Source Public Beta

Overview

In the complex landscape of B2B marketing attribution, understanding which channels truly drive customer acquisition remains a persistent challenge for marketing teams. Source addresses this critical need as an AI-powered marketing attribution platform currently in public beta, designed specifically to help B2B marketers identify which channels, content, and keywords actually convert leads into customers rather than merely generating clicks or impressions.

Founded by Mitch Wainer, co-founder and former CMO of DigitalOcean, Source emerged from firsthand experience with the limitations of existing attribution solutions. The platform aims to eliminate the common frustrations with tools like Google Analytics 4’s complexity and the engineering overhead required by solutions like Segment, providing marketers with actionable insights through an intuitive, no-code interface.

As part of its public beta launch, Source offers free one-on-one strategy consulting sessions to the first 100 users, providing personalized guidance on optimizing marketing attribution and growth strategies directly from the founding team.

Key Features

Source delivers a comprehensive suite of attribution capabilities designed to provide B2B marketers with clear, actionable insights into their marketing performance:

• Seamless Data Integration: One-click connections to essential marketing and CRM platforms including HubSpot, Salesforce, Close, Highrise, Google Ads, Meta Ads, Calendly, and Cal.com, with additional integrations continuously added to the platform.
• Unified Attribution Dashboard: Consolidates data from CRM systems, advertising platforms, and scheduling tools into a single, coherent view that eliminates data silos and provides comprehensive campaign visibility.
• Full-Funnel Visualization: Provides clear, intuitive visualizations mapping the complete customer journey from initial touchpoint through closed-won deals, enabling marketers to understand conversion paths across all stages.
• AI-Powered Channel Analysis: Leverages artificial intelligence to automatically identify top-performing marketing channels, content pieces, and keywords, providing real-time recommendations for budget allocation and campaign optimization.
• Organic Search Attribution: Connects Google Search Console data to reveal which organic keywords drive quality leads and conversions, filling a common gap in attribution platforms that focus primarily on paid channels.
• True Customer Acquisition Cost Calculation: Moves beyond basic last-click attribution models to provide accurate CAC calculations that account for the complete customer journey and multi-touch interactions.
• Real-Time Performance Monitoring: Delivers customizable alerts and continuous tracking of key performance indicators, ensuring marketing teams can respond quickly to campaign performance changes.
• Custom Dashboard Configuration: Offers pre-built dashboard templates specifically designed by marketers for common B2B scenarios, while allowing customization to focus on metrics most relevant to specific business objectives.

How It Works

Source operates through a streamlined, AI-driven process designed to minimize setup complexity while maximizing attribution accuracy. The platform begins by establishing secure connections to existing marketing and CRM infrastructure through native integrations that require no engineering support.

Once connected, Source’s AI engine continuously analyzes incoming data to track attribution from the initial lead touchpoint through the complete sales cycle. The system automatically associates marketing activities with lead generation, qualification, and conversion events, creating a comprehensive attribution map that accounts for multi-touch interactions across paid and organic channels.

The platform’s intelligence layer goes beyond basic reporting by surfacing actionable recommendations for campaign optimization. These insights help marketing teams understand not just which channels are performing well, but specifically which content, keywords, and campaign elements within those channels are driving the highest-value conversions.

Source’s approach emphasizes speed and accessibility, allowing marketing teams to gain attribution insights within hours rather than the weeks typically required for complex attribution implementations. The platform handles the technical complexity of data connection and analysis while presenting findings through intuitive visualizations and automated recommendations.

Use Cases

Source addresses specific attribution challenges commonly faced by B2B marketing teams across various industries and company sizes:

• B2B Marketing Spend Optimization: Enables marketing teams to identify which channels and campaigns generate actual customers versus vanity metrics, ensuring budget allocation focuses on revenue-driving activities rather than superficial engagement metrics.
• High-Performance Channel Identification: Quickly reveals which marketing channels deliver the best return on investment and drive the most valuable customer acquisitions, helping teams double down on successful strategies.
• Complete Customer Journey Analysis: Provides comprehensive understanding of the full conversion funnel, from initial engagement through final purchase, enabling optimization at every stage of the customer acquisition process.
• Real-Time Campaign Performance Management: Allows marketing teams to monitor live campaign performance and make immediate adjustments to maximize effectiveness and prevent budget waste on underperforming initiatives.
• Organic and Paid Channel Attribution: Bridges the gap between organic search performance and paid advertising results, providing a holistic view of how different channel types work together to drive conversions.
• SaaS Growth Optimization: Particularly valuable for software companies needing to understand complex, multi-touch B2B sales cycles where traditional last-click attribution fails to capture the full customer acquisition story.

