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“In 12 weeks, Michael helped us hire a VP of marketing, created a game plan for the next 90 days, ne tuned our CRM, and provided a clear path to achieve our revenue targets and goals for inbound and outbound marketing. Michael delivered beyond my expectations and we got a great return on our investment and time.”GORD BREESE CEO, KatipultHow Eighty Twenty Primed Katipult to Scale Revenue Pipelines in 12 weeksEighty Twenty CMO
Page 2Eighty Twenty CMOKatipult is a Vancouver-based FinTech company which provides cloud-based software that automates and simplies how investors and companies raise capital.Expanding into new markets and scaling the revenue pipeline.Although Katipult Technology has strong traction in the Canadian market with great product-market t, they wanted to expand into the United States to hit their revenue goals in 2023. But there was a gap in understanding the Ideal Cus-tomer Prole (ICP) and Buyer Journey in both Can-ada and the US. Prospecting in the US had been challenging.On top of that, because sales processes and KPIs were not clearly dened, there wasn’t a consistent approach to measuring progress and results. In order to scale and build a predictable revenue pipeline, Katipult needed consistent marketing and sales processes with clear goals and action plans. Katipult’s marketing function, however, was limit-ed. There was no dedicated marketing leader, and although the company was using HubSpot as their CRM, it wasn’t optimally congured to support their marketing eorts.ChallengesHIGHLIGHTSChallengesSolution• Expanding into the US market• Growing a predictable sales pipeline and inbound funnel• Finding a dedicated marketer to lead strategy and execution• Dened performance marketing and engagement goals that scaolded up directly to business goals• Mapped out ICP and Buyer Journey to launch a revenue pipeline plan within HubSpot• Hired a “unicorn” VP of Marketing to lead inbound and revenue operations • 90-day action plans and KPIs for ongo-ing success“We have always been focused on prod-uct and engineering, but we lacked resources and systems on the go-to-market side. It was time to look at how we can begin to scale the business and grow our customer base.”Gord Breese, CEO of Katipult says,
Page 3Eighty Twenty CMOIn the past, Katipult has worked with independent contractors for web development and marketing outreach, but they were wary of hiring a fractional CMO.They didn’t want to waste their time and energy on things they already knew or cookie cutter approach-es that would later be shelved.The alternative was to hire a full-time CMO, but for an early stage company with a limited budget like Katipult, it was overkill. Typically, the hiring process for a CMO is quite long.What Katipult needed was a marketing partner who would kick-o a systematic marketing engine in half the time—and a collaborative facilitator who would make sure things got done, even after the engagement ended.That was why Katipult decided to hire Eighty Twenty CMO.The question was: how?Results• A full-time dedicated VP of marketing to lead marketing• Clearly-dened marketing inbound funnel and sales pipeline• Fully functional digital marketing plat-form with HubSpot and Google Analyt-ics integrations• On track to hit revenue targets in 2023“There was some concern about bring-ing a consultant in and spending money on a limited engagement, just to have the consultant deliver their recommen-dations and leave—and having them gather dust on a shelf,” says Gord.“Michael has a very strong reputation in the industry, and came with strong endorsements from his previous clients. In our early conversations, I was impressed by his genuine nature and forth-right approach [at building scalable processes]. This gave us the condence to pull the trigger,” explains Gord.
Page 4Eighty Twenty CMO“We have always been focused on prod-uct and engineering, but we lacked re-sources and systems in the go-to market side. It was time to look at how we can begin to scale the business and grow our customer base.”A clear roadmap and a collaborative partnership to build a marketing engine.The engagement was broken down into 5 stages.Stage 1: Understand Business Goals.Eighty Twenty CMO’s 12-week Fractional CMO Engagement was the perfect t for Katipult.The program is designed to quickly and eectively get B2B SaaS companies on-track to achieve their business goals through a consistent Performance Marketing system, and to set the foundations for con-tinued success.The rst four weeks of the engagement were all about discovery. Gord met with Michael to solidify their business goals, which was essential to choosing the right targeting, marketing channels, technology, and KPIs later on.Solution“Michael gave us a very clear roadmap for the 12-week engagement, outlining major milestones. It was really well laid out in terms of how he operates and guides his clients through the process,” recalls Gord.
