Podcast Summary

Podcast: SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders
Host: Nathan Latka
Episode: I spent $1m on LinkedIn Ads and Added $3m of new Revenue, Paragon CMO
Date: February 25, 2025
Guest: Paragon CMO (Name not provided in transcript)

Overview

In this episode, Nathan Latka sits down with the CMO of Paragon, an embedded integration platform for SaaS developers. The conversation dives deep into how Paragon’s team invested over $1M in LinkedIn Ads and directly attributed $3M in new revenue to these efforts. The CMO shares a tactical and data-driven framework for running LinkedIn Ads at scale, covering everything from account targeting and segmentation to campaign structure, creative strategy, follow-up flows, and iteration. The episode is a goldmine for SaaS marketers seeking to crack B2B acquisition via paid social, especially LinkedIn.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Paragon’s Growth Journey & The Case for LinkedIn Ads

• Company Background:
  • Paragon is an embedded integration platform ("embedded integration platform, essentially. Developers at SaaS companies use Paragon to build integrations with third-party apps like Salesforce, Slack, task management tools." – 00:58).
  • The CMO joined three years ago when the company had very few customers and helped 30x the company’s ARR into "mid seven figures."
• B2B Target Market:
  • Paragon targets developers and product teams building complex B2B SaaS products.
  • LinkedIn Ads, despite their cost, became scalable because of a targeted ICP and a strategic framework—contrary to industry sentiment ("LinkedIn ads is too expensive. Only if you don't have a strategic framework to run it." – 03:13).

The Paragon LinkedIn Ads Framework

Step 1: Nail Your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

• Avoid being generic; be hyper-specific.
• Example ICP Attributes:
  • Product & engineering leaders
  • At non-verticalized B2B SaaS in selected regions
  • Companies without a dedicated integrations engineering team
  • Less than 30 integrations ("We're really honing in on who we have product market fit with." – 04:43).
• Quote:
  • "If you don't have a clear sense of your icp...that's just the best way to burn money." (04:06)
• Use the ICP to build your entire targeting universe, breaking it into account and contact data.

Step 2: Is LinkedIn Ads Right For You?

Ask yourself:

• Do you know your ICP?
• Is your ICP active on LinkedIn?
• Do you have relevant, valuable content for them?
• Is your ACV high enough (not for PLG <$100/year)?
• Do you have sufficient budget ($5K+ suggested)?

Step 3: Data and Infrastructure

• Invest early in clean, accurate account data before spending any marketing dollars.
  • Early-stage: manually scrape websites or use off-the-shelf providers (Apollo, Crunchbase).
  • Scale: vendors like GoodFit and Keyplay can enrich and score accounts.
  • Let your ICP definition guide all filtering and segmentation.
• Build a flow for post-lead operations: how will your team follow up, and with what content?

Setting Up and Scaling LinkedIn Campaigns

A. Audience Segmentation & Targeting

• Use a marketing funnel to build segment-based targeting:
  • "Cold": Unaware prospects
  • "Warm": Engaged but not evaluating
  • "Hot": High-intent, visited key pages
  • "Evaluating": Active sales process (15:20)
• For every campaign, define:
  • Role/department (e.g. product vs engineering leaders)
  • Funnel segment (cold, warm, hot)
  • Region (tactical: where you can compete profitably)
• Tactical Example: Run separate campaigns for product and engineering leads; segment accounts into scoring tiers for tailored messaging.

B. Creative & Messaging Strategy

• Framework: Context → Offer → Make it Interesting
  • Context: What do they already know about your brand?
  • Offer: What does this person care about, right now?
  • Interest: Why should they care about this ad?
• Quote:
  • "No one gives a shit about your product, except for maybe a very small percentage who are actively in the buying cycle." (19:09)
• Ideation Prompts:
  • Cold/Warm: What’s their job to be done? What problems keep them up at night? What do they want to learn (not product-focused)?
  • Hot: Objection handling, case studies, why this solution, why now.
• Map content to each funnel stage:
  • TOFU: Thought leadership (e.g., AI in SaaS) → MOFU: Problem-space education (e.g., importance of integrations) → BOFU: Product/solution centric with case studies.
• Tactical Note:
  • Content is the "fuel and lifeline"—regularly refresh creatives to avoid saturation.

