The constraint
AirOps sells an AI content platform to marketing and content teams. The product was selling. The pipeline number was stuck.
For close to a year, monthly pipeline sat at the same level no matter what the team layered on top: outbound pushes, standard paid campaigns, email runs. Each channel produced activity. None of it moved the total, because every channel ran from its own list with its own logic, and nobody could see which accounts mattered across all of them.
The brief: grow qualified pipeline, without hiring a single new SDR.
What we built
An account-based growth system inside their HubSpot. Three connected layers.
First, the data. We mapped the total addressable market (every company worth selling to), then cut it to a target account list scored on two things: how well each account fits, and whether it shows any sign of being ready to buy. Accounts were sorted into tiers, so budget and effort followed the accounts most likely to close, and the tiers updated as accounts warmed or cooled.
Second, the signals. Every target account lived in HubSpot with its engagement visible: site visits, ad engagement, replies, LinkedIn activity. Trigify watched LinkedIn engagement, Clay pulled buying signs like funding and hiring, Fibbler showed which target accounts were engaging with the ads, and HockeyStack tied it all back to pipeline, so we always knew which play was earning its budget.
Third, the plays. Ads and outbound ran against the same account list, in coordination. An account that engaged with an ad heard from a person while the brand was still fresh. An account that went cold moved back into ads for a while. The unit of work was the account, never the channel.
The plays that ran
Thought leader ads. The bulk of LinkedIn spend went to posts from real people at AirOps, backed by customer-story posts, shown only to target accounts. By the time outreach landed, the sender's company was already familiar.
The webinar input request. Ahead of a webinar, sequences asked target buyers for their take on the topic before pushing any registration link. People reply to being asked. This was the best-performing outbound play of the engagement.
Role-based sequences. Separate copy for each person in the deal: the head of content who would use the product, the executive who signs for it. Same account, different conversation.
Job-change outreach. When a relevant contact moved into a new role at a target account, a sequence reached them within days, while plans and budgets were still taking shape.
Stage-based retargeting. Accounts showing real buying interest got direct-response ads pointed at a conversation with sales. Colder accounts stayed on lighter content until they warmed up.
Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Qualified pipeline | $7.83M |
| Closed-won revenue | $1.52M |
| Time window | 10 months |
| Where the system lives | Inside their HubSpot |
Zero new SDRs were hired across those 10 months.
What this means for you
If pipeline has flattened and the next line in the budget is another sales hire, this is the alternative worth pricing: one account list, watched for buying moments, with ads and outreach landing on it together, inside the CRM you already run. And the system is AirOps's to keep. It lives in their HubSpot, not ours.
