In this episode of The Marketing Front Lines, we speak with Barbara Lewis, CMO of Coactive AI, a company helping enterprises unlock value from their image and video content using AI. Barbara brings a unique perspective as an eight-time startup marketing leader who has consistently chosen early-stage companies over established ones. With a background spanning from Siebel Systems during the dot-com crash to building marketing organizations from scratch, Barbara shares tactical insights on marketing in emerging categories, the realities of category creation, and how AI is reshaping both marketing practice and customer expectations.

Topics Discussed:

Building Marketing Organizations from Zero in Early-Stage Startups

• Transitioning from product management to marketing at Siebel Systems
• The strategic decision-making process for joining early vs. late-stage companies
• Scaling marketing teams and systems in high-growth environments

Category Creation vs. Market Education

• The myth of company-driven category creation and why markets create categories
• How to approach marketing when there's no established purchasing department
• Balancing customer imagination with technological reality in AI markets

Strategic Marketing Tactics for Emerging Technologies

• Private event strategy for complex B2B sales cycles
• Why traditional digital marketing approaches don't work for all audiences
• Educational content as a primary marketing vehicle

AI's Impact on Marketing Practice

• Using AI as a brainstorming and creative collaboration tool
• The limitations of AI-generated content and the importance of human judgment
• How generative AI is changing customer expectations and buying behavior

Lessons from the Salesforce vs. Siebel Competition

• The reality behind the legendary competitive positioning
• How Salesforce leveraged competitive drafting without direct competition
• Why understanding true competitive dynamics matters for strategy