By Stacey Epstein | CEO, Structured
It’s an honor to step into the role of CEO at Structured at such an exciting time for our company, our customers, and the channel marketing space at large.
I have spent most of my career in marketing, but I actually got my start in channel marketing, a part of the industry that is often overlooked despite how powerful it can be. Early on, I saw that when channel marketing works, it becomes one of the most effective growth engines in enterprise software. When it does not, it is frustrating, manual, and far more complex than it should be.
That early experience shaped my passion for marketing as a discipline. Marketing done well is part art and part science, but it always comes back to outcomes. It is about changing behavior, aligning ecosystems, and driving measurable results. That belief has stayed with me throughout my career.
Over the past several years, my curiosity about what comes next for marketing turned into a deep obsession with AI. I wanted to understand not just what was possible, but what was practical. I wanted to know what actually works, where AI creates real leverage for teams, and where it simply adds noise.
That curiosity led me to launch my podcast, AI’ve Got Questions, where I have had the opportunity to speak with operators, founders, and marketers who are grappling with the same questions. One theme has come through clearly in those conversations. AI is not about replacing marketers. It is about finally giving them leverage.
I believe deeply in AI for marketing, not as a feature, but as a foundation. Bolting AI onto existing workflows only delivers incremental gains. Real impact comes from rethinking the system itself, including how data flows, how decisions are made, and how execution scales.
That belief is what ultimately pulled me back into an operational role.
I have loved advising companies, but I missed being inside the machine. Building. Testing. Learning. Iterating. When the opportunity arose to lead a company that was reimagining channel marketing from the ground up for an AI-first world, I knew I could not stay on the sidelines.
None of this would be possible without the foundation Daniel built at Structured.
Daniel saw the opportunity in channel marketing long before it was obvious. He did not just build the strongest TCMA platform in the market, he recognized that the next chapter required something far bolder. Instead of simply layering AI onto an existing product, he went heads down and rebuilt the platform from the start.
Drawing on decades of experience, Daniel rethought how channel marketing should work in an AI-first world, including how personalization happens at scale, how partners are activated intelligently, and how results are measured clearly and credibly. That combination of vision and conviction created an extraordinary foundation for what comes next.
I am incredibly excited to take our early customers, including Microsoft, live in Q1 and to roll out general availability shortly after. What energizes me most is seeing this platform in the hands of real teams, driving real impact. Everything we build from here forward will be guided by one simple principle… If it does not make life meaningfully better for channel marketers, it does not ship. AI is not a moment, it is the foundation we will continue to build on with discipline and purpose.
To my channel marketing peers, I see you. I have been one of you. And I cannot wait to help lead the next chapter of this AI-driven revolution, together.
