Backlight CEO: How We Rebuilt Our Go-To-Market Engine

Backlight CEO Kathleen Barrett inherited five products, five countries, and five tech stacks. Customers loved the products—but the business still needed a clearer, more scalable go-to-market engine. What do you fix first when the product is working, but the organization isn’t? Kathleen joins Felicia Shakiba to unpack the decisions behind Backlight’s rebuild: listening before changing anything, concentrating go-to-market investment on two products, explaining those priorities to the other teams, and redesigning sales quotas so people knew what winning actually meant. She also shares why she brought a trusted former colleague into the leadership team—and ran a parallel search to challenge her own bias. Then we get into AI: what it takes to make media workflows AI-ready, why organized content and trusted metadata matter, and what happens when companies chase an AI badge before fixing their foundations. IN THIS CONVERSATION • Why customer love doesn’t automatically create scalable growth • How to prioritize an acquired portfolio without abandoning the other products • How leaders build trust when investment priorities change • When hiring someone you know is an advantage—and how to challenge your bias • Why a missed quota can be a management problem, not a talent problem • Why AI-ready workflows start with organized content and connected systems ABOUT THE GUEST Kathleen Barrett is CEO of Backlight, a media technology company whose products help organizations create, manage, distribute, and monetize media. Connect with Kathleen Barrett on LinkedIn:   / kathleenbarrettkbinbk   Explore more LeaderbookAI episodes: https://leaderbook.ai/podcast Learn more about LeaderbookAI: https://leaderbook.ai/ Learn more about Backlight: https://www.backlight.co/ If this conversation helped you think differently about your business, please subscribe and share it with someone facing these decisions. LeaderbookAI brings you conversations with CEOs, executives, and investors about AI, leadership, and the future of work. Hosted by Felicia Shakiba. #Leadership #AIStrategy #BusinessGrowth