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How I Grew Factors.ai by 6x by Prioritizing Strategic Marketing Initiatives

Founder-led LinkedIn, live sessions, partnerships, and an 80% planned, 20% experimental channel mix

Sri Swaminathan · Factors.ai

Published September 6, 2024
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What you’ll learn

Sri Swaminathan explains how Factors.ai pursued founder-led marketing and strategic channel initiatives to grow. The session covers LinkedIn participation, live sessions, partnerships, events, and automating SDR work so sellers can focus on creative outreach.

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Build visibility through consistent LinkedIn participation

“scale for us to actually get in through we also Focus on getting top marketing analytics Voice top uh uh product marketing or any other B2B marketing ABM marketing leadership voice Etc this is actually a little more easier hack within LinkedIn so LinkedIn actually asks for like comments on specific posts and specific places where you can if you consistently comment on that it's basically like if you cons comment on more than 20 articles you would be actually pushed up as a top marketing”
Watch at 04:56

Use live sessions to generate demos

“once you start doing it the live attendance metric starts going up and most importantly your actual buyer personas who see your LinkedIn live either directly or later then they come back and ask for Demos in multiple ways like can you give me a demo can you this thing this happens in multiple sets this alone has generated more than 100 customers for us close to 800k in Revenue which is almost a zero paid channel for us which is the part which I talked”
Watch at 09:48

Invest in partnerships and events

“Champion across globally and this is something which we started working on very early and that started showing results this is in parallel with our paid marketing and other efforts which we are doing but after one and a half years we started showing efforts this is one of them secondly like 2023 we went to the Mumbai Office that's when we started doing some events and sessions with them making sure that we show some value for them sorry and the other one was”
Watch at 14:35

Automate tasks so SDRs can sell

“at any point in time you can't afford to have more than like say three four SDR and it's like at a certain stage which is there and SDR have to to spend more time selling which is like creatively finding out like what is the kind of a better email which they can write what is a better sequence they can write what's a better LinkedIn messaging or content who they have to connect rather if you automate most of their tasks what you get is like they can work at 2 or 3x their capability levels in one sense so you are basically automating the task of”
Watch at 19:19

Transform the marketing team

“Founders prioritizing marketing Hiring the Head of Marketing Before & After Team Structure Transforming the Marketing Team FOUNDER-LED HIRING THE TEAM STRUCTURE”
Read slide 5

Balance planned and experimental channels

“Channels that worked for us 80% planned, 20% experimental Preparing to sell to enterprises Let’s jump into Section 2 I’m going to show you MARKETING STRATEGY PLANNING MOVING UPMARKET”
Read slide 9

Move upmarket with product marketing

“Going Upmarket Core Product Enhancements 4X price increase; moved from smaller to large enterprise companies Leveraging product marketing and transforming sales and partnerships”
Read slide 13

Build a co-sell partnership

“Partnering with G2 Met G2 stakeholders in SaaStr 2023 Attended multiple meetings and events with G2 Signed Partnership Co-sell motion with G2 sales team”
Read slide 17

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About the speaker
Sri Swaminathan

Sri Swaminathan

Co-Founder · Factors.ai

LinkedIn

CEO of Factors.ai, a B2B marketing analytics platform that provides businesses with data-driven insights to improve their campaigns.

Company revenue
$7.5M

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Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.

22 passages

Strategic marketing initiatives

  1. Slide 1Open deck
    Slide text

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 How I Grew Factors.ai by 6x by Prioritizing Strategic Marketing Initiatives Sri Swaminathan Co-Founder & CEO, Factors.AI

  2. Slide 2Open deck

    Three levers behind the growth story

    The talk covers team building, marketing strategy and sales partnerships. It follows the company from founder-led marketing through channel experiments and enterprise growth.

    Slide text

    Over the next 20 minutes I’m going to show you TEAM Founder-led marketing Hiring a Head of Marketing Team structure - before and after STRATEGY SALES & PARTNERSHIPS Channels that worked for us 80% planned, 20% experimental Moving upmarket G2 and LinkedIn partnerships Communities and agencies Eating our own dog food

  3. Slide 3Open deck

    Revenue accelerated through 2024

    Factors.ai’s revenue chart rises over time, with the steepest gains in the second half of 2023 and first half of 2024. The chart labels revenue in thousands but does not specify a currency.

