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SIGNATURE PROJECTSignalFx

A game engineers wanted to win

Engineers love games, so we turned the free trial into one. Inside the product, users earned points and virtual prizes for learning the platform, and triggered emails kept them coming back. Trial-to-paid conversion doubled.

66%
Of total pipeline leads generated by marketing
2x
Trial-to-paid conversion
$70M
ARR business supported by the systems I built
Senior Demand Generation and Operations Manager

Marketing a product engineers love, on a startup budget.

SignalFx built real-time cloud monitoring for infrastructure, microservices and applications, and was later acquired by Splunk and then Cisco. I ran marketing automation, sales operations, the tech stack and data governance for a $70M ARR business, on a marketing team of three.

THE CHALLENGE

What needed to change

At Google, the product sold itself. I wanted to learn how to market something that doesn't. A few days after I joined, the company cut its team in half, so every dollar and every hour had to count.

THE IMPACT

Results

REVENUE66%Of total pipeline leads generated by marketing
THE WORK

What I did

  1. 01Implemented Marketo, connected it to Salesforce and set up web tracking
  2. 02Designed the lead lifecycle and full-funnel metrics for executive reporting
  3. 03Built separate nurture tracks for CTOs, CIOs and hands-on engineers
  4. 04Ran a dedicated campaign on Reddit, where engineers spend their time
  5. 05Partnered with product executives and engineers on features, UI and UX
REFLECTION

What I took away & skills

A good product goes a long way. And the best way to market to engineers is to speak to the engineer in every buyer, including the CTO and the CIO.

Marketing operationsMarketoSalesforceLead lifecycle designProduct-led growthGamificationDeveloper marketing