GTM Live: Building a Modern Growth Engine with Ashley Lewin

Date: October 3, 2025
Host(s): Passetto (Carolyn Dilks & Trevor Gibson)
Guest: Ashley Lewin, Head of Marketing at Aligned

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the overhaul of traditional go-to-market (GTM) strategies, focusing on how Ashley Lewin is building a modern, metrics-driven marketing function at Aligned. Drawing on her experience across 30+ companies at Refine Labs, Ashley discusses the organizational obsession with MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads), why it holds teams back, and how she’s architected measurement, sales handoffs, and growth at her new company. The conversation dives into actionable frameworks for sales-marketing collaboration, using better data, setting the right KPIs, and change management—dispelling outdated “more is better” playbooks in B2B SaaS.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ashley’s Journey: From Refine Labs to Aligned

• Background & Motivation
  • Ashley worked at Refine Labs for 3.5 years, auditing 30+ marketing organizations and seeing firsthand the pain of legacy acquisition mindsets.
  • At Aligned, she’s responsible for building the marketing function from scratch—team, infrastructure, messaging, thought leadership, and growth ([04:21]).
  • "At the end of the day, that's what we're here for in marketing… that can include a lot of different things, including shaping our messaging and positioning our strategic narrative..." ([04:21])

2. Laying the Infrastructure: Fixing Foundations First

• Tech & Measurement Stack
  • Immediate priority: auditing existing data sources in HubSpot & Tableau; quickly realized the need for a strong RevOps partner (Passetto) to establish foundational infrastructure for clear, actionable measurement ([06:06]).
  • Advice for marketers: "Trust what you have, work on getting it better." ([06:06])

3. The MQL Obsession & Its Pitfalls

• Ashley’s Viral POV:

  • Referencing her viral LinkedIn post: “When I retire, I hope I never hear the word MQL or lead ever again.” ([07:32])
  • Problem isn’t the existence of leads, but putting too much emphasis on them as KPIs rather than on revenue and quality:

    "It's always important to remember what's the end goal that we're measuring against and ensuring that the leading indicators aren't treated as harshly as the key performance indicators." ([08:32])

• Companies that Scale vs. Those that Fail

  • Successful orgs obsess over true business outcomes (revenue, pipeline), using leads only as guideposts—not ends in themselves ([17:34]).
  • "If I'm getting comped on total revenue, [my] marketing is very different than if I'm comped on lead volume." ([17:34])

4. Measurement Transformation at Aligned

• Shift from Volume to Value

  • Moved away from “lead volume” as the gold standard; now reporting to the CEO on:
    • Qualified pipeline (deal stages with ≥25% conversion)
    • Activated/self-service revenue (PLG funnel)
    • Activated signups (PLG journey milestones reflecting ‘aha’ moments)
    • Pipeline co-owned with product and sales ([12:56])

• Early Stage Measurement Proxies

  • Leveraging last-touch attribution, direct/organic lifts in traffic, and program-level “vanity” metrics—while recognizing their limitations ([15:52]).

5. Building Sales-Marketing Alignment

• Critical Role of Handoffs & Feedback Loops

  • Emphasized the “gray zone” between marketing and sales, where poor process and feedback kill pipeline potential ([27:23]).
  • Gaps addressed:
    • Ensuring leads are followed up (“if you don’t even know if they’re being followed up… that can be detrimental” – Ashley, [28:28])
    • Segmentation: tailoring follow-ups based on BDR performance
    • Monitoring conversion volatility among SDRs/BDRs ([29:41])

• Standing Up the Lead Object (HubSpot Project)

  • Prior to the overhaul, deal pipelines were misused to track leads, creating fuzzy reporting and poor workflow for reps ([33:37]).
  • Passetto helped implement HubSpot’s Lead Object, separating “lead work” from “deal work,” improving speed, clarity, and feedback ([35:31]).

    “We want to get to a place where something comes into the system… we want those things to fail fast so we can move on and work the next most important thing…” – Trevor ([35:31])

• Fail Fast—Not Hoard

  • Old approaches left dead leads/deals open forever; new system closes/disqualifies quickly, freeing teams to focus where it matters and returning lost opportunities to marketing ([39:27])
  • “Having that strong partnership with sales and the process as you are fixing the infrastructure is just so critical.” — Ashley ([39:27])

6. Change Management & Culture

• Leadership Buy-In: The Real Bottleneck

  • “We weren’t all aligned… it did take some change management to get buy in for it.” — Ashley ([25:11])
  • To drive change, Ashley advocates for:
    • Protecting what works, building teams, making one “big” strategic bet (infrastructure!)
    • Presenting data as collaborative insights, not mandates
    • Repetition and pattern recognition (split-funnel data to show execs real outcomes) ([47:42])

• Cultural Shifts: Role Modeling and Accountability

  • Marketers must care about the full “factory of teams” that produces pipeline, not just their own domain ([41:37]).
  • “Don't just drop it off on the doorstep and not even ring the doorbell for someone to come answer it.” — Ashley ([43:12])
  • For those less passionate about process: hire someone who is! ([45:40])

• Practical Advice

  • “What you're measured against is what you're scored against… it really starts from the top down and so you need to change your scorecard before you can just rip the band aid off.” — Ashley ([47:42])
  • Recognize execs’ psychology: frame your data and plans in terms of their need for predictable, quantifiable growth ([50:36])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “When I retire, I hope I never hear the word MQL or lead ever again.”
  — Ashley Lewin ([07:32])

• “If I'm getting comped on total revenue, [my] marketing is very different than if I'm comped on lead volume.”
  — Ashley ([17:34])

• “We want those things to fail fast so we can move on and go work the next most important thing and sort of push those things back into the marketing world to try again later.”
  — Trevor ([35:31])

• “Having that strong partnership with sales and the process as you are fixing the infrastructure is just so critical.”
  — Ashley ([39:27])

• “Don't just drop it off on the doorstep and not even ring the doorbell for someone to come answer it.”
  — Ashley ([43:12])

• “Hire someone who is passionate about [the unsexy parts of demand marketing] as your counterpoint or counterpart… so that they can free you up to do more of the work that you are wanting to do.”
  — Ashley ([45:40])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:21] Ashley describes her first 6 months at Aligned and teams she built.
• [06:06] Early audit of measurement systems and calling in Passetto for RevOps help.
• [07:32] The “MQL” LinkedIn post—why the legacy model is still so sticky.
• [12:56] Reporting on pipeline, activated signups, and PLG milestones.
• [17:34] What sets scaling GTM orgs apart—leading vs. lagging indicator obsession.
• [27:23] The sales-marketing “gray zone” and handoff pain.
• [33:37] The lead object in HubSpot and fixing measurement for the sales process.
• [39:27] “Fail fast” sales culture, not hoarding dead leads/deals.
• [41:37] Ashley’s holistic approach—why marketers must care about the pipeline factory, not just “their” leads.
• [47:42] Advice for driving change at the executive level.

Closing Insights

• Ashley’s parting advice: You can only escape the MQL hamster wheel if you change what you’re measured on—and that starts at the very top.
• Change is slow and hard: It requires collaboration, constant data storytelling, and empathy for stakeholders.
• If measurement/process isn’t your thing: Find a passionate demand marketer to partner with so you can focus on the creative/art side.
• For exec buy-in: Bring quantifiable, predictable growth equations to the table—speak their language.

This episode is required listening for anyone in B2B SaaS looking to future-proof their GTM system, drive efficiency, and get their org truly “aligned” on what matters most.