Conifr SaaS Interview Series: Kurt Dunphy

Spellbook didn’t just ride the AI wave. They caught it early and scaled fast. And we caught their Director of Growth In this episode of the Conifr SaaS Interview Series. Kurt Dunphy unpacks how the team turned a smart pivot into 40x growth in just three years. Kurt shares how they’ve built a full-funnel growth engine combining paid ads, sharp landing pages, and a fast-growing SEO strategy that’s now doubling their leads and meetings each month.

We get into the tools powering their workflow (think HubSpot, Zapier, and custom automation), how they’re hiring for scale, and why intent > volume when it comes to B2B traffic. Ready to see how a lean team scaled 40x with AI, automation, and smart marketing bets? Watch the full interview below.

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INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

From GPT-3 Pivot to 40x Growth

Michael: Kurt, welcome and thanks for coming onto the show. Let’s kick things off. Tell us a bit about Spellbook and your background.

Kurt: Spellbook has been around for about three years now. We originally launched from Rally, and when GPT-3 came out, we started experimenting with generative AI. Pretty much overnight, it took off. We saw wild growth, so we pivoted fully into generative AI, and it’s paid off. We’ve grown 40x since launch. Each year has been triple-triple-double-doubling. This year, we’re expecting to more than double again, especially now that we’ve expanded into the mid-market in addition to our SMB base.

I’ve been at the company for five years. I was employee number three, and I’ve been in marketing for about 10 to 12 years, mostly on performance and growth. Not much branding. That’s the short version of my story.

What’s Driving the Growth Engine?

Michael: That kind of tenure is rare these days. You’ve clearly seen a lot of growth phases. I noticed your recent LinkedIn post. Looks like content has played a big role in your success?

Kurt: Absolutely. We’ve always been strong in demand gen. That’s our bread and butter. If you count content like landing pages and ad copy, that’s been a big part of it. But recently, we’ve started ramping up more traditional content, especially around search. What we’re really good at is converting visitors. We’ve built a tight funnel from site visit to end user.

The Secret Sauce: Timing and Relevance

Michael: Was there a moment where everything just clicked, something in your strategy that changed the game?

Kurt: Honestly, a lot of it comes down to timing. The product was deeply connected to what people actually needed, especially when AI started hitting the mainstream. We had a great offer at the right time, and it resonated.

On the marketing side, one thing that worked well was tapping into what people were already thinking. Everyone was talking about ChatGPT and how powerful AI was. So, instead of just saying “draft contracts 10x faster,” we started tying it directly to AI, messaging like “Use AI to draft contracts 10x faster.” Simple, but it worked because it matched the internal conversation people were already having.

Going All In on Search — the Right Way

Michael: You mentioned that search is becoming a bigger part of your playbook. How are you approaching that?

Kurt: We started our organic search strategy about four or five months ago, and we’ve been doubling leads and meetings each month since then. The key has been relevance. We’re laser-focused on keywords that actually matter to our niche. We essentially created the category of generative AI for transactional lawyers, so we know exactly what kind of content attracts high-quality traffic.

Too many companies chase volume and end up ranking for stuff like “banana” or “how to set up email.” That traffic doesn’t convert. We’re sticking to content that’s tied directly to our ICP, and it’s paying off with real pipeline, not just pageviews.

Quality Over Volume in Content Strategy

Michael: That’s spot on. So what types of content are you creating right now?

Kurt: A mix. Blog posts, pillar pages, comparison pages, and we’re also doing collaborations with influencers in our space like Laura Frederick. One interesting experiment was a programmatic SEO play where we generated thousands of clause-related pages using AI. It brought in crazy traffic, but very low quality leads, so we dialed it back. Our best-performing content still comes from well-crafted, useful blog posts that speak directly to our audience.

Funnel Infrastructure and Tooling

Michael: How do you tie marketing efforts to actual revenue and pipeline?

Kurt: When someone fills out a form on our site, they can immediately book a meeting via Calendly. Once that happens, they’re pushed into our sales funnel. We’ve built a complex system with Zapier, HubSpot, and automated sequences.

We’ve also got a strong BDR function. Our team lead, Jay Myers, is incredible at building outreach paths for people who don’t follow the standard funnel. He even runs Intercom campaigns to surface leads from our 200,000+ monthly visitors. It’s taken time, but all those paths together drive a significant chunk of pipeline.

Touchpoints and Outreach Channels

Michael: When you’re building those funnel paths, what channels are you using?

Kurt: All the usual suspects: email, LinkedIn, even phone. We try to keep the lead form friction low, so we don’t ask for a phone number upfront. But we use tools like Unify to enrich contact info when needed. LinkedIn has been especially valuable for reaching people who don’t complete the form.

Influences and Marketing Mentors

Michael: To wrap up, who are some of the authors or marketing minds that inspire you?

Kurt: I’m a big fan of Christopher Lochhead and his work on category design. Dave Gerhardt’s Exit Five group is great too. But I also love old-school stuff, Claude Hopkins is a favorite. His books from the 1920s on direct response and coupon tracking are basically the blueprint for today’s performance marketing. Even David Ogilvy pulled from that. And more recently, Steven Pressfield — his book Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit is a great reminder to stay focused on value.

Michael:

History definitely has a way of repeating itself. Thanks so much for sharing all of this, Kurt.

Key Takeaways from Our Chat with Kurt Dunphy

• Timing meets category creation – Spellbook’s explosive growth was powered by a timely pivot to generative AI. By aligning their product with the momentum around GPT-3, they created and captured a new category: AI for transactional lawyers.‍
• Demand gen built to convert – Kurt’s team excels at converting traffic into pipeline. Their demand gen engine combines paid ads, sharp landing pages, and automated workflows that move users from site visit to meeting booked in just a few clicks.‍
• SEO with intent – Instead of chasing traffic volume, Spellbook focuses on ranking for high-intent, niche-specific keywords that actually convert. The result: leads and meetings double month over month, even with lower total search traffic.
• ‍Programmatic SEO isn’t always the win – While they experimented with AI-generated programmatic pages that drove massive traffic, the team found that deep, valuable content delivered far better lead quality and pipeline.
• ‍Automation with a human touch – Using HubSpot, Zapier, and LinkedIn, the team has built an ecosystem that supports personalized outreach without adding friction. A lean BDR team fills the gaps and follows up with visitors who don’t follow the “perfect path.
• ‍Don’t over-optimize the form – Short, high-converting lead forms (just four fields) keep conversion rates high. Enrichment tools and smart outbound strategies fill in the rest of the data post-conversion.‍
• Old-school lessons still apply – Kurt draws inspiration from marketing legends like Claude Hopkins and David Ogilvy, noting that modern growth still comes down to understanding psychology, testing relentlessly, and tracking what works.
• ‍Smart growth over shortcuts – Whether it’s content, funnels, or SEO, Spellbook’s growth playbook is built around doing the simple things well — not chasing gimmicks. It’s a masterclass in sustainable, performance-led marketing.
  

This conversation with Kurt was packed with insight on how to build a modern growth engine without the fluff. Stay tuned for more episodes of the Conifr SaaS Interview Series, where we explore what’s actually working in SaaS marketing today.