Naveenkumar Durga Lakshmi
Nineteen years in B2B marketing, and the question from CEOs is always some version of the same one: the team is busy, the dashboards are full, so why doesn't the pipeline reflect it. I've spent my career answering that by building the connective tissue between marketing activity and revenue, demand generation, account-based marketing, and now AI-powered GTM systems, that hold up when someone asks to see the math behind the number.
Marketing run like it reports to the CFO, not just the CMO.
I started my career as a financial analyst before moving into marketing operations, and that background never really left. I still think in reconciliations: what did we spend, what did it produce, and can I defend that number in a room. Across SaaS, IT services, and cybersecurity, mostly building for US enterprise and SMB buyers from Bangalore, that habit is what turned into a full-funnel demand generation and ABM practice.
At Athena Digital, I took over marketing for four B2B brands with no pipeline engine, no shared analytics, and no outbound motion, and built one from scratch, contributing to $9.8M in company-wide annual pipeline while running $360K or more a year in paid media. At Salesbox.ai, I ran a 13-account ABM program on deals up to $15M that influenced roughly half of total pipeline. Before that, at Zeta Global, I led a team of 38 running 200-plus omnichannel campaigns a quarter for US clients.
Since July 2026 I've been running an independent practice, auditing fragmented marketing stacks, building AI-powered GTM systems with n8n and the Claude API, and helping teams show up as the cited answer in AI search rather than just another blue link. Current clients span IT services, manufacturing, and logistics, and I'm actively building out that practice alongside AdTech, MarTech, EdTech, and Telecom, industries where the same problem shows up: good tools, no connective tissue.
I'm open to senior full-time roles, VP of Marketing, Head of Demand Generation, CMO, as well as fractional and advisory engagements, globally or remote from India.
- Current Status
- Independent Marketing Director / Consultant, naveenkrdl.in
- Prior Role
- Marketing Director, Athena Digital (Oct 2024 to Jun 2026)
- Industries
- SaaS, IT Services, Cybersecurity, AdTech, MarTech, EdTech, Telecom
- Markets Served
- US (EST, PST, CST), EMEA, India enterprise
- Paid Media Managed
- $360K+ annually, Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads
- Location
- Bangalore, India, open to remote and relocation
What I bring to the role
Demand Generation & Pipeline
- Full-funnel demand gen strategy across SaaS, IT services, AdTech and Telecom
- Outbound system design and cold outreach infrastructure (Smartlead, Apollo)
- Intent-based lead scoring and nurture workflows
- Pipeline forecasting with direct CEO and sales alignment
- CAC, cost-per-opportunity, and pipeline-velocity measurement
Account-Based Marketing
- Multi-touch ABM programs for enterprise accounts up to $15M
- Buying-group mapping and deal-acceleration content
- Intent-signal layering across LinkedIn and display
- Account intelligence integrated into sales enablement
- Proven across US and EMEA deployments
AI-Powered GTM Systems
- AI agent design for marketing workflow automation (n8n, Claude API)
- AI search visibility, AEO and GEO, for zero-click intent capture
- Scalable content and personalization pipelines
- Predictive customer intelligence and intent-based paid media
- Conversion-optimized builds via Claude Code, Lovable, Pagesmith.ai, shipped through GitHub to Cloudflare Pages
Paid Media & Conversion
- Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads, $360K or more annually
- CRO sprints: landing page redesign, funnel instrumentation
- GA4 dashboards and executive pipeline reporting
- Bid management tied to real pipeline data, not top-of-funnel clicks
- 115% CVR improvement, 2% to 4.3%, in under 12 months
Marketing Automation & RevOps
- HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot: build and administration
- Salesforce and Zoho CRM: marketing-to-sales handoff
- Lead routing, scoring, and lifecycle management
- Marketing treated as a revenue function, not a cost center
- Smartlead.ai and Instantly.ai for outreach at scale
Team Leadership & Management Consulting
- Led teams of up to 38 direct reports (Zeta Global)
- Direct CEO and sales-leadership collaboration
- GTM strategy for new service lines and market entry
- SLA, OLA, and campaign-delivery governance
- Executive reporting on pipeline, CAC, and ROI
19 years, one throughline: marketing that has to answer for itself
Marketing Director / Consultant
Jul 2026 to Present- Advise B2B companies across IT services, manufacturing, and logistics, plus a growing AdTech, MarTech, EdTech and Telecom pipeline, on building marketing functions that produce forecastable revenue
- Audit fragmented marketing stacks (GA4, HubSpot, Zoho CRM) and reconnect marketing data to sales outcomes and revenue targets
- Build AI search visibility programs (AEO/GEO) so client brands surface as the cited answer in AI-generated search results, not just in traditional SEO
- Deploy custom AI agent workflows (n8n, Claude API, Smartlead) that cut manual execution time by over 60% while scaling personalized outreach
- Design AI-managed paid media strategy that optimizes bid decisions against real pipeline data rather than top-of-funnel clicks
Most lean teams already own the tools, GA4, a CRM, an ad account, but none of it is connected, so leadership can't trust what the numbers say.
