We recently connected with Harps Mangat and have shared our conversation below.

Harps, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Today, marketing isn’t just about grabbing attention; it’s about making a tangible impact on revenue. Instead of simply counting leads, marketers need to focus on how their efforts translate into sales and business growth. This means working closely with sales and product teams to achieve shared goals. It’s easier said than done, and there’s no quick fix. It involves unlearning old habits and embracing a new, results-driven approach to marketing.

At One Rawr, we ensure that marketing efforts are directly tied to revenue goals. We achieve this by setting up the right infrastructure, building flexible strategies that can be tested quickly, and tailoring execution to grow qualified pipeline and revenue. We believe that marketing should not only bring in leads but also guide them through the sales funnel until they become paying customers, regardless of which team “owns” that part of the funnel. Unlike other marketing agencies, we’re not afraid to be held accountable for demos and closed-won revenue. For us, it’s a game, and we love winning!

This focus on results is reflected in the metrics we use to measure success. Instead of focusing solely on marketing leads, we track metrics that directly impact the bottom line: closed-won deals and revenue generated. By prioritizing results that affect the bottom line, we ensure our efforts are always aligned with the company’s financial goals.

The real power of our approach lies in the seamless collaboration between marketing and sales, working towards a common goal: driving revenue. By removing friction and fostering close collaboration, companies can achieve greater efficiency, better alignment, and ultimately, superior business results. This integrated approach isn’t just a strategy; it’s a necessity in the fast-paced and competitive startup environment. By smashing silos and driving collaboration, we’re not just raising the bar; we’re setting a whole new standard for marketing and sales excellence. This is how we leave the competition behind and win big for our clients, ensuring lasting success and retention!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Absolutely! I’m British and moved to the US 10 years ago and now settled in California. I have 15 years of experience in B2B startup and SMB marketing across multiple industries, including Edtech, SaaS, logistics, accounting, and technology. Throughout my career, I recognized a recurring issue: startups often lacked the budget, skills, and headcount to compete effectively against larger players.

Big companies, with their vast marketing budgets and resources, create a challenging landscape for startups. Many startups find themselves struggling to compete, lacking the funds to invest in marketing or hire a full-fledged, skilled marketing team. It’s important to know that 22% of startups fail because of poor marketing. This often happens because they don’t have the right strategy or execution. Their marketing efforts don’t reach the right audience and don’t make an impact. This leads to wasted time, missed growth opportunities, and missed revenue targets. Without a clear marketing strategy, startups might not know who their ideal customers are, leading to poorly targeted campaigns and low conversion rates. This makes it hard for them to compete and survive in the market.

This realization inspired me to create One Rawr, a company that offers strategic and operational growth marketing services tailored specifically for startups and SMBs. One Rawr’s mission is simple yet profound: to empower startups with the marketing expertise they need to succeed, without the prohibitive costs typically associated with high-caliber marketing teams.

Startups, with their rapid pace of testing and pivoting, don’t need a full roster of full-time marketers. They need a team that can adapt and evolve alongside them. That’s where One Rawr comes in. Whether a company is launching a new product, rebranding, or aiming to scale revenue, we provide a seasoned CMO and, as needed, a complete team of marketing experts to ensure a seamless and successful strategy. I realized that startups need access to a variety of marketing skills at different stages of their growth, but not necessarily full-time. For instance, they might need a digital marketer to build their website, but once that’s done, they want to shift focus to SEO—and hiring full-time for every need was limiting their flexibility and their growth. One Rawr offers the perfect solution: complete flexibility to access all the marketing expertise they’ll ever need, precisely when and for as long as they need it. I see it like a Rubik’s cube; I help companies constantly adjust their marketing mix as their needs evolve, ensuring they have the ideal team in place at every stage of their journey.

Before One Rawr, startups faced a difficult choice: either an expensive full-time marketing hire or an agency that, despite weekly meetings, remained an outsider, always a step behind due to their limited understanding of the company’s day-to-day operations. We’ve transformed that dynamic. We’re a part-time, in-house marketing team so seamlessly integrated that most people in the company don’t even realize we’re not full-time!

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I remember being brought in to help an edtech company teetering on the edge, with just six months of runway left. They were hemorrhaging money, paying a marketing agency a staggering $40,000 a month, hoping that throwing cash at the problem would magically solve it. The agency had managed to bring in a measly three demos in the last quarter—an alarmingly low number.

The CEO was at a loss. Was there a product-market fit issue, or was something else amiss? The frustration was palpable, and trust in marketing had eroded. Morale within the company was at an all-time low, and layoffs had already taken a toll.

I stepped into this chaotic scene and decided to get back to basics. I immediately halted all ad spending and slashed vendor costs to bring the marketing burn rate under control. Then, I rolled up my sleeves and dove deep into the data to uncover what was going so terribly wrong.

Through meticulous problem-solving, multiple issues surfaced, including:

1. There was no clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), resulting in scattered and ineffective messaging. We worked closely with the company to define their ideal customer, crafting targeted content that resonated with their needs and pain points.
2. The demo experience was cumbersome and unengaging, causing potential customers to lose interest. We streamlined the process, making it more user-friendly and impactful.
3. The company had a database full of marketing leads but no nurture strategy in place. We built customized nurture sequences, triggered by specific downloads, to guide leads towards booking a demo.

The results were remarkable. Within three months, and without any ad spend, we took their demo rate from a dismal four per quarter to an impressive 3-4 qualified demos per week – a 600% increase! We quadrupled their sales pipeline, optimized their website and UX, and boosted website visitors by an astounding 300%.

But the impact went beyond numbers. We helped the company hit their revenue targets, which ultimately led to their successful acquisition by a leading HR platform. It was a testament to the power of strategic, data-driven marketing, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

One Rawr’s vision extends beyond simply helping startups thrive; we’re also committed to nurturing the next generation of marketing leaders. We’re passionate about mentoring young marketers, instilling in them a problem-solving mindset so they can launch, optimize, and scale strategies that genuinely drive pipeline and revenue. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and development, One Rawr is building an elite team of marketing professionals ready to tackle the unique revenue and growth challenges faced by startups.

We seek to collaborate with marketers who are eager to unlearn outdated marketing practices and embrace the One Rawr way.

My advice to those managing teams is simple: trust your team and always be open to their ideas. The leader doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas, nor should they! Share the problem you are solving with your team and equip them with the mindset to go research and explore ideas and bring back solutions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.onerawr.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harpsmangat