C. Follow-Up and Lead Handling

• "Asset-specific sales follow-up":
  • Use different messaging and cadences depending on what the lead engaged with (e.g., demo request vs. content download).
• Don’t waste sales time with cold content leads; use automated, content-relevant nurture instead.
• Build a "choose your own adventure" automation flow.

How to Spend Your First Dollar (and What to Measure)

• Start with retargeting: lowest hanging fruit, high intent ("just get them over the line with retargeting." – 31:28).
• Once that’s exhausted, pick the hottest segment within your ICP with best sales win-rate and fastest cycles.
• Important Concept:
  • "Remember, your ICP is not your segment, it's your universe." (34:11)
• Focus on three types of campaigns:
  • Retargeting
  • Brand awareness (keep showing up in their feeds)
  • Top-of-funnel content to drive traffic and future retargeting
• Build initial confidence with LinkedIn lead-gen ads, even if not all leads convert right away; use it to learn and prove audience quality.

Measuring Performance

• Don’t get stuck on direct attribution; focus on holistic lift (organic, direct, etc.).
  • "LinkedIn is an outbound channel...So you're kind of trying to stop them from scrolling."
• Early indicators:
  • Click-through rate: is targeting and messaging resonating?
  • On-site activity: are they staying and consuming?
  • Cost-per-lead: use only to compare between campaigns, not to judge total ROI.
• Quote:
  • "We see that whenever we spend more on LinkedIn ads, our organic and direct also shoot up." (41:12)

Testing, Iteration, and Scaling

• Constantly test new segments, new messaging, and new formats (experiment with image ads first).
• Feed sales insights about objections and strongest messaging back into paid creative.
• Example stats:
  • Over the last three years, Paragon ran 511 campaigns and created over 2,600 ad creatives.
• Key Closing Principles:
  1. Nail your ICP
  2. Map your funnel
  3. No one cares about your product
  4. Scale one segment at a time

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On LinkedIn Ad Costs & Framework:
  • "LinkedIn ads is too expensive. Only if you don't have a strategic framework to run it." (03:13)
• On Hyper-Specific ICP:
  • "...We're really honing in on who we have product market fit with." (04:43)
• On Messaging:
  • "No one gives a shit about your product, except for maybe a very small percentage who are actively in the buying cycle." (19:09)
• On Measuring Attribution:
  • "LinkedIn is an outbound channel...don't try to get into like the manual tracking of it too much. Just look at overall efficiency." (40:58)
• On Scaling:
  • "If nothing else today, remember these four things. One, nail your icp. Two, map your funnel. Three, no one cares about your product. And four, scale one segment at a time." (46:05)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:42] – Guest introduction and Paragon’s journey
• [03:13] – Overcoming LinkedIn ad cost objections with strategy
• [04:06 – 05:50] – Crafting a hyper-specific ICP
• [09:45] – Data and infrastructure prerequisites
• [15:20] – Building a segment-based funnel for targeting
• [19:09] – Creative strategy ("No one gives a shit about your product…")
• [28:30] – Follow-up flows and lead nurturing strategy
• [31:28] – How to start spending on LinkedIn (retargeting first)
• [34:11] – Difference between ICP and segment
• [40:58] – How to (and not to) measure attribution on LinkedIn
• [46:05] – Four key principles for paid social success

Conclusion

This conversation is a masterclass in running profitable, scalable B2B SaaS acquisition on LinkedIn, straight from a practitioner who grew an ARR engine with it.
Takeaways:

• Hyper-segmentation (ICPs and segments), clear data, tailored creative, and relentless testing are the backbone of Paragon’s $3M revenue engine on LinkedIn Ads.
• Focus on valuable content and robust lead handling after the click.
• Don’t chase perfect attribution; instead, measure holistic business impact and keep iterating.

For SaaS founders and marketers: if you’re prepared to approach LinkedIn methodically and invest in understanding your customer, it can be a winning acquisition channel—even for technical or “expensive” audiences.