C-Suite Sidekick

About C-Suite Sidekick

But does it convert to revenue?!? Or even more importantly, PROFIT? Visibility, AI citations, getting found... there are a lot of concerns for business owners and senior leaders now. And on Revenue Remix, we cover all things revenue growth. B2B growth is messy. Not just at $5M or $10M ARR. At every stage, inside every kind of company, longer than anyone wants to admit. (Even in the Fortune 500 space) Revenue Remix is where the operators who've lived it come to tell hard truths about what's actually driving growth right now. Host by Summer Poletti — 3x Founder, Chief Sales Strategist, and the person who's unafraid of getting spicy or ruffling feathers. Summer is steadfast in her quest for sustainable and profitable growth. Guests have said she makes them feel comfortable, and listeners say she has a knack for connecting with the audience. We don't just talk about trends or challenges, every episode ends with an stealable moment; something you can do or review today. WHAT WE COVER GTM strategy. Revenue architecture. Founder-led sales and what comes after. Pipeline that isn't built on hope. Sales and marketing alignment (the real kind). Customer success as a growth lever. Partnerships that actually produce referrals. Hiring before you're ready — and what breaks when you do. The messy handoff from scrappy to scalable. WHO YOU'LL HEAR FROM Founders at launch, in the thick of it, post-exit, and figuring out what's next. Consultants, Coaches, and boutique Agency owners who see patterns across dozens of companies. And since growth is more than just sales, you';ll hear from Operations, Finance, HR, Product, in addition to Sales and Marketing. GTM tool founders talking problems, not pitches. Emerging thought leaders saying things the establishment hasn't caught up to yet. THE FORMAT Deep-dive founder interviews. Multi-voice panels where operators who've never met figure out they've been solving the same problem from different angles. Bonus mini episodes when Summer wants to share one of her frameworks with you. THE COMMUNITY Guests don't just appear and disappear. Panelists meet on this show and keep talking. People get introduced to someone they needed to know. If you've been looking for operators who think a little differently and actually lift each other up... you found them. Recognized by Feedspot as a Top Revenue Podcast 2025 and 2026. New episodes every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Guesting info: Summer books guests from her own network, the people she sees in meetings who are solving the same challenges or answering questions she gets from clients. Before you pitch yourself, see the guest experience here (https://www.theriseofus.com/podcast-guest).

Publisher

Summer Poletti

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 May 2024

Latest episode

4 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

128 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 Nov 2026

   How to Recover From a Failed B2B Sales Hire (and Get the Next One Right)

   You can grow revenue without growing headcount, and after a failed sales hire, that may be the smartest next move. In this episode of Revenue Remix, I share a story about a founder who hired a well-networked VP of Sales, waited two years for results, and ended up with almost nothing to show for it, including no strategy or structure left behind. Most founders in this spot think they have two choices: replace the hire immediately, or decide sales hiring doesn’t work for them. I’m usually brought in after the hire has failed, and the first thing I ask is whether you need to replace that role right now at all. When I was brought in, the board and the founder wanted new logo revenue. What I found was a faster path to relief for the founder, the company, and the board, and it wasn’t where anyone was looking. In this mini episode: Why one title can’t cover both strategy and full-cycle selling Why an experienced rep can’t recreate what they did at their last company How I found the quickest path to new revenue, and why it wasn’t a new hire How the next hire walked into a working sales engine, and why it’s still going 18 months later This one is for founders and CEOs who’ve had a first or early sales hire fall flat and aren’t sure whether to rehire, wait, or fix something else first. If you’re staring at an open seat and wondering whether to fill it, let’s talk before you do. Start at www.theriseofus.com.

2. 

