Shows / Topline
Topline
The #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech. Tune in every week to hear Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman discuss and debate the trends, news, and developments impacting the B2B tech world. Enjoy the hot takes, strong opinions, and dry humor.
Episodes
- Topline
How AI Killed the Ivy League Advantage
In this episode of Top Line, Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and A.J. Bruno dive into the economic and mental health crises facing young professionals, analyzing data…
- Topline
The $7 Trillion AI Buildout Has a Problem
We did a comprehensive study on the state of data centers. Where is money going? Where should you be betting? Everything you need to know about data centers…
- Topline
The Ranking Expert: How to DOMINATE AI Search in 2026 (ChatGPT, AI Overview)
The Topline team interview Ethan Smith, founder of Graphite, an San Fransico-based growth and SEO agency with clients like Notion, Webflow and Rippling. As…
- Topline
Big Tech Will Lay Off 1M People In 2026. Are You One of Them?
We ran a comprehensive model to predict how many layoffs may happen in 2026. To see our math, and try to predict what's next, tune into this full episode of…
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99% of AI Leaders STILL Don't Know How to Keep Us Safe
The biggest AI companies in the world have made some bold statements about their priorities, but their actions haven't always lined up. Thanks for tuning in!…
- Topline
The Inevitable Rise of 72-Hour Work Weeks, Explained
Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital, wrote an explosive piece on the reality of modern startups in 2025. Dave walks us through the winners and losers in the…
- Topline
AI Cults? The Most Popular ChatGPT Uses Are Not What You Think.
The Topline crew, joined my Kyle Norton from the Revenue Leadership Podcast, look at the newest ChatGPT usage data. This is getting unhealthy Thanks for tuning…
- Topline
The Most Surprising Companies Private Equity is Buying
We ran an analysis on some of the biggest Private Equity assets and acquisitions. Is the explosion of this space a bubble, or is there something deeper…
- Topline
The Fastest Way to Make $1M in 2025 is Not What You Think
3 millionaires explain how they would make $1M with these business models, strategies, and systems. Thanks for tuning in! Catch new episodes every Wednesday…
- Topline
If You Want $100M FAST, Copy These Startups
The Topline crew breaks down the fastest growing startups of 2025. Chapters: 02:20 Welcome to Top Line 02:57 Discussion on AI Company Investments 08:47 Fastest…
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This Controversial Industry is Secretly Creating Billionaires
Special purpose vehicles are the biggest underworld in startups. They're creating more opportunity to invest in some of the biggest companies in the world…
- Topline
We Obsessed Over Palantir's $370B Strategy (Nobody Talks About THIS)
We went DEEP studying Palantir so you don't have to. We uncover how its stock keeps growing, how the company handles sales and marketing, and to understand why…
- Topline
'Every Person On My Team Codes Now' - Inside $250M Founder's AI Coding Experiment
AJ Bruno, the CEO of $21M SaaS startup Quota Path, explains his company-wide experiment to make all of his employees vibe code. The results were shocking…
ToplineMeet The 27-Year-Old Building $1.5B AI Employees (Decagon CEO)
Jesse Zhang is the CEO of Decagon, the $1.5B startup creating AI agents to transform customer service. Jesse talks to us about the future of AI agents, the…
- Topline
The AI Bubble Is Going to Burst In…
In this episode of Topline, hosts Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and AJ Bruno dive into the question of whether we're currently in an AI bubble. We talk through key…
- Topline
We Analyzed EVERY Y Combinator Company (1,000+)
We ran the biggest public study on YC company's successes and failures in history. This is what we learned about the most prolific startup incubator in…
- Topline
How To Spend Your 20s in The Super Intelligence Economy
3 multi-millionaire founders give their practical insights on how to prepare for the rise of AGI and super intelligence. Thanks for tuning in! New episodes of…
- Topline
SPOTLIGHT: AI Isn't Just Faster Translation, It's a $40B Tug-of-War for Global Attention with Bryan Murphy of Smartling
Bryan Murphy, CEO of Smartling, confronts a $40 billion industry stuck in the slow lane, the world of translation. Most companies still handle translations…
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We Run $1m+ Businesses. These Are The Jobs We're Giving to AI
Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and AJ Bruno and CEOs who are fundamentally changing how they are hiring and firing because of AI. These are the jobs that will and…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Surviving the Inbox Apocalypse with Evan Huck of UserEvidence
Nobody told startup founders building credibility felt this messy. Evan Huck, CEO and co-founder at UserEvidence (ex-SurveyMonkey, TechValidate), pulls back…
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What does the future of tech look like when it costs $0 to switch software?
