Build Something or Fix Something with Instructure CMO Armin Molavi
From Building Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders by MMA Global / LightningPod
February 4, 2026 · 59 min · Season 3 · Episode 11
About this episode
Armin Molavi discusses his transition to B2B marketing and shares insights on working with private equity and improving agency-client partnerships.
Armin Molavi spent 20 years working in agencies before transitioning to client-side marketing at Hilton, then building a successful fractional CMO practice serving private equity-backed companies. Currently, he's the CMO at Instructure, which makes the ubiquitous learning management system Canvas."25 years of B2C, and this is my very first B2B gig, so I've been learning a lot," Armin says. "What's the saying? Like drinking from a fire hydrant?"But at a fundamental level, he explains, B2B is not so different from what he's spent most of his career doing."At the end of the day, I have to convince people that if they give up their budget for what I have to sell, it's going to make their life better at work," he adds. "That's what marketing is."Today on Building Better CMOs, Armin and Greg Stuart discuss what marketers should know about working with private equity firms, why agencies and clients both need to be better partners to each other, and the life-changing career advice he received from Kellyn Kenny. They also discuss why marketers need to drop the jargon and start connecting their work to enterprise value if they want a seat at the table. Full transcript This…
People in this episode
Host: Greg Stuart
Guest: Armin Molavi
Topics covered
- B2B marketing
- private equity
- agency-client relationships
- career advice
- marketing jargon
- enterprise value
Keywords
- B2C
- B2B
- marketing
- private equity
- agencies
- career advice
- enterprise value
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Instructure, Hilton, MMA Global, LightningPod
Books & works: Canvas
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