The GTMnow Podcast

The single most expensive sentence in sales is "I'll follow up on that." Adam Liska joins Sophie Buonassisi on GTMnow to break down the "execution gap," the space between knowing what to do in a deal and actually doing it, and why that gap is where most pipeline quietly dies.Adam left DeepMind's Gemini team in 2022, pre-ChatGPT, to build a native revenue execution platform now serving 200 customers across 20 countries (recently rebranded and fresh off a $20M Series A). In this conversation, he gets specific on what is actually changing in the sales role, what should be automated, and why he thinks this is about to be the golden age for sales reps.What you'll learn:- Why "I'll follow up on that" is the most expensive promise in revenue, and how the execution gap compounds from rep to manager to CRO- What parts of the rep workflow to automate now (research, CRM updates, business cases, follow-ups) and what stays human- Why AI is squeezing middle management, not reps, and flattening GTM orgs- How per-rep coaching changes when every call is recorded, shared, and analyzed for patterns- The "corrective action" approach to coaching deals on the job, in real time- How to sell globally when borders disappear but local-language talent still matters- Why in-person events drove 70% of early pipeline, and how that compounds with cold calling- How to keep your team at the AI frontier by never locking into a single model- Adam's #1 piece of advice for first-time founders (hint: it starts with your co-founder)Chapters:00:00 Why AI won't replace sales reps00:22 Leaving DeepMind's Gemini team pre-ChatGPT01:18 What airspeed does and the "execution gap"02:07 "I'll follow up on that": the most expensive promise in sales03:28 The $20M Series A and the rebrand from Glyphic05:30 Why walk away from frontier AI research at DeepMind07:17 Leading when the frontier models keep changing08:39 Buy vs. build, and keeping customers at the AI frontier11:03 Landing the first 200 customers across 20 countries12:41 Advice for first-time founders14:04 Selling globally and what AI changes about language17:07 What the sales rep role looks like in an AI-first world19:24 How reps and leaders should start automating today20:51 The channels driving results right now22:41 How AI makes per-rep coaching actually work25:14 Building an execution-first culture27:10 The DeepMind departure story28:51 Building in London vs. selling in the US30:43 Adam's favorite AI use case as a busy CEO31:26 The biggest misconception about AI in salesHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/X: https://x.com/sophiebuonaGuest: Adam Liska, Co-founder and CEO at AirspeedX: https://x.com/adliskaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adliska/About the guest: Adam is the co-founder and CEO of Airspeed (formerly glyph), a native revenue execution platform that closes the gap between knowing what to do in a deal and executing on it. Before founding the company, he worked at DeepMind on the team that became Gemini. About GTMnow: GTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/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. 

Benchmark's Chetan breaks down why the path from $0 to $100M has collapsed from five years to under two, and the one thing that is actually getting harder in the AI era: reaching your first million in revenue. In this VC bonus edition of the GTM Now Podcast, he sits down with Sophie Buonassisi to unpack how AI native companies are compressing 180 day sales cycles into 30 days, why direct sales is here to stay, and how value is shifting away from code toward the last mile of customer service.Using Legora (legal AI) and Manus as case studies, Chetan explains how Benchmark builds conviction fast, why the marginal cost of code trending to zero changes everything, and what separates the founders who win this window from the ones who miss it.What you'll learn:- Why the first $1M now takes longer than the next $99M in the AI era- How top AI startups compress a 180 day sales cycle into 30 days- The "trusted vendor" playbook for breaking incumbent distribution advantages- Why Legora embedded inside a law firm for a year before launching- How a magical demo plus a tightly scoped pilot collapses six month deals- Why value is moving from the product build to the service and outcome- What Benchmark actually looks for: technical insight that creates demand pull- Why direct sales and forward deployed engineers are exploding in AI- How buying one AI app triggers an enterprise to buy 100 moreChapters: 00:00 Intro01:13 Why Max + Paul were furious taking notes on this one02:10 Benchmark's $2B growth fund and the changing strategy04:57 POC to trial and the power of direct sales in AI11:33 Meeting Max early: $0 to $100M in 18 months15:05 Manus: 0 to $100M in eight months through PLG17:10 Will the AI native window close?19:09 Sizing the window: $40B software vs $1T services in legal21:50 How Benchmark picks the winners25:31 Turning a 180 day sales cycle into 30 days30:45 The Legora deep dive: research, pilots, legal engineers41:46 Why $0 to $100M keeps getting faster42:29 The harder problem: getting to your first $1M44:04 When code goes to zero, what do customers pay for?48:46 Sales led vs PLG in the AI era51:49 How to spot the right founder55:18 What company Chetan wishes someone would build56:48 Investors founders should follow57:40 Working with Jack Altman at BenchmarkConnect with Chetan Puttagunta: General Partner at BenchmarkTwitter/X: https://x.com/chetanpLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetanputtagunta/Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowFollow Sophie: https://x.com/sophiebuonaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/About the GTMnow Podcast:GTMnow is the media brand of GTMfund, sharing the tactics and strategies behind how the best companies go to market. The VC series brings on top investors to break down what is actually working in go to market today.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/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. 

