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Contents

1. Revenue systems

2. Builds

3. The operator

4. Writing

5. Journal

6. Resume

7. Appendix

193 wordsby CONNOR J. LAUGHLIN

Two-function marketing operating model.

Splitting marketing into a demand function and a narrative function, with governance thin enough to ship through.

Outcome

Marketing under this model ran on written scope, review gates, and escalation rules rather than on my availability.

Two function modelThe two-function operating model: a demand function and a narrative function, each with the inputs it owns and the outputs it ships, and the single review gate they share.DEMAND INPUTSDEMAND OUTPUTSNARRATIVE INPUTSNARRATIVE OUTPUTSSHARED REVIEW GATE
FIG_017 [ Two function model ]Each function owns its inputs and outputs. One shared gate reviews the work before it ships.

The model is a one-page document: two functions, the inputs each one owns, the outputs each one ships, and the single review gate they share. Demand capture and platform narrative had been competing for the same people and losing to each other, so I gave them separate inputs and separate outputs.

The case

  1. 01The problem

    Output was inconsistent. Briefs piled up. There was no shared definition of done.

  2. 02What I built

    I split the team into two accountable lanes (demand generation and enablement), enforced a 7-day brief-to-ship SLA, set an output floor, governed Beautiful.ai version control, and segregated GA4 audiences so B2B reporting stayed clean.

  3. 03What changed

    Output became countable. SLAs became enforceable. Reporting became honest.

  4. 04What it proves

    Marketing rebuilt as two functions on a product-team cadence, with one gate between them and the work.

Systems built

  1. Two-function org structure
  2. Centralized intake-to-archive workflow
  3. Beautiful.ai version control
  4. GA4 audience segregation for B2B reporting

Chapter details

Scope
  • Org design
  • intake workflow
  • deck governance
  • GA4 segregation.
Stack
  • Beautiful.ai
  • GA4
  • SharePoint
  • Marketing Hub
Governance
  • 7-day SLA
  • output minimums
  • version control
  • cadence reviews

Governance notes

  • Output floor and SLA reviewed in weekly cadence
  • GA4 audience definitions versioned

In the interview

Marketing became two functions with one shared review gate. It runs like a product team.

Long form

A written walk-through of this one, in full.

Read it
Email Connor

Open to VP of Marketing & GTM, Head of GTM, VP Revenue Operations, and GTM engineering roles at AI-native B2B SaaS and PE-backed growth companies that build the tools of change. Chicago, hybrid or remote.