From Demandbase to Channel99: Why Chris Golec is Betting on Marketing Measurement (Again)

Great product ideas don’t fail—they just launch at the wrong time. In 2007, Chris Golec had a vision for measuring B2B marketing effectiveness, but the market wasn’t ready. Now, after building Demandbase into a category leader, he’s returning to that original vision with Channel99. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Chris shared why timing might be everything in B2B tech.

When Being Right Isn’t Enough

“It was the original vision of Demandbase, believe it or not, in 2007,” Chris explains, reflecting on Channel99’s mission. “It was just way too early. The market wasn’t ready for it.” Instead of forcing an unready market, Demandbase evolved to pioneer the account-based marketing (ABM) category, becoming a leader in B2B marketing technology.

The pivot proved successful. Under Chris’s leadership, Demandbase introduced numerous innovations, as he notes: “We were the first at a lot of things, from B2B advertising to personalization.” The company grew to over $100 million in revenue, but the original vision of solving marketing measurement remained unfulfilled.

Why Now is Different

Today’s B2B marketing landscape faces a crisis of measurement. “B2B marketing is inherently inefficient,” Chris explains, “meaning most companies only sell to two or 3% of the companies out there because they’re targeting a certain industry, a certain size company, and they’re selling into tens of thousands of companies, not millions.”

This inefficiency creates massive waste in marketing spend. “Most of the traffic that comes to a B2B website is from sources or channels that are unknown,” Chris points out. “The people that are coming through that channel probably saw an ad, probably heard a podcast, probably read an ebook, probably saw a video or did one of these other things where you have all this content across the web, but you have no way to measure it.”

Building for Market Readiness

Learning from his experience with Demandbase, Chris is taking a different approach with Channel99. Instead of pushing the market forward, the company is starting with immediate value through a free product. “People can come to our website, they can sign up for a service where they set up their total addressable market… within the next day they can start seeing their traffic, where it’s coming from and the quality of that traffic by channel and then how it compares to industry average.”

This approach addresses a pressing need in B2B marketing: understanding what actually works. As Chris notes, “In most companies, 50% of your customer acquisition cost goes into this variable marketing spend and it’s not controlled.” The timing is right because B2B companies can no longer afford this lack of visibility.

The Evolution of B2B Marketing Measurement

The journey from Demandbase to Channel99 reflects broader changes in B2B marketing. Traditional metrics like MQLs are failing companies. Chris explains why: “It has a different meaning at every company. And what’s even worse is that within a company, it often changes. So it’s hard to look at results over time.”

The market is ready for a new approach focused on business outcomes. “What people should be looking at is what do I spend to generate a pipeline opportunity and what’s my close rate? And then you can quickly figure out the variable marketing expense that goes into CAC.”

Looking Forward

The vision for Channel99 extends beyond just measurement. Chris aims to make it “the must have platform in the marketing staff so that you can measure what’s working, what’s not, and you can compare different vendors or channels.” The ultimate goal? To become “the Adobe for B2B when it comes to measurement and analytics.”

This time, the market seems ready. B2B companies are demanding better measurement, finance teams are scrutinizing marketing spend, and traditional metrics are losing credibility. Sometimes, the best ideas just need the right moment—and for B2B marketing measurement, that moment might finally be here.