As Global Growth & Lifecycle Marketing Director at LinkedIn, Akriti Gupta drives impact across the full customer spectrum — from acquisition to expansion — across diverse markets worldwide. She’s spent her career as a builder: a strategic leader who grows businesses and cultivates high-performing teams.
Prior to joining LinkedIn, Akriti helped build the Google Cloud rocketship — launching its ABM practice globally, its Integrated Campaigns team in the Americas, and its marketing presence in India. She’s also shaped Samsung’s Enterprise business and GE’s digital marketing practice. Akriti gravitates to building from scratch alongside inspiring people at mission-driven companies. She hails from India and currently calls San Francisco home.
Named to our Marketers to Watch list in partnership with The Wall Street Journal, Gupta shared her insights on connecting marketing to business outcomes, AI adoption, and successful cross-functional collaboration.
What book or podcast do you recommend to marketing leaders?
As marketers, we’re typically obsessed with ensuring our message resonates with customers, but we often overlook the critical internal audience of CEOs and CFOs. Speaking their language and focusing on business outcomes instead of just marketing KPIs is essential. That’s why “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” by Forbes is my current go-to podcast.
When it comes to books, stories of leaders inspire me — from Richard Branson’s “Losing My Virginity” and Akio Morita’s “Made in Japan” to Malala Yousafzai’s “I Am Malala” and Barack Obama’s “Dreams From My Father.” Right now, I’m reading Bill Gates’ “Source Code.”
How are you and your team currently using AI?
Our CMO, Jessica Jensen, recently reminded us that, “Using AI to enhance efficiency is becoming table stakes; the real frontier is driving business growth with AI.” That’s exactly how my team approaches it.
Beyond efficiency gains, we use AI at every stage, including targeting, creative testing, and hyper-personalized messaging, right down to individual recommendations on product use. A recent example is when our web team analyzed call transcripts with AI to create user personas, which helped us quickly test homepage layouts and messaging for maximum impact.
The rapid pace of AI can feel daunting, so we’ve tried to create an atmosphere of fun experimentation. My team members have built AI agents to handle maternity leave questions, draft creative briefs, and even instantly translate webinars with AI voiceovers so it sounds like the same person is a native speaker in German and French. Curiosity fuels our AI adoption.
What’s a prediction you have for marketing over the next few years?
We’re going to increasingly need “human” to balance this “artificial” intelligence. The best marketers will move markets — not just campaigns or tasks — by shaping strategy and business outcomes.
What’s the most innovative or exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
This year, I’m energized by the business shift my acquisition team drove from product-led to sales-led growth. It was a big mindset change: moving away from just MQLs as our north star and focusing on how marketing can influence the sales pipeline, accelerate deals, and ultimately, drive revenue.
Partnering closely with Sales, we positioned marketing as a full-funnel growth driver. It’s exciting to redefine marketing’s impact, and it’s already unlocking stronger alignment and momentum across the business.
What’s the most pressing business challenge you’ve faced in the last year and what have you done to solve it?
Our customer journey was fragmented, leaving customers overwhelmed by different messages from multiple teams: Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and Product. The only way to truly solve this was to break down our internal silos, assess the customer journey holistically across functional boundaries, and orchestrate our outreach. It’s been a great learning experience to galvanize multiple cross-functional teams to rally around this shared purpose. We enhanced our customers’ experiences and strengthened our retention, moving the business forward together.
What leadership muscle is most important for marketers to exercise?
Connecting marketing actions to impact. We need to look beyond marketing metrics, like impressions and engagement, and align our efforts to business outcomes. The ability to speak the language of business and prove marketing’s value to the top and bottom line is critical.
What’s the most game-changing piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
Google taught me to be “uncomfortably excited” — to pursue challenges big enough to matter and bold enough to push you out of your comfort zone. Fear is part of the process, and that’s okay because comfort doesn’t lead to growth. I thrive on pushing boundaries.
What gives you energy and inspiration outside of work?
I’m a wandering old soul, struck by a serious case of fernweh. I’m endlessly drawn to all things classical — be it literature, music, poetry, or dance. I chase stories that stir my soul and fuel my imagination.
Marketers to Watch is a recognition series to spotlight highly innovative and forward-thinking marketing leaders in the community. If you have someone you’d like to nominate for the series, apply here.
