KNOWN Episode 8 features Paul Afshar. Paul is a growth-focused fintech and crypto CMO who combines operator depth, sharp storytelling, and commercial thinking to turn technical narratives into trust and traction.

After years spent building brands in some of the world’s most competitive and low-trust industries, Paul developed a sharp perspective on what actually makes people pay attention and believe in a company.

In this conversation, we unpack why great products still get ignored, how trust is built in fintech and crypto, why most companies fail at authentic marketing, and what AI is really changing for marketers today.

We also discuss the future role of the CMO, human psychology in branding, performance vs brand marketing, and why creativity, judgment, and taste will matter more than ever in the AI era.

Chapters:

00:53 The secret to marketing “boring” products

01:35 ICPs are blocking your marketing

03:33 Understanding how to build trust

06:58 How trust fails with the wrong strategy

09:42 Metrics CEOs care about

11:27 Brand vs performance marketing: what really wins?

13:35 Optimizing for LinkedIn: algorithms or people?

14:44 Has AI made marketing worse?

16:33 Where’s the AI revolution we were promised?

19:53 A problem AI still can’t solve

20:47 What the CMO of the future will do

22:42 Human relationships still win

23:31 People are craving offline experiences again

25:15 Brand or growth? Trust or attention? Rapid fire questions

Follow KNOWN podcast for more conversations with entrepreneurs and marketers on brand building and growth.

Find us:

KNOWN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/known__podcast/

INPUT Global on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/input.global/

Paul Afshar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-reza-afshar/

Anastasiia Kulibaba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiia-kulibaba-aa2b91184/

Stella Friaisse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stella-friaisse/