Why Marketing is the Master of Business

Last week, I spoke with a founder whose SaaS company is on track for $5M ARR. They were frustrated, stuck at what felt like a glass ceiling. Despite ramping up ad spend and bringing in a VP of Sales, growth has been painful. The founder said, “We’re doing everything right—so why aren’t we scaling?”

It’s a question I hear often from portfolio companies. Founders believe that scaling is about adding more fuel (especially wanting to create the “marketing machine”)—bigger budgets, more hires, new tools. But the truth is, scaling doesn’t happen by doing more of what worked at $1M ARR. Scaling happens when marketing leads the business.

After working with 50+ growth-stage companies, I’ve learned this: marketing isn’t just a support function—it’s the master of business. The companies that scale efficiently are the ones where marketing drives strategy, aligns teams, and shapes the customer journey. The ones that fail? They treat marketing as a supporting function, something to “fix” after product and sales hit a wall.

Think about the last time you saw a portfolio company stall. Maybe they:

• Scaled their sales team before figuring out who their best customers were.
• Burned through cash on ads without clear messaging or targeting.
• Tried to pivot to enterprise customers because “it worked for our competitor.”

It’s a familiar story: growth is tough because marketing wasn’t leading.When marketing leads, here’s what happens:

• The Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) becomes the foundation for everything—product, sales, and messaging.
• The core of the business is prioritized—differentiation, POV, value proposition, messaging and positioning. 
• Teams stop chasing “any customer” and focus on attracting the right ones.
• Every acquisition dollar (well nearly) is spent on channels that work, reducing CAC and increasing ROI.
• You create a balance between long term and short term thing. 

But when marketing is secondary, everything becomes reactive. Sales spend time chasing bad-fit leads. Product teams build features no one asked for. Marketing becomes an order taker for sales without space to build the business. Here’s the shift I want your portfolio companies to make: treat marketing like the engine of growth, not an expense. Marketing should:

• Define the ICP and align it across the company.
• Lead customer research to understand pain points and decision-making.
• Own demand generation, setting sales up with qualified leads instead of wasting time on unproductive outreach.

The lesson? Scaling isn’t about adding more fuel. It’s about focusing the foundations of an engine—and marketing is that engine. The master of business is marketing. And the master of marketing is in the “root causes”. 

‍The Root Causes Behind Effective Marketing

‍Here’s the deeper truth: marketing isn’t the master of business because it runs campaigns or builds ads. Marketing is the master of business because it works on root causes.

‍Scaling doesn’t come from working harder—it comes from addressing these root causes:

1. Who Are You Selling To? (ICP)

2. Why Should They Care? (Value Proposition)

3. How Do You Reach Them? (Messaging & Positioning)

4. How Do You Close and Retain Them? (Customer Journey Alignment)When these root causes are addressed, marketing becomes the engine of growth. Every other function—sales, product, customer success—works better because of it.

‍This Week’s Tangible Prompt

‍‍If you’re a CEO, investor, or chairman looking to ensure marketing drives real value in your company or portfolio, here are three prompts to guide your thinking this week:

1. For Alignment: Is marketing leading the definition of the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and are all teams (sales, product, and customer success) aligned around it? If not, what’s the first step to fix this misalignment?

2. For Differentiation: What makes your company’s product or service different, and is this clearly reflected in your messaging, acquisition strategy, and positioning? If customers can’t see it, how can marketing clarify it?

3. For Strategy: What is your company’s biggest challenge (the “root cause”) right now—lead quality, sales conversion, or retention—and how can marketing take the lead in solving it?‍These aren’t just tactical questions—they’re strategic shifts. The goal is to make marketing the leader, not the follower. Companies that embrace this mindset stop chasing growth and start building it.

‍The key here is to position marketing as the engine of growth—not just a function that supports product or sales. Founders who empower marketing to define the ICP, optimize acquisition channels, and align teams around customer needs are the ones who scale efficiently. Marketing doesn’t just execute—it directs the business. Push your CEOs to make marketing the master of their strategy this week.Onwards.