LinkedIn CPMs just hit $800. AI is flooding every channel with content. Outbound is dying. So where should B2B marketers actually spend their ad budget right now?Keith Putnam-Delaney, co-founder & CEO of Primer, joins Sophie to break down the complete state of B2B paid advertising, what's broken, what's working, and where the real opportunities are hiding in 2025.What you'll learn:- Why LinkedIn & Google search are hitting a ceiling (and what to do instead)- How to get 80% match rates on Meta and 70% on Reddit for B2B audiences- The only moat competitors can't copy: your targeting- Why you need to feed CRM conversion data back to ad platforms- Holdout groups, attribution, and what actually proves paid ROI- The truth about ads in LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok)- B2B influencer marketing: the most undervalued tactic right now- Founder lessons from 6 years and 3 pivots building PrimerChapters:0:00 – The paid advertising crisis no one's talking about2:40 – AI's real impact on ad costs4:06 – Google Search & AI Overviews: what still works5:04 – LinkedIn CPMs: $20 to $800 in 18 months6:39 – Why B2B brands need to be on Meta, Reddit & Instagram7:01 – What Primer does (80% match rates explained)9:29 – The device fragmentation problem & attribution11:16 – Holdout groups: the statistically proven approach13:30 – Which channel to start with (and minimum spend)22:18 – Paid ad creative: feed the algorithm with variants25:14 – B2B influencer marketing & thought leadership ads30:59 – Why you MUST push CRM data back into ad platforms33:31 – Ads in ChatGPT & LLMs: what's coming35:53 – Founder lessons, mental health & iterationConnect with Keith Putnam-Delaney: Co-founder, CEO of PrimerTwitter/X: https://x.com/kcpdelaneyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithputnamdelaney/Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowFollow Sophie: https://x.com/sophiebuonaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/About Keith Putnam-Delaney:Keith is the co-founder and CEO of Primer (https://www.sayprimer.com/), a B2B paid advertising targeting layer that helps brands unlock high match rates on Meta, Google, Reddit, and beyond. Former brand marketer turned data-driven growth leader.GTM Now is the media brand of GTMfund, sharing go-to-market insights from the top 1% of revenue operators.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/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. 

