Most mid-market and PE-backed companies I talk to are still running marketing like a creative cost center, while their boards are asking revenue questions the marketing team can’t answer.
This is especially valid when schools teach the 4Ps in marketing and CMOs often control just 1 or 2 of the 4 (usually Promotion, occasionally Place, but not Product or Price).
That gap was on my mind on Tuesday when I sat down with Sofia Marketing Meetups to talk with the next generation of marketers (together with Nikolay from Native Digital, spearheading the next gen creative + TikTok format experience on the other side of the digital spectrum).
We didn’t go into the “which AI tool should we use” debate. The discussion touched on how far the day-to-day of marketing has drifted from what the market actually expects now.
To be clear, a $50M, $100M, or $250M business still needs volume. It needs omnichannel presence, real demand generation, content at scale.
But that’s the “maintenance” and A/B testing or CRO part of the job. The full role responsibility is connecting the full circle:
1. How the channels feed pipeline
2. How pipeline ties to sales velocity
3. How acquisition connects to expansion and retention
4. How the whole thing shows up in the reporting leadership uses to make decisions
What these companies don’t need is another niche expert who only does paid, or only does SEO, or only does lifecycle. They need someone who can see the full flywheel start to finish, the way a founder has to.
That’s the entrepreneurial lens, and it’s exactly what tends to be missing.
That’s where DevriX spends most of its time, too. Not posting more or running more ads in isolation (much of that is already automated or running on autopilot or through 3rd party SaaS), but helping leadership teams see where demand is really coming from, why conversion breaks, what content supports pipeline, how RevOps connects to GTM, and where digital infrastructure moves the number.
Which is why I care about talking to marketers early in their careers.
The business fluency tends to come a decade too late.
– How companies make money
– How sales cycles work
– How budgets get defended in a board meeting
– How private equity underwrites value creation
– How CEOs weigh CAC, retention, margin
– How fast a team can actually execute
You can learn a new tool in a weekend. Building the critical mental model to run the whole loop takes years, and it’s the part that compounds and makes a difference.
Thanks to Sofia Marketing Meetups (Etien and Ivelina) for the invitation, and to everyone who showed up, asked sharp questions, and pushed back. Paying it forward is a critical bridge between the business and great talent. We owe it to the next generation as well.
