In the Pit with Cody Schneider | Marketing | Growth | Startups

Brought to you by https://www.graphed.com/ Deploy AI Agents for Marketing + GTM Intro Most of the marketing data you want is public. It's just not exposed. Ad platforms show you what makes you spend more with them, and hide the rest. Adrian runs Scrape Creators, an API for public social data. He spent this episode listing almost 20 tools that get at the stuff platforms don't hand over — creator emails, Instagram stories, full tweet history, every nutritionist in the United States. The real takeaway isn't any one API. It's that chaining them together takes an afternoon now. Google Maps → email finder → Instantly → booked meeting. No engineer. Timestamps (02:34) A customer got busted by Meta this week — where Adrian draws the legal line (08:41) Outlier identification: rank a creator's catalog, pull the transcripts, extract the hooks (12:31) The non-technical build loop — API docs into Perplexity, Python into a vibe coding tool, one-shot app (21:16) Hiker API — Instagram emails, followers, and stories from behind the login (25:56) Google Maps at scale — Targetron, Serper.dev, and the email enrichment chain on top Find Adrian - scrapecreators.com - [email protected] - https://x.com/adrian_horning_ on X

Deploy AI agents for marketing - https://www.graphed.com/ Nick Abraham is breaking down the exact outbound system behind 250,000 LinkedIn DMs a month, including the numbers, infrastructure, and why LinkedIn is blowing cold email out of the water right now. He pulls back the curtain on the LinkedIn InMail arbitrage that most people have no idea exists, how he's stacking SalesNav licenses to send at scale without paying per credit, and why reply rates on LinkedIn are nearly 3x what he's seeing from cold email, even to the exact same lead lists. But it doesn't stop there. Nick also gets into how he's completely rethinking cold email as a one-to-one marketing channel powered by AI, where every email is essentially a personalized ad written specifically for that recipient's business, role, and pain point. He walks through a real live example using getleads.io and how he's slicing TAM lists into micro-campaigns by channel type, inbox provider, and job function to squeeze dramatically better results out of the same volume. They also get into the full outbound tech stack Nick is running right now: SmartLead for email sequencing, HeyReach for LinkedIn, Master Inbox for unified reply management, Close CRM for pipeline, and how Cursor plus Claude replaced his entire RevOps setup, no Zapier, no full-time hire. About the Guest Nick is the founder of Leadbird.io, one of the top outbound agencies running today. Link with him through here. https://x.com/NickAbraham12 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-abraham/ Learn more about Leadbird https://leadbird.io/

Deploy AI agents for marketing - https://www.graphed.com/ GTM engineering is one of the fastest-growing roles in tech right now, but what does it actually involve, and why are companies scrambling to hire for it? In this episode, I sit down with Benyamin Holley, a GTM engineer who's worked at multiple startups including AirOps, to break down what this job really looks like day to day. We dig into why API completeness is becoming the new buying criteria for software (and why Salesforce is quietly winning the AI era), why you should skip tools like Zapier and N8n entirely and go straight to code, and how "just-in-time" internal tools are changing the way teams build workflows. Ben also walks through real systems he's built and explains why expertise, not just tooling, is what actually separates winners in an increasingly saturated market. We also get into the debate around cold email as a marketing channel vs. a sales channel, why attribution is still an unsolved problem, and what companies should actually look for when hiring a GTM engineer. In this episode, we cover: 00:00 — What a GTM engineer actually is (and why every company is hiring one) 02:54 — Why Salesforce beats HubSpot now: API completeness is the buying criteria 05:29 — Skip Zapier and n8n entirely, go straight to code 08:31 — Your GitHub repo is your GTM portfolio 32:29 — The job-change bot: vibe-coding UserGems and what made it hard

