Scaling StackOne to $1.5m ARR as their sole Marketing leader

The Opportunity

Diandra joined StackOne at their Fractional Head of Marketing in June 2024 as their second GTM leader and first Marketing hire. The team was getting early traction for its unified-API platform after their Seed round, but the company still had no in-house marketing resource. Hiring a senior marketer in London would have added ~£120k+ on-costs to burn, so the founders brought in Diandra as StackOne’s new Fractional Head of Marketing, their on-demand CMO at half the cost of a full-time hire.

Their ambitious objectives were clear: 

  1. Create a category-defining narrative that could carry the business from unified APIs to the Universal Integration Layer for AI & SaaS products. 

  2. Stand-up a full-funnel growth engine (positioning → demand → revenue) fast enough to show traction ahead of their target Series A fundraise.

  3. Do it all as a team of one, orchestrating additional specialised GTM & Marketing expertise  without the extra head-count

Process

1.Repositioning StackOne’s product

We led a rapid story sprint, codifying the new promise of a “Universal Integration Layer for B2B SaaS & AI Agents” and ICP in a positioning framework that became the critical foundation for sales decks, the new  website and every outbound touch-point StackOne has with their prospects.

2. Building a growth machine

Over the following 12 months, we: 

  • Mapped the total addressable market and rolled out an account-based GTM model 

  • Drove the content & founder-led social engine via regular LinkedIn posts, long-form SEO pillars, webinars and in-person events that moved prospects from awareness to technical deep dives 

  • Owned the $20M Series A comms: press-release drafting, tier-one media briefings and coordinated social blasts for founders, investors and employees

  • Put marketing ops on rails, implementing tools like Customer.io, Attio, Riverside, Notion etc. 

All of this was delivered on a 2-to-3-days-per-week retainer, flexing up only for critical launch moments.

The Result

  • Revenue: StackOne grew from 0 to $1.5M ARR in 12 months with no other marketing head-count. 

  • Brand share-of-voice: LinkedIn presence for the founding team rocketed 211 % in followers and 2,538 % in impressions year-on-year 

  • Pipeline & credibility: the new narrative and founder thought leadership underpinned an oversubscribed $20 M Series A led by GV & Workday Ventures, and now delivers reliable inbound at scale 

  • Capital efficiency: all outcomes were achieved at less than 50 % of the cost of a London Head-of-Marketing salary, proving the power of a senior fractional model 

Ready to hit Series-A-worthy growth without hiring a full marketing team? Book a call with us today.

  • Romain Sestier, CEO and Co-Founder at StackOne

    “Citadelle has been a trusted partner for StackOne for nearly a year now, with Diandra operating not just as our Head of Marketing, but as a true cross-functional leader across GTM and Product. What set Diandra apart in our relationship has been her keen ability to translate our deeply technical product into compelling narratives that resonate with enterprise buyers. She’s helped us navigate the full marketing funnel, from early-stage positioning to our $20M Series A announcement, while also building a thought leadership presence that now delivers reliable inbound at scale. Her impact has been both strategic and sustained, which are rare and invaluable in startup environments. Diandra’s high drive and low ego have also meant she’s quickly become a trusted voice on our senior leadership team, so I coulnd’t recommend her and Citadelle enough to fellow founders and venture builders. “

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