How Autodesk Transformed Its Business with Account-Based Marketing

In 2018, Autodesk, the San Francisco stalwart known for its design, engineering, and entertainment software, faced a choice. The company, transitioning from a traditional sales model to a subscription-based business, needed a new strategy to effectively engage and retain high-value customers.

In 2017, Autodesk elevated acting interim co-CEO and CMO Andrew Anagnost to the new role of President and CEO to drive the next phase of growth. With over 25 years at the company, Anagnost championed three strategic initiatives: completing transition to a subscription business model, digitizing the company, and reimagining construction, manufacturing, and production.

While there were many levers to lead the transformation, an internal motion was set up to focus on account-based marketing. The subscription shift demanded it — success now depended on how end-users actually used the product, necessitating long-term relationships.

Care was taken to portray unified execution even in naming: ABM was not just ABM, but AB’S’M — Account-Based Sales and Marketing. Sales and marketing were no longer operating in silos. To build trust, the ABSM team carried a number on them, just like their sales counterparts, with shared KPIs across revenue, account health, deal velocity, and retention.

The ABM team set up regular “1:1 account therapy” sessions with sales reps — designed to drive tight alignment and collaboration.

The ABSM program set clear goals for its first rollout: grow business in mid-market and named accounts across 7,705 accounts spread across the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with 3 global teams comprising 49 ABM managers and marketers.

Autodesk recognized early the power of personalization. Using Folloze, they built microsites and content hubs tailored to each account, scaling the ABM program to 10,000 global accounts within a year. The award-winning ABM content team created their own publishing platform, ‘Converge’ (later rebranded as ‘Design & Make’), to publish executive-level content.

Autodesk’s revenue grew from $2.1 billion in FY18 to $5.34 billion in FY24, an increase of 150 percent. EBITDA went from a negative $401 million to a positive $1.46 billion. Market cap doubled in just four years.