Outfoxed

The eleventh episode of the Outfoxed podcast by Hunter.io features Kodi McKinney, founder of Me In The Club.Kodi shares why the marketing lessons he learned promoting records at college radio stations apply directly to B2B outreach, how founders and musicians make identical mistakes when trying to grow past their referral networks, and why he believes most people are stuck on one or two channels when they need to be visible across seven. He breaks down what separates cold outreach that gets marked as spam from the kind that starts real conversations — and why the answer has almost nothing to do with the tools you use.This episode is packed with practical insight for founders transitioning away from founder-led sales, growth marketers looking for fresh perspective, and anyone who suspects that the human side of outreach is getting lost in the rush to automate everything.Podcast Episode Highlights:Why the "Rule of Seven" still defines how modern buyers make decisionsThe layered communication hierarchy from face-to-face down to email and why each step adds resistanceWhy managing a CEO's patience is half the job of any fractional CMOHis rule for marking cold emails as spam and what it reveals about most outreach todayAbout Kodi McKinney:Kodi McKinney is the founder of Me In The Club, a growth marketing consultancy serving both creative businesses and tech companies. He has worked with thousands of artists and companies across 30+ countries, co-owned a NYC-based music marketing agency for nine years, and has spoken on marketing at conferences across three continents.His background spans radio promotion, journalism, music management, and fractional CMO work for startups and corporations alike. He is based in New York City.Learn more about Kodi McKinney via:https://www.meintheclub.com/https://www.theclublist.net/Credits: Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.

The ninth episode of the Outfoxed podcast by Hunter.io features Rahul Jain, CEO and co-founder of Noble.Rahul shares how he pivoted from word-of-mouth recommendation software to paid placement for AI search, scaling from zero to over half a million dollars in ARR in two months. He explains why 88% of links that appeared on Google's first page no longer get cited by LLMs, how he productized link building to get brands mentioned in the sources ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews actually cite, and why focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well became their competitive advantage in a market already seeing competitors shut down.This episode delivers strategic insights for founders navigating market pivots, go-to-market leaders adapting to AI-driven buying behavior, and anyone building in emerging categories — packed with honest metrics, tactical approaches, and hard-won lessons from someone who's built companies in both hardware and software.Podcast Episode Highlights: • Why getting mentioned in cited sources guarantees visibility more than traditional SEO tactics • How Rahul leveraged existing customer relationships to validate and launch a completely different product • The accidental growth loop where publisher outreach converts into new customer leads • Why vulnerability with your team builds stronger connections than projecting fearless leadership • His interview technique for testing candidate grit: assignments that reveal effort level over credentialsAbout Rahul Jain:Rahul Jain is the CEO and co-founder of Noble, a platform that enables paid placement in AI search results by getting brands mentioned in the sources cited by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity. Before Noble, Rahul led sales at digital healthcare companies including OODA Health and Cedar, and was previously CEO and co-founder of Tower View Health, a medication adherence startup he launched with college roommates in 2014.Based in San Francisco, Rahul brings a unique perspective shaped by experience on both sides of the founder-sales divide — having built companies, led enterprise sales teams, and navigated the challenges of hardware manufacturing, 24-month healthcare sales cycles, and venture-backed pivots.Learn more about Rahul Jain via: • https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-jain-noble/ • https://www.thatsnoble.com/Credits: Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.

The seventh episode of the Outfoxed podcast by Hunter.io features Dennis Kelly, CEO and founder of Postalytics, a direct mail automation software company.Dennis shares how Postalytics evolved from a horizontal platform to a verticalized approach targeting tech-enabled SMBs, the painful lessons learned from pivoting away from legacy direct mail providers, and why early customer wins can be dangerously misleading signals. His approach proves that sometimes the biggest opportunities come from disrupting the very ecosystem you initially tried to partner with.This episode delivers strategic insights for founders, marketers, and anyone building in traditional industries — filled with pivot lessons, go-to-market evolution, and practical advice from someone who's learned to question early success.Podcast Episode Highlights:Why multi-channel marketing nearly doubles outreach success ratesThe evolution from horizontal platform to vertical go-to-market strategyLessons from the Boingnet pivot and why legacy players resist changeHow SEO became their primary growth channel in a competitive spaceWhy founders must embrace evangelizing their productsAbout Dennis Kelly:A Colgate University economics graduate who grew up on a farm in upstate New York, Dennis Kelly has held leadership roles spanning sales, product development, and operations across industries from healthcare software to wireless retail. With over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Dennis has founded six technology startups and achieved multiple successful exits.Today, he’s the CEO and founder of Postalytics, a direct mail automation platform that helps marketers integrate physical mail into their digital marketing stacks. Learn more about Dennis Kelly via:https://www.linkedin.com/in/denniskelly/https://postalytics.com/Credits: Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.