    Slide text

    Our Revenue Growth

  4. Slide 4Open deck

    A product pivot preceded faster growth

    Factors.ai shifted from analytics software to an account intelligence and activation platform in Q1 2023. The accompanying chart shows revenue rising after the pivot.

    Slide text

    Factors.ai Revenue Growth In Q1 2023, we pivoted from an analytics tool to an account intelligence and activation platform Q1 2023

Building the marketing team

  1. Slide 5Open deck

    Marketing needed a dedicated team

    The team moved from founder-led marketing and a mix of freelancers and in-house contributors to a Head of Marketing with defined specialist roles. The slide frames hiring and team structure as the next steps after founder-led work.

    Slide text

    Founders prioritizing marketing Hiring the Head of Marketing Before & After Team Structure Transforming the Marketing Team FOUNDER-LED HIRING THE TEAM STRUCTURE

  2. Slide 6Open deck

    Employee voices extend brand reach

    A performance screenshot sits beside employee LinkedIn profiles, illustrating how the founder and team members can share the company’s story. The example connects individual visibility with broader brand reach.

    Slide text

    Leveraging Founder and Employee Brands on LinkedIn

  3. Slide 7Open deck

    Events build founder visibility

    Photos and event graphics show the founder hosting and speaking at B2B marketing and SaaS gatherings. The examples span several events from 2023 and 2024.

    Slide text

    Hosting and speaking at various events 2023-24

  4. Slide 8Open deck

    Organize marketing around specialist roles

    The before-and-after chart moves from a small, loosely grouped team to specialists in product marketing, content, social media and demand generation. The speaker argues that hiring strong marketers can be a key growth investment.

    Slide text

    Building a 10x Marketing Team Hiring a Head of Marketing Hiring for two critical roles - Product Marketing and Demand Generation Hiring 10x marketers is more important than 10X engineers today Head of Marketing Product Marketing Demand Generation Growth Marketer Social Media Content Marketing Developer Marketing Designer Co-founder Product Marketing Consultant Demand Generation (in-house) Social Media (in-house) Content Freelancers + in-house Co-founder Before After

Planning channels and strategy

  1. Slide 9Open deck

    From team design to channel choices

    This section turns from team structure to marketing strategy. It covers channels, planned work versus experiments, and preparation for selling to enterprise companies.

    Slide text

    Channels that worked for us 80% planned, 20% experimental Preparing to sell to enterprises Let’s jump into Section 2 I’m going to show you MARKETING STRATEGY PLANNING MOVING UPMARKET

  2. Slide 10Open deck

    Balance paid, social and content channels

    Paid campaigns contribute to a chart of monthly marketing-qualified companies, while the text cautions against relying on paid alone. Social content and lives, alongside a large blog library, round out the channel mix.

    Slide text

    Channels that Have Worked for Us Paid (but relying on just this will get you in trouble) Socials (high value content and lives) Content (200+ blogs, ~26k unique visitors)

  3. Slide 11Open deck

    LinkedIn Lives combine reach and demand

    Event analytics and follow-up messages illustrate how live sessions can attract attendees and create later sales conversations. The example supports investing in LinkedIn Live as a repeatable marketing channel.

    Slide text

    Betting big on LinkedIn Lives

  4. Slide 12Open deck

    Reserve room for experiments

    The team allocates most effort to planned work while keeping a smaller share for experiments. A quick-built LinkedIn ad analysis tool is presented as an experiment that could grow into a strategic initiative, with experiments included in team goals.

    Slide text

    80% Planned Efforts, 20% Experiments LinkedIn AdVisor - built by a dev in 1 day Successful experiments can turn into full-fledged strategic initiatives Incentivize team by including experiments in OKRs

Moving upmarket

  1. Slide 13Open deck

    Move upmarket with product and pricing

    Product improvements and stronger product marketing supported a shift toward larger enterprise customers. The chart shows prices rising from about $100 in 2021 to nearly $400 in 2024, alongside a stated fourfold increase.

