How to Build the Marketing Engine That Makes a Startup Acquirable

One question I've been asked a lot lately is what I think actually makes a startup attractive for acquisition.

Most people assume it's the product. Or the founder. Or maybe one breakout year of growth.

I don't think it's any one of those.

Over the last few years, I had the opportunity to help scale Passport from a fast-growing startup through its acquisition by it's #1 competitor, Global-e (Nasdaq: GLBE). Looking back, I don't think the acquisition happened because of one great moment, one lucky partnership, or one incredible quarter.

It happened because we slowly built a growth engine that became more repeatable, measurable, and scalable every quarter. And a brand that became more attractive and trusted.

If I were joining another startup tomorrow, these are the same things I'd invest in all over again.

1. Build the Foundation Before You Build Demand

I actually think startups spend way too much time debating channels and not nearly enough time getting the fundamentals right.

Before you spend another dollar (or your first dollar) on paid media or hire another SDR, make sure you've answered a few basic questions:

• Who exactly are we selling to?

• Why would someone choose us over the competition?

• Can every employee explain our positioning in one sentence?

• Does Sales have a repeatable playbook?

• Are we talking about customer problems or product features?

  
  

Personas. Positioning. Messaging. Competitive differentiation. Sales playbooks.

None of them are particularly exciting. But without them, you're just scaling inconsistency.

2. Invest in a Brand That Looks Bigger Than You Are

Brand isn't your logo. It's the confidence someone has in your company before they've ever spoken to Sales.

For startups especially, perception matters.

A polished website. Consistent messaging. Professional creative. Thought leadership. Customer proof.

All of these reduce buying risk.

As Passport grew, we invested heavily in evolving our visual identity, messaging, website, and content strategy—not because they looked prettier, but because they made the company feel more credible and trustworthy.

Good marketing generates demand. A great brand makes every demand generation dollar work harder.

3. Make Your Website Your Best Salesperson

At some point we stopped thinking of our website as something Marketing owned.

It became the center of our entire go-to-market strategy.

Every campaign landed there. Every salesperson used it or received leads from it. Every customer and prospect visited it.

If your website is still functioning like a static online brochure, you're leaving opportunities on the table.

Every page should answer three simple questions:

• What problem do you solve?

• Why are you different?

• What's the next step?

(And it should feature FAQs right on the pages, for both a better user experience and better SEO & GEO rankings.)

As your company scales, your website becomes one of your biggest growth assets—not just your biggest marketing asset.

4. Build a Repeatable Demand Engine

Once the foundation is in place, then it's time to scale.

One thing I learned the hard way is that no acquisition channel stays hot forever.

SEO changes. Paid media changes. Events change. AI is changing search behavior faster than any of us expected.

The companies that continue growing aren't dependent on one channel—they build multiple repeatable ways to create demand.

For us, that meant combining:

• Content

• SEO

• Paid media

• Events

• Webinars

• Customer marketing

• ABM

• Outbound prospecting

  
  

No single channel built the company. The engine came from how all of those channels worked together.

The goal isn't more leads. It's a more predictable pipeline.

5. Treat Sales Enablement Like a Product

One of the biggest surprises for me was realizing how much marketing influences revenue after someone books a meeting.

That's where enablement becomes incredibly valuable.

We invested heavily in:

• Battlecards

• Competitive positioning

• Objection handling

• Sales playbooks

• New pitch decks

• Customer stories

• Ongoing training and Lunch & Learns

• AI-powered enablement

• A shareable sales enablement hub

Marketing shouldn't stop at generating demand. The best marketing teams make Sales better every quarter.

6. Invest in AI Early

If I were building another startup today, I'd invest in AI much earlier than I did at Passport.

Not because AI replaces marketers. (I'm actually a big believer in the opposite--people first, enabled to go faster and better with AI support).

Because it gives small teams leverage.

Today, tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Lovable, Fibbler, Coefficient, and more allow startups like Passport to move dramatically faster than they could just a year ago.

We use AI every day for things like:

• Research

• Writing

• Competitive analysis

• Sales enablement

• Reporting

• Dashboard creation

• Campaign ideation

• Landing page & web tool development

• Internal knowledge management

AI doesn't replace strategic thinking.

It removes repetitive work so your team can spend more time solving bigger problems.

The startups that learn how to build AI into their operating system—not just their marketing—are going to have a significant competitive advantage over the next few years.

7. Measure What Changes Decisions

I'm a big nerd... I love dashboards.

Probably more than I should.

But I've learned that dashboards aren't the goal. Better decisions are.

Every report should answer questions like:

• What's working?

• What's changing?

• What should we do next?

• Where should we spend more time?

• Where should we stop spending time?

If a report doesn't change what your team does tomorrow morning, it's probably the wrong report.

Measure less. Learn more. Act faster.

8. Outthink the Competition

Startups rarely outspend incumbents. That's okay. In fact, you likely shouldn't even try.

Move faster instead.

Some of our best campaigns weren't expensive. They were simply different.

Better positioning. More useful content. More creative ideas. Original research. Better customer stories.

AI helped here too.

Instead of spending weeks getting to version one, we could prototype ideas in hours, test them quickly, and spend our time refining the ideas that actually worked.

You don't need the biggest budget. You just need the fastest learning loop, a willingness to be bold, and an approach that outshines your competition.

9. Build a Revenue Engine, Not a Marketing Department

This is probably the biggest lesson I'd leave with.

Marketing shouldn't think like a department. It should think like the operating system behind growth.

As Passport scaled, Marketing naturally partnered with (and then eventually expanded to own) Revenue Operations, Business Development, enablement, attribution, reporting, AI, and sales alignment.

Looking back, that evolution wasn't that surprising.

All of those teams were trying to solve the same problem: How do we help the business grow more efficiently?

That's ultimately what acquirers are buying.

Not campaigns. Not websites. Not paid media.

They're buying a repeatable growth engine that can continue producing results long after the acquisition closes.

Final Thoughts

Looking back, I don't think the acquisition was built during the acquisition process.

It was built through hundreds of small decisions over several years.

• Better positioning.

• Better branding.

• Better website.

• Better reporting.

• Better enablement.

• Better customer stories.

• Better AI workflows.

• Better systems.

• Better hiring.

  
  

None of those things felt transformational on their own.

Together, they created a company and a brand that was easier to understand, easier to buy from, easier to scale—and ultimately, more valuable.

That's the kind of marketing I enjoy building.

And if I were starting over tomorrow, it's exactly where I'd start again... building a foundation from the ground up!