The Air Force Recruiter Who Became a Clay Expert: Systems, Psychology, and AI with Brandon Charleson
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The Air Force Recruiter Who Became a Clay Expert: Systems, Psychology, and AI with Brandon Charleson
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About this listen
Sponsored By RevyOps (The #1 GTM Data Management Platform): https://tinyurl.com/revyops-brandoncharleson
Episode Summary:
In this episode of the Next Gen Sales Leader Podcast, Ben Reed sits down with Brandon Charleson, founder of Top of Funnel, certified Clay & Instantly expert, U.S. Air Force veteran, and GTM systems builder. Brandon shares his path from tinkering with TI-calculator apps and running Kickstarter campaigns to becoming a recruitment leader, data engineer, and AI-powered GTM operator. The conversation blends tactical GTM execution (Clay, scraping, APIs, automation) with the human side of leadership, prioritization, communication, mental energy, and avoiding burnout.
What you’ll learn:
- How Brandon evolved from tinkerer to GTM engineer using APIs, scraping, and automation
- Why “people + systems” is the essential framework for scaling
- Practical Clay/no-code data acquisition and enrichment tactics
- How to manage “brain cycles” and make better founder decisions
- Communication skills: silence, deep lexicon, and micro open-loops
- The PPTP method (Puppy → Process → Training → People) for building scalable workflows
- Where AI helps today and why it fails without clean data
Featured Guest: Brandon Charleson, Founder, Top of Funnel
Host: Ben Reed, host of the Next Gen Sales Leaders Podcast
Episode Highlights:
- 00:26 - Brandon’s Background: Tech, Film, Recruiting & Air Force
- 03:43 - “People + Systems”: How Brandon Diagnoses Problems
- 15:29 - Communication Psychology & Sales
- 18:45 - Brain Cycles, Prioritization & Founder Decision-Making
- 31:12 - Fitness, Sleep, Circadian Rhythm & Peak Performance
- 46:40 - AI Prompting, Context Engineering, LLMs
- 57:22 - Schema Design, Data Meaning & GTM Architecture
- 59:02 - Final Advice: Tell People You Care About Them Daily
Connect with Brandon:
Website: https://www.topoffunnel.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-charleson/
Follow Ben on Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-aaron-reed/
Join our B2B GTM & RevOps Entrepreneur Community:
https://www.skool.com/outbound-b2b-sa...
Sponsored By RevyOps (The #1 GTM Data Management Platform): https://tinyurl.com/revyops-brandoncharleson