For its first marketing hire, Series A software company Capsule unconventionally hired an events lead. The hire's unique background in luxury hospitality (11 Madison Park) and tech customer success (Calendly) was key to running a successful, high-touch events program that became their top pipeline driver.
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Instead of cold outreach, Accel Events hosts dinner events for potential customers and partners. They create a valuable community space for senior professionals to discuss shared challenges, without ever pitching their product. This builds trust and generates inbound interest and direct requests for calls, proving more effective than traditional sales tactics.
At software company Capsule, go-to-market alignment goes beyond high-level goals. For their prospect dinners, the sales, marketing, and CS teams collaborate to build a specific seating chart and game plan. This ensures every interaction is strategic, maximizing the opportunity to convert attendees into pipeline.
Contrary to the belief that deep-tech startups should be purely technical, ElevenLabs prioritized distribution early. Their first 10 hires included 3 people focused on go-to-market and growth, enabling both self-serve and sales-led motions from the start alongside foundational research.
The same marketing funnels used to acquire paying customers can be directly applied to attract and 'close' new employees. This reframes recruiting from a siloed HR function to a core marketing activity, allowing you to leverage skills you already have to build your team.
To maintain cultural relevance, True Religion's CMO builds a diverse marketing team by hiring people from outside traditional corporate structures, such as the music industry. This ensures the team is genuinely tapped into emerging trends, a practice reinforced by weekly "tea time" meetings to share cultural observations.
Colin Kelton, Vanguard's CMO, had no formal marketing background. He succeeded by acknowledging his gaps and hiring deeply knowledgeable experts, proving that business acumen paired with a strong team can be more valuable than a traditional marketing pedigree.
At the $1-10M ARR stage, avoid junior reps or VPs from large companies. The ideal first hire can "cosplay a founder"—they sell the vision, craft creative deals, and build trust without a playbook. Consider former founders or deep product experts, even with no formal sales experience.
Marketing leaders often fail when hiring for functions they don't deeply understand. Success comes when you've done the job yourself first, like Capsule's marketing lead who ran events before hiring a specialist. This first-hand experience allows you to know precisely what "good" looks like and evaluate candidates effectively.
Technical founders often mistakenly fall in love with product marketers first. However, at the early stage, the single most important function of marketing is generating leads. A new CMO who prioritizes a website redesign over demand gen is a major red flag; the focus must be on building pipeline.
