Welcome to this week’s Maven Club newsletter! In this edition, we feature Aditya, former Head of Go-to-Market (GTM) and Partnerships at HubSpot and Country Manager at Practo, who shares invaluable insights on how early-stage startups in APAC can drive growth. With his extensive experience in building GTM strategies and partnerships, Aditya offers practical advice for founders navigating the complexities of scaling in the region.

Who is Aditya?

Aditya began his journey in 2013, moving from Bangalore to Singapore to help scale Practo, a healthcare startup. Over six years, he played a pivotal role in building both B2C and B2B verticals. Later, he joined HubSpot, where he focused on partnerships and revenue-driven strategies, working closely with early-stage startups to help them scale effectively. Today, Aditya continues to advise B2B companies on partnerships and GTM strategies, while pursuing his passion for community-building through his coffee projects.

The Secret Sauce of Successful Startups

“"Partnerships are an under-leveraged strategy today. If done right, they can unlock nonlinear growth for startups."”

When asked about the common traits of successful startups, Aditya emphasized three key factors:

1. Deep Understanding of the Target Persona
   Startups with clarity about who they’re selling to find greater success. Aditya stressed the importance of defining an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) early on by analyzing demographics, company size, roles, pain points, and behavioral patterns.

   
   Key Takeaway: Startups that focus on a specific ICP can tailor their messaging, outreach, and sales efforts more effectively.

2. Transparent Pricing Strategies
   Pricing is a critical driver of lead qualification and customer acquisition. Aditya advocates for transparent pricing on websites, even for SaaS companies targeting enterprise clients, as it allows customers to self-qualify and build trust.

   
   Pro Tip: A hybrid pricing model—one that combines subscription with usage-based pricing—can ensure predictable revenue while incentivizing customers to grow their usage.
   

3. Leveraging Partnerships for Early Growth
   Partnerships are a powerful tool for startups to gain traction in new markets. Whether through product integrations, channel partnerships, or co-marketing collaborations, partnerships offer early wins without heavy upfront investment.
   
   Example: A startup offering finance software could integrate with widely-used CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot to tap into their customer base.
   
   Pro Tip: Focus on building 6-10 partnerships early on that align with your ICP. Partnerships can drive revenue, enhance credibility, and accelerate product-market fit.

How to Measure ROI for Retention and Pricing

"Talk to customers to understand the exact problem your product is solving and convert that into a monetary value—this will guide your pricing strategy."

Aditya shared an interesting perspective on pricing ROI:

In B2B, customers often benchmark ROI at 10x the investment to justify costs. Founders need to deeply understand the problems their product solves and quantify that value. By engaging customers early, startups can convert this information into a pricing model that resonates.

Choosing the Right Growth Channel

"If you’re a customer of AWS or Google Cloud, ask what they can do to help you. You’ll be surprised how much support they’re willing to offer."

One of the most critical decisions for early-stage startups is choosing the right growth channel. Aditya explains that while partnerships can be a powerful driver, they’re not always the best choice for every startup.

When Partnerships Work Best:

• If your product requires integrations or collaboration with other tools (e.g., CRMs, marketing platforms, or cloud services), partnerships can unlock significant opportunities via co-marketing, shared events, or campaigns.

• Partnerships also work well for non-linear growth—helping startups generate revenue without high acquisition costs.

When to Focus Elsewhere:

• If your product is self-serve or sales enablement-focused and requires minimal external support, partnerships may not add immediate value. In such cases, direct acquisition channels like paid ads or organic marketing could yield better results.

Pro Tip: Even if partnerships aren’t a primary channel, startups should leverage existing relationships with service providers (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud). These companies often offer co-marketing opportunities or event sponsorships for their customers—resources many startups underutilize.

Balancing Organic and Paid Marketing

"Organic content is all about being helpful. If it doesn’t teach or solve a problem, it won’t resonate with your audience."
When deciding between organic and paid marketing, Aditya emphasizes the importance of data-driven decisions.