I audit, connect, and instrument the stack first, then layer in AI agents for execution, giving founders and CEOs a system they can actually forecast against instead of a pile of disconnected dashboards.
Marketing Director
Oct 2024 to Jun 2026- Took four brands with no pipeline engine, no shared analytics, and no outbound system, and built a full-funnel GTM strategy from zero: outbound, ABM, paid media, and SEO, contributing to $9.8M in company-wide annual pipeline
- Ran structured CRO sprints, landing page redesigns, form-friction reduction, GA4 funnel instrumentation, lifting website conversion 115% (2% to 4.3%)
- Owned $360K or more a year in paid media across Google and LinkedIn Ads, negotiating vendor and creative costs to hold budget discipline
- Deployed AI agents across campaign delivery (Claude, n8n, Smartlead.ai), cutting manual execution time by more than 60% across the four-brand portfolio
- Shipped conversion-optimized websites using Lovable, Pagesmith.ai, and Claude Code, deployed via GitHub to Cloudflare Pages, reducing dependency on external developers
- Built GA4-based dashboards and executive reporting, including a Smartlead.ai cost calculator and a security ROI calculator, giving the CEO real-time visibility for forecasting
Four brands, one CEO, and no way to see what any dollar of marketing spend was actually producing. Attribution, outbound, and paid media were all built separately or not at all.
Built the full-funnel engine and the AI agent layer underneath it at the same time, so execution scaled without headcount. Result: $9.8M in company-wide pipeline, CVR up 115%, and a CEO who could finally forecast off real numbers instead of activity reports.
Associate Director, ABM Operations
Feb 2022 to Sep 2024- Ran a 13-account ABM program built on buying-group mapping and intent-signal layering, influencing roughly 50% of total pipeline without adding headcount
- Rebuilt LinkedIn audience segmentation and iterated creative across formats after legacy targeting underperformed, lifting CTR 175% (1.2% to 3.3%)
- Partnered with Sales to translate account objectives into buying-stage-aligned outreach, shortening sales cycles on priority accounts up to $15M
Legacy LinkedIn targeting was flat, and enterprise deals at this size don't respond to spray-and-pray demand gen, they need account-specific engagement.
Rebuilt segmentation around buying groups and intent signals instead of firmographics alone. CTR nearly tripled and the program ended up influencing half of total pipeline.
Team Leader, Campaign Operations
Oct 2018 to Feb 2022- Directed a team of up to 38 marketing specialists and associates delivering 200+ campaigns a quarter, defining the KPI and SLA framework that became the team's governance standard
- Rebuilt the Sprint account's campaign submission tools after inefficient workflows were causing revenue leakage, eliminating bottlenecks and recovering revenue directly
- Built reporting systems that surfaced channel-level inefficiencies, giving account leads faster, data-driven decisions
- Top 3 finalist, Zeta's internal Innovation Program (ZIP), February 2018, for a location-based targeting solution later integrated into the Zeta Marketing Platform, recognized by Forrester as a leading Email Service Provider in Q1 and Q2 2020
A high-value account's campaign submission process was broken enough to leak revenue, at a volume of 200-plus campaigns a quarter across a 38-person team, small process gaps compounded fast.
Defined a KPI, SLA and OLA governance framework and rebuilt the submission tooling around it. Delivery errors dropped, the framework became the team standard, and the underlying targeting idea was later folded into Zeta's core platform.
Account Manager
Client-facing account management for US enterprise email campaigns, ensuring brand integrity and effective communication ahead of promotion into campaign operations leadership.
Manager, Marketing Operations
Directed marketing operations and database management, supporting revenue goals with indirect impact in the $3M to $5M range.
Assistant Manager, Marketplace Operations
Supported market analysis and platform operations for a leading mobile advertising network, an early foothold in AdTech that still shapes how I think about programmatic and platform economics today.
Financial Analyst & Client Service Manager
Financial analysis and client service delivery for telecom operator accounts, the analytical foundation, reconciliation, forecasting, client accountability, that still underpins how I run marketing today.
Credentials
Open to the right opportunity.
Actively exploring VP of Marketing, Head of Demand Generation, and CMO roles across US and global markets, full-time or fractional, and independent GTM consulting engagements in AdTech, MarTech, EdTech, Telecom, SaaS, IT services, and cybersecurity. Fully remote, open to relocation.