What if AI made switching platforms effortless—and what would that mean for SaaS? This week on Topline, Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and AJ Bruno unpack the latest…
ToplineKyle Norton on Decoding Churn: Enhancing Retention in High-Growth Businesses
Dive into a conversation with Kyle Norton, CRO of Owner.com, as he reveals the journey of addressing churn in a fast-growing SMB-focused business. Kyle…
ToplineE119: What Public SaaS Can Learn from Private Equity
Public SaaS companies are growing faster—but private equity–backed SaaS companies are doing it more profitably. In this episode, AJ and Asad dig into new data…
ToplineAsad Zaman's Take: Rethinking Key Person Risk and Business Growth
Asad Zaman, CEO of Sales Talent Agency, joins Sam Jacobs to challenge conventional wisdom around key person risk. Asad's unique perspective on building a…
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E118: Did Windsurf Screw 200+ Employees for $2.4B ft. Carta's Peter Walker
Windsurf grew fast, hit $82M in ARR, and was nearly acquired by OpenAI for $3 billion—until the deal collapsed. Google stepped in with a $2.4 billion offer…
ToplineAJ Bruno's Journey: Balancing Growth with Sustainable Revenue
Sam Jacobs welcomes AJ Bruno, Founder and CEO of Quotapath, who reveals how a single meeting changed everything he knew about business growth. From nearly…
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E117: How AI Native Orgs Are Reshaping RevOps and Post Sales
This week on Topline, Sam Jacobs, Asad Zaman, and AJ Bruno dive into how AI-native companies are reorganizing go-to-market teams—with more investment in RevOps…
ToplineElaine Zelby on AI and Marketing: Lessons in Operational Scaling
Buckle up for a marketing revolution! 🚀 Elaine Zelby, Tofu's co-founder and CRO, drops bombshell hot takes on Revenue Blind Spots, revealing: Why marketing…
- Topline
E116: Why Adaptation Is the Only Strategy That Works in AI
Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman unpack what it means to lead through uncertainty in a time of rapid change. They reflect on Q2 wins, the emotional cost of…
- Topline
E115: The Cultural Divide Between AI Startups and SaaS
AI-native startups are outpacing legacy SaaS companies across every metric—growth, product velocity, and market attention. In this episode, Sam, Asad, and AJ…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Skipping the SMB Trap and Building for Big Brands with CEO Matt Allison
Thanks for tuning in! New episodes of Topline drop every Sunday and Thursday. Don't miss GTM2025 — the only B2B tech conference exclusively for GTM executives…
- Topline
E114: How Apollo Plans to Grow From $150M to $1B+ in ARR
Apollo co-founder and CEO Tim Zheng reveals the pivot that rescued his company from a 2:1 CAC payback ratio. This episode breaks down how Apollo transformed…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: What It Takes to Step into the CEO Role with Eric Anderson of Walnut
What happens when a seasoned GTM leader becomes CEO for the first time and steps into a founder-led company with a global team? In this episode, Eric Anderson…
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E113: Are CRMs Becoming Just Another Database for AI?
We explore how ChatGPT's new integration capabilities are poised to turn CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot into "just another database." This episode breaks…
- Topline
E112: Is AI the End of Entry Level Roles?
