In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, former Head of Growth at Grammarly, dives deep into his recipe for success with YouTube Ads. He explains how to decide if YouTube could be a winning platform for your brand, and how to build your strategy—from targeting to bidding and structuring. He also decodes platform-specific nuances like post-click optimization, and how to measure the true ROI of your YouTube campaigns.

About the guest:

Shanik Patel scaled Grammarly's YouTube advertising from zero to hundreds of millions in profitable ad spend. Now, he helps ambitious brands unlock breakthrough growth through strategic YouTube advertising. His specialty is in producing creatives that not only grab attention, but also convert viewers into customers at scale.

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, VEED.io CMO Leila Woodington and VP of Growth Roberto Wong reveal why the future of marketing growth lies in interconnected funnels. Drawing inspiration from their integrated org structure, Leila and Roberto explain why the best marketing teams are ditching the brand-versus-performance debate. They also share why VEED.io blends new and old school media (including a big bet on 2000+ New York City billboards) to reach their audiences---and keep the content flywheel spinning.

About the guests:
Leila Woodington is CMO of VEED.io, having spent the past 20 years building and scaling marketing teams at Snap Inc., Meta, and PayPal. Roberto Wong is VEED.io's VP of Growth, and a pro at building high-performance teams by connecting strategy, processes, and culture.

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, Rucha Fulay, Data VP at Confluent, discusses how real-time data can drive resilient growth for B2Bs. Drawing from her journey at Chime, Credit Karma, and now Confluent’s data streaming platform, she explains why AI makes batch processing obsolete––and real-time data a necessity. Rucha recounts a jaw-dropping $40M rebranding flop that ignored data, shares why even smaller companies should hire full-stack talent, and advocates for B2B marketers to measure success on leads vs. revenue.

About the guest:
Rucha Fulay is a seasoned data leader with over 20 years of experience––from Series A startups like Invoice2go to late-stage companies such as Credit Karma and Chime. Currently VP of Data at Confluent, she excels at driving growth with data-driven decisions.

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, Aditya Vempaty, VP of Marketing at MoEngage, reveals why the future of B2B growth looks a lot like DTC. Drawing inspiration from Apple’s emotional storytelling and Amazon’s experience-driven branding, Aditya explains how the best B2B marketers are ditching playbooks built on CAC and spreadsheets and replacing them with narrative, positioning, and trust.

He also dives into why most companies fail at category creation, how to win mindshare with brand-first messaging, and why emotional resonance is the real growth unlock in crowded markets.

About the guest:
Aditya Vempaty is VP of Marketing at MoEngage, a leading customer engagement platform. With a background spanning high-growth SaaS and a passion for narrative-led marketing, Aditya brings a fresh, strategic lens to B2B go-to-market and brand building.

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, Peep Laja breaks down why most B2B marketers are stuck chasing performance metrics — while ignoring the brand fundamentals that actually drive long-term growth. Peep explains why mental availability matters more than MQLs, how category size can make or break your entire business, and why most B2B companies are still decades behind their B2C peers.

We dive into the real relationship between brand and performance, how to design category entry points that influence buying decisions, and why tracking brand lift is the smartest marketing investment you can make.

About the guest:
Peep Laja is the founder of Wynter, CXL, and Speero, and one of the most outspoken voices in B2B growth. With a no-BS approach to brand, positioning, and messaging, he’s on a mission to help companies stop wasting money on short-term hacks and start building brands that actually sell.

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, Daniel McCarthy breaks down how top brands like Netflix and Nike use customer lifetime value (CLV) to drive smarter growth decisions — and why most startups are still stuck on outdated metrics.

We dive into the science behind CLV modeling, what CAC doesn’t tell you, and how to use predictive analytics to scale efficiently. Daniel also shares how CLV can shape everything from brand strategy to investor valuation, and why cohort retention is the growth metric that actually matters.

About the guest:
Daniel McCarthy is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He’s one of the world’s leading voices on CLV, customer analytics, and predictive modeling — with research that’s influenced startups, Fortune 500s, and VCs alike.

#CustomerLifetimeValue #CLV #StartupGrowth #MarketingScience #MarketingPodcast

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, Elaine Zelby shares the real levers behind startup growth — and it’s not just product or GTM strategy. Elaine dives into how culture, hiring, and operational systems shape whether a marketing engine can actually scale.

From building trust and clarity across teams to designing systems that don’t break at $10M ARR, Elaine breaks down what most founders miss. She also shares why brand is often an output of culture, how to hire for execution and alignment, and why growth marketing fails without shared values at the core.

About the guest:
Elaine Zelby is the Co-Founder and CRO of TofuHQ, and a growth advisor to early-stage startups. With leadership experience spanning marketing, operations, and product, she brings rare clarity to the intersection of brand, culture, and scale.

In this episode of the Marketing Scientists Podcast, Dyan Khor shares the strategy behind Cash App’s explosive growth, and why true scale requires more than channel hacks. Dyan built Cash App’s full-funnel growth engine, developed user-level LTV models, and implemented incrementality testing before iOS 14 changed the game.

We dive into how brand, creative, and product come together to drive results; why “growth” isn’t a department , it’s a company strategy; and how AI is reshaping team workflows, content pipelines, and experimentation velocity.

About the guest:

Dyan Khor is a growth advisor and fractional marketing leader who scaled Cash App through its hypergrowth phase. With deep experience in data modeling, cross-functional growth, and performance strategy, she’s now helping top tech startups build marketing systems that last.