align.me

Terra Firma Industries is Australia’s leading manufacturer and supplier of composite lids and access covers and FRP structure and grating. Their products provide a lightweight, strong, secure, and durable alternative to traditional industrial materials like steel and concrete and have been used in hundreds of residential, commercial, and government projects around Australia.
10 years ago, this wasn’t the case.

In 2009, Terra Firma had seen early success in the Victorian market with pioneering deployments of their composite covers in 12 local councils (along with a small number of pilots in non-local government settings). Early sales were the result of a good product, meeting prospects at trade shows, and some entrepreneurial sales activities. But Managing Director Ashley Reid knew he needed more.

SNAPSHOT:

• Founded: 1994
• Industry: Manufacturing
• Revenue growth: 575%
• Key challenge: Disrupting a traditionally slow industry
• align.me services: GTM design & outsourced marketing

THE CHALLENGE
One of their biggest challenges was introducing an innovative product to an industry that was traditionally slow to adopt new solutions. “The building industry has probably been the most conservative industry as far as adoption of technology and innovative products. It’s been a fairly slow process,” says Ashley.

Recognising that go-to-market (GTM) strategy and B2B marketing required specialist expertise, Ashley saw the value of independent advisory support. “Prior to engaging align.me, we lacked marketing focus. Sales were primarily driven by me, and our messaging wasn’t clear – there was no defined target or message. Marketing felt like a task list, rather than a strategic approach to supporting growth.”

Meeting Brett Bonser, Director and Co-Founder of align.me, was a turning point. “Brett and his team clearly understood B2B Sales and Marketing, and his experience with local government was a real bonus.” After partnering with align.me, Ashley and the Terra Firma team participated in their structured GTM planning process, Funnel Camp.

THE STRATEGY
During the Funnel Camp, Brett Bonser took the Terra Firma team through a two-day workshop that delivered a 3-year sales and marketing plan and go-to-market strategy. The Camp covered everything from homing in on their target market and the problem they best solved to the velocity required to meet their agreed growth and revenue goals.

Ashley identified three key outcomes of Funnel Camp for Terra Firma:

• Direction through strategy
• Clarity of messaging
• Focus on the right customers

After Funnel Camp, Terra Firma needed help to turn their plan into action – so they engaged align.me’s Marketing Services team for execution support.

THE RESULT
As of 2023, the align.me and Terra Firma partnership is still going strong. Terra Firma has more than quadrupled in size since the start of the partnership and is on track to bring in $10 million revenue in 2024.

Since the beginning:

• 500% revenue growth
• Rolled out four comprehensive product ranges
• Positioned in 15 markets

In the last year:

• $8.7m in revenue (15% increase)
• 25% increase in web traffic
• 21% increase in web leads
• 456% increase in SEO-driven conversions

“The biggest thing is the depth of knowledge and breadth of capability. By using align.me, we get a much broader skill set that we can draw on. Even more important than that though is the strategic part of it. We get a high level of strategic guidance from align.me that allows us to stay ahead of the curve,” says Ashley. “It’s really a good, solid relationship.”
Ashley Reid, CEO,Terra Firma Industries

Founded in the Netherlands by three Public Cloud Enthusiasts with strong backgrounds in hyper-scaler technologies, CloudNation was built on a bold idea: help organisations accelerate their public cloud journey by enabling and empowering them with specialised expertise.

Under the leadership of CEO Arjen Vriens, CloudNation quickly grew into a trusted cloud consultancy, offering deep engineering, architectural, and strategic capabilities. What began as a small, hands-on startup evolved into a thriving company of 80 people, supporting everyone from startups to complex enterprise clients.

With demand growing and a vision to double in size, the company found itself at a pivotal moment – transitioning from founder-led hustle to a scale-up. To get out of the scaleup phase, CloudNation knew they needed to reflect, learn from each other and re-align key stakeholders on key business priorities.

This is where AWS asked align.me® to enter the picture.

SNAPSHOT:

• Founded: 2018
• Industry: Information Technology & Services
• Size: 80 (scaling to 120 )
• Key challenge: Aligning functions and strategy to support rapid scale
• align.me services: GTM design & support

THE CHALLENGE
CloudNation was moving at a rapid pace (60 employees in 6 years) and like many fast-growing businesses, CloudNation hadn’t really stopped to take stock or look back.

In the early days, the founders were involved in every aspect of the business: selling, delivering, and supporting clients hands-on. But as the company matured, it became clear that continuing to scale would require a more deliberate approach.

While the team wasn’t “stuck,” they recognised they were at risk of growing without clarity. Sales, marketing, and delivery were moving forward, but not always in sync. And internally, the business needed aligned messaging, clearer priorities, and shared understanding across functions of who CloudNation really were.

CloudNation didn’t just want a strategy, they wanted alignment. A way to bring leadership and stakeholders together in one room to pressure test assumptions, challenge existing thinking, and co-create a plan that everyone owned.

What they needed was the right forum, the right questions, and a trusted guide to help get them there.

THE STRATEGY
To get a helicopter view of their business and prepare for their next phase of growth, CloudNation engaged align.me to run a Funnel Camp™.

Funnel Camp™ is the name given to align.me’s structured, high-impact planning workshop designed to align teams, validate their go-to-market strategy, and build a 3-year execution plan that drives growth. To date, more than 600 growth businesses from 48 countries have participated, achieving on average a doubling of pipeline after 12 months. Since 2018, align.me has been repurposing the hard-won lessons gained from Funnel Camp™ to help AWS partners grow. The AWS PTP is a sponsored growth program specially designed by AWS and align.me to accelerate partner success, resulting in the sale of cloud consumption.

For CloudNation, PTP was the perfect solution. A focused forum where stakeholders could step out of the day-to-day and work on the business – not just in it.

THE WORK
Across six sessions, align.me’s strategic Funnel Coach™ guided the CloudNation team through a highly collaborative process, built around buyer-centric thinking and real-world execution.

The workshops created space for honest reflection and deep discussion, pushing leaders to answer fundamental questions:

• Where are we already strong and where do we need to tighten up a bit?
• Why are we doing this?
• What are we really good at?
• Why do customers really engage with us?
• What do we really deliver?
• Why are we successful in projects?
• What are our growth ambitions?

80% of the value came from simply getting the right people in the room and giving them time to think strategically. The other 20% came from align.me’s expert facilitation – challenging assumptions, asking the tough questions, and guiding the team toward an aligned view of the path forward.

PTP didn’t just deliver alignment. It gave CloudNation a highly actionable plan. One that is mapped to every stage of the buyer’s journey, with ownership and accountability, that could be monitored and adjusted during regular sprints during the first 100-days.

One of the biggest weaknesses of workshops is they are often forgotten post workshop. But not with align.me. They follow up on the items agreed together, ensuring prioritised actions get executed.
Arjen Vriens, CEO,CloudNation

LOOKING AHEAD
The real value of PTP, according to Arjen, wasn’t just the insights uncovered during the sessions, it was what happened afterward.

With a clear plan in place and alignment across leadership, CloudNation gained the structure and momentum needed to move confidently into its next phase of growth. The plan didn’t sit on a shelf, it became the single source of truth, tracked through regular sprints, with align.me providing ongoing support and accountability.

Now, as CloudNation looks to scale from 60 to 120 employees, they’re doing so with a unified direction, sharper messaging, and tighter alignment between sales, marketing, and delivery.

If you’re thinking about investing in a GTM planning workshop, consider the return: it’s not just about the workshops. It’s about the plan, the execution, and the accountability, and align.me makes sure it all happens.
Arjen Vriens, CEO,CloudNation