get wrong about it. He also emphasizes the importance of aligning your growth strategy with what truly matters: patience, passion, and priorities. Drawing from his journey—from launching startups like Zen Business to leading growth at NinjaTrader—Ryan offers practical advice on resource prioritization and building sustainable marketing strategies in the age of AI. Watch the full conversation now — link in the comments.

In this episode, Nancy Harnett, Head of HubSpot’s Affiliate Marketing Program, shares how they transformed their strategy to achieve 2x ROI. By shifting from a broad partnership model to a highly personalized, one-on-one approach, HubSpot was able to build stronger collaborations and drive better performance. She highlights the importance of prioritizing key partners, offering tailored support, and using data-driven testing and rapid iteration to optimize the program. Instead of flat-fee structures, HubSpot focuses on performance-based incentives and treats partnerships as strategic investments, similar to marketing or HR functions. Nancy also discusses the company’s powerful tech stack, including HubSpot CRM, Impact, PartnerStack, and AI tools, while emphasizing the need for compliance, fraud prevention, and a customer-centric approach. She explores underutilized partner opportunities, outlines a realistic one-year timeline for building a successful affiliate program, and shares valuable book recommendations such as Nudge and Atomic Habits.

In this episode, we talk with Sid Nagpal, Director, Customer & Field Marketing at PartnerStack, about the power of community in B2B SaaS marketing. Sid breaks down PartnerStack’s four pillars of customer marketing—expansion, engagement, education, and advocacy—highlighting how their thriving community drives success. He discusses the impact of the Stacked Conference and various meetups, emphasizing how community plays a role in every stage of the customer journey. The conversation also explores PartnerStack’s partner ecosystem platform (PRM) and its integrations with tools like HubSpot, as well as the rise of B2B creator marketing and the importance of in-person connections for building strong customer relationships. Sid shares personal stories, including his visit to Freshworks India, along with his top book and TV recommendations. He also explains why allocating 20 percent of a marketing budget to community-building initiatives is a strategic investment.

This podcast features Jennifer Rhima, Apollo's Partnerships Lead, discussing strategies for building and scaling B2B SaaS partner programs. She emphasizes enabling partners beyond acquisition, tracking activation metrics, fostering internal collaboration, and leveraging PRM tools like PartnerStack for scalability. Rhima highlights the value of different partner types, the importance of data analysis in measuring partner success, and the challenges of attribution modeling. She also explores the untapped potential of agency partnerships and shares personal book and travel recommendations.

In this podcast episode, Pranav Piyush joins the conversation to discuss marketing measurement and incrementality, with a focus on affiliate and influencer marketing. The discussion highlights Media Mix Modeling (MMM) and its growing accessibility through open-source tools and lower costs, positioning it as a key attribution method in the coming decade. The episode explains the difference between attribution and incrementality, contrasting the limitations of multi-touch attribution (MTA) with MMM's cause-and-effect approach. Pranav shares insights on how MMM can help brands assess the impact of various marketing channels, including those that are traditionally difficult to track. Listeners will also gain practical advice on implementing MMM, covering data needs, cost factors, common pitfalls, and real-world success stories. The conversation emphasizes the value of actionable insights and the importance of moving beyond basic dashboards to achieve meaningful business growth.

🚀 In this episode of Always Be Testing, host Tye DeGrange sits down with Matt Hunter from impact.com and Philip Qiu from Henry Social to explore the future of AI, blockchain, and Web3 in partner marketing. Matt, a 25-year industry veteran, shares insights on innovations at impact.com, while Philip discusses his transition from VC to affiliate marketing and how Henry Social’s AI agents simplify shopping and booking. They dive into AI’s role in decision-making, blockchain’s potential to reduce fraud, and the future of digital commerce. Don’t miss this insightful conversation—watch now! 🎙️

In this episode of Always Be Testing, host Tye DeGrange welcomes Dan Darcy, Chief Customer Officer at Qualified, for a deep dive into growth, performance marketing, and the evolving role of AI in sales and marketing. Dan shares insights from his time at Salesforce and how Qualified has transformed from a live chat tool into an AI-powered platform helping marketers convert website visitors into leads. The conversation explores how Piper, an AI Sales Development Representative, is automating and personalizing lead engagement, the importance of speed to lead, and how AI-driven data insights are replacing traditional lead forms to improve conversion rates. Dan also discusses the challenges of scaling startups, the role of education in category creation, and why continuous testing and learning from failures are essential for growth. He highlights the power of face-to-face customer interactions and the impact of Qualified’s highly rated support team. The episode wraps up with personal insights from Dan, touching on his favorite tools, passion for hosting, and love for Bravo reality shows. Listen now to gain valuable lessons on AI, marketing, and building strong customer relationships.

We had an incredible conversation with Cornelius from Opinary, now part of Affinity, about the transformative power of AI in affiliate operations and the future of content monetization.