How I helped Builtfirst expand its market reach by repositioning its brand and launching a new website
Background & Challenge
Builtfirst had historically targeted Venture Capital firms, accelerators, and incubators by providing deal marketplaces. These allowed portfolio companies to browse and apply for startup discount programs from major B2B SaaS vendors. While this was a strong niche, our founders saw an opportunity to expand the total addressable market by repositioning Builtfirst as a partnership marketplace platform for B2B SaaS companies.
This shift meant redefining the company’s messaging, website, and overall positioning to better serve B2B SaaS professionals looking to build their own marketplaces, the very companies that had previously provided deals within Builtfirst’s original platform.
My job was to work closely with our founders to reposition the brand and align our messaging with this new go-to-market strategy. Over the next few months, we iterated on our content, gathered user feedback, tested functionality, optimized the messaging, and ultimately launched a brand-new version of builtfirst.com.
Role & Objective
I led the work in:
Defining Builtfirst’s new market position and translating it into clear, compelling messaging.
Writing all of the website copy to reflect the expanded use cases.
Leading the content infrastructure and information architecture, ensuring the new site was structured to convert leads effectively.
Taking a hands-on role in the design and Webflow build, as shifting team priorities required me to take more ownership of execution.
Strategy & Approach
Our founders had built deep relationships with top B2B SaaS companies while launching the original deal marketplaces. They had first-hand insights into how these companies thought about partnerships and what they needed in a marketplace platform.
I worked closely with them to extract and translate that knowledge into high-converting website content. Additionally, we leveraged our network of B2B SaaS professionals—especially those in partnerships—to gather real-world feedback and refine our messaging across multiple iterations.
Execution & Adaptation
We built everything in Webflow, making this my first end-to-end Webflow site build. While I had managed Webflow sites in past roles and built entire websites using platforms like Elementor for WordPress, this was my first time designing, structuring, and launching a full Webflow site from scratch.
Like any digital build, we encountered technical hurdles along the way. However, I pride myself on being resourceful, finding answers, and working through blockers efficiently.
Results & Impact
The repositioning and website launch directly contributed to multiple key customer wins, including:
HubSpot
Airtable
Zendesk
Segment
Monday
Slack
The success of this expansion helped position Builtfirst for a successful exit, leading to its acquisition by AppDirect in 2024.
Lessons Learned & Future Application
This was the closest I had ever been to a full-scale repositioning and messaging project at that point in my career, making it a defining learning experience. As a founding marketer at a startup, I learned how to:
Translate strategic market positioning into tactical website execution.
Work cross-functionally with executives and industry professionals to refine messaging.
Expand my Webflow expertise, adding another tool to my growing skill set.
This experience reinforced a key theme in my career—startups continue to call on me to handle messaging, positioning, and website execution. It’s a skill set that I’ve leveraged repeatedly, and one that consistently drives meaningful impact in early-stage companies.