TOPO 2017
Account Based Funnel
TOPO's first published operating model for account-based teams. Still surfaces in client conversations nearly a decade later.
About · Eric Wittlake
As a former analyst, B2B agency leader, and in-house operator, I've seen what works, and what doesn't, across hundreds of B2B companies.
Following 10 years of B2B agency leadership running brand, demand and ABM programs for clients, I spent five years studying the leading companies and best practices of B2B go-to-market. While at TOPO I built the account-based research practice, including the models and frameworks that are still used today. As an operator at 6sense, I drove product marketing and analyst relations while the company grew 5x.
The combination is what I bring to client work: I can run the pipeline math and build the operating model and strategy at the same time.
Career arc
Studied from the outside, then fixed it from the inside.
Now
Advisor and fractional leader to B2B SaaS, tech, and AI companies
I founded the practice in 2025 to do the work I enjoy the most: helping marketing leaders rethink the GTM motion and adapt for tomorrow. Engagements run from fractional leadership to advisory retainers to one-off projects.
2021 to 2025
Operator at 6sense
I drove product marketing, analyst relations, vertical marketing and strategic client engagements through 5x revenue growth and two unicorn rounds. That work included three consecutive top-right Magic Quadrant placements, multiple Forrester Wave leader positions, and the launch of three new verticals that generated millions in pipeline and grew at 2x the rate of the rest of the business. I also created the GTM Maturity Model the company still uses for client onboarding and professional services engagements.
2016 to 2021
Analyst at TOPO (acquired by Gartner)
I built TOPO's account-based marketing research practice: the published benchmarks, the operating models, the client advisory relationships, and the Summit tracks. I worked directly with marketing and sales leaders at hundreds of growth-stage and enterprise B2B companies, including Adobe, Procore, IBM, and Oracle. I saw the inside of a wide range of GTM programs, what worked, what failed, and why.
Before that
Agency media and strategy, ad-tech, and finance
I ran media and strategy for a B2B tech agency for nearly a decade, where I was an early adopter of ABM, marketing technology, and content marketing for clients. That led to my role at TOPO. Prior to that, I owned an early ad-tech reporting platform end to end and led the digital analytics practice for the US. Previously I was in investment banking and FP&A, which continues to improve my budget and financial literacy with CFOs and executive teams.
Published work
Some of the work I've published.
Several of these frameworks are still cited and used years after they were created.
TOPO 2018
Account Based Measurement Model
Introduced the standard metrics and the original double funnel for account-based teams.
6sense 2025
GTM Maturity Model
Guides strategic engagements and implementations for 6sense clients.
6sense 2024
Revenue Creation Framework
Used across multiple keynote presentations.
ForgeX 2026
State of AI in ABM Benchmark
Lead researcher and author.
ForgeX 2026
AI in ABM Certification
Major contributor to the frameworks, examples, and practices taught.
and more than two dozen more published reports, benchmarks, and models.
What I believe
A few positions that shape how I work, and that diverge from how the category usually talks.
Marketing rarely creates demand. It creates preference.
Most categories are already well known. The job is not to convince a buyer the problem is worth solving. It is to be one of the favored options when they look for a solution. Genuinely new categories are the exception. Everywhere else, "demand creation" is preference-building and capture, and pretending otherwise leads to programs that fail to scale as expected over time.
Most companies run too many ABM tiers.
The three-tier pyramid pushed teams to stand up three tiers even when they don't differentiate the investment or the experience across them. The result is overhead and measurement complexity with no meaningfully different customer experience and no better result.
Where I work best
Modern, tech-stack-driven sales and marketing organizations.
My strength is in modern, tech stack driven sales and marketing organizations. Decades of work with early adopters of these technologies, plus an analyst seat covering both categories, means I've seen many of the ways companies using them succeed and fail.
B2B and vertical SaaS and AI companies, and early adopters in other industries, are where my experience is the most valuable. These companies typically have annual contract values of $25K and up, sold in part through a sales-led motion.
- B2B and vertical SaaS, tech, and AI
- $25K+ annual contract value
- Sales-led motion
In the conversation
Speaking, facilitation, and credentials.
Recent and ongoing work, appearances, and credentials.
Certification · 2025
Revenue Architecture
Completed the Revenue Architecture certification with Winning by Design.
Speaking
Stages, summits, and roadshows
TOPO Summit speaker, track host and facilitator for multiple years, plus 6sense events, the SiriusDecisions conference, and marketing roadshow speaker.
Workshops and facilitation
ICP, measurement, and planning
Ran dozens of ICP, measurement, and campaign planning workshops for TOPO and agency clients; facilitated internal GTM planning off-sites for 6sense.
Where I'm not the right fit
I work with B2B companies running sales-led motions with deal sizes of $25K and up. I'm not the right fit for B2C, for channel-heavy businesses, or for broad-market motions that run primarily on inbound and paid search.
The exception: if you run a more focused account-based or enterprise motion inside a larger inbound-driven company, that's squarely the kind of work I do.
Off the clock
I'm based outside Atlanta, in Marietta, Georgia. I came into marketing through investment banking and analytics, which is probably why I reach for the numbers first. Away from work, I'm usually hiking, in the garden, or thinking about the next good meal and what to pour with it.
Start a conversation.
If the background fits what you're working through, let's talk. Share your situation, get an early read on where I'd focus, and decide if there's a fit.
Start a conversation