GTM 167: Competing with Giants: Inside You.com’s Battle Against OpenAI & Google | Peter Grant

Peter Grant is the Chief Revenue Officer at You.com, the AI search and productivity platform reshaping how people find and create information. A veteran GTM leader, Peter has built and scaled revenue engines at some of tech’s most iconic companies — from Siebel Systems to Salesforce to C3.ai — working directly under legends like Tom Siebel and Marc Benioff. Today, he’s leading You.com’s charge against giants like OpenAI and Google, bringing precision, storytelling, and speed to the most transformative era in technology.Discussed in this episodeHow Peter defines “the biggest opportunity of our lifetime” in AILessons from working under Tom Siebel, Marc Benioff, and Rishi KhoslaHow to hire SEAL-Team-Six-level GTM talentWhy belief and speed are non-negotiables when competing with giantsYou.com’s differentiation strategy against OpenAI and GoogleHow to operationalize AI literacy and agentic workflowsThe ROI gap in generative AI adoption, and how to fix itBuilding products that stand on truthEpisode Highlights00:14 — The biggest opportunity in technology this century05:25 — Lessons from working directly with Thomas Siebel06:41 — How to hire “SEAL Team Six” sales talent10:24 — Why “train hard, fight easy” defines great enablement20:08 — The new sophistication bar for AI literacy in sales25:14 — How You.com differentiates against OpenAI & Google30:00 — Peter’s personal AI productivity system: 40 agents40:12 — Speed, truth, and trust: You.com’s go-to-market culture48:30 — The “war room” story: building a sales plan overnight59:45 — No easy days: why startup life mirrors special forcesThis episode is brought to you by our sponsor: BoomPopA quick pause to spotlight a partner that helps GTM teams actually connect—BoomPop.Your next big unlock might not come from another meeting… it’s from getting your team in the same room. BoomPop makes that happen with end-to-end offsite planning all in one place.They handle everything from venues to experiences, so you can focus on the delights of meeting in person, not the logistics.And as a listener of GTMfund, you’re eligible for full-service event planning for just $99 per person (terms apply).Head to boompop.com/gtmfund to start planning your offsite.Guest LinksLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/peterkgrantCompany: you.comRecommended BooksThe Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben HorowitzElephants Can’t Dance by Louis V. Gerstner Jr.The Master Algorithm by Pedro DomingosNo Easy Day by Mark Owen — a favorite for its lessons on grit and resilienceThe 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.