Most sales comp plans are quietly broken, and the people running them have no idea. Siva Rajamani, CEO of Everstage, has visibility into 300+ enterprise comp plans, and he says 90% of companies make the same mistakes. In this episode he breaks down what's going wrong, how to spot it, and what a comp plan that actually drives revenue looks like.Siva explains why sales compensation is not a back office cost center but the single biggest lever in your go-to-market strategy. It's the glue between what a company intends and what reps actually do. If your reps aren't doing what you want, the answer isn't in a 1-on-1. It's in your comp plan.We get into the over-complication trap, the hidden math that makes reps refuse your best deals, the base-to-variable ratios that actually work, why your top reps should out-earn almost everyone, and how AI is about to blow open the gap between your best and average sellers.Chapters:00:00 Intro00:30 Siva's RevOps background at Freshworks04:00 Scaling RevOps from 1 to 2504:50 Why he left to build Everstage06:30 Why incentives drive revenue, not tools08:00 Comp as the glue between intent and action10:30 The 1 to 2 mistakes almost every team makes12:00 "If your comp plan needs FAQs, it's a tax code"14:00 The 60-second test for a broken plan15:30 Designing comp to retain top talent16:50 How AI widens the gap between top and average reps18:00 The $1M sales rep is coming19:30 Why optimizing for top earners is better on margins21:30 Quota to OTE ratios that actually work23:00 Base vs variable: the 50/50 rule and exceptions24:00 What Everstage does and who it serves25:30 How Everstage structures its own comp plan28:00 The rise of the revenue architect48:00 CPQ and connecting margin to commissions50:30 When should reps earn commission in the deal cycle52:30 Six month vs twelve month comp cycles54:30 The most a sales rep has ever made55:20 Where to find SivaConnect with Siva Rajamani: Co-founder, CEO of EverstageTwitter/X: https://x.com/siva_rajamaniLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivasrajamani/Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowFollow Sophie: https://x.com/sophiebuonaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ABOUT GTMnowGTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Subscribe for more conversations with the operators and founders behind today's best go-to-market teams.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. 

Ben Lerer, Managing Partner and Founder of Lerer Hippeau, has built one of New York's most influential early-stage venture firms across nine funds and nearly $1.5B in AUM. In this VC edition of the GTMnow podcast, Ben sits down with Max and Paul to unpack how he actually picks founders, why he wants to be the "worst investor" at his own fund, and the contrarian belief that backing good, sensible businesses is a mistake.Ben got his start in media, building Thrillist before it merged into Group Nine, then turned those relationships and that operator empathy into a venture career writing early checks into companies like Warby Parker and Casper. He shares what's changed about winning deals in a more competitive, sharp-elbowed market, how Lerer Hippeau runs its investment committee on conviction rather than consensus, and the process failure behind passing on Peloton.We also get into the debate every investor is wrestling with right now: the crazy, fast-moving AI-native founder versus the second or third-time operator with deep domain expertise, and why the answer is rarely a silver bullet.A real venture-nerd conversation on firm building, IC decision-making, founder selection, and what it takes to chase the power law.Topics covered:- The "worst investor at my own fund" philosophy- Conviction vs. consensus in the investment committee- Why Lerer Hippeau funds "crazy" founders, not good companies- The Peloton miss and what it revealed about process- From Thrillist and digital media to venture capital- AI-native founders vs. domain experts- How to win competitive deals as a smaller firmChapters:00:00 Intro00:52 Max and Paul on the episode: IC process and founder selection14:36 Conversation with Ben Lerer begins15:02 Nine funds, $1.5B AUM, and the early-stage strategy23:00 From Thrillist to venture: the media springboard28:00 What's changed in picking founders and winning deals33:00 How the investment committee grew and evolved37:40 The "magic" deal and chasing high-conviction bets50:43 Why Ben wants to be the worst investor at his fund53:00 Funding crazy people, not good companies51:35 Yankees or Mets?Connect with Ben Lerer: https://x.com/BenjLererLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benlerer/Connect with Max: https://x.com/hackitmaxlinkedin.com/in/maxaltschulerListen on Apple and Spotify, and subscribe for more GTMnow VC editions.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/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. 

