On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2026. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Candy ↗
In their words
When you have just a marketing team focused on generating lead and lead volume, you actually stop thinking about lead quality. Sales and marketing did not share a North Star KPI. We were looking at completely different dashboards, different parts of the funnel, incentivizing very different ways.
Do not have multiple teams touch the same surface areas, especially your sign-up flow and onboarding flow. Try your best to practice restraint. The sign-up flow can't solve for everything. Place your bets, double down, and try to be disciplined.
Don't just have them sit in on one or two sales calls and call it a day, because the power's actually not sitting in on one or two. The power is sitting in on 10 or 15, because the pattern recognition is powerful.
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
Who is Candy Lee?
A Toronto-based marketing executive and three-time tech CMO — HelloFresh Canada, then Homebase, and since July 2025 NiaHealth. She also scouts for Cowboy Ventures and advises early-stage founders.
What did Candy Lee talk about at TechTO?
Three mistakes she made aligning marketing with sales — no shared North Star metric, too many teams editing the sign-up flow, and no feedback loop back from sales — and three things that worked, at TechTO's Sales Toronto event in May 2026.
What was Candy Lee's role at Homebase?
Chief marketing officer. She joined as a consultant in 2022 and left in mid-2024. On the TechTO stage in May 2026 she said the company went from roughly $35M to about $90M ARR over that period; those figures come from her talk, not from published financials.