I recently sat down with Alan Gonsenhauser, a seasoned CMO, advisor, and interim CMO to private equity portfolio companies, to unpack what’s really driving growth in modern B2B marketing. We covered ideal customer profiles (ICPs), brand gravity, AI, GEO, and how the CMO role is evolving.
Alan began with ICPs, noting that most companies still don’t have them truly nailed. They underestimate the value of a consistent, governed ICP that guides who they should get, keep, and grow. He described three stages of business evolution: problem–market fit, product–market fit, and platform–market fit. In the early problem–market fit stage, startups are validating a real pain point and discovering their first ICP. At product–market fit, the emphasis shifts to scaling and multiple ICPs often emerge. By platform–market fit, most revenue comes from existing customers, and you finally have enough data to see which segments really drive long-term value.
At that point, Alan likes to run cohort analyses using win–loss ratio, gross revenue retention, and net revenue retention to pinpoint the segments where you’re best positioned to get, keep, and grow customers. The real discipline is balancing external opportunity (market tailwinds, competitive dynamics, regulation) with internal readiness: brand gravity, product fit, channels, and reach. It’s not about chasing every “hot” segment but doubling down where you’re actually built to win.
We also dug into brand gravity, the upper-funnel trust that determines whether you even make it onto a buyer’s shortlist. Research shows that in B2B, only about 5% of potential buyers are in-market at any given time, and when they are, they pick from a shortlist of a few vendors most of the time. If you’re not on that list, you never get an at-bat. That’s why Alan reframes much of what we call demand generation as “demand capture.” Lower-funnel tactics harvest today’s 5%; brand investment seeds tomorrow’s pipeline.
On the tactical side, Alan sees far better returns from intimate, highly targeted dinners than from big trade shows. At past companies, he ran CMO dinners with no formal selling, deliberately mixing customers and prospects. Often, the customers ended up selling the prospects. Compared to trade shows full of tire kickers and swag hunters, these curated experiences were more efficient and better aligned with ICP, especially with thoughtful pre- and post-event planning.
Finally, we explored AI and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Many senior decision-makers are no longer starting with traditional search; they’re going to ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity. Alan is already seeing real business from these channels and argues that sites must be designed to be GEO-friendly, with clear structure, rich Q&A, and expert content that large language models want to surface. Over time, he expects GEO to rival and, in some cases, overtake classic SEO in importance.
For CMOs, the mandate is clear: sharpen ICP discipline, invest in brand gravity, favor targeted relationship-building over generic events, and prepare for an AI-driven discovery landscape. Above all, think less like a campaign manager and more like a P&L owner and “customer capitalist;” a shift Alan believes will define the next generation of marketing leadership.
Discussion points include:
- Is your ICP truly shared across go-to-market teams?
- How much are you investing in brand vs. just harvesting in-market demand?
- Are intimate, ICP-targeted events getting enough budget vs. big shows?
- Is your content actually GEO/AI-friendly today?