How Snowflake Scaled Outbound to $4B ARR
(And How You Can Apply Their Recipe)
Read time: 25 min
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Last time, I broke down Rippling’s $350M ARR outbound engine.
Today, let’s dive into Snowflake’s $3B outbound strategy.
Before you roll your eyes and think, “Of course, they can do that, they’re huge!” Let me stop you.
Yes, Snowflake has 8,000+ employees, 2,000+ sales reps, and a budget you can only dream of.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to learn.
Here’s the deal:
I’ll unpack what they do, and show you how to apply their strategies, even if you’re a smaller team with limited resources.
What’s Snowflake All About?
If you’re not familiar, here’s their LinkedIn description:
Snowflake delivers the AI Data Cloud to help organizations share data, build apps and power their business with AI.
Translation:
It’s a technical product, requiring technical sales.
Their main buyers? IT and data teams.
And they’re not just any company, they’re one of the fastest-growing businesses in the world, now at $3B+ ARR.
Here are their results via their “Outbound” recipe (their Account-Based Strategy):
SDRs book 2-4x more meetings on ABM accounts.
Meetings booked: 36/100 accounts (vs 10/100 on non-ABM).
Deals close 2x faster from SQO to Won.
Top-tier A accounts convert 5x better than lower-tier ones.
Since October 2021, 40% of Tier A accounts had an open opportunity. Meanwhile, Tier B-E? Only 10%.
What you’ll learn today:
Part 1: Snowflake’s Growth Story
Part 2: The Snowflake Outbound Playbook
How they approached sales early on.
What their account-based strategy looks like today:
One GTM team: No silos
Data-driven execution
How their SDR org is built to win
With real outbound examples: cold email, mini-sites, etc.
Part 3: Applying Their Strategy to Your Company: How you can borrow from their playbook, even without their budget or headcount.
Bonus: 17 resources for a deeper dive: book, articles, and interviews.
How Snowflake’s Outbound Engine Drove Them Past $3B ARR
Part 1: Snowflake’s Growth Story
Why Snowflake has grown so rapidly and the foundation that set them apart.
Snowflake is projecting $3.356 billion in product revenue for FY2025, a 26% YoY growth.
High net revenue retention rate (127% as of Q3 FY2025)
Here are the results for their FY2024:
Q3 FY25
Revenue growth
G2 Map Snapshot
Competitive market with 110 competitors
Headcount growth
Sales team size
Marketing
Here’s why Snowflake is dominating the market
1 - It’s not saaS. It’s consumption-based.
Unlike traditional SaaS companies, 90%+ of Snowflake’s revenue comes from consumption. This changes everything.
Snowflake’s leadership tied seller compensation to actual customer usage, not just deal size. Reps still earn a percentage of the deal, but their bigger payday depends on how much customers actually use the product.
This creates alignment: customers win, and sellers are incentivized to help them succeed long-term.
2 - Product innovation that redefined the industry
Snowflake isn’t just a data platform, it’s a cloud-native powerhouse with features that competitors can’t easily replicate:
Separation of storage and compute for independent scaling.
Multi-cloud support (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
Seamless data sharing across organizations.
Their cloud-first approach (unlike the old-school on-prem model) gives them a huge edge: Automatic Updates: Everyone’s on the same version of the software. No manual updates, no delays, just instant access to the latest features and bug fixes. Simple and efficient.
They’ve built a product that solves real problems and scales effortlessly with customer needs.
3 - Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem
Snowflake doesn’t operate in a silo, it’s embedded in a robust tech ecosystem:
Deep integrations with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Partnerships with AI giants like Anthropic and Microsoft.
Collaborations with BI (Tableau, Looker, etc) and analytics tools to stay relevant in the broader data ecosystem.
4 - Betting Big on AI and ML
Snowflake jumped on the AI wave early, integrating AI and machine learning capabilities into its platform:
Snowpark: Helps developers build AI/ML models directly in Snowflake.
Generative AI: Supports enterprise-wide adoption of large language models.
Positioned itself as a top choice for companies adopting AI workloads.
5 - Customer Success Drives Everything
Snowflake doesn’t just focus on landing customers, they focus on keeping and growing them:
A 127% net revenue retention rate (Q3 FY2025).
Constant product updates and feature rollouts.
Teams dedicated to helping customers optimize their Snowflake usage, increasing consumption and, ultimately, revenue.
Part 2 - Snowflake Outbound Playbook
Why Snowflake Wins at Outbound: Their GTM and Data Teams
Snowflake’s outbound success isn’t magic, it’s the result of a highly strategic One GTM Team approach, an Account-Based Approach, and their data-driven execution.
Here’s what makes them unbeatable:
One GTM Team: Breaking Silos
Snowflake doesn’t just do outbound; they’ve turned it into a science by aligning Marketing, SDRs, and Sales into a seamless operation.
Their Account-based strategy and the execution: Intelligence, Activation, Engagement, Optimization
ABM warms up accounts using intent signals, and outbound takes over within two weeks.
SDRs don’t touch cold accounts, they only work on pre-warmed accounts that have shown intent through ABM.
Intent + ABM + Content: Their combination of intent data, account-based marketing, and personalized content drives unmatched results.
Messaging: Mini-Sites, aligned from marketing to SDR to Sales.
