Episode
How Domitille de Saint-Exupéry (CMO at Lemlist) Turned $1.2M into $31M in New ARR
- Published
- Feb 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3387
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- https://share.transistor.fm/s/dec825aa
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Summary
#332 | Dave is joined by Domi de Saint-Exupéry , CMO at Lemlist, a bootstrapped $40M ARR sales engagement platform, to break down exactly how she turned $1.2M in marketing spend into $31M in new ARR in 2025. Domi shares the full breakdown of every channel, agency, influencer strategy, and partnership play that drove results. This includes how they went from $0 to $500K in paid ads, why partnerships are the most underrated B2B growth channel, how they built a micro-influencer program, and what AI use cases are actually working (and which are overrated). If you want real numbers and real playbooks, this one's for you. Timestamps (00:00) - Introduction: $1.2M in spend, $31M in new ARR (04:30) - What Lemlist does and how the company got to $40M ARR (07:45) - Going from $0 to $500K in paid ads: what triggered the shift (12:00) - How to execute paid ads well: outsourcing vs. in-house, and scaling by channel (18:15) - LinkedIn ads creative: why "on-brand and safe" was the wrong approach (22:45) - Mistakes made in paid: Snapchat, Spotify, and channels that didn't work (26:15) - The micro-influencer playbook: how to find, brief, and measure creators (36:20) - How influencer content compounds with paid ads and outbound (the Julio story) (41:50) - Partnerships: why $450K went here and why it's the most underrated B2B channel (50:20) - AI in marketing: what's overrated (content generation) and what's actually working Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.…