Reading · The Transaction

Welcome to the latest weekly edition of The Transaction newsletter & podcast. Every Thursday, we share resources you should check out, what we’ve found insightful recently, and tactical ways you can improve your go-to-market today. For more: Podcast | YouTube

GTM and startup stuff is interesting and all… buuuut, did you see that Knicks comeback? Anyways, back to what you’re here for…

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

What Craig’s ~~Reading~~ Reliving by Watching
Recent Insights from Past Guests
Latest Episode: Crafting Unforgettable Events for B2B with Jen Igartua - Ep 81
Movie Poster Mockup: Die Hard (Dir. John McTiernan, 1988)

Did someone forward you this newsletter? I’m sorry about that, but since you’re here, you might as well subscribe…

Just watch this. Maya Spivak spoke at The Transaction conference and it was mind-blowing. (Full recording coming as soon as Producer Sam gets off his ass)

Back for her second episode is the one and only Jen Igartua, the CEO of Go Nimbly and RevOps OG. Jen joins Co-Hosts Craig Rosenberg and Matt Amundson to break down what made Go Nimbly’s Rev Fest such an incredible event for everyone, from the GTM leaders attending to the speakers, and even the sponsor brands. Jen outlines why she picked a truly iconic venue for a business event, how she prepared the speakers to deliver insights entertainingly, and what B2B event sponsors should be doing instead of popping up another tired booth.

Plus, Jen shares how business leaders should approach orchestrating workflows with new AI tools.

Also, Craig plans his next tattoo, Matt earns a B-minus, and Producer Sam complains about ugly wood paneling.

The secret to hosting an amazing B2B event is to stop copying tired event formats and instead build from your genuine passions. GTM leaders should audit their planned events and ask: “What would I genuinely love to attend?” If the honest answer doesn’t match the event they’re building, they should redesign it. Authenticity is the differentiator, and audiences can tell immediately when passion is faked.
Treat your event like you’re putting on a show, not just another business conference. For example, Jen hired Doug Landis as a presentation coach, opened the venue a day early for speaker training, and had MCs introduce speakers so presenters could lead with their content immediately rather than wasting audience attention on bio slides. This “show vs. conference” framing forces event organizers to make logistical decisions to serve the audience experience rather than operational convenience.
Rev Fest did not rely on “great speakers” and hope for the best. The 20-minute cap, speaker coaching, rehearsal time, MC intros, and topic curation all turned content into something attendees could actually stay locked into instead of politely enduring.
To move your team from “random acts of AI” to orchestrated workflows, start by mapping out your current processes and identifying which steps are truly automatable versus which require judgment. Jen’s framework is to define the end-to-end job-to-be-done first and then deploy AI as one component inside that designed workflow. When documenting your processes, clearly address who does what, where human judgment is needed, where full automation is possible.
The companies that deployed technology last but got their strategy and process right first are consistently the most tech-forward (and successful) in practice. GTM leaders being pressured to “become AI-first” should resist the impulse to start with tools and instead start with their most important business outcomes, work backwards to the workflow changes required, and then identify where AI fits.
Rather than vendor booths, Jen designed facilitated “table talks” where sponsors ran small-group discussions on topics the audience had already said they cared about. Critically, she required sponsors to bring senior operators (not AEs), trained them on facilitation techniques, and sent post-event notes with everyone’s LinkedIn to all attendees.

00:00 - Episode Preview
02:50 - Introducing Jen Igartua, CEO of Go Nimbly
06:50 - What Made Go Nimbly’s RevFest One of the Best Go-To-Market Events
11:53 A Dog-Leg about Ham Legs and Spanish Film Studies 203
15:27 Thinking Bigger than a Business Conference To Create a Show
19:54 Picking a Truly Unique Venue & Setting the Right Vibes for Your Event
23:48 Actually Interesting Event Sponsor Table Talks System
28:46 Forward Thinking Companies are Done with Random Acts Of AI
32:07 Defining AI Orchestration & What Marketing Tasks to Automate First
46:29 Business Processes First, AI Tool Implementation Second
49:33 Rev Ops Workflows And Enrichment

“The really great stuff doesn’t scale. Stop trying to scale it.” - Jen Igartua

“You’ve got to make the stuff you love. Like, why are you creating something that you are not into?” - Jen Igartua

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-igartua/
Go Nimbly Website: https://www.gonimbly.com/

Jamón Jamón (Dir. Bigas Luna, 1992)
Javier Fesser: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0275250/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_fesser
Campeones (Dir. Javier Fesser, 2018)
Champions (Dir. Bobby Farrelly, 2023)
House of Yes: https://www.houseofyes.org/
Ruslan Tovbulatov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruslan-tovbulatov/
Doug Landis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglandis/

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Yippee Ki-yay, go-to-market folks!

(Yes, we’ll have a Die Hard 2 poster for next week featuring the person who likes it better than the first… )

Craig’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrosenberg/
Matt’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-amundson-91657236/

Believe it or not, even in the tech-fueled world we live in, the number one way podcasts grow is word of mouth. So, if you learned something, lost your cool at something, or laughed at something from the show, give us a hand by sharing this with someone else who will get that same value from the show, regardless if it’s education, entertainment, or outrage-inducing.

Crafting Unforgettable Events for B2B with Jen Igartua, CEO of Go Nimbly - Ep 81

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