Cracking the Code: Growth Benchmarks for Scaling B2B Startups

Recently, I had the chance to chat with Ruby James from LinkedIn for Marketing about their new report, Growth Benchmarks for Scaling B2B Startups, created in partnership with HubSpot For Startups .

It’s got a lot of insights that any startup founder or B2B marketer should care about.

With everything going on in B2B (slower sales cycles, tighter budgets), startups are asking the same question: "What does good look like now?" This report answers that question with data-backed clarity.

You can watch our conversation in its entirety here:

Here’s what stood out from the report and our conversation about it - why it matters.

Why This Report?

The B2B landscape has shifted - big time. Longer sales cycles, tougher competition, and macroeconomic uncertainty are the new normal. Ruby mentioned that HubSpot kept hearing the same thing from their startup customers: “How do we know if we’re doing well?”

Traditional benchmarks from VCs or analysts like Gartner are helpful but often don’t provide the level of granularity startups need. So HubSpot and LinkedIn took a fresh approach: they surveyed 250 startups, analyzed their performance by ARR, and dug into both business and marketing metrics.

Their goal? Democratize these insights and give startups a realistic, actionable picture of how they stack up.

The Secret Sauce of Top Performers

Here’s where things get interesting: what separates the fastest-growing startups from the rest?

• Conversion Rates That Make You Jealous High-performing startups see 15% of their leads convert to sales meetings. That’s in line with what I tell my clients - requests and bottom-of-funnel campaigns typically convert at around 10–20%. Seeing that reflected in the data? Super validating.

• Full-Funnel Strategies Pay Off Startups that invest in both brand and demand generation cut their time-to-demo in half -25 days compared to 46 days for those focusing only on bottom-of-funnel tactics. This is huge. It proves what many of us in the industry have been saying: brand isn’t fluff; it’s a growth accelerator.

• Brand Is Now Table Stakes Here’s something I never thought I’d hear five years ago: brand campaigns have become essential for startups. Ruby shared how brand investments are no longer “nice-to-have” but a must-have for startups aiming to scale. And the data backs it up - brand campaigns drive credibility, trust, and, ultimately, revenue.

Attribution Is Broken (But Still Useful)

Okay, let’s talk about attribution. It’s the bane of every marketer’s existence, and this report only reinforced that.

Here’s the thing: attribution still has its place, especially for testing. Comparing one campaign to another? Fine. But as a single source of truth? Forget it. The reality is that modern B2B buying journeys are too complex for clean, linear attribution models.

Instead, startups need to embrace incrementality. Measure what matters: pre- and post-campaign performance in specific regions, accounts, or audience segments. And for the love of marketing, start educating leadership. Founders and boards don’t need perfect attribution - they need confidence that your efforts are driving results.

Thought Leadership Ads: A Game Changer

If you’re not already running thought leadership ads on LinkedIn, you’re missing out. These ads - amplifying content from founders, execs, or even customers - are LinkedIn’s top-performing ad format for brand campaigns.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 1.5x higher click-through rates

• 1.6x higher engagement

• 45% higher demo conversion rates

Why do they work so well? People buy into people. A founder’s story or a CISO’s insight cuts through the noise in ways that product-focused ads can’t. Ruby emphasized that even simple, authentic posts from founders can move the needle.

Sales and Marketing Alignment: Your Secret Weapon

Here’s a trend that’s been brewing for a while: the tightest sales and marketing alignment wins. The report found that top-performing startups don’t just align once - they evaluate and refine their processes regularly.

Here’s what these startups are doing right:

• Frequent Collaboration: Regular joint meetings between sales and marketing keep everyone on the same page.

• Pipeline Testing: Testing the impact of brand investments on close rates across the sales journey.

• Long-Game Thinking: Recognizing that not every lead is ready to buy today but nurturing them now can pay off big later.

As Ruby put it, “It’s about playing the long game, and the data shows it pays off.”

Creativity Still Wins

Now, let’s be real: not all “brand” campaigns are created equal.

Just slapping your logo on an ad doesn’t cut it! The startups seeing the biggest impact are the ones investing in creativity - ads and campaigns that stand out and resonate.

It’s not enough to just do brand. You’ve got to do it well.

Final Thoughts

If there’s one takeaway from this conversation, it’s this: startups that embrace a full-funnel strategy, invest in brand, and align their teams are positioning themselves for growth - even in challenging times.

But it’s not just about following benchmarks. It’s about using them as a springboard to get creative, stay curious, and keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

So, where does your startup stand?