Meet Adithya Krishnaswamy, Director of Marketing at Everstage, who built a 15-person marketing team without any traditional marketing background. From processing sales commissions in Excel at Freshworks to leading marketing at a Series B startup, Adithya brings a RevOps lens to B2B marketing that challenges every conventional playbook. In this episode of The Marketing Couch, Adithya shares how Everstage grew from zero to hundreds of customers by doing 100+ events where they never pitched their product—and why this contrarian approach actually accelerated their pipeline.

What you'll learn

🔸 The anti-pitch philosophy: Why adding value first and never outwardly pitching prospects became their core growth engine

🔸 100 events, zero pitches: The community-first approach that built trust before selling

🔸 Why they deliberately avoided SEO: The counterintuitive decision to ignore a channel every competitor was using

🔸 Implementation as differentiation: How refusing to outsource became their biggest competitive moat

🔸 AI-powered productivity: Actual workflows that help a 15-person team operate like 50

🔸 Building US market trust from India: The long-game strategies that actually worked

🔸 ABM without the hype: Why they never spent on Demandbase platforms everyone was using

🔸 Content in the AI era: Moving beyond blogs to insights, data, and expert opinions

🔸 RevOps to Marketing transition: How understanding the jobs-to-be-done gave an unfair advantage

Where to find Adithya Krishnaswamy

• LinkedIn: Adithya Krishnaswamy

• Everstage: https://www.everstage.com

• Closing Thoughts Newsletter: Available on LinkedIn

Where to find Jaydip Sikdar

• LinkedIn: /jaydipsikdar

• X: https://x.com/jaydipsikdar

• The Marketing Couch: /@jaydipsikdar

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

00:10 Everstage and Its Unique Approach

02:45 Understanding the Sales Commission Automation Landscape

08:10 Competitive Differentiation in Sales Performance Management

17:37 Target Audience and Market Dynamics

19:26 Aditya's Journey and Marketing Philosophy

25:02 Community Building and Event Strategy

33:31 Navigating the US Market and Brand Building

39:59 The Shift to Targeted Marketing

43:00 Learning from Community Insights

45:49 Content Marketing in the AI Era

49:41 Authenticity in Thought Leadership

54:25 The Evolution of SEO and AI

58:26 Leveraging AI for Workflow Automation

01:02:24 Demand Generation Strategies

01:03:39 The Role of AI in Scaling Marketing Efforts

01:09:41 Future Trends in Marketing and AI

01:14:59 The Human Element in Marketing

Referenced

• RevOps Co-op Community: https://www.revopscoop.com/

• Gartner Market Guide: https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/market-guide

• Forrester Wave: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

• Pavilion Newsletter: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-newsletter

• Thomas Tung's Newsletter: https://tomtunguz.com

• SaaStr Newsletter: https://www.saastr.com/old-subscribe-2/

• 20VC Podcast: https://20vc.substack.com/about

About The Marketing Couch

The Marketing Couch brings you real conversations with B2B marketing leaders who share what actually works beyond the theory. From startup growth to enterprise scale, discover the strategies, frameworks, and mindsets that drive measurable business impact.

For inquiries about the podcast, contact geetha@unstopppable.club.

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