Jona Youdeem is a Senior Product Marketer at Xero, a global platform that helps small businesses manage their finances more efficiently. He focuses on helping entrepreneurs leverage AI to reduce inefficiencies and eliminate what he calls the "coordination tax." With over a decade of experience in product marketing, Jona has specialized in positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategy across SaaS and AI-driven products. Jona blends customer insight, data, and creativity to build products that solve real-world business challenges.

Product marketing often sits at the crossroads of strategy, storytelling, and sales. But it's also one of the most misunderstood roles in B2B SaaS. Too often, it's boxed in as "launch support" or a "content engine," missing its deeper, strategic influence on growth. Does the real impact of product marketing come from how it connects insights, people, and processes across the entire business?

According to Jona Youdeem, a product marketing leader focused on B2B SaaS and AI-powered go-to-market strategies, product marketing is a full-system discipline, not a single function. He believes its strength lies in connecting intelligence, positioning, launch execution, and enablement into one continuous loop that evolves with the product and market. Drawing from over a decade in SaaS and AI-driven products, Jona explains how real success comes from synthesizing signals to uncover insights others miss. He cautions against quick-fix consulting approaches that treat positioning as a one-time deliverable rather than a living process.

In this episode of the Revenue Engine Podcast, host Alex Gluz is joined by Jona Youdeem, Senior Product Marketer at Xero, to discuss the real impact of product marketing in B2B SaaS. They explore why the discipline is so often misunderstood, how demand generation acts as a reality check for messaging, and why consultants often miss the bigger picture of positioning. Jona also shares his perspective on the future of marketing, explaining why human skills will matter even more in the age of AI.

Alex Tinsley is the Director of North America Field Marketing at SUSE, a global leader in open-source enterprise software solutions. Under his marketing leadership, SUSE has driven significant revenue growth and deepened collaboration between sales and marketing teams, bolstering their position in the enterprise software market. Alex's career spans roles in both software vendors and resellers, and he is known for championing innovative segmentation strategies and uniting cross-functional teams to accelerate business outcomes.

Bridging the divide between sales and marketing remains one of the toughest challenges in B2B organizations. Too often, these two departments operate in silos — each chasing different goals, using different metrics, and misunderstanding what truly drives the other. But what if aligning them could unlock faster revenue growth, deeper trust, and a more predictable sales pipeline?

According to Alex Tinsley, a marketing leader with deep experience across sales, operations, and field marketing, the key lies in empathy and shared understanding. He highlights that misalignment often stems from false assumptions: sales thinking marketing just plans events, and marketing assuming sales ignores their leads. Alex emphasizes that when both teams take the time to learn each other's motivations and constraints, they realize they're chasing the same outcome: revenue.

In this episode of the Revenue Engine Podcast, host Alex Gluz speaks with Alex Tinsley, Director of North America Field Marketing at SUSE, to discuss how uniting sales and marketing can supercharge B2B revenue. They explore the impact of removing internal silos, improving the sales-to-marketing handoff, and aligning goals around shared outcomes. Alex also shares how empathy, structure, and data transparency build trust that drives long-term growth.

Jeff Baker is the Senior Director of Global Marketing at smartShift, a company that helps enterprises accelerate and automate SAP custom-code transformation. With more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software, he leads global efforts in strategy and branding. Jeff plays a key role in driving awareness and demand for smartShift's AI-powered solutions.

Marketing is often seen as a creative function or a cost center, but what if it could be reframed as the engine that drives growth? In a world where buyers control their own journeys and retention is the new acquisition, how can companies shift their perspective and prove marketing's real impact?

According to Jeff Baker, a marketing leader with nearly three decades of experience, the key lies in connecting every activity directly to revenue outcomes. He highlights that today's customer journey is no longer linear — it's dynamic, unpredictable, and shaped by peer reviews, research, and digital touchpoints. Retention, he stresses, is now just as important as acquisition, with loyalty and advocacy fueling long-term growth. By focusing on ROI, aligning with sales, and proving financial impact to boards, marketing can evolve from being dismissed as a cost to being recognized as a true growth engine.

In this episode of the Revenue Engine Podcast, host Alex Gluz speaks with Jeff Baker, Senior Director of Global Marketing at smartShift, to discuss turning marketing from a cost center into a growth engine. They explore why the old funnel is dead, how post-sale experiences build advocacy, and what boards really want to see from marketing. Jeff also shares the biggest challenges facing B2B SaaS leaders in 2025 and how to overcome them with a value-first approach.