Pros \& Cons

Advantages

Source offers several compelling benefits for B2B marketing teams seeking to improve their attribution capabilities:

• Rapid Implementation: Quick setup process with one-click integrations eliminates the extended implementation timelines typical of enterprise attribution solutions, allowing teams to start gaining insights within hours.
• Comprehensive Marketing and Sales Integration: Bridges the traditional gap between marketing activities and sales outcomes by providing unified visibility into the complete revenue generation process.
• AI-Driven Actionable Insights: Moves beyond raw data presentation to deliver specific, actionable recommendations that guide optimization strategies and budget allocation decisions.
• B2B-Specific Design: Built specifically for B2B marketing scenarios, addressing the unique challenges of longer sales cycles, multiple decision makers, and complex customer journeys typical in business-to-business environments.
• Cost-Effective Beta Access: Public beta provides full platform access without the high costs associated with enterprise attribution platforms, making advanced attribution accessible to growing companies.

Disadvantages

While Source offers significant benefits, certain limitations should be considered:

• Beta Stage Development: As a public beta product, some features may still be under development or refinement, potentially requiring patience as the platform evolves and stabilizes.
• Integration Ecosystem Growth: While core integrations are available, the platform’s integration library is still expanding compared to more established attribution solutions with extensive third-party connections.
• Limited Track Record: As a newer platform, Source lacks the extensive case studies and proven implementations available from more established attribution tools, requiring early adopters to help validate its effectiveness.

How Does It Compare?

Source enters a competitive marketing attribution landscape dominated by both established enterprise solutions and emerging specialized platforms, each offering different approaches to the attribution challenge.

Enterprise CRM Attribution Solutions:

HubSpot Attribution Reporting provides comprehensive attribution capabilities within its Marketing Hub Enterprise offering, featuring multiple attribution models (first-touch, last-touch, linear, U-shaped, W-shaped, and time-decay) integrated with its CRM platform. HubSpot’s strength lies in its unified ecosystem approach, where attribution data seamlessly connects to marketing automation, sales processes, and customer service activities. However, HubSpot’s attribution features require Enterprise-level subscriptions and can be complex to configure for organizations not fully committed to the HubSpot ecosystem. Source differentiates itself by focusing specifically on attribution insights with simpler setup and AI-driven recommendations.

Salesforce Pardot (Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) offers Einstein Attribution and Connected Campaigns for sophisticated B2B attribution tracking. Pardot excels in enterprise environments with complex sales processes and provides deep integration with Salesforce’s sales infrastructure. The platform supports customizable attribution models and comprehensive campaign influence tracking. However, Pardot requires significant technical expertise to implement effectively and comes with high licensing costs. Source provides a more accessible alternative for companies seeking attribution insights without the complexity and cost of full Pardot implementation.

Analytics and Attribution Specialists:

Google Analytics 4 remains the most widely used attribution platform, offering data-driven attribution models powered by machine learning alongside traditional last-click analysis. GA4’s advantages include universal adoption, no direct cost, and integration with Google’s advertising ecosystem. However, many marketers find GA4’s interface complex and struggle with its attribution reporting capabilities, particularly for B2B scenarios with longer sales cycles. Source addresses these limitations by providing B2B-specific attribution insights with more intuitive reporting designed for marketing teams rather than analysts.

HockeyStack targets B2B SaaS companies with revenue acceleration and attribution capabilities, offering account-based analytics and customer journey mapping. HockeyStack provides strong B2B-focused features including account penetration analysis and multi-step journey tracking. The platform competes directly with Source in the B2B attribution space, with both platforms emphasizing ease of use and actionable insights. Source differentiates through its AI-powered recommendations and simplified setup process.

