One of the first things Manny Ataebi did as CMO at Cerby was take responsibility for the entire pipeline at the board level, including inbound, outbound, partner and referrals, even the sources marketing doesn’t own. He doesn’t report on MQLs or leads. Every week he walks the exec team from ICP meetings booked to pipeline to revenue, and every quarter the board gets the same view plus a straight account of what hit, what missed and what he’s doing about it.
This episode of The Last 90 Days is worth a watch for any marketing leader who’d rather be measured on revenue than on leads.
What you’ll learn:
Field-Tested Product Positioning: How to refine complex technical messaging by analyzing sales calls (Gong), testing messaging directly with SDRs in the field before putting it on the website, and aligning key internal executives iteratively without creating a "generic" consensus.
Boardroom accountability & metrics: How to report on the full pipeline-to-revenue metric rather than vanity MQLs at the board level, present strategic plans clearly without reading off slides, and ask for specific help from board members.
The "Grinder" Leadership Mindset: Why leading by example—whether it's getting on cold-calling blitzes, writing campaign copy, or taking finance classes to master P&Ls and LTV-to-CAC—builds an execution-focused team culture.
Story Before Scale
Manny’s number one priority for the quarter was telling the right story: what Cerby does, why it matters, and what it’s not.Most marketers start with volume because volume is visible. Manny’s view is that if you get the right people in a room without a good story, you’re wasting everybody’s time. The result was the biggest quarter in the company’s history, though he still rates it a 6 or 7 until they do it five quarters in a row.
The SDRs Hear It Before the Website Does
New messaging didn’t go on the website first. It went to the SDRs, because if it’s wrong, you don’t want to have to undo it on your website. The signal Manny listens for in Gong is specific: prospects stop saying “that’s cool” and start asking, “You know how we’re really doing it today?” That’s when you know you’ve got it. Then it goes everywhere.
20, 45, 65
Put fifteen people in a room and you'll get a safe, generic message, which is usually the one you started with. Manny builds alignment in stages instead. He starts with the CEO, then brings in new stakeholders as the message reaches 20%, 45%, and 65%. By the time it's at 100%, everyone has bought in.
Don't Read Your Slides
In a board meeting, whatever you say becomes a commitment, so Manny never brainstorms there. He also never reads his slides, and calls doing so "the number one tell." The slides are for the board to look at. Manny tells the story: where we were, where we're going, and why.
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