Passionfroot CEO: "We're tired of AI slop"

“We're tired of AI slop.” When I ask Jennifer Phan, founder of Passionfroot, about where B2B marketing is heading in 2026, her answer cuts through the noise.

Of course AI comes up — it's in every projection post for the year — but what stands out is how her team is doing it rather than just projecting. Passionfroot, which works with creators and brands on B2B influencer marketing, recently surveyed growth and marketing leaders about their most underrated marketing channels, and the response was unanimous: Return to human connection.

In our conversation, we broke down how Passionfroot is putting trust and storytelling at the forefront while championing the “educators” that prove B2B content is actually interesting.

Jennifer Phan

Co-founder and CEO, Passionfroot

• Claim to fame: Impact has always been her throughline! Before she built Passionfroot to become the B2B influencer marketing hub that it is, Phan was an early-stage VC investor and launched a newsletter specifically for tech people with immigration backgrounds.

Lesson 1: Brand and growth are converging

Brand and growth are no longer separate focuses. As Phan puts it, “they are actually almost merging.” Companies like Notion illustrate this shift clearly: It recently combined PR, internal comms, social, and creator marketing into a single storytelling team. Across tech, new roles like Head of Storytelling are emerging.

Figma’s launch of Figma Make also shows how this plays out in practice. As the company expanded into a new product category, it partnered with Passionfroot to build its first creator program. Across LinkedIn and YouTube, creators didn’t just tell the story, they showed the product at work. Marketing, education, and adoption happened simultaneously.

Phan emphasizes that in an increasingly noisy landscape, storytelling has become one of the most in-demand skills. Passionfroot’s role is clear: “It’s about helping [brands] orchestrate storytelling across different functions and departments,” she says.

Lesson 2: B2B creators are educators

Phan wants to set the record straight about B2B marketers being viewed as dull. Different doesn’t mean boring. “B2C creators are more entertainers, and B2B creators are more educators,” says Phan. B2B creators bring deep expertise in areas like cybersecurity, AI workflows, automation, and productivity. Their value doesn’t come from massive audiences, but from authority and trust.

A creator with 10,000 highly engaged newsletter subscribers, for example, can be more impactful than one with a much larger but less focused following. When knowledgeable creators talk about a product in their own voice, the message often lands far more effectively than brand-written copy.

Yet most B2B teams are still operating from outdated playbooks. One of the biggest mistakes? Over-scripting their creators. The best-performing content, Phan notes, comes from giving creators genuine creative freedom. Successful teams set the context, then step back and let creators develop the concept themselves.

Lesson 3: Measure what actually matters

Phan evaluates creator campaigns across the full funnel. At the top: views, reach, and CPM. In the middle: engagement — comments, likes, saves, and shares, all of which signal potential B2B customers. At the bottom: CTR and conversions to signups.

But quantitative metrics aren’t the whole picture. Equally important are the quality of creators, the creativity of the content, and whether assets can be reused for paid performance marketing. Campaigns also need enough time to generate meaningful data.

At Passionfroot, feedback is treated as a core data source. The team maintains close relationships with its customers through Slack channels, ‘Passion Jam Sessions’,” and constant feedback loops. These insights directly shape the product. They’ve led to Passionfroot building in-platform centralized communication and producing analytics dashboards in response to customer needs. For Phan, listening is as critical as measuring.

Lingering Questions

This Week's Question

What is the single most effective tool in your marketing arsenal? — Kevin Venardos, Owner and ringmaster, Venardos Circus

This Week's Answer

Phan says: “Whenever I post on LinkedIn, it’s not about distribution but about perspective. I share what we’re learning in real time: what’s working, what isn’t, and how marketing is actually evolving on the ground. That consistency builds familiarity and trust long before someone ever becomes a customer. By the time we speak, there’s already context and alignment, which shortens sales cycles and leads to much higher-quality conversations. In modern B2B, a founder’s voice can be one of the most powerful marketing channels a company has.”

Next Week's Question

Phan asks: How do we measure real trust and influence in B2B beyond impressions, clicks, and last-touch attribution?