They don't track attribution but measure Account-based efforts vs an account funnel
Data-Driven Execution
They’re a data company, and they actually use data better than most. Shocking, I know.
Account Propensity Scoring (APS): Prioritizing accounts most likely to convert.
LTV Scoring: Identifying high-value accounts for long-term growth.
Contact Scoring: Targeting the right people at the right time.
Action boards for sales reps
Dashboards for GTM leadership for coaching and enablement
The SDR Org: Built for Success
Dedicated Ops & Enablement Teams: SDRs are supported at every step, from tools to training.
Talent Development: SDRs are seen as future talent for other GTM teams.
SDRs focus 100% on prospecting; AEs handle closing.
Generative AI: They leverage AI to cut ramp times and boost SDR productivity.
Part 2 - 1. Early Days at Snowflake: 5 Sales Lessons
Chris Degnan, Snowflake’s current CRO, joined in 2013 as their first salesperson when the rest of the 15-person team was focused on building the product. Here’s what we can learn from those early days:
1 - Uncovering the ICP
Through countless calls and outbound emails, a pattern emerged: media, advertising, and gaming companies were drowning in engineering time trying to process JSON, XML, and other data formats. Snowflake focused on these early adopters and nailed their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
2 - Moving from Feedback to Sales
Chris wasn’t just hired to generate revenue, he had to connect sales and engineering to uncover product-market fit.
After learning what resonated, Chris shifted to landing paying customers. Instead of hard-selling, he took a simple approach:
“Try it out. If you like it and use it, pay for it.”
3 - Don’t Go Enterprise Too Soon
Chris warns startups on Stage 2 Capital blog: “You’re fooling yourself if you focus on Enterprise too early. It’s a waste of time.”
Instead, start with high-velocity sales and a low ASP to build a strong base of referenceable customers. Move upstream only when your revenue and product pull you there naturally.
4 - Selling Through Education
In the early days, Snowflake’s sales process wasn’t about pitching, it was about educating.
No one believed their claims about separating storage and compute or ingesting semi-structured data.
The solution? Demos. The goal was always to get prospects to a demo where the product could speak for itself.
5 - Outbound & Pipeline Coverage
Chris aimed for 8 customer meetings per week and manually identified early adopters. How?
He hired an intern, built email lists from scratch, and blasted 2,000 emails per week asking: “Can I get your feedback on what we’re building?”
Part 2 - 2. Today: Snowflake Outbound & GTM Playbook
Now let's unpack what they do today
One GTM Team: Breaking Silos
Data-Driven Execution
The SDR Org: Built for Success
Here are their outbound results:
SDRs book 2-4x more meetings on ABM accounts.
Meetings booked: 36/100 accounts (vs 10/100 on non-ABM).
Deals close 2x faster from SQO to Won.
Top-tier A accounts convert 5x better than lower-tier ones.
Since October 2021, 40% of Tier A accounts had an open opportunity. Meanwhile, Tier B-E? Only 10%.
Hillary Carpio, Head of ABM, even mentioned:
“A region that decided not to take our suggested list of accounts ended up having a 17% meeting rate, while all their peers had a 46% meeting rate,”
One GTM Team: Breaking Silos
Here’s how they’ve turned outbound into a science:
Their Account-based strategy and the execution: Marketing, SDRs, and Sales work as one GTM team with a clear process: Collaboration → Intelligence → Activation → Engagement → Optimization. The result? Right message, right account, right time.
ABM warms up accounts using intent signals, and outbound takes over within two weeks.
SDRs don’t touch cold accounts, they only work on pre-warmed accounts that have shown intent through ABM.
Their combination of intent data, account-based marketing, and personalized content works well.
Relevant messaging at scale: Every touchpoint, Mini-Sites, ads, emails, SDR outreachis aligned from Marketing → SDR → Sales. The experience feels consistent instead of disjointed.
Instead of tracking who gets “credit,” they measure impact at the account level and optimize the full account funnel.
Why Snowflake Launched an Account-Based Strategy
The buying process has changed: More decision-makers are involved, and executives are playing a bigger role in deals.
Snowflake adapted by going account-based, focusing on the entire buying team, not just individual leads.
Their GTM framework:
Collaboration
Intelligence
Activation
Engagement
Optimization
1. Collaboration
Snowflake doesn’t do the usual sales vs. marketing blame game. They work as one team, same goals, same messaging, same process. Marketing provides insights sales can actually use, and sales acts on them fast. It’s not about handing off leads; it’s about working together to close deals. This builds trust and keeps prospects engaged from start to finish.
Most companies? They let these teams work in silos and wonder why buyers ghost them.
2. Intelligence
Snowflake knows who to target before the buyer even raises their hand.
🔒 Wait! Want to see the full outbound playbook Snowflake uses?
Here's a sneak peek:
One GTM Team: Breaking Silos: Their Account-based strategy and the execution: Marketing, SDRs, and Sales work as one GTM team with a clear process: Collaboration → Intelligence → Activation → Engagement → Optimization.
Data-Driven Execution: Predictive scores, Near-Real-Time Scoring & “Dashboards”
SDR Org: Dedicated ops & enablement teams, talent development & generative AI. And outbound examples: cold emails, etc.
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