Unicorn Marketers

S2 E1: Paroma Sen: Inside Astera Labs' Marketing Strategy During Their IPO Journey ($22B+ Market Cap)

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Astera Labs is a key player in AI infrastructure, providing essential connectivity components for AI servers - including chips, modules, boards, and software. As the "nervous system" of AI servers, Astera Labs works with major hyperscalers and partners closely with GPU and CPU manufacturers. In this episode of Unicorn Marketers, we sat down with Paroma Sen, VP of Corporate Marketing at Astera Labs, to discuss her experience joining the company just before their IPO and building a marketing function from scratch in a highly technical B2B environment.

Topics Discussed:

  • Joining Astera Labs with a tiny marketing team just two months before their IPO
  • Building infrastructure for marketing: people, process, technology, strategy, and execution
  • Breaking down complex technical messaging for seven distinct audience segments
  • The evolution from a two-person marketing team to a structured department
  • Balancing outsourced and in-house marketing capabilities
  • Benchmarking social media performance against industry standards
  • The importance of content marketing in the rapidly changing AI infrastructure space
  • Crafting an information journey for each audience segment

    • GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:

    1. Develop a tiered approach to building marketing functions: Paroma implemented what she calls the "Tiramisu Strategy" - layering infrastructure, strategy, execution planning, and alignment simultaneously. "You can't just do one without the others. You're simultaneously working on all of those layers," she explains. B2B founders should recognize that building marketing capabilities requires this layered approach rather than tackling each component sequentially.
    2. Break down complex messaging for different audiences: For technical B2B companies, Paroma identifies seven distinct audiences requiring different messaging: customers, partners, investors, analysts, press, current employees, and future employees. "We don't have to say one thing and have it mean the same thing to seven different audiences," she notes. B2B founders should map out specific messaging journeys for each key stakeholder group rather than creating one-size-fits-all content.
    3. Make the CFO your marketing ally: Paroma emphasizes, "A CFO should be your best friend... that's the first person you need to convince that the spends that you are proposing are the right place to spend all of that money." By securing CFO buy-in early, marketing leaders can avoid the traditional adversarial relationship and ensure smoother budget approvals. B2B founders should encourage close collaboration between marketing and finance from day one.
    4. Create authentic brand presence that exceeds company size: One of Paroma's proudest achievements was when industry observers commented that Astera Labs was "showing up bigger than your brand." This perception shift demonstrates effective marketing that positions a company beyond its current scale. B2B founders should invest in brand presence that reflects their aspirations rather than just their current status.
    5. Balance AI adoption with human expertise: When implementing AI in marketing, Paroma initially struggled with concerns about integrity and quality. Her team found balance by "using AI generating websites and being able to still add our human value on top of that." B2B founders should approach AI tools as efficiency enhancers that require human oversight and expertise rather than complete replacements for marketers.

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      Sponsors:

      Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.

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      The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.

      www.GlobalTalent.co

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