From M&A to Go-to-Market: Leading the launch for a newly acquired solution – VTEX Intelligent Search

About the company

VTEX is a cloud-based digital commerce platform empowering enterprise retailers to build sophisticated e-commerce stores, marketplaces, B2B operations, and omnichannel strategies.

• Scaleup
• B2B SaaS
• 18 operating locations
• 38 countries with active online stores
• 2020

The Challenge

In early 2020, VTEX acquired Biggy, an AI startup specializing in e-commerce personalization and search.

During the post-merger integration (PMI), Biggy required rebranding, sunsetting and a go-to-market strategy (GTM) to become part of the VTEX product portfólio.

This involved a tight timeframe and the need to communicate effectively with various audiences, including new markets, existing VTEX prospects and customers, and former Biggy clients.

The Goal

• Successfully sunset the Biggy brand and launch VTEX Intelligent Search.
• Achieve adoption by at least 10 VTEX customers within the first quarter post-launch.
• Increase pipeline deal conversion rates by 5% through the inclusion of this new feature.

My Role

After a deep dive into Biggy’s solution, value proposition, and differentiators, my role was bringing VTEX Intelligent Search to market:

• GTM Strategy & KPI Alignment: I defined and aligned GTM goals and KPIs with key stakeholders, carefully considering the unique needs of different audience segments.
• Rebranding & Product Integration: I played a key role in shaping decisions related to naming, positioning, and product portfolio integration. This involved addressing critical questions about standalone vs. cross-selling strategies, user retention, and future-proofing the solution.
• Positioning & Messaging: I collaborated with branding, design, product, and C-level teams to develop compelling positioning and messaging tailored for diverse audiences, including employees, existing and potential customers, former Biggy clients, market analysts, and investors.
• Channel Strategy: I worked closely with marketing peers to define optimal channels for each region and target audience, developing inbound flows, CRM rules, and engaging content to announce and promote the new product.
• Sales & Customer Success Enablement: I spearheaded the creation of essential sales and support materials, including sales decks, marketing collateral, objection handling guides, demo environments, one-pagers, product briefs, training materials, and comprehensive sales playbooks. These resources equipped our SDRs, account executives, and customer success managers to effectively sell and support the new solution.
• Performance Monitoring & Reporting: I tracked key performance indicators and regularly reported results to executive leadership and peer groups.

Results and Impact

• Rapid Customer Adoption: We exceeded our initial goal, with 45 customer stores implementing VTEX Intelligent Search within the first month.
• High User Engagement: End-users conducted over 35 million searches on the platform in the first month, demonstrating strong product reliability and value delivery.
• Significant Press Coverage: The launch generated over 60,000 impressions from press coverage, raising awareness and building credibility in the market.

Key Learnings

VTEX chose to offer Intelligent Search as a native feature, rather than a separate upsell or add-on. While this provided a good user experience, it initially made it difficult to isolate the impact on net new revenue and pipeline conversion rates. To address this, we shifted our focus to measuring product implementation and adoption rates as key indicators of success, alongside new contracts. This emphasized the importance of user onboarding as a critical component of the GTM strategy.

Thanks to: Lucas Bacic, Gustavo Vedotti and Elizabeth Silva.