161: Angela Rueda: Meta’s Director of Martech on build vs buy, vendor selection and hybrid stacks

Angela walked into Meta’s engineering-first culture, discovering a sprawling mess of DIY custom martech solutions, and leading the organization through a fundamental mindset shift about build vs. buy decisions. She brings us through the technical and emotional journey of aligning more than 150 stakeholders ultimately forcing them to embrace a hybrid build-and-buy approach during a pivotal merger. More

158: Jeff Lee: How Calm’s Billion customer message machine unites martech and engineering

Jeff built a billion-message marketing machine at Calm with three people. But it was a journey. Push notifications sparked a three-year battle until a new CPO, unburdened by notification trauma, green-lit the project in six weeks. It was a four-year battle for ML recommendations but the data tells an unexpected story. Jeff also shares tactics for winning over the most skeptical product and engineering teams. It starts with operational empathy by taking a stab at a working prototype of your idea but also recognizing that product and martech decisions often stem from personal bias that requires champions who have experienced positive outcomes.More

129: Re: Why Martech is Actually for Engineers

Homegrown tools aren’t appealing to marketers, they’re hard to scale, most have a shitty UI and it’s not a recognisable martech tool you can add to your resume. Homegrown martech tools are even less appealing to engineers, they can’t stand the chaos of marketing. We’ll always need for cross-functional translators, disproving the claim that martech is actually only for engineers.More

128: Vish Gupta: Why simplification should come before automation if you want to avoid a Frankenstack

We touch on the pitfalls of Frankenstein stacks and the perks of self-service martech. Vish explains why martech isn’t just for engineers and highlights the efficiency of customized Asana intake forms. We also tackle the dangers of over-specialization for senior leaders. Additionally, we explore the intersection of martech and large language models (LLMs), providing insights on how to stay ahead in the evolving landscape.More