New episode with Sairam Krishnan, Head of Marketing at Atomicwork, an agentic AI startup that raised $40M in Series A from Khosla Ventures, among other investors. From employee #8 at Freshworks to building his third zero-to-one marketing machine, this is the unfiltered playbook for startup marketing that actually works.
What you'll learn:
🔸 Why your first marketing hire should be a content marketer (and why analytics early on is a waste of time)
🔸 The "24 webinars rule" - why you need to run campaigns 24 times before measuring success
🔸 How to build enterprise credibility when selling from India to US Fortune 500 companies
🔸 Why founder-led branding isn't optional for enterprise startups (and how to execute it)
🔸 The three phases of startup marketing: Creation → Consolidation → Brand
🔸 How building an in-house team compounds knowledge vs. agency fragmentation
🔸 Why marketing must embrace "product primacy" in the age of fast-moving technology
Where to find Sairam Krishnan
• Newsletter: https://thecmojournal.com/
• X: https://x.com/_sairamkrishnan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sairamkrishnan/
Where to find Jaydip Sikdar
• X: https://x.com/jaydipsikdar
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaydipsikdar/
Timestamp:
00:00 Intro
01:08 Understanding Agentic Service Management
04:14 Identifying Target Markets and Customer Needs
07:18 The Role of First Principles in Problem Solving
10:08 The Importance of Content Strategy
13:13 Navigating the Buyer’s Journey
16:19 The Balance of Analytics and Creativity
19:14 Phases of Marketing in Startups
22:11 Product vs. Brand Marketing
25:26 Crafting Clear Messaging for CIOs
29:05 Building an In-House Team for Quality
33:39 The Importance of Sales and Marketing Alignment
37:37 Founder-Led Branding Strategies
43:01 Challenges of Building a Brand from India
46:30 Initial Tactics for Zero to One Startups
48:50 Navigating Marketing Challenges in Startups
51:27 The Evolving Concept of Product-Market Fit
54:58 The Role of Marketing in a Fast-Paced Environment
58:47 Understanding Marketing Leadership Needs
01:01:52 The Thrill of Building from Zero to One
01:04:36 Key Learnings from Startup Experiences
01:09:56 Giving Back to the Community and Continuous Learning
Some key takeaways:
1. Content marketing is about education, not selling. B2B buyers need multiple touchpoints—if it takes 3 mentions to buy a ₹400 book, imagine what's needed for a $300K enterprise software decision.
2. Stop measuring too early. Sairam's controversial take: Running 2 webinars and calling them failures is startup suicide. You need 12+ attempts over 6 months before drawing conclusions.
3. Product-market fit is now constantly shifting. Unlike the previous decade, where PMF was static, today's technology moves so fast that positioning must evolve continuously with the market.
4. In-house teams compound knowledge, agencies fragment it. For technical products requiring deep domain expertise, outsourcing content and strategy means losing the compounding effect of institutional learning.
5. Enterprise marketing requires a US presence. Despite building successful inbound engines globally, enterprise sales demand boots on the ground, hence why Atomicworks' CEO moved to Palo Alto.
6. Marketing phases require different skill sets. Creation-phase marketers aren't consolidation-phase marketers. Like cricket positions, you need role clarity and the humility to step aside when the company needs different skills.
7. Founder credibility trumps marketing credibility. When Sairam says something, people know he's paid to say it. When CEO Vijay speaks, his credibility is on the line—that's why founder-led branding works for enterprise.