1. Paid Marketing

Paid campaigns can generate quick wins, but only if you’re tracking the right data. Aditya warns against rushing into paid ads without sufficient insight into customer behavior:

• Input Data: Track all sales activity—emails, messages, forms.

• Output Data: Use CRM tools to measure the full customer journey, from ad spend to revenue.

Pro Tip: Experiment with creative paid campaigns. Beyond Google Ads or LinkedIn, consider sponsoring events, dinners, or niche content collaborations to reach your target audience.

Quote from Aditya: "Paid strategies only work when paired with data. If you’re not tracking the customer journey, you’re just burning money."

2. Organic Marketing

Organic strategies, such as SEO and content marketing, are long-term investments. However, they require a solid foundation:

• Create helpful, educational content that addresses customer pain points.

• Focus on building trust and credibility through authentic engagement.

Example: HubSpot’s content strategy started as a blog offering marketing advice. Over time, it evolved into a platform for education, building domain authority and trust, which now drives inbound leads at scale.

Aditya’s Advice: For startups, balance short-term paid strategies with long-term organic growth. If you’re not tracking data effectively, focus on organic first to build a sustainable foundation.

Building a Winning Content Strategy

"Great content starts with understanding your audience’s pain points. It’s about being helpful and impactful—not just creating content for the sake of it."

HubSpot’s success with content marketing offers invaluable lessons for startups. Aditya highlighted key takeaways from their approach:

1. Start with Stakeholders
   Speak to your customers, partners, and internal teams (e.g., BD, partnerships) to uncover pain points and challenges. Use this feedback to prioritize content topics that are most relevant to your audience.
   
   Pro Tip: BD and partnerships teams are often closer to the customer than marketing teams. Use their insights to inform content ideas.
   

2. Focus on Value, Not Virality
   The best content educates and provides actionable value. People return to content that helps them solve problems or upskill.
   

3. Collaborate Across Teams
   At HubSpot, regional BD and marketing teams worked together to identify relevant themes (e.g., fundraising tips, sales enablement). This collaborative approach ensures content resonates with the target audience.
   

4. Measure Impact
   Use data to analyze which content drives engagement and conversions. Successful content strategies evolve based on what works.

Why Partnerships Are Under-Leveraged

"Partnerships fail when there’s no accountability. Focus, enable, and measure to unlock true value."

Partnerships aren’t just about signing deals—they require enablement and accountability to drive results. Aditya outlined three stages of partnership development:

1. Initiation: Establish partnerships that align with your goals (e.g., integrations, co-marketing).

2. Enablement: Equip partners with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

3. Execution: Set clear KPIs and revenue goals to measure partnership success.

Pro Tip: Partnerships thrive when there’s dedicated ownership—ensure someone on your team focuses on partnership strategy and execution.

Final Takeaways

Aditya’s insights offer a roadmap for startups looking to scale in APAC:

• Understand Your ICP: Tailor your product, pricing, and messaging to a specific audience.

• Leverage Partnerships: Unlock growth by collaborating with partners, especially if your product requires integrations.

• Balance Paid and Organic Growth: Use data to guide your marketing investments, and don’t neglect the long-term value of organic strategies.

• Build for ROI: Whether it’s pricing or loyalty programs, aim to deliver 10x value to customers to drive retention.

• Focus on Content: Start small, solve specific problems, and build trust through helpful, educational content.

By focusing on these areas, early-stage startups can position themselves for sustainable growth.

We hope Aditya’s insights on driving early-stage growth in APAC have provided actionable strategies for refining your ICP, leveraging partnerships, and balancing paid and organic marketing efforts. His emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and delivering measurable ROI offers a clear framework for startups looking to scale effectively in competitive markets. Stay tuned and subscribe HERE for more expert advice and proven strategies from leaders shaping the future of startups and tech innovation.