Scaling Smart: Building a Lean Marketing Engine from Scratch

Hey Content Fans!

This week’s episode was a fun one for me. I got to sit down with Paroma Sen, VP of Marketing at Astera Labs, who has this knack for stepping into companies and building their marketing engine from the ground up, often with a tiny team and a big goal.

She’s taken a company public, grown a team from just a couple of people to a structured, strategic function, and managed to keep things lean while making the brand look much bigger than it is.

We dug into how she decides when a company is actually ready for marketing, how to focus your efforts when you can’t do everything, and why “process” might just be your best friend—if you don’t overdo it.

I’m excited for you to check this episode out,

Ben Ard
^{Host of the Content Amplified podcast}

3 Main Takeaways from My Conversation with Paroma Sen

1. Timing Your Marketing Investment is Everything
Don’t jump into marketing before you have proof points. Paroma says you need those first 10–15 customer wins—earned through sales, relationships, and word of mouth—before you turn on the marketing machine. Marketing amplifies traction; it doesn’t create it from scratch.

2. Build Structure, but Keep It Flexible
When starting from zero, Paroma focuses on “people, process, technology” as the foundation—then layers in strategy, operational planning, and alignment. But she warns against letting process become rigid dogma. Leave yourself an escape hatch for unique opportunities.

3. Use Content Across the Entire Funnel
From top-of-funnel awareness to bottom-of-funnel conversions, content plays a role at every stage. At Astera Labs, that means everything from quick social videos to deep technical white papers—always reflecting the brand’s personality and consistently outperforming peers in engagement.

Actionable Steps You Can Apply Right Now

• Assess your readiness for marketing. If you don’t have early customer wins yet, focus on sales and relationship building first.

• Audit your processes. Build enough structure to scale, but keep flexibility for one-off opportunities.

• Map your content to the funnel. Make sure you have assets for awareness, education, and conversion—not just one stage.

• Leverage your network for outsourcing. Tap into LinkedIn and personal connections to find contractors for specialized content like video.

About our Guest: Paroma Sen