Your biggest advantage in marketing right now isn’t better ads. It’s understanding what actually makes people buy — and it’s probably not what your feed is telling you. Rage bait is everywhere. It gets views. It gets engagement. But it doesn’t build trust — and it definitely doesn’t drive real revenue in B2B. In this episode, we sit down with Jason Levin, co-founder of Memelord.com, to break down why meme marketing is quietly outperforming rage bait, how humor builds trust with high-value buyers, and the exact systems top marketers are using to scale meme-driven acquisition. The deeper insight: the best marketers aren’t chasing attention — they’re engineering relatability at scale. You’ll learn how to operationalize memes across multiple accounts, why “remixing” is the real creative advantage, and how to turn humor into a repeatable growth engine. If you’re thinking about distribution in 2026, this is a playbook most companies still aren’t using. Guest Jason Levin — co-founder of Memelord.com, an AI-powered meme marketing platform helping companies scale humor, distribution, and content velocity through AI-generated memes and multi-account social strategies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamjasonlevin X: https://x.com/iamjasonlevin What You’ll Learn Why rage bait drives views… but fails to convert high-value customers The difference between attention farming and buyer-driven attention How meme marketing builds trust faster than traditional content Why humor is a lever — not a strategy replacement How to run multiple niche meme accounts for different ICPs Why remixing content beats originality in modern distribution How AI is enabling meme velocity at scale Why relationships still outperform automation in closing deals Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction to Meme Marketing 00:21 - Guest Introduction: Jason Levin from Memelord.com 00:41 - Memes vs Rage Bait Marketing 01:13 - Tactical Meme Marketing Strategies 02:24 - The Importance of Branding and Trust 03:27 - Rage Bait vs Smart Bait Philosophy 05:01 - Why Meme Marketing Drives Revenue 06:43 - Building Trust in B2B Through Humor 08:13 - Niche Meme Accounts and High-LTV Distribution 10:19 - The Problem with Rage Bait Culture in Silicon Valley 15:00 - Inside Memelord.com: Product, Demo & AI Tools 30:43 - Scaling Distribution, Verified Orgs & Measurement Key Topics & Insights 1. Rage Bait Gets Attention — But Not Revenue There’s a growing belief that anger = growth. But here’s the reality: Rage bait attracts the wrong audience. It pulls in: Low-intent users People looking to argue Low purchasing-power audiences The problem: High-value buyers don’t respond to manipulation — they recognize it. And when trust is broken, conversion dies. The takeaway: Views are not revenue. 2. Meme Marketing = Relatability at Scale Memes work because they create instant recognition. Instead of forcing attention, they generate: Emotional alignment Shared pain points Fast trust-building through humor When people feel understood, they convert faster. 3. Humor Is a Lever, Not a Strategy Memes don’t replace strategy — they amplify it. Smart marketing stacks multiple levers: Educational content Long-form trust building Paid acquisition Humor as distribution acceleration 4. Remixing Is the Real Growth Engine Modern content velocity comes from remixing, not originality. Instead of creating from scratch: Take what’s already trending Apply your ICP’s pain point Add context and distribution This is how meme engines scale. 5. Multi-Account Distribution Strategy Scaling meme marketing requires fragmentation: Multiple niche accounts Each targeting a specific persona Each speaking in a tailored voice This creates parallel distribution channels instead of relying on one brand feed. 6. Verified Org Arbitrage on X A key growth hack discussed: $1,000/month for verified org Ability to spin affiliate meme accounts Networked distribution across accounts This creates ubiquity and compounding reach. 7. Relationships Still Close Revenue Even in a world of automation: Conversations Trust Long-term relationships still outperform pure distribution hacks. 8. Measurement Shift: Branded Search Instead of tracking vanity metrics: Focus on branded search growth Use Google Search Console Measure demand creation, not just clicks This becomes the true signal of market pull. 9. The Meme Stack Is Becoming a System Memelord.com represents a shift: Trend detection AI generation Multi-account publishing Rapid iteration loops Memes are no longer content — they are infrastructure. Sponsor Today’s episode is brought to you by Graphed – an AI data analyst & BI platform. With Graphed you can: Connect data like GA4, Facebook Ads, HubSpot, Google Ads, Search Console, Amplitude Build interactive dashboards just by chatting (no Looker Studio/Tableau learning curve) Use it as your ETL + data warehouse + BI layer in one place Ask: “Build me a stacked bar chart of new users vs. all users over time from GA4” …and Graphed just builds it for you. 👉 Get a free trial worth $500 plus a personal discovery call to set up your first dashboard: https://graphed.com/

