GTM 159: Scaling ZoomInfo to over $1B ARR, the Upmarket Playbook, and Launching CoPilot to over $100M Revenue in 6 months | James Roth

James Roth is the Chief Revenue Officer at ZoomInfo, where he oversees a global revenue engine supporting over 37,000 customers and more than $1 billion in ARR. With a background in scaling hypergrowth teams and building enterprise go-to-market machines, James has helped reposition ZoomInfo from a sales tool to the foundational data layer for modern GTM teams. Under his leadership, ZoomInfo launched Copilot, its flagship AI product, and executed a bold shift upmarket — transitioning from transactional selling to a data-first, enterprise-driven GTM strategy.Discussed in This EpisodeHow ZoomInfo transitioned from transactional selling to enterprise go-to-marketThe "Good Co, Bad Co" framework for segment-specific product retentionWhy ZoomInfo changed its ticker symbol to GTMLaunching Copilot and driving $100M revenue in under 6 monthsHow internal AI usage became the go-to-market motionKey shifts in comp design and team segmentation for scaling upmarketUsing telemetry and real-time signal tracking to measure rep effectivenessLessons in long-term execution vs. short-term growth pressureEpisode Highlights00:00 — ZoomInfo's evolution from a sales tool to a data-first platform17:06 — Why data as a service is ZoomInfo’s fastest-growing business20:43 — How to build and apply the “Good Co, Bad Co” segmentation framework26:26 — The hard part about going upmarket? Aligning the full funnel org30:19 — Changing your ticker to GTM: A bold positioning play34:31 — Copilot’s $100M launch: The power of internal usage39:53 — Most AI tools show <5% revenue lift. Here's why43:29 — How ZoomInfo is operationalizing AI across the org48:29 — The signals > activity shift in modern sales measurement52:18 — What James wants future CROs to steal: Think long-term, build patientlyThanks to Our Sponsor – UserEvidence:UserEvidence is the Customer Evidence Platform that helps you collect feedback, surface proof points, and turn customer wins into bite-sized assets your sales and marketing teams can actually use. Capture social proof at scale. Arm reps with credible stories. Close more deals with trust.Learn more at: https://userevidence.com/gtmnowGuest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-roth-3a913b51/Host Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/Website: https://gtmnow.comWhere to Find GTMnow• Website: https://gtmnow.com• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow/• X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_now• The GTM Podcast: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/The GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.