Specialized Attribution Platforms:

Funnel offers comprehensive measurement solutions combining multi-touch attribution, marketing mix modeling, and incrementality testing in an integrated platform. Funnel’s strength lies in its data hub approach, automatically connecting to over 500 data sources and providing sophisticated attribution analysis. However, Funnel targets enterprise clients with correspondingly higher pricing and complexity. Source serves the growing market of companies needing attribution insights without enterprise-level complexity and cost.

Wicked Reports focuses specifically on e-commerce attribution with strong Facebook and Google integrations. While effective for direct-to-consumer brands, Wicked Reports is less suitable for B2B companies with complex sales processes. Source’s B2B focus provides better alignment for business-to-business marketing scenarios.

Impact.com provides partnership and affiliate attribution alongside traditional marketing attribution, offering comprehensive partnership marketing solutions. Impact serves large enterprises needing sophisticated partnership tracking but requires significant implementation resources. Source offers a more streamlined approach for companies focused primarily on direct marketing attribution.

Source’s Competitive Position:

Source occupies a unique position in the attribution landscape by combining the sophistication of enterprise platforms with the accessibility typically found only in simpler tools. The platform’s AI-driven insights and B2B-specific design address common frustrations with existing solutions while maintaining ease of implementation.

The key differentiator lies in Source’s focus on actionable recommendations rather than just data visualization. While many attribution platforms excel at showing what happened, Source emphasizes helping marketing teams understand what actions to take based on attribution insights. This practical approach, combined with rapid implementation and beta-stage pricing, positions Source as an attractive alternative for growing B2B companies seeking attribution capabilities without enterprise-level complexity.

Technical Architecture and Data Security

Source employs modern cloud infrastructure designed for scalability and security, with data processing capabilities that handle real-time attribution analysis across multiple channels. The platform maintains SOC 2 compliance standards and implements data privacy protections to ensure customer information security.

The AI attribution engine utilizes machine learning algorithms trained specifically on B2B marketing data patterns, enabling more accurate identification of conversion-driving activities compared to generic attribution models. Source’s technical approach emphasizes speed and accuracy while maintaining the flexibility to adapt attribution models based on specific business requirements.

Pricing and Availability

As a public beta platform, Source currently provides free access to its core attribution capabilities, including the AI-powered insights and integrated dashboard features. This beta period allows marketing teams to evaluate the platform’s effectiveness without financial commitment while providing Source with valuable feedback for platform refinement.

The first 100 beta users receive complimentary one-on-one strategy consulting sessions with the founding team, providing personalized guidance on attribution implementation and marketing optimization strategies. Post-beta pricing has not been announced, though the company has indicated plans for multiple tiers to accommodate different company sizes and needs.

Final Thoughts

Source Public Beta represents a focused approach to solving the persistent challenge of B2B marketing attribution. By combining sophisticated AI-powered analysis with user-friendly implementation and B2B-specific design, the platform addresses many of the frustrations marketing teams experience with existing attribution solutions.

The platform’s emphasis on actionable insights rather than complex data visualization aligns well with the practical needs of marketing teams seeking to optimize campaign performance and budget allocation. Source’s rapid setup process and AI-driven recommendations make advanced attribution capabilities accessible to growing companies that previously might have struggled with the complexity and cost of enterprise solutions.

For B2B marketing teams currently struggling with attribution challenges—whether due to GA4’s complexity, the limitations of last-click models, or the engineering overhead of solutions like Segment—Source offers a compelling alternative. The public beta provides an opportunity to evaluate the platform’s effectiveness without financial commitment while accessing the expertise of the founding team through the complimentary consulting offering.

As marketing attribution continues to evolve in response to privacy changes and increasing channel complexity, Source’s AI-powered approach and B2B specialization position it well to serve the growing need for accessible, actionable attribution insights. The platform’s success will ultimately depend on its ability to deliver consistent value to marketing teams while maintaining the simplicity and speed that differentiate it from more complex enterprise solutions.