Are you creating a company or are you creating a category? Because if you’re only focused on competing, you’ll forever be stuck in someone else’s sandbox. But if you’re designing a new category, you’re playing your own game on your own terms.
Pablo Gonzalez, more commonly known as Pablo the Connector, has cracked the code on something most marketers miss: the difference between being heard and being trusted. In our conversation, he revealed why conversations, not automation, are the ultimate growth engine.
"People underestimate the sheer value of just someone that cares about something feeling heard."
Here's what he's learned from building movements across industries, from nonprofits to $150 million tech companies.
> The Trust Equation That Changes Everything
Pablo breaks down business success into a simple formula: your cost of talent acquisition plus your operations has to be less than your lifetime value of your client.
But here’s the multiplier most people miss: trust accelerates everything in the right direction.
Trust reduces client acquisition costs, reduces operational load, and increases lifetime value. As Pablo put it: “Trust breeds word of mouth. All these category kings have a lot of clients that they pay to acquire initially, but then the flywheel kicks in.”
When trust is your foundation:
- Clients sign up for the platinum plan instead of dipping their toe in bronze
- Pipeline velocity increases
- Referrals replace paid acquisition
- Customers stay longer and buy more
The question isn’t whether you need trust. The question is how you build it at scale.
> Why Touchpoints Beat Funnels
Pablo has a different way of thinking about marketing: “Isn’t life just a game of touchpoints? The more that you can increase the validity of the touchpoint, the social validation, the expertise, the quality, the feeling of the touchpoint, the fewer touchpoints you need and the more powerful they become.”
Traditional funnels assume people need to be pushed through a process. Touchpoints recognize that people need to experience your credibility before they’ll trust you with their problems.
This is where podcast interviews become incredibly powerful. Each appearance is a high-value touchpoint that can be distributed “without you there”, through clips, social posts, newsletters, and repurposed content that all carry the same trusted message.
> The Noble Fool Strategy That Built Pablo’s Career
Here’s how Pablo went from outsider to insider in category design, real estate investing, and now AI: he became the person most curious about the topics that mattered.
“If you are the person that is the most curious about the thing and you are engaging with as many people as possible that care about the thing, it leads to good results,” Pablo explained. “People underestimate the sheer value of just someone that cares about something feeling heard.”
His approach:
- Show up with genuine curiosity and ask great questions
- Make people feel heard (this has inherent value)
- Develop your own lens through multiple conversations
- Apply it in your own ways, which makes you more valuable in the next conversation
- Eventually develop enough of your own tilt that you get invited when people need that perspective
Pablo calls this being a noble fool, someone who asks the best questions, and you’re not quite sure if they know the answer or are genuinely curious. Either way, they’re someone you want in the room.
> The Chief Evangelist: Your Secret Weapon in an AI World
As AI commoditizes task-based work, Pablo sees a shift toward valuing trust-based businesses. “We’re moving into a world where entrepreneurs can build companies that are all A-players doing the work they love to do and were born to do. Everything else is going to be done by AI.”
This is why the role of Chief Evangelist becomes crucial. Pablo describes it as having three key functions:
Shape and refine the category narrative through market conversations Build trust with super-consumers who become your evangelists Turn conversations into community touchpoints that create lasting relationships.
> The Magic Triangle of Community-Driven Category Design
Pablo outlined his framework for building movements through conversation:
Point of View: Your unique perspective on the problem and solution.
Chief Evangelist: The person (often you) who consistently shares and refines this POV.
Super Consumers: The community that validates, amplifies, and evolves your message.
The magic happens when you iterate across all three. Your evangelist tests messaging through conversations, which strengthens the POV and identifies super consumers, who then make the POV even stronger.
> From Podcast Guest to Industry Guide
Pablo’s transition from business owner to industry voice didn’t happen through advertising or automation. It happened through strategic conversations that positioned him as someone worth listening to.
His process for any new industry:
- Get clear on your POV about the problem you solve
- Map the ecosystem of industry experts who will validate your perspective
- Start conversations through podcast interviews, events, and content
- Repurpose relentlessly to keep the conversation going
- Use conversations as distribution strategy to reach adjacent audiences
“We figured out how to package this notion of going from podcast as a trade show booth to just getting known inside of a market,” Pablo explained. “It’s the relationships—those conversations and relationships tend to speed things up really well.”
> The AI Advantage for Conversation-Driven Marketing
Pablo sees AI as an amplifier, not a replacement, for strategic conversations. He uses transcripts from interviews to identify interesting points and create outlines for further content development.
“You still need the input. You still need the creative, the net new creation of knowledge and intellectual capital. And what more frictionless way to do that than to have a conversation with an interesting person that cares about the thing that you care about and just jam.”
Your Next Move: From Product Promotion to Category Leadership
Stop promoting your product. Start evangelizing your point of view.
Here’s Pablo’s challenge: Identify one conversation you can start this week that advances your category’s narrative. Maybe it’s on a podcast, in a newsletter, or over coffee. The medium matters less than the message.
Remember Pablo’s insight: “People don’t do business with people they relate to or understand. They do business with people they feel understand them and have the opportunity to introduce a solution.”
When you focus on understanding your market’s problems deeply enough to articulate them better than they can, you stop being a vendor and start becoming a trusted guide.
The question isn’t whether you need more leads. The question is whether you’re building the trust that turns conversations into conversions, customers into advocates, and transactions into transformations.
Ready to stop chasing leads and start leading conversations? Let’s talk about getting you on the podcasts where your future champions are already listening.
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