How Giulia Gagliardi Built Nory's GTM Team From Two People to a Full Demand Engine

Giulia Gagliardi took Nory from two marketers to a full demand generation engine, then rebuilt it again to fund a $37 million US expansion.

If you're staring down international expansion with no hiring playbook, or you're not sure whether your BDR team belongs in marketing or sales, this one's for you.

Giulia Gagliardi is VP of Marketing and Growth at Nory, an AI-native restaurant management platform that just raised $37 million to fund its US expansion. She joined as Nory's second marketing hire, took inbound from under 5% of revenue to 50% in 14 months, and now leads a growth function that includes partnerships and the BDR team.

You'll get Giulia's playbook for structuring a marketing team as it scales from pre-seed to Series B, including when to hire generalists versus specialists. She breaks down why Nory's BDR team sits under marketing instead of sales, how that changes as a company matures, and the two interview questions she asks every candidate, from intern to C-suite.

Giulia and Danielle cover organizational design, sales and marketing hiring sequencing, and what changes when a GTM team expands from Europe into the US. They also dig into hiring for AI fluency in roles that didn't exist a year ago. This is for founders and marketing leaders scaling past product-market fit, not early-stage teams making their first hire.

Key Takeaways

• Giulia took inbound from under 5% to 50% of Nory's revenue in 14 months, and it started with a two-person team wearing every hat.
• Nory's BDR team reports into marketing, not sales, tied to a single pipeline number instead of separate KPIs, but that setup has an expiry date.
• Giulia asks every candidate the same two questions, regardless of seniority, and the answers reveal who's actually done the work versus who's just seen it done.
• Competing against entrenched incumbents in the US market isn't the real hiring challenge. Finding builders who see the market opportunity is.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Testing the US Market Before Launching 

0:33 Welcome to Human First: Meet Julia Gagliardi of Nory 

1:50 Building the Marketing Team from Two People to a Growth Org 

4:41 People Strategy vs. a Hiring Plan 

5:03 Giulia's Org Design Playbook: Growth, Brand & Product Marketing 

7:05 Why Product Marketing and Brand Report to One Leader 

8:29 There's No One-Size-Fits-All Hiring Sequence 

11:21 Why BDRs Still Sit Under Marketing at Nory

14:30 The $37M Raise and the Mandate to Expand into the US 

15:00 The First Question to Answer Before Building a US GTM Team 

17:31 Balancing HQ Culture with a New Local Business Unit 

18:05 Hiring Builders to Compete with Deep-Pocketed Incumbents 

20:39 Mixing Industry Veterans with Hungry Junior Talent 

22:39 Hiring for Roles That Didn't Exist Six Months Ago 

23:17 Finding Talent for Skills, Not Job Titles 

25:37 Assessing AI Fluency in Marketing Candidates 

28:02 AI-Native Culture vs. Bolting AI onto Legacy Products 

29:37 The Two Questions Giulia Asks Every Candidate 

32:28 The Hire Who Didn't Look Right on Paper (But Worked) 

34:19 What Founders Get Wrong About Marketing Leadership 

35:33 Teaching Founders to See Brand as a Weapon 

36:12 Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Nory

Useful Links & Resources

• Giulia Gagliardi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulia-gagliardi-28856b86/
• Nory: https://www.nory.ai/

Connect With the Show

• Captivate Talent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/captivate-talent/
• Danielle Parker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemessler/
• Captivate Talent website: https://www.captivatetalent.com/