Why Most B2B Startup Marketers Fail | Sairam Krishnan of Atomicwork

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