Maleka Momand, co-founder and CEO of Esper, joins Sophie Buonassisi on GTMnow to break down what it actually takes to build and sell software to government. Esper is the operating system for government policy, serving as the system of record for the regulation and internal policy that shapes daily life, from NYPD procedures to nurse practitioner licensing in rural Tennessee.Maleka shares hard-won lessons from 8 years in GovTech: why winning trust matters more than winning business, why professional services are a moat (not a cost center), and how Esper turns slow, paper-based policy processes into live digital workflows. She also covers the DOGE effect across red and blue states, why enterprise SaaS still has defensible moats in the age of AI, and her advice to founders entering regulated markets.Whether you're a founder, GTM leader, or operator selling into complex, slow-moving markets, this conversation is packed with practical playbooks on trust, go-to-market, and building durable enterprise software.Chapters:00:00 Intro00:44 Two types of government policy (regulation vs internal)02:06 The NYPD 3,000-page policy problem03:23 Digitizing a paper-based, 20-person workflow04:12 Why policy is infrastructure05:23 Real impact: Tennessee healthcare & Arkansas hunting licenses07:45 Esper's ideal customer: complexity, catalyst, volume08:18 Going to market in GovTech (and why it's slow)10:16 Advice for founders entering GovTech: win trust first11:27 Why professional services are a moat12:38 In-house vs third-party services13:49 What DOGE actually looks like on the ground15:11 Is DOGE a tailwind for Esper?16:36 The new funding round & enterprise SaaS in the age of AI19:13 From VC to founder: why Maleka made the shift22:10 Advice for founders: read fiction, not productivity books24:14 AI, data quality, and the problem with vibe coding26:43 How Esper uses AI internally (meet "Poly")27:27 Building a high-agency culture while scaling29:00 Closing thoughtsConnect with Maleka Momand: Co-founder, CEO of EsperTwitter/X: @MalekaMomand LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/malekamomandHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowFollow Sophie: https://x.com/sophiebuonaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ABOUT GTMnowGTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes on AI, founder strategy, fundraising, and go-to-market from the best builders in tech.#GovTech #GoToMarket #EnterpriseSaaS #StartupAdvice #GTM #SaaS #FounderAdvice #GovernmentTechnology #PolicyTech #AIThe 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. 

One Person, $10M+ ARR, $30M Raised: How Ben Cera Built Polsia (AI Operating System) SoloBen Cera, founder of Polsia, just raised $30M at a $250M valuation while running the entire company alone. His AI agent handles his emails, manages customer support, even led his fundraising calls. This is what a solo founder with an AI operating system looks like at scale.Polsia is an AI operating system that builds and runs companies autonomously. Give it an idea and it builds the product, writes code, conducts research, creates tweets, sets up company infrastructure, and works 24/7 on your behalf. Users are hitting $10M+ ARR using Polsia to scale their businesses.In this episode we cover:00:00 - Intro & The Viral Launch Nobody Forgot01:24 - How He Raised $30M at $250M Valuation with Himself as the Only Employee02:15 - The Origin Story: Building Polsia from Scratch04:13 - Why the Controversial Product Name Became Free Marketing ($Millions in Earned Media)05:55 - What Polsia Actually Does (AI Operating System for Founders)06:25 - How He Hit $10M+ ARR Running Solo (No Cofounders, No Hires)10:30 - Building a Company OS That Works 24/7 on Your Behalf12:00 - The Psychology of Single Founder Mode (Why It Scales Faster)14:45 - AI Agents Handling Customer Support, Refunds, & Bug Fixes16:30 - Email Automation: How Polsia Responds to 100% of His Emails20:15 - The Viral Fundraising Stunt (Live Dashboard + Agent-Led Investor Calls)25:00 - Why He Let His AI Agent Handle First Meetings with Investors28:30 - The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Distribution (More Visibility = More Traction)32:15 - How Distribution Strategy Becomes Your Go-To-Market35:45 - Building in Public While Running Everything Solo38:00 - Customer Obsession at Scale (Staying Close When You're Alone)42:56 - Founder Availability: Direct Phone Access to Customers44:00 - Manufactured Moments That Feel Authentic50:13 - Why Distribution Isn't an Afterthought AnymoreKey Insights:- One founder + AI operating system beats small teams without leverage (speed, decision-making, equity concentration)- Polsia lets you build multiple products simultaneously without hiring (products work 24/7 on your behalf)- The more controversial your positioning, the more people talk (free marketing from debate)- AI agents can handle 80% of founder work: emails, support, customer refunds, even investor screening- Live dashboards showing real-time growth create self-fulfilling prophecies (transparency = conviction)- Distribution is how you reach product-market fit faster (not an afterthought)- AI agents leading first investor meetings works (validates the product claim + generates buzz)- Customer intimacy at scale = founder still takes direct texts from users- Retention matters more than naming: customers don't complain about the name, they just use it- One person with AI tools > 5 people building without leverageWhy This Matters:This is the playbook for next-generation founders in 2026. Ben shows you how to: scale solo using AI agents, multiply your output without hiring, go viral intentionally, raise capital through distribution, and stay close to customers at scale. If you're a founder thinking about AI leverage, autonomous systems, or scaling lean, this is essential.Watch This If You're:- Solo founders scaling without a team- Founders interested in AI agents and autonomous systems- Learning about AI-first product development- Studying modern GTM and distribution strategy- Raising capital in 2026 (fundraising case study)- Building products with AI agents doing the work- Curious about the solo founder + AI agent trend- Following autonomous company buildersConnect with Ben Cera:Founder & CEO of PolsiaTwitter/X: @bencera LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbroca/Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowFollow Sophie: https://x.com/sophiebuonaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ABOUT GTMnowGTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes on AI, founder strategy, fundraising, and go-to-market from the best builders in tech.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. 

