#263: Why your MarTech stack is broken with Rebecca Nackson, CEO of Notable – by Branch
What if your MarTech stack was actually working for you instead of against you? In this episode, Amanda and Adam of Branch are joined by Rebecca Nackson, CEO of Notable, to explore why most companies fail at implementation after buying marketing tools, how to enlist salespeople as strategic partners in the buying process, and the systems that separate high-growth teams from stalled ones. From reframing a non-linear career as intentional pattern recognition ("career squiggles"), to closing the costly gap between signing a contract and actually operationalizing a tool, to acting as "connective tissue" across siloed acquisition, retention, and product teams, Rebecca shares practical insights from years spent inside Audible, iHeartRadio, Bandsintown, and now leading her own marketing consultancy. Whether you're drowning in marketing software, trying to make sense of your growth stack, or wondering how AI and low-code tools will reshape build vs. buy decisions, this conversation offers a grounded look at moving from tool chaos to strategic clarity. Links and Resources: Rebecca Nackson on LinkedIn Notable website Branch – Mobile Attribution Platform and App Analytics Solutions For Enterprises Today's topics include: Why "career squiggles" beat linear planning — how adjacent roles across industries compound into pattern-recognition expertise The implementation gap no one talks about: why vendors over-invest in sales and under-invest in helping you operationalize tools post-signature How to flip the buying process and use vendor evaluations to simultaneously inform discovery and implementation roadmaps Acting as "connective tissue" between siloed teams in remote-first orgs — getting acquisition and retention to share data instead of blaming each other The test-learn-scale loop that separates compounding teams from big-swing teams, and why pre-defining success and kill criteria is non-negotiable How AI and low-code tools are blurring the build vs. buy line — and why some tools may no longer be worth paying for The "job to be done" mindset — why asking what's broken beats asking which tool to buy Quotes from Rebecca Nackson: "The ones that are succeeding, it is because they have a system." "You can't scale what you don't trust." "It's a career that's not a straight line. It takes all these squiggles and it makes all the sense in the world in hindsight."