B2B SaaS Growth: When and How to Bring in Your First Marketer

Founders of early-stage B2B SaaS startups often don’t focus on marketing in their initial phases. 

In an analysis conducted by Lenny Rachitsky, he interviewed some of the world's leading B2B startups such as Segment, Gong, and Loom and discovered a striking statistic: only 1% of their first ten hires were marketers (that's a mere 2 out of 190!). 

In contrast, these startups allocated 57% of their hires to engineers, 10% to sales representatives, and 8% to designers.

Of course, creating a stellar product comes first, but when is the right moment to make your first marketing hire? Do you need a demand gen person or a product marketer? Someone fresh out of university or someone with years of experience? 

In this article, I try to answer those questions based on my personal experience as the first marketing hire at xChange and from conversations I have with early-stage startup founders.

When should I hire the first marketer for my B2B SaaS startup?

It naturally varies across industries, go-to-market models, and whether you choose to secure VC funding or bootstrap the business. 

However, what (i would say) most startups have in common is that founders prioritize achieving product-market fit and hire their first one or two sales representatives to assist with outbound efforts.

Typically, this means that the initial marketers join a core team comprising the two founders, engineers, early sales representatives, and possibly a customer service agent. 

Before the first marketer joins a startup, core marketing activities are typically shared among the team: The product or engineers build the initial version of the website with messaging guidance from the founder and the first sales representatives coordinate participation in smaller trade shows.

If the founders lack a marketing background or, at the very least, a passion for it, they typically collaborate with advisors or freelancers to help shape the initial vision of how marketing can generate value and experiment with the first marketing channels. 

Common examples include engaging a demand generation agency to set up the initial ads or assist the sales team with a cold email outbound process, from lead research to data enrichment in the CRM, and email outreach sequences. 

Another option that I see across startups is to hire freelance writers and a working student to publish the first SEO-optimized articles and provide support for sales materials such as brochures or testimonials.

My advice: Prioritize speed and rapid learning! You want to identify the one or two channels that could potentially drive leads for your startup and experiment as much as you can. There is no need for a two-year forecast or a complex marketing attribution model at this early stage.

Do I need a product marketer or a demand generation expert?

In a sales-led B2B context, it's common for the first hire to be a PMM, followed by a Demand Gen expert. Your choice here should be influenced by factors like your ideal customer's Lifetime Value (LTV) and the complexity of their buying cycle.

• Low LTV & Simple Buying Cycle: If your customer's LTV is relatively low, it's advisable to lean towards an inbound marketing expert who excels at keeping customer acquisition costs low. This individual can help you attract and convert customers efficiently.

• High LTV & Complex Buying Cycle: On the other hand, if your customers have a high LTV and a more intricate buying cycle, a product marketer can be instrumental in creating messaging documents, sales enablement, and feature launches to uplift win rates and shorten sales cycles with the sales team.

In most cases, your first marketing hire should be a "T-shaped" generalist. 

This means they have expertise in one area but are also capable of supporting others. 

For instance, you might hire someone with a strong focus on Demand Gen, but who can also manage a content freelancer to support Product Marketing. 

Alternatively, a PMM can identify key marketing channels and manage a paid agency to maximize results.

Your first marketing hire should go beyond task execution: 

• they must also be strategic enough to develop a marketing strategy and key initiatives to drive it. 

• They should not only be adept at solving problems and envisioning creative solutions but also possess a data-driven mindset for making informed decisions. 

• Their innate curiosity and understanding of customer behavior are essential, as is their ability to collaborate seamlessly across various startup functions. 

With these qualities, your first marketing hire will not just execute but also drive a winning growth strategy for your startup.

Should I go for a more junior hire or find an experienced marketing leader?

The level of experience required for the first marketer in your startup is a crucial decision that should align with your marketing vision, speed, and strategic goals. 

To determine the right fit, consider the following factors:

• Marketing Vision Alignment: The experience needed should be in line with your marketing vision. For instance, if you plan to focus on specific channels, experience with those channels might be helpful to expedite your marketing efforts.

• Hands-On Builder: The first marketer should be a hands-on builder, capable of taking on a multitude of tasks, such as setting up the website, managing the CRM, handling PR, and running paid campaigns. A scrappy, do-it-yourself mentality is valuable in the early stages.

• Ownership of Marketing Strategy: Even with a junior marketer, they should have the capability to own and drive the marketing strategy, working in tandem with the founders to ensure alignment with the startup's objectives.

• Early-Stage Startup Experience: Previous experience in very early-stage startups is advantageous, as it demonstrates an understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with startups.

• Speed and Strategic Role: The required level of experience also depends on the pace at which you're looking to grow and the strategic role of marketing within your startup. If your approach involves a lot of trial and error or has high-pressure demands for rapid results, a more experienced marketer may be necessary.

• Specific Channel Expertise: Depending on your marketing strategy, consider the specific channels you need expertise in and make sure the first marketing hire is really good in at least one of the channels.

You can now go ahead and make a checklist to compare different candidates but In the end it typically comes down to the question, “Should we hire a junior person or an experienced head of marketing?”. 

In my opinion, many founders should go with a 3rd option: A marketer with 2-3 years of experience in fast-growing B2B startups, ideally with the channel expertise you need the most. 

They know the ins and outs of startup growth and bring in the right mix between strategic thinking and hands-on execution. 

Over time, they can grow into a leadership position or stay in the expert track, and you can hire the experienced leader. 

If you decide this is the right approach for you, make sure to manage the expectations with them! 

They will not just swim in their lane but have to figure out many things outside their core responsibilities and almost act like an entrepreneur within your startup. 

Ideally you check for proactivity in the interview process by checking if they have any side projects, asking about situations where they have been particularly proactive and making sure they give you very specific responses (numbers, $$$ …) about how they contributed to the growth of their past company.

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