Over the past 25 years, I have had the good fortune to be a part of demand generation teams across 20 technology companies. Recently, I created a summary data set containing each company and key characteristics like product-market fit, messaging focus, marketing-sales alignment, funnel instrumentation, PLG offerings and, most importantly, the financial outcomes achieved while I was there. What becomes evident are several common trends showing what worked, what didn’t, and what separated the companies that achieved strong results — IPOs or high-value acquisitions — from those that fell short.
So in this first article of a three part series, I would like to share the core characteristics that consistently drove success at these companies. Caveat: One thing I know for certain is that one size does not fit all. The mix of what makes any specific company successful is generally a unique set of traits.
Data-Driven Demand Generation Engine
Successful companies treat data as a growth asset. They use KPIs, attribution, and testing to continuously refine performance. Decisions are made from dashboards, not opinions.
“You can’t scale what you can’t measure — and you can’t measure what you don’t instrument.”
When marketing metrics are tied directly to pipeline and revenue, it becomes easy to prove what’s working, cut what’s not, and allocate budget with confidence.
Tight Sales–Marketing Alignment
At the companies that scaled best, sales and marketing worked as one team. Shared targets, common definitions, and regular collaboration made the handoff between functions seamless.
Alignment isn’t a meeting. It’s a system — one where every lead, every metric, and every touchpoint is connected.
Marketing programs only come to life with and through sales team execution so tight alignment is an essential part of creating pipeline that turns into revenue.
Repeatable, Scalable Processes
The best outcomes came from organizations that built systems — not just campaigns.
Quarterly planning, repeatable campaign frameworks, and built-in measurement loops made growth predictable and sustainable.
BUT – this assumes you have a scalable and repeatable sales process. When the persona and sales game plan is well defined, demand gen can pour money into scaling this motion.
Simple Market Story
A great product isn’t enough. The market must be ready and the story must be simple. The most successful startups built narratives buyers could instantly understand. Imagine you are sending a postcard to your ideal prospect – what image and copy in this very limited format will cause the recipient to carry this to their desk instead of the recycle bin?
If the messaging takes more than this, the campaigns have to work too hard to break through. Lets not make the prospect work hard to understand the value prop.
Capital Efficiency and ROI Discipline
Every successful company I’ve worked with understood growth economics: customer acquisition cost (CAC), payback period, and lifetime value (LTV). Certainly early stage companies may not have great numbers, but there must be a path to measure current results and start the relentless effort to improve and optimize.
Growth is impressive. Efficient growth is valuable.
The Takeaway:
The best financial outcomes weren’t accidents. They were the product of many important characteristics: messaging simplicity, repeatable and scalable processes, tight sales-marketing alignment and a constant effort to measure and improve. Here demand gen serves to pour gasoline into the engine built by the product and sales teams. With all three working together, great things happen.
In my next post, I’ll look at the opposite side: why some startups — even with great products and alignment — fail to reach their potential.
Practical Strategies for B2B Technology Companies 