Ashley Pola
Marketing executive with 15+ years taking technical and regulated products to market in healthcare AI, medical devices, robotics, and consumer tech. At CalmWave, Vave Health, and Ekso Bionics I built the full engine, from category to pipeline: $0 to $174.5M in pipeline and 70x revenue growth. I also build AI agents: ashleypola.com/tools.
- Led marketing from zero through Series A, reporting to the CEO and presenting to the board quarterly; tripled the team to a blended 10+, owned a budget up to $1M, and built 8 AI tools for marketing and sales.
- Grew marketing-sourced pipeline from $0 to $174.5M; sourced Wellstar, Georgia's largest health system, via inbound.
- Created and named the Operations Health category, cited by GeekWire, CB Insights, and investor decks ($13.6M raised).
- Built the messaging system used by product, sales, marketing, and CS; discovery calls fell from 45 to 20 minutes because buyers arrived understanding the category.
- Led the rebrand and two site builds (organic traffic 6x); launched Transparent AI and Alarm Insights (demos +25%, +50%).
- Ran trade shows at HLTH, ViVE, and CHIME; events drove 30% of pipeline growth at a third of typical booth cost.
- Ran ABM, lifecycle, SEO, GEO, and paid; one ABM play booked meetings with 90% of target executives.
- Relaunched a dormant SaaS platform, positioning through pricing; revenue grew 20% and subscriptions 10% in one quarter.
- Directed the build of an AI system that keeps 60K+ appliance specs current, replacing manual data entry.
- Led marketing reporting to the CEO; owned a budget up to $2M and four agency partners.
- Grew revenue 70x, from $20K to $1.4M ARR, and customers from 10 to 120+.
- Shifted budget from clinician campaigns to medical education, which converted 5x better; landed Touro and IU.
- Created and produced EduCast, a 15-episode expert video series, and built the clinical KOL program.
- Led the company side of FDA audits during a product launch, with no major observations.
- Owned brand and marketing strategy for a Nasdaq-listed company in clinical and industrial markets; budget up to $1.2M.
- Grew revenue 23% ($11.3M to $13.9M) with 98 new customers at a $198K price point; qualified leads grew 5x.
- Rebuilt the two-market brand (EksoHealth, EksoWorks) and launched a five-language site.
- Led three global launches; medical revenue grew 71% in EksoNR's launch quarter and set a record the next.
- Created a $30K co-marketing package that 20+ customers bought, plus a user group and support for 14 distributors.
- Introduced the category's first ecommerce channel and subscription model.
- Led Tesla's LA Auto Show presence at the Model 3 debut: 20K+ leads, ~$50M pipeline, $25M earned media.
- Wrote the Model 3 delivery playbook; onboarded 20K customers at the first delivery hub, a format scaled globally.
- Built partnerships with SF Symphony, SF International Film Festival, Jackson Family Wines, and a PGA event.
Category design · Positioning & messaging · Product marketing · Demand gen & ABM · Regulated claims · AI tools & agents
Work recognized by Fast Company Innovation by Design, IDSA IDEA, GeekWire Innovation of the Year (2x), CB Insights Digital Health 50, and Inc. Best Workplaces. Featured or cited in Fast Company, GeekWire, TechCrunch, Axios, and Forbes.
Cornell University, Executive Women in Leadership Certificate (2019) · University of Stirling, BA (Hons) Philosophy (2014)