The board wants to see what marketing is doing. Marketing can't show them.

At commercial stage, the failure is rarely bad campaigns. It is campaigns with no visible connection to the pipeline — and a board that has run out of patience waiting for the answer.

Marketing is running.
The pipeline isn't moving. Nobody can explain the

gap.

The most common failure mode at commercial stage is not bad creative or weak campaigns. It is marketing and pipeline operating in parallel with no visible connection between them. Campaigns run. Content gets published. Events happen. And when the CFO asks what marketing contributed to the last quarter, the answer is a deck of impressions, sessions, and open rates — none of which tell the board what they actually want to know.

This problem has a structural cause. Most commercial-stage deep tech companies build a marketing function for execution before they build it for attribution. The team knows how to produce — they do not have the infrastructure to prove what that production is worth. And because the attribution model was never built, it cannot be retrofitted without rebuilding significant parts of the CRM and campaign architecture underneath it.

There is a second problem that compounds the first: hyperscaler co-marketing. Most commercial-stage deep tech companies operating in Cloud AI, Physical AI, or Edge AI have access to partner programmes with AWS, Google, and Microsoft that remain almost entirely unused — because nobody internally knows how to activate them at scale, and the partner teams on the hyperscaler side are too busy to hold your hand through it. We have built those programmes from the inside. We know exactly what activation requires and what it can deliver.

You’re in the
right place if:

  • Marketing exists at your company but cannot demonstrate its pipeline contribution. The team is executing — campaigns, content, events — but the connection between that activity and commercial outcomes is not visible to leadership.

  • You are at Series A, B, or C and the board is asking what marketing is doing for revenue. The question has come up once. It will come up again.

  • You have access to hyperscaler partner programmes — AWS, Google, Microsoft — that are not being activated. The opportunity is there. The activation capability isn't.
    You have paid millions for a Formula 1 or MotoGP technical partnership, but are struggling to activate the sponsorship. 

  • You are in a market where technically credible content is the primary trust signal, and your current content is not earning that trust with engineers and investors simultaneously.

  • Your in-house marketing function is execution-only or non existant. There is no GTM strategy, no attribution infrastructure, and no senior commercial thinking behind the programme.

You’re in the
wrong place if:

  • Your primary need is brand awareness rather than measurable pipeline contribution. Build Pipeline is designed for commercial accountability — if that is not the immediate priority, it is not the right engagement.

  • You want a large managed service team handling repetitive campaign execution at volume. We are two senior people. We design and direct — we do not manage day-to-day execution of commodity campaigns.

  • You are pre-revenue and have no commercial stage to build pipeline from. Build Credibility is probably the more relevant starting point.

What Build Pipeline looks like in practice

Every engagement is designed to connect marketing activity to the commercial pipeline from day one — and to give leadership a clear, commercial view of what marketing is doing and why it is worth the spend.

Where to start

90-Day GTM Sprint — Fixed-price, deliverable-based engagement for commercial-stage companies that need to build the GTM foundation, attribution model, and first campaign programme simultaneously. Output: ICP and positioning document, attribution framework, first 90-day campaign plan, and board-ready pipeline reporting structure.

Designed for companies approaching a Series B or C that need to show the board a credible commercial marketing programme — fast.

Attribution Infrastructure Build For companies that have campaigns running but no attribution model connecting them to pipeline. We design the CRM architecture, pipeline tracking, and reporting framework — and integrate it with existing tooling. The output is a board-ready marketing ROI view from the next reporting cycle onwards.

Partner Co-Marketing Activation - Most technology companies sit on partner relationships they're not using commercially — an AWS, Google, or Microsoft co-sell agreement, a reseller network that's gone quiet, an F1 motorsport sponsorship that never went beyond a logo.

We map what you have and activate it. Built on direct experience across hyperscaler partner programmes, ecosystem alliances, and motorsport partnerships like the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team.

Retained GTM Partnership Ongoing GTM strategy, campaign execution, attribution management, and board-level reporting. The model for companies past the sprint stage that want sustained commercial momentum and a senior partner who understands both the technology and the commercial mechanics.

If the board is asking questions that marketing can't answer — the conversation is worth having.

We work with a small number of commercial-stage deep tech companies at any one time. If attribution is broken, pipeline is invisible, or hyperscaler co-marketing is sitting unused — get in touch.

This is not a pitch. It is a direct conversation about where your commercial marketing programme stands and what it would take to make it board-ready. We'll be honest about whether we can help and what we think the right starting point is.

FAQ