AI Infrastructure Spending is Insane: Hyperscalers Betting $575B on the Data Center Race | Tomasz TunguzThis year's data center infrastructure spending will be the 5th largest infrastructure project in history (bigger than everything except railroads and the two world wars). Tomasz Tunguz breaks down what nobody appreciates about the scale of the AI boom.Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, and one of the most insightful voices on AI infrastructure, data stacks, and founder strategy.In this episode we cover:00:00 - Intro & The Scale Nobody Anticipated02:13 - Data Center CapEx Could Hit 5-7% of US GDP by 203005:21 - For Every $1 AI Companies Make, They Spend $12 on Infrastructure ($575B Bet)06:20 - Market Share Capture vs. Margin Games: The Chicken Game Big Tech is Playing09:48 - How the Data Stack & AI/ML Worlds Have Completely Fused12:33 - Product-Market Fit is No Longer Binary: It's Continuous Now15:17 - How AI is Changing Venture Capital & Portfolio Management17:09 - The Future: Image & Video Data is Going to Require MASSIVE Infrastructure18:25 - Pattern Recognition Across Winning Companies (Domain Expertise is Key)20:50 - Hot Take: Corporate Org Structure Will Transform in 5 Years21:00 - Final Advice to Founders: Nobody Knows the AnswerKey Insights:- Hyperscalers are spending ALL free cash flow + borrowing heavily to fund data center CapEx (Meta, Google, Oracle levered 7:1 on cash flow basis)- The dominant metric: intelligence per watt of electricity- Anthropic rumored to have very high gross margins (first wave competition)- Data teams are now reporting to heads of engineering (huge organizational shift)- Inference demand is infinite: models are growing 5-10x in size- Foundation models broke product-market fit: it's now continuous, not static- Second-time founders win because they understand domain history & distribution- PR is now a major distribution channel for AI companies (unlike software era)- Building for images & video is the next frontier (1,000-10,000x larger than text data)Watch this if you're:- Founders building AI/data companies- Investors analyzing the AI infrastructure play- Product leaders understanding AI's organizational impact- Anyone following the AI market seriouslyConnect with Max:https://x.com/hackitmaxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/Connect with Paul:https://x.com/PaulGTMhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirving/Guest: Tomasz Tunguz, General Partnerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasztunguz/https://x.com/ttunguzHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/https://x.com/sophiebuonaABOUT GTMnow GTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Brought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fund admin infrastructure allowed us to scale without sacrificing agility, from onboarding hundreds of LPs seamlessly to handling compliance, capital calls, and reporting as our fund size evolved.Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.comFor inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund: https://gtmfund.com/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. 

