Diary of a First-Time CMO
Five years ago, Alice de Courcy stepped into her first Chief Marketing Officer role.
Since then, she helped scale the business towards the $100M mark and supported expansion into new markets. It’s been a period of sustained growth, sharper focus, and hard-won lessons.
Alice has documented what she’s learned along the way - the decisions that worked, the mistakes that didn’t, and what it really takes to lead marketing in a scaling B2B company.
This is her working handbook for marketers stepping into leadership for the first time, or preparing to. If you’re navigating growth, international expansion, or the pressure of building a function that drives predictable revenue, you’ll recognise the challenges.
It’s designed to help you move faster, think more clearly, and lead with confidence.
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Buy Diary of a First-Time CMO
After asking LinkedIn which format would be most useful, the response was clear: different leaders prefer different ways to learn.
So volumes 1 and 2 are now available in audio and digital formats. And for those who prefer a physical copy, there’s a printed edition too.
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Diary of a First-Time CMO PDFs
Diary of a First-Time CMO Podcasts
Alice de Courcy unpacks the ‘aha’ moments and lessons that shaped her CMO strategy, enabling Cognism to scale from $5m to $40m in annual recurring revenue.
She shares the decisions behind that growth, the inflection points that mattered, and what changed as the business scaled.
The full series is now available in audio format, free to access here.
Diary of a first-time CMO Volume 1
Diary of a first-time CMO Volume 2
Diary of a first-time CMO FAQs
A CMO in B2B marketing stands for “Chief Marketing Officer.” This position involves a high-ranking executive responsible for overseeing the overall marketing strategy. They are in charge of all the primary marketing functions, such as brand management, market research, communications, and the management of distribution channels.
If you’re wondering how to become a marketing CMO or want to take your strategy to the next level, a good place to start is by reading Diary of a First-Time CMO—Volumes One and Two.
Alice isn’t shy about sharing her challenges and wins and how she devised her own CMO strategy after pivoting from lead gen to demand gen.
All the B2B marketing tips and advice you’ll ever need are inside these pages.
YES! Alice’s winning CMO strategy is all inside Volumes One and Two of her Diary of a First-Time CMO.
The best part is that you can learn everything she has in whichever form you like: audio, PDF, eBook, or physical book, for free or to purchase. The choice is yours, but we warn you: What’s inside might very well change your CMO marketing mindset forever!
About Cognism
Power predictable growth with Europe’s most accurate B2B data layer
Cognism provides the verified, compliant B2B data infrastructure revenue teams rely on to grow across Europe and the UK.
You can identify and engage the right decision-makers with confidence, expand into new markets without compromising data integrity, and build a pipeline grounded in accuracy rather than assumption.
As growth becomes more complex across borders, your data foundation matters more. Cognism ensures your CRM, outbound programmes and AI-driven workflows are built on trusted, continuously verified intelligence.
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Fresh, quality data to connect with decision-makers who matter most
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