Arist Replaced a $100K Marketing Team with a $10K Offshore Growth Engine
Arist is the leading enterprise learning platform for text-based learning. After overhiring and burning cash post-Series A, they hit reset—firing their entire in-house marketing team and rebuilding from the ground up. Through a partnership with Hire Overseas, Arist built a lean global team across SEO, outbound, content, and GTM ops. The result? 20x more leads at 10% of the cost.
Month In-House Team Replaced
Month Cost with Global Freelancers
More Leads
We laid off our whole marketing team. Rebuilt brick by brick with global freelancers. The team we got from Hire Overseas? They perform better—at a tenth of the cost.
The challenge: Rebuilding after the wrong hires
In 2022, Arist raised its Series A and quickly scaled a dream team:
- CMO
- Paid Ads Lead
- Event Marketers
- Content Marketers
They ran 30+ events in 2023—but the results didn’t follow. Messaging missed the mark. CAC soared. And growth stalled. The team was simply too big, too early.
So the founders made the bold call: Lay off the entire marketing org and rebuild from scratch.
The solution: A founder-led strategy, powered by Philippines-based talent
Arist didn’t need another bloated team. They needed execution. So Ryan worked with Hire Overseas to build a scrappy, high-output team of specialists in the Philippines who could scale key GTM functions without the overhead.
The strategy was simple: Keep creative direction and strategy founder-led, outsource everything else.
Hire Overseas helped identify and onboard experts who could plug directly into Arist’s workflows with minimal ramp time. Every contractor was sourced with three criteria: strong English, experience working U.S. hours, and the ability to own a channel independently after onboarding. Within weeks, the foundation of Arist’s new GTM engine was in place.
The team: A $10K/month GTM engine that outperformed the old org
Ryan started with SEO, initially testing a junior freelancer. But when it became clear they needed less hand-holding and more firepower, Hire Overseas brought in a senior SEO specialist with over 15 years of experience.
From there, the team grew rapidly:
- An go-to-market assistant focused on LinkedIn prospecting, sending hundreds of DMs per week and booking 3–5 qualified meetings—while also sourcing leads through advisor networks.
- A content and media generalist—a single powerhouse who owned everything from newsletters and long-form white papers to website updates, design assets, and full podcast production.
All 3 contractors worked U.S.-aligned hours and reported weekly on clear KPIs. Together, they rebuilt Arist’s growth engine—fully based in the Philippines, fully integrated with the core team, and fully delivering.
The results: 20x leads, 90% cost savings
With the original U.S. team, Arist was burning $100K/month. The new remote model cost just $10K/month—and drove significantly better results with 20x in qualified leads.
Lessons for SaaS founders
- Marketing works best when founders lead the creative. Don’t outsource the vision—just the execution.
- The best freelancers don’t need babysitting. With Looms and weekly KPIs, they can outperform full-time hires.
- Freelancers love structure. Weekly metrics and clear direction make remote teams thrive.
- Hire slow, test fast. Hire Overseas vets talent and replaces underperformers—so you don’t have to.
Ready to scale like Artist?
Want a full-scale marketing team for the cost of one U.S. employee? Hire Overseas helps SaaS founders build remote, high-output growth teams in weeks—not months.
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