Molly George has spent her career inside B2B tech and on the agency side. Today she is the CEO and founder of Kickstand, a PR and research firm helping brands win in an AI-shaped search world.

In this episode of Women in B2B Marketing, we unpack why PR is having a comeback in B2B, how AI search is changing the playbook, and what modern comms leaders are doing to show up in the consideration set. We also get into Molly’s founder story, the power of setbacks, and practical ways to make PR work alongside demand, content, and product marketing.

Here’s what we cover:

• PR’s real job in B2B and why quick wins are the wrong expectation
• AI search and brand visibility: how citations shape consideration
• Owned vs earned in 2025: your site, plus offsite owned profiles like G2, AWS, Wikipedia
• Press releases today: when they help train models and when wires waste budget
• Formatting for LLMs: structure, subheads, and consistent boilerplates across properties
• Using query data to guide narratives, pitches, and thought leadership
• Reddit for B2B: participate with value, not a megaphone
• Budget shifts: why teams are moving dollars from classic SEO to brand and PR
• Starting an agency while employed, finding the tipping point, and trusting your gut

Key Links:

• Guest: Molly George: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-george-kickstand/
• Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/
• Kickstand: https://meetkickstand.com/
• Kickstand Research Report on AI and GTM: https://meetkickstand.com/landing/the-zero-click-era-is-here-are-you-ready-to-show-up/

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Ruta Sudmantaite and Emma Davies have built their careers across marketing, consulting, and now tech entrepreneurship. After meeting as teammates at a B2B SaaS company, they went on to become fractional CMOs, podcast co-hosts of Blame It On Marketing, and founders of their own startups - Lava Metrics, a marketing analytics platform, and Thesmia AI, a low-cost AI assistant for HR teams.

In this episode, we talk about building while bootstrapping, the realities of fractional consulting, what it’s like to start companies with your friends (and partners), and how they bring kindness, candor, and community into every room they enter.

Here’s what we cover:

• How Ruta and Emma went from coworkers to fractional CMOs and co-founders
• The differences between starting a consulting practice and a tech company
• Why they believe “two heads are better than one” in fractional work
• Building products without outside funding - patience, scrappiness, and first customers
• How to disagree kindly, give feedback, and earn trust with in-house teams
• Why executive presence doesn’t have to look like a suit or a script
• Creating community through honesty: confessions walls, career couches, and real talk
• The power of female allies, industry besties, and personal boards of directors
• And yes, Ruta’s side business selling sourdough starter - and what it taught her about SEO

Key Links:

Guests:

Ruta Sudmantaite: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rutasudmantaite/

Emma Davies: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmadavies1989/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

Thesmia AI: https://www.thesmia.ai/

Lava Metrics: https://lavametrics.com/

Blame it on Marketing Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3X0IiwUIupVa4tCNg8AMpR?si=5d01dceb2c6d4c86

Ruta's Epic UK Sourdough co: https://getsourdough.co.uk/

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Recorded IRL at Pavilion’s GTM2025, Washington DC!

Amanda McGuckin Hager has worn many hats in her career—sales, marketing, fractional consulting—and today she holds two big ones: CMO and CRO at TrueDialog. After starting out in sales and quickly realizing her heart was in marketing, Amanda built a path through Austin’s B2B tech community, leading teams, experimenting with growth plays, and eventually taking on dual leadership of sales and marketing.

In this episode, we unpack Amanda’s journey, her approach to building strong cultures without “duds,” why she’s protective of her CMO title, and how she’s testing AI and search in practical, creative ways.

Here’s what we cover:

• Amanda’s early pivot from sales into marketing (and why it stuck)
• What it really looks like to be both CMO and CRO at the same time
• Resetting a sales org from comp plans to quotas to team structure
• Why fewer silos and more shared accountability reduce finger pointing
• How to spot (and avoid) “duds” when building teams
• The role of fun and positivity in high-performing leadership
• Fractional marketing lessons: variety, freedom, and choosing clients
• Why Amanda protects the CMO title (even while running sales)
• Experiments with LLM optimization, long-tail queries, and AI tools
• Guarding deep work time with “no meeting” blocks and shitty first drafts

Key Links:

Guest: Amanda McGuckin Hager: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

Recorded live from Pavilion's GTM2025: https://attendgtm.com/

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