    Slide text

    Going Upmarket Core Product Enhancements 4X price increase; moved from smaller to large enterprise companies Leveraging product marketing and transforming sales and partnerships

  2. Slide 14Open deck

    Partnerships and sales complete the strategy

    The final section covers partnerships, affiliate relationships, agencies and communities, then connects those efforts to the company’s sales motion and use of its own product.

    Slide text

    G2 and LinkedIn partnerships Agencies, and communities Eating Our Own Dog Food Let’s jump into Section 3 I’m going to show you PARTNERSHIPS AFFILIATE SALES

  3. Slide 15Open deck

    Partnerships depend on patient relationship building

    The example describes a partnership developing through multiple meetings and stakeholders, with a champion on the partner side helping move it forward. The message is that this longer process can unlock growth.

    Slide text

    Partnerships is a Long Game Built over multiple meetings with multiple stakeholders You need one champion on the partner side But if done well, it can unlock tremendous growth

  4. Slide 16Open deck

    Meetings create shared partner context

    A photo of the Factors.ai team meeting LinkedIn staff in Mumbai captures an in-person partner discussion. The image gives a concrete example of relationship building behind a partnership.

    Slide text

    Use this Slide to Feature And use these points to summarize Bold key points Research Design One of your reporting dashboards Meeting with the LinkedIn Team 2023, LinkedIn office, Mumbai

Partnering with G2

  1. Slide 17Open deck

    A G2 relationship became a co-sell motion

    The company met G2 stakeholders at SaaStr, continued through meetings and events, then signed a partnership. The slide highlights a co-sell motion with G2’s sales team as the result.

    Slide text

    Partnering with G2 Met G2 stakeholders in SaaStr 2023 Attended multiple meetings and events with G2 Signed Partnership Co-sell motion with G2 sales team

  2. Slide 18Open deck

    Agencies grow through useful collaboration

    The slide emphasizes relationship building and co-created LinkedIn content as parts of working with agencies. It also describes bringing several new agencies into the network each month.

    Slide text

    Partnering with Agencies Not just partnerships, but building good relationships Co-creating content on LinkedIn Adding 2-3 agencies/month

  3. Slide 19Open deck

    Intent data guides sales workflows

    The workflow checks whether an account and contact already exist, enriches new matches, verifies email, and creates or updates CRM records accordingly. The team pairs this process with intent data, account scoring and sales technology.

    Slide text

    Intent-based Sales Workflows Hiring a Sales team - Head of sales, 2 sdrs, 3 AEs, 1 partnerships sdr Using intent data, account scoring and best-in-class sales tech Adding 150k-180k every month

  4. Slide 20Open deck

    Show product value with focused callouts

    A product screenshot uses a callout to point attention toward engagement scores and activity signals. The example demonstrates how to highlight a key product detail without crowding the interface.

    Slide text

    Eating our Own Dog Food Use Callouts Like this for key points. Caveat font.

  5. Slide 21Open deck

    Growth combined team, experiments and partners

    The recap ties founder-led marketing and team design to channel planning, moving upmarket, partnerships and sales. It reinforces that growth came from coordinated work across all three sections.

    Slide text

    Over the last 20 minutes, I showed you: … with real examples! SECTION 1 Founder-led marketing Hiring a CMO Team structure - before and after SECTION 2 SECTION 3 Marketing strategy 80% planned, 20% experimental Going Upmarket G2 and LinkedIn Partnerships Communities and Agencies Hiring a Sales team

  6. Slide 22Open deck

    Thank you from Factors.ai’s founder

    Sri Swaminathan closes by thanking the audience and identifying himself as Factors.ai’s co-founder and CEO. The closing slide invites follow-up through the contact details shown on the slide.

    Slide text

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 Thank you! [redacted email] Sri Swaminathan Co-Founder & CEO, Factors.AI