Page 5Eighty Twenty CMOGord shares his experience,“Michael really knows his craft, his trade. I would describe him as a marketing black belt–someone with a strong level of technical expertise in all aspects of marketing, specical-ly digital marketing and enterprise software selling.”“Michael worked with us side by side and guided us through the entire process, making sure we’re not distracted by other business issues, but also doing it in a way that’s fun, engaging, and productive,” says Gord. Stage 2: Identify Performance Marketing Goals.Stage 3: Identify the Engagement Goals.Goal #1 - Establish a robust Canadian ICP and Buyer Journey and create a template for the US market.Next, all other Katipult’s stakeholders met with Michael to set Performance Marketing goals, which should tie directly to business goals. They discussed the current deciencies around sales, marketing, and revenue generation, and brainstormed solutions together.After the discovery sessions, Michael determined three Engagement Goals for Katipult, precisely laid out in a 22-page Client Discovery Summary:Mapping out an ICP and a Buyer Journey set up the groundwork for every major decision down the road. It’s important to rst understand how customers seek out alternatives, make decisions, and become advocates before selecting revenue channels and crafting value propositions.Together, Eighty Twenty and Katipult developed a robust client prole for the Canadian market, where the company already had a proven traction, and dened a methodology that Katipult could replicate for the US market with their own marketing leader.
Page 6Eighty Twenty CMOGoal #2 - Launch a Revenue Pipeline approach.Goal #3 - Hire a VP of Marketing to lead inbound and revenue operations strategy and execution.Stage 4: Getting it done.Based on the ICP, the two parties then looked at the pipeline stages that Katipult should be establishing. In order to scale, Katipult needed consistent processes for dening leads, MQLs, and SQLs, and for them to be data-validated. Michael then took over Katipult’s HubSpot instance and set up reporting and automated workows on how Katipult would take inbound leads and nurture them all the way down to closed deals. Michael identied that the rst hire should be a “unicorn” VP of Marketing—one who can lead both strategy and execution with limited contractor resources for marketing and revenue operations. Throughout the engagement, Michael spearheaded the search for this unicorn marketer.But the job didn’t end at dening the goals. To ensure that all the recommendations would be implemented, Michael laid out discreet next actions in an Engagement Roadmap, clearly outlining who is accountable, when the task will get done, and identifying any dependencies that might exist. “Michael has a lot of expertise with HubSpot and other digital tools. He was very much hands on and helped jumpstart the company’s marketing engine,” Gord says.“Michael was very much involved with dening the role, scoping out the candidate pool, conducting interviews–he was a very active recruiter for us in that process,” explains Gord.
Page 7Eighty Twenty CMOStage 5: Transitioning for Ongoing Success.The Engagement Roadmap is also updated regularly to reect any changes in opportunities or needs of the company beyond the 12 weeks. This provides clarity on what should be done so Katipult can contin-ue to scale through Performance Marketing. Eighty Twenty CMO also drafted a game plan for the VP of Marketing for the next 90 days to set the person up for success. “Michael has a really compelling work style–his communication approach and how he works with us as a client. Occasionally when there’s resistance within the organization, he does a good job of being rm and leading everybody back to outcomes, goals, and value.” “Michael understands how important getting it right is to an early stage company that doesn’t have a massive marketing budget and a dedicated marketing team. He’s able to marshal a process that a smaller organization with more limited resources can pick up and run with,” Gord reects. “ Michael marshaled a marketing process that a smaller organization with more lim-ited resources can just pick up and run with.”According to Gord:
Page 8Eighty Twenty CMOA complete marketing engine to scale up and hit revenue goals for years to come.At the end of the 12 weeks, Katipult now has:But most importantly, Katipult now has a systematic marketing engine that will help scale revenue and grow their customer base long after the engagement ends.ResultsA robust Ideal Customer Prole for Canada and a template to be replicated for the US with the new marketing leaderA game plan for the VP of Marketing in the next 90 daysClearly-dened mar keting inbound funnel and revenue pipelineA full-blown digital marketing platform with Hubspot and Google Analytics integrationsA Marketing Plan with goals and targets on where to take the business in 2023A full-time dedicated VP of Marketing“We now know exactly what our targets and goals are in terms of revenue for inbound marketing, outbound marketing,” Gord shares.
Page 9Eighty Twenty CMOWith Eighty Twenty CMO, Katipult has also built more predictable processes. These processes helped them create a more compelling message in the market, inbound funnels, and turn sales opportunities and into expected revenue metrics. Gord would recommend Eighty Twenty CMO to any organization–whether they have limited marketing resources or an established marketing department. “In 12 weeks, Michael helped us hire a VP of marketing, created a game plan for the next 90 days, ne tuned our CRM, and provided a clear path to achieve our revenue targets and goals for inbound and outbound marketing,” says Gord. “I certainly would recommend and advocate Michael to other organizations. He deliv-ered beyond my expectation and we got great value for the investment in dollars and time. But other than that, he’s just a great person to work with. His personality and style were refreshing. I loved his mix of humor and professionalism, and he is a very eective facili-tator. He’s got a strong mix of skills for advising a leadership team.”“We now have a clear path for everybody in our go-to market team on what our goals are, how we measure our progress, and what we need to do as a business to grow.”
Fast track your results with hassle-free marketing leadershipPartner with Eighty Twenty CMO to scale up withcondence and drive revenue. Book a ConversationEighty Twenty CMOCase Studywww.eightytwentycmo.comKPI-Driven, Fractional Marketing Leadership