Digital panel

Digital panel

First Marketer, No Playbook:
Building SaaS Marketing From Zero

First Marketer, No Playbook: Building SaaS Marketing From Zero

First Marketer, No Playbook:
Building SaaS Marketing
From Zero

Wednesday, May 13 | 11am PT · 2pm ET

Wednesday, May 13 | 11am PT · 2pm ET

There is more competition in SaaS today than ever before — and fewer ways to cut through. Buyers are overwhelmed with choice, attention is fragmented, and the old playbooks for building awareness and generating pipeline are losing their edge. For the first marketing hire at a SaaS startup, that means walking in with no brand, no playbook, no precedent, and a market that punishes generic faster than ever.

Join us for a live panel with founding marketers who turned zero brand recognition into a real market presence and a marketing function that drives pipeline.

Register to attend

Register to attend

Meet the panelists

Nick Lafferty

Marketing Engineer, Profound

Built Loom's paid media, SEO, and affiliate programs from scratch, then spent two years helping brands like Glean, AngelList, and Air unlock tens of millions in pipeline. Now he's doing it all over again as Profound's first marketing hire.

Julia Szatar

Former Head of Marketing, Tavus

Oversaw Product and Lifecycle Marketing at Loom through the Atlassian acquisition, then took everything she learned to Tavus — leading a full rebrand, repositioning, and 0-to-1 growth as its founding marketer.

Morgan Friberg

VP Marketing, Shovels

Spent 7 years helping Liftoff scale from Series A to unicorn. Now he's back at zero as Shovels' first marketing hire — owning the full charter and building the story, the pipeline, and the GTM motion from scratch.

Sofya Leonova

Marketing Director, Proof Dept

Co-founder of Proof Dept, a brand and marketing firm for SaaS that's ready to scale. Previously led brand operations at Loom and marketing at Liftoff. She'll be moderating the conversation.

Nick Lafferty

Marketing Engineer, Profound

Built Loom's paid media, SEO, and affiliate programs from scratch, then spent two years helping brands like Glean, AngelList, and Air unlock tens of millions in pipeline. Now he's doing it all over again as Profound's first marketing hire.

Julia Szatar

Former Head of Marketing, Tavus

Oversaw Product and Lifecycle Marketing at Loom through the Atlassian acquisition, then took everything she learned to Tavus — leading a full rebrand, repositioning, and 0-to-1 growth as its founding marketer.

Morgan Friberg

VP Marketing, Shovels

Spent 7 years helping Liftoff scale from Series A to unicorn. Now he's back at zero as Shovels' first marketing hire — owning the full charter and building the story, the pipeline, and the GTM motion from scratch.

Sofya Leonova

Marketing Director, Proof Dept

Co-founder of Proof Dept, a brand and marketing firm for SaaS that's ready to scale. Previously led brand operations at Loom and marketing at Liftoff. She'll be moderating the conversation.

Nick Lafferty

Marketing Engineer, Profound

Built Loom's paid media, SEO, and affiliate programs from scratch, then spent two years helping brands like Glean, AngelList, and Air unlock tens of millions in pipeline. Now he's doing it all over again as Profound's first marketing hire.

Julia Szatar

Former Head of Marketing, Tavus

Oversaw Product and Lifecycle Marketing at Loom through the Atlassian acquisition, then took everything she learned to Tavus — leading a full rebrand, repositioning, and 0-to-1 growth as its founding marketer.

Morgan Friberg

VP Marketing, Shovels

Spent 7 years helping Liftoff scale from Series A to unicorn. Now he's back at zero as Shovels' first marketing hire — owning the full charter and building the story, the pipeline, and the GTM motion from scratch.

Sofya Leonova

Marketing Director, Proof Dept

Co-founder of Proof Dept, a brand and marketing firm for SaaS that's ready to scale. Previously led brand operations at Loom and marketing at Liftoff. She'll be moderating the conversation.

Nick Lafferty

Marketing Engineer, Profound

Built Loom's paid media, SEO, and affiliate programs from scratch, then spent two years helping brands like Glean, AngelList, and Air unlock tens of millions in pipeline. Now he's doing it all over again as Profound's first marketing hire.

Julia Szatar

Former Head of Marketing, Tavus

Oversaw Product and Lifecycle Marketing at Loom through the Atlassian acquisition, then took everything she learned to Tavus — leading a full rebrand, repositioning, and 0-to-1 growth as its founding marketer.

Morgan Friberg

VP Marketing, Shovels

Spent 7 years helping Liftoff scale from Series A to unicorn. Now he's back at zero as Shovels' first marketing hire — owning the full charter and building the story, the pipeline, and the GTM motion from scratch.

Sofya Leonova

Marketing Director, Proof Dept

Co-founder of Proof Dept, a brand and marketing firm for SaaS that's ready to scale. Previously led brand operations at Loom and marketing at Liftoff. She'll be moderating the conversation.

What you'll learn

  • How to find and own a position in a saturated market before you have the credibility to back it up

  • The foundation you need to build before you start running campaigns

  • The channels and tactics that still drive pipeline for early-stage SaaS — and the ones that don't

  • How to build brand recognition when no one's heard of you and your budget is tight

  • Where each panelist focused first as the first marketing hire — and what they'd do differently