Exceptional Pipeline for a Disruptive New Product

The Situation

Two companies merged—a learning management system and a simulation training company—to create something new: an innovative predictive assessment platform. The vision was ambitious. The technology was disruptive. The market didn't know it existed.

I came in as a consultant during the merger integration, then was hired as CMO because the need was so substantial.

The challenge: take a brand-new product in an emerging category—one that required market education—and build pipeline from zero. This wasn't repositioning an existing brand. This was creating awareness, credibility, and demand for something buyers had never seen before.

The Approach

We built a comprehensive go-to-market strategy from scratch:

Positioning and Messaging. Created a value proposition and messaging architecture that made a complex, innovative product clearly understood by everyone—internally and externally.

Thought Leadership. Educated the market on the category itself, not just the product. Positioned the company as the innovative leader defining the future of talent assessment.

Multi-Channel Demand Generation. Built systematic demand generation across every relevant channel—inbound, outbound, SEO, digital marketing, content marketing, webinars.

Analyst Relations. Secured recognition from every major industry analyst—Gartner, Bersin, Brandon Hall, Training Industry. For a new, disruptive product, analyst validation was critical for enterprise credibility.

Industry Recognition. Won pitchfests at major HR technology conferences, generating visibility and validation in front of target buyers.

The marketing supported the entire buyer journey—from the moment prospects learned about the company through their ongoing relationship as customers.

The Impact

Built pipeline from zero to exceptional levels for a very new and disruptive product.

Achieved recognition from every major industry analyst. Won competitive pitchfests. Created a go-to-market engine that generated substantial enterprise interest in a category that didn't exist before.

Client Perspective

"I was impressed with his expertise in the market and also his ability to create a compelling marketing strategy that everyone clearly understood. He also executed the strategy perfectly, leveraging his own network to get things done quickly and with high quality. He got us recognized by everyone—Gartner, Bersin, Brandon Hall, Training Industry and others. We even won pitchfests at HR Tech. The net result was an exceptional pipeline for a very new and disruptive product."

— Chief Product Officer

The Lesson

Disruptive products require market education, not just promotion. You're not competing for attention in an existing category—you're creating the category itself.

Analyst relations and industry recognition matter more for new products than established ones. When buyers don't have reference points, third-party validation becomes essential for credibility.

And execution speed matters. Leveraging an existing network of high-quality resources lets you move fast without sacrificing quality—critical when you're racing to establish a new category before competitors catch up.