LodeStar S1 EP 7: Jen Allen-Knuth Part 1

Cliff and Jen (Founder of DemandJen) discuss their philosophies on navigating the demands of high-stakes entrepreneurship while prioritizing personal well-being, family presence, and the crucial skill of knowing when and how to effectively "turn-off" as an entrepreneur.

About Jen:

Jen Allen-Knuth (aka DemandJen) is a B2B sales expert and founder of the training firm DemandJen. A former Enterprise seller with 18 years of experience closing seven-figure deals with Fortune 500 brands, she now helps revenue teams at companies like Autodesk, GE, G2, IBM, Bloomberg, Instructure, Sprout Social, and more.

Known for her direct and humorous delivery, Jen specializes in buyer-centric frameworks focused on the "Cost of Inaction" (COI) and story-first messaging. Featured in Forbes and over 200 podcasts, she translates deep sales data into practical playbooks for outbound generation and executive discovery. When not on stage, she lives in the Chicago suburbs with her four step-kids and four rescue dogs.

About Cliff:

With nearly two decades of experience building revenue engines across Fortune 20 companies and high-growth startups. Cliff specializes in GTM strategy and fractional leadership for SaaS companies navigating rapid scale. HubSpot recognized him as a 2024 Modern Sales Leader, and Pavilion named him a Top 50 CRO to Watch.

Cliff is currently the CEO of Polaris, an AI Focused RevOps firm, an advisor, investor (GTM Fund), and fractional executive for several high-growth start-ups, where he utilizes his expertise in all things GTM and RevOps and is an active leader of GTM in multiple communities.

About Polaris:

Polaris Ops is an AI-native RevOps consultancy helping growth-stage companies align strategy, systems, and data to drive predictable revenue. We build scalable, automated GTM architectures powered by AI, turning fragmented operations into intelligent, connected growth engines.

The LodeStar Podcast by Polaris Ops explores the human stories behind modern growth, real conversations with leaders navigating change, alignment, and what it means to be human through the rise of AI in business.