Your Post-UNBOUND Value Path
Hosts: Joshua Oakes, Chris Carolan
September 10, 2026 · 31:59
One week before UNBOUND, Chris Carolan and Joshua Oakes take the cold "got 15 minutes to talk about your Q4 goals?" message that floods every inbox before a conference and use it to explain what the Value Path is actually for: you cannot personalize for a person whose stage you never bothered to learn. Instead of marching the eight stages in order, they work outward from real moments — the newsletter and the daily show for someone who just wants to keep learning, knowledge-base docs for someone digging past the marketing copy, Office Hours for someone who has said out loud that they need help — and keep insisting none of it maps one to one. The close is the whole argument: all eight stages exist from the buyer's perspective whether or not your business chooses to use them.
Moments from this episode
7 short cuts from this conversation.
Chris Carolan"I am learning" — audience stage, taught clean
Joshua OakesA conversation is a medium, not a stageChris CarolanAll eight exist from the buyer's perspectiveChris CarolanCold open: that's why you go to UNBOUND, to get sold on toolsJoshua OakesComing home from UNBOUND with 298 updatesJoshua OakesLook for where they are — don't shoehorn them into your sales processKey takeaways
"You have no idea where I'm at right now. In my journey. And that's why you can't resonate." — the cold pre-conference message fails on ignorance of position, not on tone or targeting skill.
Feeling targeted and feeling seen are opposite experiences, and you only earn the second by showing the will to understand the person first.
The linearity in any stage diagram is a teaching aid. Nothing maps one to one — the asset you used to attract someone is often the same asset that educates them after they buy.
A conversation is a medium, not a stage. It can be a sales pitch, a firing, a hiring or a marriage proposal — so it can sit at any point in someone's path, and pinning a medium to a pipeline position is the error.
Do not assume the person you meet at UNBOUND is one step from raising their hand and fire a case study at them. Look for where they actually are, and serve that — do not shoehorn them into your sales process.
Knowledge-base and support docs are researcher-stage material, not just customer-success material. Plenty of people go to pricing, then straight to the docs, before they ever read the marketing copy — which "right now is turning beige."
There is something on the other side of the purchase. Industrial manufacturers routinely create enormous post-purchase value that marketing does not know exists and is not allowed to touch.
All eight stages exist from the buyer's perspective whether your business uses them or not. You do not have to use all eight — but it is your responsibility to know they are there, and to focus on that perspective instead of your KPIs.
Keep learning
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