TORONTO — The Office of an Engineer Who Sells
When I walk into Jamil Khan’s workspace in downtown Toronto, there’s no hint of chaos, no whiteboards scribbled with ad jargon or mood boards for branding. Instead, there’s clean code on one screen and a Meta Ads dashboard on another—proof that this isn’t your typical marketer.
Khan, best known for launching the now-iconic North Aware Smart Parka on Kickstarter in 2016, is part engineer, part growth strategist, and 100% obsessed with systems that scale. His hybrid approach—fusing programming logic with buyer psychology—has helped dozens of companies generate hundreds of millions in sales since that snowy breakout campaign nearly a decade ago.
Q: You first gained international attention with North Aware in 2016. Did you imagine during that Kickstarter campaign that you’d go on to help brands generate hundreds of millions in sales?
Jamil Khan (smiling): Back then? Not really. I just wanted a winter coat that solved my everyday problems—built-in gloves, tech pockets, and a hidden scarf. But what fascinated me the most wasn’t just the product—it was how to get people to believe in it, to back it. I tapped into my software background to run precision-targeted ads, build a pixel-based attribution system for Kickstarter (which didn’t support native tracking), and create automated lead funnels. We ended up raising $3.25 million, and that experience flipped a switch for me.
I didn’t leave North Aware. I delegated operations—supply chain, manufacturing, and fulfillment—to a great team so I could shift my personal focus to what I genuinely love: engineering scalable digital campaigns. That’s where my software mindset really started to shine.
Q: Most marketers don’t write code. How does being a software engineer change how you approach marketing?
Khan: It’s everything. A lot of people test Facebook ads by “feel” or trial-and-error. I build data pipelines, automation scripts, and machine-learning-driven segmentation models to make decisions. Whether I’m creating a retargeting funnel or reverse-engineering LinkedIn’s search algorithm, I approach marketing like I’m building a product—test-driven, modular, and automated. That edge lets me outpace most agencies because I can do what they need five tools to do—in just a Python script.
Q: Can you walk us through a recent success story that blends your software and marketing skills?
Khan: Sure. One of my most exciting projects recently was with Darren Caddle, a recruitment firm. We built a system that monitors job boards and company career pages in real time. The second a company posts a high-value role—like Head of Sales or CTO—our software triggers personalized outreach to decision-makers. Not spam—contextual, highly relevant contact at the exact moment of need. That one system helped drive Darren Caddle from a solid business to over $20 million in annual sales.
This is where being an engineer gives me a huge advantage—I’m not just launching ads; I’m building growth engines. I’m not guessing at timing; I’m scraping, listening, and automating outreach with surgical precision.
Q: And yet, you started in physical products. Do you miss that side?
Khan: There’s something deeply satisfying about holding a product you’ve created, especially one people love. But the more North Aware grew, the more I realized my joy came from watching numbers move—CTR, ROAS, CAC—not from customs paperwork or supplier negotiations. I built the Smart Parka, sure, but I engineered the campaign. That’s what stuck with me.
Now I work with brands across industries—e‑commerce, SaaS, education—and bring that same level of technical discipline to their marketing.
Q: What’s your core strategy when taking a brand from zero to eight figures?
Khan: It starts with empathy and ends with infrastructure.
First, we study the customer—pain points, language, behavior. Then we test messaging through ads and lead funnels. But once we get a signal, I go full engineer: we build a modular growth stack—email sequences, SMS triggers, attribution logic, lead scoring models. Nothing is guesswork. We A/B/C test everything and automate 90% of the pipeline.
People think marketing is art. I think it’s well-written code with a human face.
Q: What about AI? Has it changed how you build campaigns?
Khan: Massively. We’re now using AI to detect buyer intent across forums, Reddit, LinkedIn—not just traditional ads. One of our newest platforms scrapes real-time mentions of job postings or service requests. For example, if someone says “Looking for a growth agency” or “Need help scaling ads,” our system logs that, scores it, and auto-generates an outreach message based on past successful language patterns.
Its sales enablement on autopilot, powered by AI and orchestrated with code.
Q: You’ve helped brands raise millions. But what makes you say yes to a client today?
Khan: A willingness to test, trust, and scale. I don’t work with clients who want to “try Facebook ads” like it’s a checkbox. I want founders who believe in their product, are open to aggressive experimentation, and understand the value of backend infrastructure. Because when you combine belief with data and code, that’s when you hit $10M, $20M, even $100M.
Q: What’s next for you?
Khan: I’m building a SaaS platform that merges everything I’ve done—signal detection, outreach automation, intent-driven nurturing—into one system. Think of it like a digital sniper rifle for B2B growth. Right message, right time, right person.
And I’ll keep advising founders who want to scale the right way—with math, not hype.
Q: Final advice for marketers or technical founders trying to break out?
Khan (nodding): Learn to code. Seriously. Even basic scripting gives you control over systems that everyone else is outsourcing. And second: don’t sell products. Solve urgent problems. Then engineer the delivery of that solution like you’re shipping software.
Closing Thoughts
Jamil Khan’s career might have started with a coat, but his true legacy is code. In a world where marketing is often dominated by guesswork and glitter, he’s a rare hybrid—a builder who can both advertise and automate, storytelling and scale. With a client base like Darren Caddle, Mercedes Benz, Dr.Stroller, and tens of others, he’s not just driving clicks—he’s engineering revenue.
