Naro with Adam Corey

In this conversation, Stacey Epstein interviews Adam Corey, the co-founder of Naro, a recommendation platform designed to enhance sales and marketing collaboration. Adam shares his extensive background as a CMO in SaaS and discusses the challenges faced by sales teams in utilizing marketing content effectively. The conversation delves into how AI can bridge the gap between sales and marketing, improve customer engagement, and streamline the sales process. Adam also reflects on his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of collaboration in building successful solutions.

Transcript

Stacey Epstein (00:00)
I'm really excited today to welcome Adam Corey from Naro. I was recently introduced to him by a fellow CMO who's just about to implement Naro at her company—so, yay for another new customer!
 

Adam, great to have you on the show. Let’s start by getting to know you—tell us a bit about your background, and then we’ll dive into Naro.

Adam Corey (00:20)
Thanks, Stacey. And yes—love hearing about new customers!
So, my background is about 20 years in SaaS, mostly on the go-to-market side. I started as a solutions engineer and eventually made my way into marketing, where I was CMO at a customer data platform called Tealium, based here in San Diego.
Throughout that journey, I became obsessed with how to stay in sync with and enable salespeople effectively. That’s what ultimately led to the idea for Narrow.

Stacey Epstein (00:55)
As a former CMO myself, I know how important it is to really understand your buyer persona—and it sounds like you’ve lived that firsthand. That’s a strong foundation to build from.

Adam Corey (01:06)
Yeah, I joke that most of my gray hairs come from trying to bridge that gap. As marketers, we do so much research, but we always know there are things we're missing. That gap—between what we know and what we need to know—is what kept me up at night. Thankfully, with AI, it’s finally becoming possible to close it.

Stacey Epstein (01:27)
Did you zero in on a specific pain point you experienced as a CMO when you started building Naro?

Adam Corey (01:33)
Yes and no. Like many startups, we began with one pain point and evolved. Initially, we focused on solving the discoverability and usability challenge on the sales side. Marketing teams put so much effort into creating great content—case studies, decks, thought leadership—but sales teams either don’t know it exists or don’t use it the way we intended.
So we started using AI to sit in the flow of conversations—whether that’s email or live calls—and suggest content based on what the rep is talking about. The idea was to deliver just-in-time enablement.

Stacey Epstein (02:15)
Amen. That is a universal problem for marketing teams.

Adam Corey (02:18)
Exactly. And as marketing gets better at producing content, the harder it is for sales to keep track. So Naro helps by surfacing the right content at the right time.
What we didn’t anticipate—but quickly discovered—is that the data we were capturing about what sellers needed but didn’t have was just as valuable. We started surfacing that back to marketing, enablement, and even product teams. That’s when the lightbulb really went off.

Stacey Epstein (03:03)
So when you said “recommendation platform,” I immediately thought of e-commerce—like when I’m shopping and the site recommends jeans to go with a sweater. But what you’re saying is, Naro listens in real time to a sales call and recommends relevant content based on what the prospect is saying. Did I get that right?

Adam Corey (03:21)
Exactly. It's like real-time, AI-powered enablement.
What’s cool is that one of my co-founders was chief algorithm officer at Stitch Fix, so the parallels are interesting. With Stitch Fix, the AI helped human stylists make faster, better decisions. Naro is doing the same for sellers—digesting all the inputs from a sales conversation and then helping the rep respond more effectively in real time.

Stacey Epstein (04:07)
So you're solving two major problems: First, you're making every rep as good as your best rep—really listening, identifying pain, and responding with the right content. Second, you're feeding that intelligence back to marketing and product, so the whole company learns from what's actually happening in real conversations. That’s powerful.

Adam Corey (04:25)
That’s exactly it. Sales wants help today—this month, this quarter. Marketing is thinking more broadly, about the market overall. Narrow helps both teams get what they need by bridging that gap.
Before AI, we were relying on surveys, shadowing calls, and gut instinct. That’s hard and time-consuming. Now we can look across every conversation and find those insights automatically.

Stacey Epstein (05:00)
Totally. I started my career in sales and was always frustrated when the marketing deck didn’t match what my prospects needed. That’s actually why I moved into marketing—to bridge that gap. But you’re right, most marketers don’t spend enough time listening to real conversations. And even the ones who want to? There’s just not enough time.

Adam Corey (05:27)
Exactly. And with AI, we're not just saving time—we’re doing something humans can’t do at scale.
One cool example is helping companies analyze how salespeople are actually using their decks. We can look at 100 presentations and see what paths reps are taking through the slides. Then we can build a new version of the deck that actually reflects how the story is being told in the real world.

Stacey Epstein (06:00)
That’s genius. And so true. In my experience, the best reps always customize the deck—and if they don’t, the story probably falls flat. I love the idea of designing the sales story based on how it’s actually being used in the field.

Adam Corey (06:16)
Yes! And it’s not just about improving the deck. It’s about aligning the entire organization around real buyer needs. When you know what pain points come up before a pitch, what objections are being raised, and what content is working, marketing and sales can actually partner instead of operating in silos.

Stacey Epstein (06:36)
Okay, Adam—I feel like we’re kindred spirits. We’re going to be friends after this.
One last question: What made you take the leap and start your own company? How’s it going so far?

Adam Corey (06:48)
Ha, well—I wanted to see if I could do it. I’d had this nagging feeling that I needed to try to solve some of the problems I lived through as a CMO. And I was lucky enough to find two amazing co-founders who brought different perspectives to the table.
It’s been a ride. Some days I think, “What did I get myself into?” and other days it’s, “This is so cool!” But overall, it’s been incredible. Having a great team and building something that’s truly helping marketers and sellers work better together—it’s been worth every moment.

Stacey Epstein (07:22)
I love it. You’re solving a real problem and doing it with heart and experience.
The company is Narrow—spelled N-A-R-O—and we’ll make sure to share how listeners can connect. Adam, thank you so much for joining the show. Let’s check back in six months or a year and see how it’s all going.

Adam Corey (07:39)
Thanks so much, Stacey. Congrats on the podcast—this was really fun.

Stacey Epstein (07:43)
Thanks! Talk to you soon.