Yulia Petrikova
Marketing · product marketing · growth · go to market
Open to Head of Marketing, Head of Product Marketing and senior marketing roles, in B2B and B2C. Remote or relocation. 14 days notice.
I build the commercial layer that products are missing. I have taken over categories I did not know, found where the money was leaking, and rebuilt positioning, channels and pricing around what actually converts. In B2B SaaS infrastructure that meant opening an enterprise segment the company had never sold into. In regulated consumer lending it meant cutting the budget by more than half while halving CAC and growing issuance 110% month over month.
12 years across B2B SaaS, fintech, HR tech and travel tech. The last 3 were at Gcore, from product marketing manager to group PMM and GTM lead inside a marketing team of around 25. Since August 2025 I have been running marketing for Eleving Group.
How I work
My typical first 90 days
Every channel, account and launch starts from zero. Each one has to show what it brings before it stays.
01
Find what is true
Look at the full funnel, from first visit to paying customer, and at how deals actually closed. Find where people drop off.
02
Cut
Research and dig into the data to understand the drop-offs. Stop the channels and activities that cannot show results.
03
Rebuild
Test hypotheses from the data. Bring channels back one at a time and move the budget to the ones that perform.
04
Agree the metrics and reporting
Agree with sales and management on the metrics marketing owns, like CAC, conversion and pipeline. Set up reporting by product and channel that everyone reads the same way.
Eleving Group
I cut the entire marketing budget to zero.
The problem
Spend was €50 to 70K a month, sometimes up to €200K. Nothing was tracked and there was no CAC by product.
The usual play
Keep the budget and cut the weakest channel.
What I did
I stopped every channel: out of home, radio, sponsorships, influencers, telco and field. I researched the data, tested hypotheses from what I found, and brought channels back one campaign at a time, keeping only what showed results. I set up CAC per product and channel.
CAC €35 → €18
Budget down to €40K a month
Loan issuance +110% month over month
Cases
Gcore 2022 to 2025 · Eleving Group 2025 to now
01 · Gcore · AI for video
Product launch
The problem
Product wanted to launch AI subtitles as a separate product. Every competitor already had the same feature.
The usual play
Launch it as a new product and compete on features.
What I did
Nobody changes video vendor just to get subtitles, so a separate product would not sell. I argued for an add-on to our streaming platform, with free starting usage and pricing by volume, so existing customers could start without a new purchase decision. Sales were hard to convince, so I ran a live demo at IBC where they saw customer interest themselves. Within 2 months all major live sports streaming customers were using it, most without a sales call.
All major live sports streaming customers using it within 2 months
Most without a sales call
02 · Gcore · positioning
Positioning and enterprise growth
The problem
Product pages were purely technical and Gcore had no access to enterprise clients.
The usual play
Add an enterprise page and run more ads.
What I did
I rewrote the product pages across the portfolio, the sales materials and the positioning framework, from technical specs to business value. I built analyst relations from scratch as third-party proof for enterprise buyers. This brought our first enterprise clients, cut the mid-enterprise sales cycle from 10 to 8 months and took qualified enterprise leads from zero to 10–15 a month. The analyst work contributed to IDC MarketScape 2024 and GigaOm Radar 2024 recognition.
First enterprise clients
Sales cycle 10 → 8 months
Enterprise leads 0 → 10–15 a month
03 · Gcore · events
Event marketing and pipeline
The problem
There was preparation for events, but no process. No campaigns to build a pipeline of leads before the event.
The usual play
Book a bigger booth and collect badge scans.
What I did
I built a pre-event process to create a pipeline before each show: webinars with media partners, press coverage ahead of the event and meetings booked in advance. On the stand we had a live customer case (Fan.at for the AI for Video launch) and touch-screen demos. We came to each event with about 20 meetings already booked, and booth to qualified lead went from 5% to 15%.
About 20 meetings booked before each event
Booth to qualified lead 5% → 15%
04 · Eleving · device financing
Conversion optimization
The problem
Only 18% of applications turned into an issued loan.
The usual play
Refresh the creative and run a discount campaign.
What I did
I went through customer support calls to find where people stopped. The main blocker was the name-transfer cost, so we ran campaigns that covered it. I cut paid digital that did not convert, pulled outdoor ads from low-conversion locations, moved field activations to high-intent places and ran price-drop offers based on sales data. With branch managers I set weekly target reviews and adjusted agent rewards. Conversion went from 18% to 25% and we financed 100,000+ devices in 6 months.
18% → 25% to issued loan
100,000+ devices financed in 6 months
05 · Eleving · brand
Brand building
The problem
There was no brand book and no identity standards across markets. Spending on brand materials was random.
