How did Chief Martech get their first customers?

Chief Martech got their first customers through Brinker's paid speaking work grew from the chart's visibility; his first significant paid engagement was a roughly two-week speaking tour in Southeast Asia for SAS.. Their most effective growth channel became Free, widely distributed content (the martech landscape chart) that generated millions of impressions and led to speaking and conference revenue..

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Chief Martech

by Scott BrinkerLaunched 2014via Nathan Latka Podcast

Content content-marketingown-pain

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Scott Brinker built Chief Martech, a blog and annual landscape chart of roughly 3,600 martech companies, starting from a conference slide and growing it into the go-to resource for the marketing technology space. The chart is shared widely for free, generating millions of impressions and over 1,000 backlinks, and has led to paid speaking gigs and a conference run with Third Door Media launched in 2014. Brinker monetizes primarily through speaking and events rather than directly through the chart.

Why They Built It

Brinker started the Chief Martech chart while preparing a conference talk on the rise of the marketing technologist, as marketing teams became heavily infused with technology. He wanted to map the changing tool landscape and the hybrid professionals using it.

Why It Worked

•Giving the chart away freely built an audience and backlink profile that made Brinker the default reference for the martech landscape, which is a credibility asset that money cannot easily buy.
•Because the content became a recognized industry resource, Brinker shifted from begging for speaking slots to being invited, showing that reputation compounds into paid opportunities.
•Licensing the conference brand to a professional events company let Brinker monetize his expertise through content contributions without taking on logistics or operational risk.
•Tying the chart to a broader thesis about marketing becoming technical gave it a timely angle that kept attracting attention as the category grew.

How to Replicate

1.Create a annual, visually shareable reference resource in a niche you know deeply, and actively encourage others to republish it rather than gating it.
2.Use the resource as a credibility asset to pitch speaking engagements, then convert repeated speaking into paid gigs over time.
3.Partner with an established events company to run a conference under your brand, contributing content while they handle logistics and sponsors.
4.Track the impressions and backlinks the resource earns, and use that audience data to negotiate sponsorships and paid speaking.

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AI-extracted from the linked source. Monthly revenue can include one-time sales or donations, and may describe a later stage than the first-customer story.