How Domitille de Saint-Exupéry (CMO at Lemlist) Turned $1.2M into $31M in New ARR

#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 (02:15) - What Lemlist does and how the company got to $40M ARR (05:30) - Going from $0 to $500K in paid ads: what triggered the shift (09:45) - How to execute paid ads well: outsourcing vs. in-house, and scaling by channel (16:00) - LinkedIn ads creative: why "on-brand and safe" was the wrong approach (20:30) - Mistakes made in paid: Snapchat, Spotify, and channels that didn't work (24:00) - The micro-influencer playbook: how to find, brief, and measure creators (33:00) - How influencer content compounds with paid ads and outbound (the Julio story) (38:30) - Partnerships: why $450K went here and why it's the most underrated B2B channel (47:00) - 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/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:Webflow - A website platform built for the agentic web, helping modern marketing teams build fully custom sites—no developer needed—that perform in AI search. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.Markup AI - A content quality platform that scans your content against brand voice, preferred terms, messaging standards, and AI-search readiness before it goes live, right inside Google Docs. Learn more at markup.ai.Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.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.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more