Exadel grew marketing-sourced pipeline from 18% to 42% by running paid ads & organic.
Founded
1998
Company type
Private, PE-owned (Sun Capital Partners)
Industry
Enterprise software development
Company stage
Enterprise
Team size
2,800+
Engagement
Full-Stack B2B Marketing (CMO)
Collaboration
4 years, 2021 to 2025
Published
42%
Marketing-sourced pipeline (up from 18%)
5x
Lower customer acquisition cost
Results
Marketing-sourced pipeline grew from 18% to 42% of total pipeline. Customer acquisition cost dropped 5x. Lead quality rose 75%. Campaign turnaround went from 10 days to 2. Every quarterly KPI got hit, 4 years straight.
Overview
Exadel is a US-headquartered software engineering firm founded in 1998, with 2,800+ employees across 30+ offices in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Its client roster includes Google, Deloitte, HP, McKesson, Mercer, Bank of America, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Samsung. The company is owned by Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm with $50B+ in invested capital.
I joined as Global Marketing & Brand Lead in 2021 to rebuild the marketing engine end-to-end:
positioning
marketing team management (7 people)
Organic and paid channels, and attribution.
Four years later, marketing had gone from a cost center to the company's biggest source of qualified pipeline.
Scope
Repositioned Exadel around specific engineering capabilities (product engineering, AI/data, modernization) instead of generic "software development."
Sharpened ICP targeting to reach VPs of Engineering and CTOs running modernization and product engineering initiatives.
Rebuilt the marketing team so campaigns shipped in 2 days instead of 10.
Built a multichannel system across LinkedIn Ads, content, referral, and SEO, with conversion paths designed for enterprise buying cycles.
Cleaned up attribution end-to-end so every dollar spent tied back to pipeline.
"There are professionals who execute, and then there are those, like George, who elevate the entire game. George doesn't simply track return on investment; he engineers it."
Julian Tavalin
Global Head of Marketing
Impact
Marketing went from a cost center to the biggest source of qualified pipeline in the company.
Sales stopped rejecting 90% of the leads it used to reject.
Campaigns went from a week-to-quarter test cycle to weekly test, learn, and kill.
Every quarterly KPI hit, four years straight.
FAQs
How did Exadel increase marketing-sourced pipeline from 18% to 42%?
By repositioning around specific engineering capabilities, sharpening ICP targeting to reach VPs of Engineering and CTOs, and building a multichannel system across LinkedIn Ads, content, referral, and SEO with attribution tied directly to pipeline.
What made Exadel's customer acquisition cost drop 5x?
Tighter ICP targeting concentrated the $5,000/month LinkedIn budget on VPs of Engineering and CTOs actively running modernization projects, cutting spend wasted on the wrong buyers.
How long did George work with Exadel, and in what capacity?
Four years, 2021 to 2025, as Global Marketing & Brand Lead, embedded full-time and reporting to the CMO.
What tools ran the Exadel marketing engine?
ZoomInfo, HubSpot, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Salesforce, Pardot, Semrush, and Ahrefs for pipeline and SEO, plus Claude, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Figma for content and creative production.
Does this positioning-first approach only work at enterprise scale?
No. The mechanics, capability-led positioning, ICP-based targeting, and attribution cleanup, apply to any B2B SaaS or tech company competing on unclear differentiation.
rethinkGTM is a fractional CMO services agency for B2B startups.
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