The fifth episode of the Outfoxed podcast by Hunter.io features Adam Goldfarb, founder of Transcendence Audio. Although he has 17 years of corporate strategy and operations experience in the medical assessment industry and an Executive MBA from Ivey Business School, Adam’s true passion is leveraging his 25+ years as a passionate audiophile to serve the unique high-end audio manufacturing market. He now helps these companies — from boutique speaker manufacturers to amplifier designers — navigate business challenges in a contracting, highly specialized market where products can cost tens of thousands of dollars.Adam shares how he achieves a 20% positive response rate through hyper-targeted cold outreach, why he spends 80% of his time researching prospects and only 20% writing emails, and how his industry expertise has become his competitive advantage. His approach proves that deep knowledge and custom messaging outperform automation and mass campaigns, even in a world increasingly obsessed with AI.This episode delivers tactical guidance for consultants, outreach professionals, and anyone building expertise-based businesses — filled with specific processes, honest metrics, and practical advice from someone who's chosen precision over scale.Podcast Episode Highlights:How to achieve high response rates by establishing credibility in the first sentenceWhy 80% research and 20% writing beats automated mass campaignsThe minimal tech stack that outperforms complex automationWhy Adam refuses to use AI for writing but embraces it for researchAbout Adam Goldfarb:With 17 years of corporate strategy and operations experience in the medical assessment industry and over 25 years as a passionate audiophile, Adam Goldfarb is the founder of Transcendence Audio Strategic Advisory, a consulting practice that helps high-end audio manufacturers navigate a specialized market where products can cost tens of thousands of dollars.Learn more about Adam:https://transcendenceaudio.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamvgoldfarbCredits: Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.

The third episode of the Outfoxed podcast by Hunter.io features Rand Fishkin, cofounder and CEO of SparkToro (and former cofounder of Moz). As a longtime leader in digital marketing, Rand has spent more than two decades helping companies understand where their audiences are and how to reach them effectively. His work has shaped how marketers think about SEO, audience research, and the balance between data and creativity.Today, Matt and Rand cut through the noise to talk about how SparkToro navigated a hard pivot off social media to clickstream data, why zero-click marketing changes how success is measured, and how founders can find their first 100 customers by focusing on channels they genuinely enjoy (including offline ones) instead of chasing trends. They also discuss the limits of AI-generated content and why judgment still matters more than automation.This episode offers practical lessons for founders, marketers, and creators — packed with data, candor, and grounded advice from someone who’s built and rebuilt in public.Podcast Episode Highlights:How SparkToro survived losing its primary data source and rebuilt from scratchWhy your first 100 customers should come from channels you actually enjoyThe rise of zero-click marketing and what it means for audience researchWhy AI is a useful tool but a poor substitute for human creativityAbout Rand Fishkin:Rand Fishkin is the cofounder and CEO of SparkToro, an audience research software company that helps marketers identify where their ideal customers spend time online. Known for his contrarian approach to entrepreneurship, Rand has earned a reputation for challenging Silicon Valley norms while building enduring, profitable companies.A Seattle native, Rand attended the University of Washington before leaving to help rescue his mother’s struggling marketing firm from debt. That company became Moz, which he co-founded in 2004 and led as CEO from 2007 to 2014. Under his leadership, Moz grew from a seven-person blog into a global, 200+ employee SaaS company that generated over $50 million in annual revenue.At Moz, Rand launched the Whiteboard Friday video series, co-authored “The Art of SEO,” and played a pivotal role in making SEO education accessible to millions at a time when the industry was notoriously secretive. He was named to BusinessWeek’s 30 Under 30 and became one of the most recognized educators in digital marketing, keynoting more than a hundred conferences worldwide.After leaving Moz in 2018, Rand cofounded SparkToro, which pioneered an alternative, transparent funding model and built tools that help marketers discover where their audiences actually spend time. His 2018 book, “Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World,” drew widespread attention for its candid take on venture capital, founder burnout, and mental health in tech. He also cofounded Snackbar Studio, an independent game company that experiments with creative funding models.He lives in Seattle with his wife, award-winning author and travel blogger Geraldine DeRuiter.Learn more about Rand and SparkToro via:https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/https://sparktoro.com/https://sparktoro.com/blogCredits:Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.

The launch episode of the Outfoxed podcast by Hunter.io features award-winning photojournalist Spike Johnson, whose work has appeared in WIRED, NBC, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.Spike turned a creative passion into a thriving business using email, and his perspective will help entrepreneurs from all backgrounds.This is a perfect reflection of the Outfoxed ethos: it’s about building something meaningful, overcoming fear of failure, and success through audience relevance and personal vulnerability.Podcast episode highlights:Why writing underpins everythingWhy fear is part of the journeyHow personal pitches create successAbout Spike Johnson:Spike is an independent photojournalist and filmmaker. His work has been published by NBC, BBC PBS, CBS, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Harper’s, Vice Magazine, Foreign Policy, and Human Rights Watch. His projects have received funding from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Johnson has been recognized with awards from the National Press Photographers Association, The International Photography Awards, and the College Photographer of the Year competition.Learn more about Spike and his work via:- https://www.instagram.com/spike_johnson- https://www.spikejohnson.co.uk- https://www.linkedin.com/in/spike-johnsonCredits:Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm.