Selected Work | Crys Black Consulting | Fractional CMO & AI Enablement for Startups

I help startup teams clarify positioning, improve go-to-market execution, build smarter systems, and adopt AI in practical ways that support real business outcomes.

Here are a few examples of the kinds of challenges I’ve helped solve across growth strategy, RevOps, sales enablement, and AI-powered workflow design.

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Featured Case Studies

Modernizing Demand Generation and Lead Processes at APTARE

APTARE needed to modernize its messaging, tighten lead processes, and improve how marketing supported pipeline in a changing market.

I partnered closely with top sellers to refine buyer personas, improve syndication and webinar strategy, create better training materials, and build more effective nurture and follow-up processes.

What this work included

ROI and TCO framing for sales conversations
Buyer-friendly business case design
AI-generated executive summaries
Sales enablement support for complex deal cycles

Outcomes

Helped unstick stalled deals
Gave sales teams a clearer way to communicate value
Created a more useful internal decision-support asset for prospects

Repositioning Aizon for Growth in a Global Market

Aizon needed more than incremental marketing support. The company was navigating a major brand shift, building new growth infrastructure, and operating across geographies during a highly disruptive period.

I led the strategic global rebrand from Bigfinite to Aizon, helping reshape the company’s market identity around a stronger, more future-facing story. At the same time, I built out the marketing and sales infrastructure needed to support growth, including ABM, CRM-connected demand generation, data enrichment, video, automation, and sales enablement.

What this work included

Global rebrand strategy and launch
GTM and demand generation infrastructure
CRM-connected ABM and lead generation
Sales enablement and partner support
Analyst relations, thought leadership, and PR

Outcomes

10x increase in lead generation
36x increase in marketing-driven meetings
6x increase in pipeline
266x increase in quarterly revenue from initial pilots
10x rise in marketing influence

Helping Saama Shift from Services to SaaS

Saama needed to evolve from a services-led business into a more scalable SaaS story while increasing credibility in a competitive market.

I helped support that transition by launching the company’s first account-based marketing program, building strategic partnerships, expanding communications, and supporting the go-to-market motion around the Life Science Analytics Cloud.

What this work included

ABM program design and launch
SaaS repositioning and market messaging
Strategic partner development
Multi-channel communications
Sales enablement and thought leadership

Outcomes

Supported $40M in Round B funding
Helped launch the Life Science Analytics Cloud
Increased target-account engagement significantly
Contributed to Saama’s positioning as a credible SaaS provider
Supported a story later featured as a Kellogg School of Management case study

Helping Saama Shift from Services to SaaS

Saama needed to evolve from a services-led business into a more scalable SaaS story while increasing credibility in a competitive market.

I helped support that transition by launching the company’s first account-based marketing program, building strategic partnerships, expanding communications, and supporting the go-to-market motion around the Life Science Analytics Cloud.

What this work included

Persona development
Content and webinar strategy
Email nurture and lead scoring
Sales training and follow-up support
Broader channel and market visibility improvements

Outcomes

300% increase in leads converting to opportunities
50% reduction in bounce rates
200% increase in email open and click-through rates
Improved marketing alignment with market needs
Contributed to a stronger market position ahead of acquisition

Additional Selected Work

Accelerating Agency New Business with Custom GPT Workflows

For a marketing agency, I designed custom GPT workflows in ChatGPT to support deep prospect research, synthesize transcripts and notes, and speed up slide creation using research, frameworks, and internal inputs.

This reduced the time between research, synthesis, and polished output dramatically, helping the team move faster on new business opportunities.

What work this included

Custom GPT design for repeatable research workflows
Transcript and note synthesis
Slide creation support
Workflow acceleration across business development steps

Automating Company Enrichment for Better GTM Execution

I built an automation workflow in n8n that triggered new companies entering HubSpot to be enriched through Clay automatically.

This gave teams better firmographic context earlier in the process, reduced manual research, and improved readiness for segmentation, prioritization, and outreach.

What work this included

HubSpot workflow design
n8n orchestration
Clay-based company enrichment
Better data support for GTM execution

Keeping Lead Data in Sync Across HubSpot and Mailchimp

I created an n8n automation to keep lead data synced automatically between HubSpot CRM and Mailchimp.

This reduced manual cleanup, improved consistency across systems, and helped support more reliable marketing execution without adding operational drag.

What work this included

CRM and email platform integration
Automated lead sync
Reduced manual data maintenance
Improved marketing list reliability

Keeping Lead Data in Sync Across HubSpot and Mailchimp

I created an n8n automation to keep lead data synced automatically between HubSpot CRM and Mailchimp.

This reduced manual cleanup, improved consistency across systems, and helped support more reliable marketing execution without adding operational drag.

What work this included

CRM and email platform integration
Automated lead sync
Reduced manual data maintenance
Improved marketing list reliability

Making Tax Savings Tangible at Live Events

For a tax company, I helped create an ROI calculator that allowed the team to show real savings numbers live at a trade event.

This made the value proposition more concrete in the moment and gave prospects a clearer way to understand financial impact instead of relying on abstract claims.

Ways I Typically Help

Across these engagements, the through-lines are consistent:

Clarifying positioning in complex markets
Aligning marketing, sales, and RevOps
Equipping teams with better sales and decision-support tools

Building GTM systems that support growth
Creating practical AI workflows that save time
Turning complexity into something buyers can actually understand

Looking for Similar Support?

If you need help sharpening go-to-market, improving execution, building smarter systems, or applying AI in more practical ways, let’s talk.

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