Your “source of truth” for customer acquisition isn’t GA4. It’s what people tell you when they sign up — and right now, that story is changing fast. In this episode, we unpack a simple but brutally effective tactic: adding a required “How did you hear about us?” field to your signup form — and using that data to understand where real discovery is happening. The surprise? More and more B2B customers are saying social media, even when analytics tools claim otherwise. But here’s the deeper shift: organic social is hard to measure… unless you track the right trailing indicator. That indicator is branded search. You’ll learn how to use Google Search Console to track brand-name impressions over time, why it’s becoming the only KPI that matters for modern founder-led marketing, and how branded search creates a defensible moat competitors can’t easily steal. If you’re planning your marketing strategy for 2026, this is the measurement system you need. What You’ll Learn Why signup form attribution is often more reliable than your analytics dashboards The biggest B2B acquisition shift happening right now: from search → social Why organic social is nearly impossible to ROI… and how to measure it anyway The “branded search” metric that acts as a trailing indicator for social discovery Why branded search is a marketing moat your competitors can’t take from you How to build a branded-search chart using Google Search Console in minutes The exact prompt to pull branded impressions by query and track them over time Timestamps 00:00:00 - Customer Discovery Starts at Signup 00:00:10 - The Shift: Search → Social 00:00:31 - Why Organic Social Now Matters Most 00:00:52 - The Measurement Problem (and the Fix) 00:01:12 - Branded Search = Your Trailing Indicator 00:01:33 - Why Branded Search Is a Moat 00:01:54 - Where to Invest Time, Money, and Energy 00:02:04 - The 2026 Strategy: Grow Brand Searches 00:02:15 - How to Track Branded Search in GSC 00:02:25 - Building the Branded Impressions Chart 00:02:46 - Live Demo: Google Search Console Setup 00:03:07 - Final Thoughts Key Topics & Insights 1. Signup Attribution Beats Analytics (Almost Every Time) One of the fastest ways to understand how customers actually found you is simple: add a required “How did you hear about us?” field in your signup form. Why it works: It captures customer intent in their words It reveals channels analytics often misattributes It shows the real discovery story (not the last-click story) And the punchline: it often contradicts what GA4 says. 2. The B2B Discovery Shift: Search → Social If you’ve been paying attention to the data, something big is happening: People aren’t discovering new software products through search anymore. They’re discovering them on social — then Googling them afterward. This shift has accelerated over the past 12–18 months. Even in B2B, where trends typically lag behind DTC. What this means: SEO is no longer the first touchpoint Social is becoming the top-of-funnel discovery engine Search is evolving into a validation channel 3. Organic Social Has a Measurement Problem The hardest part about investing in organic social is that it’s difficult to tie to ROI. Whether you’re doing: Founder-led content Creator sponsorships Community distribution Organic growth loops …it doesn’t fit neatly into traditional attribution. So instead of forcing bad ROI models, track the trailing indicator that proves social discovery is working. 4. Branded Search Is the Trailing Indicator That Matters Here’s the key idea: When someone discovers your product on social, they don’t click your link. They Google your name. That branded search becomes the measurable proof: A discovery event happened People care enough to look you up Your brand is entering the market’s memory This is why branded search growth is one of the strongest indicators of momentum. If branded search is increasing month-over-month, your brand is winning. 5. Branded Search Creates a Defensible Moat This is where it becomes more than measurement — it becomes strategy. Branded search is difficult for competitors to steal. Once people are searching your name, you own that demand. The only way competitors can interfere: They bid on your brand in Google Ads They try to outspend you Or they attempt to confuse the market But that’s expensive, obvious, and usually temporary. So branded search is not only a KPI — it’s defensibility. 6. How to Track Branded Search in Google Search Console This is the tactical part. To track branded search over time, you want a chart that shows: Impressions over time For queries containing your brand name Captured in every format your audience might type it And this is surprisingly easy to pull from Google Search Console. 7. The Exact Chart & Prompt to Build It The goal is to extract Search Console impressions where queries include your brand name. Example prompt: “Build a chart showing total impressions over time for queries containing ‘YOURBRAND’.”Then your job becomes simple: Increase branded impressions month-over-month through: social content distribution creator partnerships podcast mentions repeated brand exposure consistent visibility This becomes the clearest signal that marketing is compounding. Action Steps (Do This Today) Add a required “How did you hear about us?” field on signup Review responses weekly (and compare against analytics) Use Google Search Console to track branded query impressions Create a monthly KPI: branded impressions growth Use branded search growth as the scoreboard for your organic social efforts Sponsor Today’s episode is brought to you by Graphed – an AI data analyst & BI platform. With Graphed you can: Connect data like GA4, Facebook Ads, HubSpot, Google Ads, Search Console, Amplitude Build interactive dashboards just by chatting (no Looker Studio/Tableau learning curve) Use it as your ETL + data warehouse + BI layer in one place Ask: “Build me a stacked bar chart of new users vs. all users over time from GA4” …and Graphed just builds it for you. 👉 Get a 14-day free trial with 10 seats for your team: https://graphed.com/