   2 Nov 2026

   Why Sales Hires Fail and How to Rescue One You Believe In

   Why new sales hires fail is rarely as simple as “we picked the wrong person.” In this mini bonus episode of Revenue Remix, Summer shares a real founder story for anyone who hired a first or early sales rep and is now in the “find out” period, starting to suspect this isn’t going the way you hoped. A founder came to her after doing what so many founders do. He started out selling for his own company, realized he was the bottleneck, and hired an experienced rep so he could get back to being CEO. A couple of months in, he was still sitting in sales calls, now managing the rep on top of it. A lot of what the rep needed lived in the founder’s head, and nobody had gotten it out. If you like this person and believe in them, you may not have to start over. Here’s what we cover: Why a hire can look like it’s failing when the real gap is structure The “sales is sales” myth, and why one rep can’t do six jobs What to build, and what to take off the rep’s plate, before they lose hope Why being able to do sales and being able to lead sales are two different skills This one is for founders and CEOs with a first or early sales hire who is failing to meet expectations and who want to course correct instead of letting them go. If this sounds like the rep you have right now, let’s talk before it turns into a failed sales hire. Start at www.theriseofus.com.

3. 

   26 Oct 2026

   GTM for HealthTech: How to Sell to Hospitals, Prove Traction and Handle the FDA | OC Tech Week

   This is the published recording of the live OC Tech Week panel "The GTM Wall (Part 2): Getting Paid in HealthTech," hosted virtually by Rise of Us on Thursday, October 22, 2026. It is Part 2 of 3 in the GTM for HealthTech panel series. Part 1, the LA Tech Week panel: https://youtu.be/D5iKZYwJTtw (https://youtu.be/D5iKZYwJTtw) Part 3 is Monday, November 2 at 11:30 AM PT, part of San Diego Startup Week, sign up here (https://eventship.com/event/the-gtm-wall-nobody-warns-you-about-pt-3-getting-paid-in-healthtech). In health tech, the user is rarely the buyer, and the buyer is rarely the person who feels the pain. This GTM for HealthTech panel brings together a venture investor, a clinician operator, a regulatory expert and a marketing creator to explain how health tech founders actually get paid: product value, regulation, hospital buyers and proving traction before revenue. WHAT YOU'LL TAKE AWAY - Why investors who have never built a company give different advice, and how fund size shapes what a fund backs - The three questions behind every hospital sale: is it easier, is it cheaper, and is it timely - Why a "not for diagnosis or treatment" disclaimer does not protect you, and how your regulatory classification decides who can buy - How to find the champion who feels the daily pain, not only the person who signs the contract - How to prove traction with no revenue: crowdfunding, letters of intent, and 20 to 50 clinician testers - When to go to the FDA (later than most founders think) and why regulation can strengthen your sales pitch - Why one audience, one channel and one ideal customer profile beat "we sell to anybody" THE PANEL Shruti Shah (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrutishah1/), General Partner at Symphonic Capital, has sat on both sides of the table as a founder and an investor. Sabrina Runbeck (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinarunbeck/), clinician operator, health tech investor and advisor. Megan Kane (https://www.linkedin.com/in/megankane1/), regulatory expert, helps health tech founders make FDA strategy part of go-to-market. Melissa Kunde (https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissakunde/), founder of KÜCO Media and creator, on messaging, buyer beliefs and focus. Moderated by Summer Poletti, Founder and CRO of Rise of Us. WHO THIS IS FOR Health tech founders, clinician founders and early-stage teams selling to hospitals, practices, payers or consumers, plus the investors, advisors and marketers who work with them. ABOUT THE HOST Summer Poletti is the Founder and CRO of Rise of Us, where she right-sizes the revenue strategies that scaling companies pay six figures for and brings them to founders before the expensive mistakes get made. Her path is operator-first: after leading revenue across corporate organizations, she co-founded an investor-backed fintech and learned firsthand what misalignment and early mistakes cost. Across dozens of companies, her work comes down to one thing: helping founders define a go-to-market motion that holds up under investor diligence, so they can prove they can sell it, not just build it. MORE FROM THE GTM FOR HEALTHTECH SERIES Part 1, LA Tech Week: https://youtu.be/D5iKZYwJTtw (https://youtu.be/D5iKZYwJTtw) Part 3, San Diego Startup Week, Monday, November 2: https://eventship.com/event/the-gtm-wall-nobody-warns-you-about-pt-3-getting-paid-in-healthtech (https://eventship.com/event/the-gtm-wall-nobody-warns-you-about-pt-3-getting-paid-in-healthtech) Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Who has been a guest on C-Suite Sidekick

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Trent Ballard
• Kanoj Vora
• Martin Markov
• Andrei Stoica
• John Mason-Smith

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

73

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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