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Beyond the Newsletter with Fractional ABM
I run a Fractional Head of ABM practice for B2B SaaS teams at Series B–C building or rebuilding an expansion motion, vertical expansion, cross-sell, or closed-lost re-engagement. If you're in that seat and want to talk through what you're working on, hit reply.
Three years ago, we almost passed on the vertical that ended up consistently producing over $1M+ in sourced pipeline at Clari.
The reason we almost passed was the same reason most Series B–C SaaS teams stall on vertical expansion:
The priority industry looked too broad to build a motion against, and the pieces we could see looked crowded.
Then we ran a narrowing motion that turned the broad, crowded-looking priority industry into a specific, tactical starting cohort with warm pipeline already inside it.
Priority industries aren't ABM cohorts
Every B2B SaaS company has done the priority-industries work. Usually a consulting firm did it. You end up with three to five industries on a strategy slide: Financial Services, Healthcare, Professional Services, whatever fits your product.
The problem isn't the industry list. The problem is that "Healthcare" isn't a targetable ABM cohort. Neither is "Financial Services." They're too broad to build a motion against.
At Clari, we ran a four-step narrowing to solve exactly that.
Step 1: Take the priority industry as your starting frame, not your target
Financial Services. Healthcare. Professional Services. Whatever your strategy work put on the slide. That's your starting frame. Not your cohort. You're not going to build ABM against "Healthcare." You're going to build ABM against something inside it.
Step 2: Narrow to the sub-industry with the strongest product-market fit
Within Healthcare: pharma, providers, payers, biotech, medical devices, life sciences tools. Within Financial Services: fintech, retail banking, capital markets, insurance, wealth management. Within Professional Services: legal, accounting, staffing, consulting.
For each sub-industry, ask two questions: where is product-market fit strongest (which customers see outcomes fastest?), and where are the use cases simplest (which sub-industry can adopt without heavy customization?).
At Clari, that narrowing took us from "Healthcare" (too broad) to biotech and medical devices, which provided simple use cases, clear ROI, faster adoption. Once you're in a sub-industry, the ABM motion becomes actually build-able.
Step 3: Confirm proof customers exist in the sub-industry
At least three. Enough that a buyer inside the sub-industry would look at your logo wall and recognize peers.
If you can't name three customers in the sub-industry, you don't have product-market fit there yet. Pick a different sub-industry from Step 2 or table the vertical bet for a quarter.
Step 4: Use closed lost opportunities in the sub-industry as your warmest starting cohort
This is the piece most teams overlook. Inside the sub-industry, pull the closed lost opportunities from the past 24 months. Those accounts already know your brand. They already had sales conversations. Buying committees are already mapped in your CRM. Pain points are already documented in the deal notes.
Those are the warmest possible starting accounts, warmer than any cold-list you could build. At Clari, closed lost accounts inside the sub-industry were the seed cohort for the first campaigns. Everything else compounded off those first wins.
What happened at Clari
The vertical had all four things: named priority industry, sub-industry with the strongest fit, three-plus proof customers, and a real closed lost cohort to start against. The internal debate was about whether the market was too crowded. The narrowing said the market wasn't crowded, it was up for grabs.
We ran the motion.
Over $1M+ in sourced pipeline in the first year. Two lighthouse accounts, Intuitive and Thermo Fisher, that became the anchor references for everything that came after. The framework was strong enough that our SDR leader and I presented it at 6sense's Breakthrough conference.
Presenting at 6sense’s Breakthrough Conference
Next month I'll publish the full case study, the five pillars of the motion, the two lighthouse win stories, and what I'd do differently if I ran it again in 2026.
The four-step narrowing for your next vertical
If you're at a Series B or C B2B SaaS company right now and you're wrestling with whether your priority industries are actually workable for ABM, run the four-step narrowing. Priority industry → sub-industry with PMF → three proof customers → closed-lost cohort. That's the sequence that turns a strategy slide into a motion you can actually build against.
If you're wrestling with which sub-industry to bet on hit reply. I'd love to hear what you're weighing.
What did you think about this week's newsletter?
