Marketecture Podcast: Inside B2B Data and Sales Enablement with Ajit Thupil, CPO of Bombora

Host: Ari Paparo
Guest: Ajit Thupil (CPO, Bombora)
Date: September 8, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Ari Paparo interviews Ajit Thupil, Chief Product Officer of Bombora, to explore the nuances of B2B data, marketing, and sales enablement. They dive deep into how Bombora collects and activates data, the unique challenges and strategies of B2B advertising, the evolving role of identity and AI, and what differentiates Bombora in a crowded data market. The episode is rich in practical examples and industry insights, making it essential listening for anyone interested in B2B marketing technology.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is Bombora? (00:25–01:42)

• Background: Founded in 2014–2015, Bombora just celebrated its 10-year anniversary.
• Mission: A laser focus on B2B, serving both sales and marketing teams by delivering actionable data and insights.
• Ajit's summary:

  “Our focus has been steadfast for us through this whole period.” — Ajit Thupil [00:46]

2. The Unique Nature of B2B Marketing (01:43–03:15)

• Complex Sales Cycles: B2B sales involve long, multi-party buying processes.
• Sales and Marketing Alignment:
  • Sales teams use Bombora data to prioritize outreach.
  • Marketing provides ‘air cover’—coordinated messaging across multiple channels during sales engagement.

  “You want the marketing teams to be reaching out to the same folks... making sure as your SDRs are calling, these same folks are seeing your brand show up.” — Ajit Thupil [02:36]

3. Bombora’s Product & Data Activation (03:16–05:00)

• Data-First Approach: Core product is B2B intent data.
• Activation: Data can be used across all major DSPs, social networks, and integrated into sales enablement tools (e.g., Lucia, Cognizant).
• Measurement: Reporting on reach and engagement by account is available.

4. Using Bombora Data in Practice (05:00–06:57)

• Audience Building:
  • Off-the-shelf syndicated taxonomies are available.
  • Custom ABM (Account-Based Marketing) lists: clients can upload their target accounts, select by role, function, seniority, geography, etc.
• Example Use Case:

  “That could be about buying extra IT decision makers in extra large companies that are in the construction industry.” — Ajit Thupil [05:38]

5. Addressing B2B Targeting Nuances (06:58–08:32)

• Problem: Balancing spend between giant companies (e.g., General Motors) and small startups.
• Bombora’s Solution: Granular audience filters (demographics, geography, roles) and account-level frequency capping.

• “You can also add other factors around geography... start adding further granularity that allows people to focus on a certain segment of people.” — Ajit Thupil [07:46]

6. Identity & Reaching Prospects Across Contexts (08:33–10:08)

• On-the-Go Audiences: Can Bombora reach B2B targets outside the office (e.g., Starbucks)?
• Technical Detail: Data is tied to identifiers; offsite activity is included if it can be reliably resolved to the target.
• Exclusions: Some locations (e.g., generic public Wi-Fi) may be screened out for precision.

7. Buyer Sophistication & Market Evolution (10:09–12:54)

• Sophistication Spectrum:
  • Some clients experiment with targeting, frequency, and measurement.
  • Others are highly prescriptive, splitting audiences and messages for granular bidding and measurement.
• CPM Sensitivity: B2B buyers are generally willing to pay a premium for high-value targets.

• “Typically, you’re not as budget conscious as you would be if you’re trying to reach a person in a Starbucks.” — Ajit Thupil [12:48]

8. Inferring Roles and Titles (12:55–13:53)

• Data Collection:
  • Partnerships with data vendors for functional and seniority attributes.
  • First-party content consumption data from over 5,000 publisher partners.

• “We are able to model where we think they fall both in the functional spectrum as well as in the seniority spectrum.” — Ajit Thupil [13:50]

9. AI’s Role in B2B Data and Marketing (13:54–16:48)

• Industry Hype: Many platforms launching AI-driven features.

• Bombora’s Approach:

  • Maintains focus on high-quality data provision for clients and AI/ML models.
  • Will lean in with AI where it aligns with their core value and expertise.

• “You’re not going to be able to train these models on substandard data and expect superlative outcomes.” — Ajit Thupil [15:07]

• Use Cases: AI can assist with dynamic audience qualification, campaign optimization, and frequency capping.

10. Lightning Round (17:59–20:00)

Competitive Advantage

• “Our core data asset, our publisher partnerships... to be able to get that source of truth on what people are researching.” — Ajit Thupil [18:13]

Biggest Challenge

• “Making people realize that B2B is different and what role we have to play...” — Ajit Thupil [18:29]

On Google & Meta Competition

• “They’re kind of closing their walls, not opening their walls. So... I see them having the need to work with parties such as ourselves, less so kind of competing with one of us.” — Ajit Thupil [18:54]

What Animal Would Bombora Be?

• “An owl... They can see in the night as well, so they can see through darkness. So... having that particular skill will be helpful.” — Ajit Thupil [19:43]

Notable Quotes

• On B2B complexity:

  “Nobody is choosing on their CRM software based on what they saw on TikTok.” — Ajit Thupil [11:23]

• On the role of AI:

  “There is a role that we get to play in terms of what we think is qualifying IDs against that audience.” — Ajit Thupil [17:47]

• On industry trends:

  “Probably every two days I get a link or something that somebody pings me saying about some platform launching something agentic...” — Ajit Thupil [14:15]

• On being like an owl:

  “It’s smart. I think they can see in the night as well, so they can see through darkness.” — Ajit Thupil [19:43]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & What is Bombora? (00:10–01:42)
• B2B vs. B2C – Sales & Marketing Alignment (01:43–03:15)
• Product Overview – Data, Activation, Measurement, Enablement (03:16–05:00)
• Audience Creation in B2B (05:00–06:57)
• Handling Targeting Size Disparities (06:58–08:32)
• Identity & Reaching Prospects Everywhere (08:33–10:08)
• B2B Buyer Sophistication & Spend (10:09–12:54)
• How Bombora Learns Roles & Titles (12:55–13:53)
• Where AI Fits in B2B Data (13:54–16:48)
• Lightning Round: Advantage, Challenge, Competitors, Animal Metaphor (17:59–20:00)

Conclusion

This episode unpacks the distinct needs and strategies of B2B marketing and sales, revealing how Bombora leverages deep data partnerships, publisher integrations, and evolving measurement to give sales and marketing teams an actionable advantage. Ajit Thupil offers candid insight into the data industry’s challenges, the value of specialization, and Bombora’s pragmatic approach to AI, positioning themselves as the ‘owl’ in the B2B data night.