AI is changing how companies build teams and entry-level roles may not survive the shift. In this episode, Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman dig into how…
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E111: How Bolt Hit $40M in Four Months and Why It Took Eric Simons Seven Years to Get There
Eric Simons spent seven years building toward a vision that almost never saw the light of day. After countless iterations, near-misses, and growing pressure…
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E110: How CEO Michael Walrath is building Yext for a world beyond Google
In this episode, Yext CEO Michael Walrath joins Sam, Asad, and AJ to talk about what comes after Google. With over two decades of experience leading and…
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E109: Burnout, Breakthroughs & the New Reality of GTM Leadership
Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman confront the emotional weight and operational strain of leading through sustained GTM volatility. They reflect on the…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: How CEO Sam Jacobs Is Redefining Pavilion's Identity
When Sam Jacobs founded Pavilion, formerly Revenue Collective, he set out to build a private community for operators in a startup world that traditionally…
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E108: Unpacking Ebsta's Benchmarking Report with Guy Rubin
In this episode, Sam, AJ, and Asad are joined by Guy Rubin to dive deep into the critical insights from Ebsta's latest sales benchmarking report. Their report…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: How Rick Smolen Built Confidence Leading Outside of Sales
When Rick Smolen stepped into the CRO role at ShipHero, he wasn't just inheriting a sales team—he was taking on the entire customer lifecycle. From marketing…
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E107: Scaling ClickUp to 10M+ Users with COO Gaurav Agarwal
In this episode, we're joined by Gaurav Agarwal, COO of ClickUp, who's led the company's explosive growth to over 10 million users while slashing CAC by 3X and…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Untangling Tech Debt and Finding Product-Market Fit with Russ Mikowski of SurePeople
Russ Mikowski, CEO of SurePeople and longtime revenue leader intech, never planned to become a CEO, until he was recruited to transform a 10-year-old company…
- Topline
E106: AI-Driven vs AI-First vs AI-Native with Eric Wolford of Accel
In this episode, Sam Jacobs and Asad Zaman are joined by Eric Wilford, a venture partner at Accel, to discuss venture investing with a focus on AI-first…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Solving SaaS Pricing Challenges with Pricing I/O Founder Marcos Rivera
Marcos Rivera, Founder and CEO of Pricing I/O offers an inside look into how he transformed his solo consultancy into a thriving team of SaaS pricing experts…
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E105: AI-Native CRMs and Early Stage Resilience: Scaling in Economic Uncertainty
The hosts dissect Attio's AI-native CRM disrupting traditional customer management and examine the surprisingly resilient seed/Series B funding landscape…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Resilience and Growth with LucidLink CEO Pete Thompson
LucidLink CEO and Co-founder Pete Thompson offers an inside look into how he rapidly scaled LucidLink, a company that transforms cloud storage into an…
- Topline
E104: Tariffs, Turbulence, and Tough Calls: Operating in an Era of Economic Whiplash
What should founders and operators prioritize when the market swings 6% in a day? In this episode, Sam, Asad and AJ break down the fallout from historic tariff…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Optimizing Growth in B2B Tech with Mike Dzik
Most SaaS companies don't fail because they grow too slowly—they fail because they grow too fast and ignore the warning signs. In this episode of Topline…
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E103: AI Agents and the Future of Enterprise Tech with Box CTO Ben Kus
In this episode, Sam, Asad, and AJ sit down with Ben Kus, Chief Technology Officer at Box, to unpack how AI is reshaping enterprise tech—from the seismic shift…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: How to Master Multi-Threading in Complex Sales
Centralize's Co-Founders Rachit Kataria and William Wang tackle one of the most common sales challenges: deals stall when teams fail to connect with the right…
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E102: Why Sales Hiring Fails and How to Fix It
Why do so many sales hires fail? In this episode, Ben Tagoe, CEO of Objective Management Group, breaks down the three critical components when assessing sales…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Instilling Operational Rigor in a Growing Business with Anna Talerico, CEO of CFI
Many companies hit a growth ceiling—not because of a lack of ideas, talent, or market opportunity, but because they lack operational rigor. In this episode, we…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: How CEO Kevin Smith Turned Snipd's Monetization Struggles Into a Sustainable Business
Snipd CEO Kevin Smith shares how his team navigated the challenge of monetizing their app after realizing they couldn't rely on investor funding and were…
ToplineE101: Why Rippling and Deel Are a Warning to Every Tech Company
When does healthy competition cross the line into corporate espionage? In this episode, we dive into the explosive saga unfolding between HR tech giants…
ToplineE100: Driving Business Growth When Uncertainty is the Only Constant
In this milestone episode, Sam, Asad, and AJ reflect on how they've grown as leaders, how their perspectives have evolved, and what lessons they've learned…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Shifting ICPs Without Breaking CS with Demetra Anagnostopoulos of SurePeople
In this Topline Spotlight episode, Demetra Anagnostopoulos, CCO at SurePeople, shares insights on navigating a critical shift in SurePeople's Ideal Customer…
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E99: How GTM Revenue Leaders Are Operationalizing AI for Growth with Kyle Norton of Owner.com
AI is revolutionizing the way revenue teams operate, but how much of the hype is real? In this episode of Topline, Sam, AJ, and Asad are joined by Kyle Norton…
ToplineSPOTLIGHT: Alon Talmor, CEO of Ask-AI, on Why Most AI Solutions Fail to Prove Their Worth
The AI market is noisy, but real business value is hard to prove. In this episode, Alon Talmor, CEO of Ask-AI, tackles the biggest challenge in AI…
- Topline
E98: Ryan Burke on Zilla Security's $175M Aquisition and the Realities of M&A
In this episode of Topline, we sit down with Ryan Burke, VP of Sales at CyberArk (former VP of Sales at Zilla Security), to dive deep into the $175 million…