Account-Based Marketing (ABM) for Early Growth

When your entire market is only 150 accounts, you don’t spray and pray. You slow down, zoom in, and go strategic.

The Context

• The product: a vertical SaaS solution with a serviceable obtainable market (SOM) of 150 companies in North America.
  • We had 10.
• My job? Help us win more—on purpose.

Like many marketers, I turned to podcasts for inspiration. One episode of Dave Gerhardt’s show, featuring the authors of Busting Silos, got me fired up about account-based marketing (ABM) and sales-marketing alignment. I ordered the book and flagged nearly every page.

Here’s how I built our first ABM motion:

• Transferred the top 200 companies in the space into Excel (pre-AI days!)
• Cross-referenced internal knowledge—tech stack, sales notes, territory
• Identified whitespace: accounts we hadn’t heard “no” or “not now” from
• Focused outbound efforts there
• Used LinkedIn Sales Nav to connect, invite to events, and warm up the brand
• Sent post-event 1:1 emails like: “Saw {Company} at {Event}. Here’s what we learned and the deck.”

I didn’t have much control over the website. So events and LinkedIn became my GTM channels. And when I saw engagement? I didn’t just celebrate—I acted.

Favorite ABM Win

• In a competitive campaign, someone engaged with an email.
• I checked LinkedIn; my colleague was a mutual connection.
• I asked my them to reach out.
• Meeting with the executive team 2 weeks later.

It worked. That intro → SAL → SQL.

And that company?

• The 29th largest by annual revenue on our list. If it closes, it'd be the product's 4th biggest customer.

ABM doesn’t require big budgets or a fancy tech stack. It takes focus, internal alignment, and a long-game mindset.