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🧪 The Science of Building a Predictable B2B Demand Engine

🧪 The Science of Building a Predictable B2B Demand Engine

How Eppo’s Head of Marketing plans to repeat the playbook that resulted in 5x pipeline at multiple Series B startups

January 26, 2025

Struggling to build a predictable B2B demand engine? You’re not alone.

Referrals and a CEO’s network can take you so far. But what happens when those dry up?

Elizabeth George cracked the code at multiple tech startups, including Split.io (acquired by Harness), Statsig, and now, as the Head of Marketing at Eppo. Her success stems from replacing random wins with repeatable systems, resulting in up to 5x the pipeline creation in a matter of 3 fiscal quarters.

We sat down with Elizabeth to break down her approach to creating a stable, scalable pipeline.

The Science of Building a Predictable B2B Demand Engine

“It’s like buying a farm that’s already ready to harvest. You reap the crops, but if you don’t replant seeds, the next harvest won’t come."

Step 1: Laying the groundwork to root out weak points

Most demand gen systems fail to deliver results.

Which is why Elizabeth focuses on establishing a strong foundation and predictability before getting into the “fun” stuff.

Here’s how she does it:

Audit your data

Getting your pipeline out of “winging it” mode starts with figuring out what’s actually driving it.

“I’m always looking like, okay, what is the makeup of our pipeline? Or where did it come from? So if we’re seeing a bunch of demo requests that converted to closed won, I’m like, okay, cool: where did they come from? Was it from paid media, was it from socials, was it from events?”

When you know what’s driving results, you have the clarity to make informed decisions about which channels to lean into and which to rethink.

Create a single source of truth

When data is all over the place, Elizabeth’s priority is establishing a “single source of truth” for the whole company.

Since arriving at Eppo, she’s synced tools like Salesforce and HubSpot.

“A lot of the data for marketing lives in HubSpot right now, a lot of the sales data lives in Salesforce. I’m like, look, Salesforce is a single point of truth. Do we all agree?”

When your data is in one place, it’s easier to spot what’s working and fix what’s not. Keep it simple.

Identify weak points

Elizabeth’s approach to building a demand engine starts with clear benchmarks to compare her pipeline to industry standards.

For example, if most of your pipeline is organic traffic, you’re one Google algorithm update away from a crisis (just ask HubSpot).

“If I'm noting that 90% is organic, I am concerned a little bit because it's not diverse enough of a pipeline source to ensure that if an algorithm changes or we are losing rankings, we would lose almost all of our pipeline ... So I do try to make sure that there's a more diverse approach to the pipeline, where 60 to 80% should probably be from organic because it's the truest intent.”

Paid media is another channel she evaluates carefully.

“It’s a red flag if the majority of your pipeline is coming from paid media. You really have to have a pretty diverse makeup.”

Elizabeth knows that diversity of the pipeline isn’t just about marketing channels. It’s about creating strong relationships with the entire go-to-market function and incorporating outbound, warm intros, and partnerships.

She explains that just because marketing isn’t sourcing these channels, they are still supporting them, and they often provide plenty of ROI. When marketing owns the entire pipeline, despite not owning all the channels, you can get creative with how to support revenue targets.

But how do you diversify your pipeline? Elizabeth has that figured out too…

Step 2: Diversify your pipeline through (thoughtful) testing

Relying on just one way to generate leads? What could possibly go wrong? TikTok has entered the chat.

Smart marketers spread their bets intelligently. Here’s how Elizabeth does it:

Lean into what’s working: Diversifying isn’t about walking away from what’s working. It’s about reinforcing it while you build out new avenues. If you’ve got keywords driving traffic, explore adjacent terms or double down on the content that ranks. Use that momentum to build your other channels.

“Let’s not just not lose what we’re ranking for. Let’s try to expand our keyword profile and get more.”

Experiment: Mix things up with new channels: events, demos, webinars, and meetups. Leverage third-party tools (like review sites) and third-party networks by sponsoring newsletters and podcasts. Word of warning: Elizabeth stresses you need to know when to call quits.

“Eppo’s only done like two event sponsorships or maybe three, so I’ve introduced monthly demos, we’ve got a webinar cadence set up, we’ve got launches set up, we’ll be doing meetups, and we’ve actually aligned our next calendar events to suit seasonality as well. So when July hits, everyone’s kind of on summer break. So if we can get as much in before the end of June and as much going from September down, you know, we can make up that seasonality piece with extra conversion points.”

The foundation is set. The pipeline is diverse. It’s time to scale. But you already know it’s not as simple as turning up the volume...

Step 3: Scaling strategically without sacrificing quality

Scaling is the billion-dollar question. Almost every company asks: “What’s gonna 10x our pipeline?”

In most cases, Elizabeth says there is no silver bullet.

It’s about understanding your personas, identifying what’s working, and making sure departments are rowing in the same direction. This is her plan at Eppo:

Crazy, crazy volume

Scaling is all about finding that sweet spot: cranking up your efforts without letting the quality slip. It’s not easy, but if you want to keep your pipeline flowing, you’ve got to increase volume without sacrificing what makes you stand out.

“For example, blogs: one avenue for content generation and scale. You should be doing at least 30 blogs a quarter. And most people probably do like 5 or 6.”

Campaign building

Successful campaigns need cross-department collaboration. She shared an example from her time at Statsig:

“We did an out-of-home campaign in San Francisco that included billboards matched with a digital campaign. Then we armed our outbound team with all the information to do a full campaign and say, ‘Hey, you’ve probably seen us in the skyline of San Francisco.’”

A successful campaign doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of detailed planning and strong alignment across the org.

That includes having the right tech stack. Tools like Geolift that provide marketing incrementality testing help track ROI across these complex campaigns.

Now, you’re ready for the “fun” stuff

Before you start looking at the prices for Super Bowl ads or slapping your logo on a Formula 1 car, make sure you’ve got these basics locked in. Predictable revenue is the golden goose. It’s the goal of every demand-gen system.

But once that’s dialed in, you can start thinking outside the box.

“When you can rely and have a predictable pipeline - or to me a predictable harvest - you can then do a lot of fun things... and you should because it gets you more exposure and it gets more attention and you can invest more in the company. But without that harvest, you just can't really do much”

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