The usual play
Hire an agency for a rebrand.
What I did
I built the brand book and identity standards, and set asset budgets based on data. Brand asset cost dropped from €2K to under €1K per campaign, a new branch launch went from 1.5 months to 2 weeks, and Tanzania launched on the same system.
Brand asset cost €2K → under €1K per campaign
Branch launch 1.5 months → 2 weeks
Tanzania launched on the same system
06 · How I work now · AI
AI workflows
The problem
Competitor tracking happened only when someone had time to check.
The usual play
Use AI as a chat tool to write copy faster.
What I did
I wrote down how I do the tracking by hand: what to check, what matters and what the output must include. Now an AI agent runs it every week for 3 markets and sends me a short brief with to-dos. I run other agents the same way for research, data analysis, a weekly marketing digest and content drafts. I check every output.
Runs every week
Agents for research, analysis and content
3 markets covered
Results
Before and after, by company
Eleving GroupRegulated consumer lending · 2025 to now
Customer acquisition cost, per product
Application to issued loan
+110% month over month
Loan issuance growth after the channel rebuild.
+15 to 20% margin
On co-branded activity, after I took over pricing and partner economics.
1.5 months → 2 weeks
Branch launch time. Brand asset cost per campaign cut by half.
GcoreB2B SaaS infrastructure · 2022 to 2025
Booth to qualified lead, per event
Mid-enterprise sales cycle
Paid spend per product, monthly
Samsung, then Orange
First enterprise clients, after I repositioned the portfolio and supported sales on both deals.
IDC · GigaOm
Analyst relations built from scratch, contributing to IDC MarketScape 2024 and GigaOm Radar 2024 recognition.
0 → 10–15 leads a month
Qualified mid-market and enterprise leads.
40% per quarter
User growth, held over a year.
2,613 new clients
Active client base up 11.5% year on year across 5 product lines.
10 → 8 months
Mid-enterprise sales cycle after the repositioning.
Work samples
30 pieces, all publicly live · click a group to open the list
+Product pages4 pieces
+Campaign pages1 piece
+Developer and technical content9 pieces
+Content, research and case studies10 pieces
+Press and analyst coverage3 pieces
+Webinars and broadcast3 pieces
All public work from Gcore, where I owned product marketing and go to market for the portfolio. Press coverage is earned, not paid. Internal materials like the positioning framework, battlecards and reporting are available on request.
Where I am the right hire
Hire me for this
- 01The marketing function does not exist yet, or it exists and reports activity rather than revenue.
- 02The product is hard to explain, and explaining it well is what decides whether people buy.
- 03B2B SaaS and infrastructure, or consumer products where people pay with their own money, like fintech and lending. I also have experience in HR tech, travel tech and global FMCG.
- 04Growth has to pay for itself. In B2C I measure it by CAC and conversion to paying customers, in B2B by qualified pipeline and closed deals.
- 05You want the number owned rather than the campaigns run.
Where I am not
Do not hire me for this
- ✕You need a hands-on paid media buyer, in the platforms, daily.
- ✕You need a brand designer.
- ✕You want more leads, sign-ups or installs on a report, whether or not they turn into paying customers.
- ✕You want the campaigns run to a plan set elsewhere. I work best when I own the number.
How I work with people
Where I do my best work
- →Working closely with product and sales.
- →Teams with real ownership. At Eleving I restructured a team of 7 and set up product marketing with CAC targets.
- →Talking to customers directly.
- →Using AI agents for research, data analysis and content. It saves hours every week and lets the team handle more volume.
- →Doing the key work myself and using freelancers and agencies for execution.
What I do not do
- ✕Start with a rebrand.
- ✕Report impressions, followers or downloads as results.
- ✕Report a number before we agree what it counts.
What I have built
Positioning and product
Positioning frameworkMessaging architecture
Launch kit by tierUse case library
Packaging and bundle modelsBattlecards
Objection handlingCompetitive intelligence hub
Analyst briefing pack
Account and demand
Named account modelTiering by buying potential
Negative criteria setBuying group maps
Trigger watchlistTakeaway campaign playbook
Comparison pagesMigration white paper
Event pre-booking format
Commercial and brand
Pricing frameworksCAC by product model
Partner economicsMarket entry plan
Regulatory approval flowLegal-cleared templates
Brand book and identityBranch launch kit
Investor one-pagers
Data, ops and AI
Pipeline reporting tableHubSpot architecture
Lead scoring designCampaign templates by value
Cross-sell model from sales dataReusable AI skills
Scheduled market trackingGA4 · PowerBI · Redash