The future of websites isn't a builder problem anymore. It's an agent problem.In this episode of GTMnow, Sophie Buonassisi sits down with Linda Tong, CEO of Webflow, to unpack how the entire web is being rewritten for a world where humans AND AI agents are your audience.Linda breaks down why Webflow is no longer "just a website builder" (it's an agentic web marketing platform), what the Vidoso acquisition unlocks for AI-generated brand assets, and how the rise of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is forcing marketers to rethink content from the ground up. She also shares the practical playbooks her team uses to "vibe" sites into production with the Webflow MCP server, why human creativity is the only real moat left, and how she built her own personal CRM using Claude Code.If you run a GTM team, lead marketing, or are trying to figure out what your website should even look like in 2026, this one is essential.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN-Why your website is now the #1 source of truth for humans, bots, and agents-The shift from static sites to continuously optimizing, dynamic experiences-How "vibe coding" with MCP is changing the way teams build on the web-Inside the Vidoso acquisition and what "brand-governed AI" actually means-AppGen: going from prompt to production without losing brand consistency-Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): the non-obvious mistakes marketers are making-How to structure a marketing team made of humans plus agent swarms-The "5 words" exercise every CEO should run inside their company-Linda's personal CRM built with Claude Code (and how Webflow scales internal AI)-Why "unlimited credits" and Builder Days unlock real AI productivityABOUT THE GUESTLinda Tong is the CEO of Webflow, the agentic web marketing platform powering some of the most respected brands on the internet. Before stepping into the CEO role, Linda served as President and COO at Webflow, and previously led product at Cisco's AppDynamics and held senior roles at Google.CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 01:41 From static to dynamic 03:12 Inside the Vidoso acquisition 05:38 The human moat 07:17 Beyond the website builder 08:55 Structuring human + agent teams 09:58 AppGen, explained 10:45 Prompt to production 12:11 AEO misconceptions 14:40 Holistic AEO strategy 16:38 The 5 words exercise 18:10 Linda's personal CRM 19:31 Central vs. individual AI 20:44 Inside Webflow's Builder DaysGuest: Linda Tong, CEO Webflowhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lktong/https://x.com/YayLTHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnowhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/https://x.com/sophiebuonaABOUT GTMnow GTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market.Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Sponsors: .Tech - Domains, where the next generation of builders is planting their flag.Secure your .tech domain today from any registrar of your choice. Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.comFor inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund: https://gtmfund.com/#GTMnow #Webflow #AI #LindaTong #AnswerEngineOptimization #AEO #GoToMarket #B2BMarketing #AgenticAI #VibeCoding #AIAgents #FutureOfWeb #MarketingPlatform #SaaS #aimarketingThe 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. 

AI is rewriting go-to-market and most companies are still operating with a “Frankenstein stack.”In this episode of GTMnow, we sit down with David, founder & CEO of Reevo, to unpack how AI-native companies will replace legacy GTM systems, why the future of sales teams looks radically different, and how AI agents are becoming the new operating layer for revenue teams.David shares why Reevo stayed in stealth while building a vertically integrated AI revenue operating system, the problem of institutional knowledge loss in sales organizations, and why the old playbook for SaaS and GTM is breaking in 2026.We also dive deep into:- AI-native go-to-market strategy- The death of the legacy SaaS tech stack- Revenue operating systems explained- AI agents for sales, marketing, and customer success- How founders should think about AI adoption- Building startups in the age of AI- Why “failure is the cornerstone of innovation”- AI-driven sales productivity and revenue efficiency- Founder-led sales in 2026- The future of CROs, CMOs, and RevOps- AI copilots, Jarvis-style workflows, and GTM automation- Scaling teams without scaling headcountIf you're a founder, CRO, CMO, GTM leader, SaaS operator, AI builder, or investor trying to understand where B2B software and go-to-market are headed next, this episode is for you.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:20 Why Reevo built in stealth 04:50 Why AI can finally disrupt GTM tech stacks 09:20 What Reevo actually does 11:10 AI outcomes vs headcount growth 15:00 How AI changes leadership & innovation 19:00 Why legacy GTM teams are vulnerable 23:00 The future of AI-native GTM organizations 29:00 Running an AI-native company internally 34:00 David’s favorite AI workflows & tools 37:40 Advice for introverted founders & leadersHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnowhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi  Guest: David Zhu, Co-founder and CEO at Reevohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/zhuventures/Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Sponsors: .Tech - Domains, where the next generation of builders is planting their flag. Secure your .tech domain today from any registrar of your choice. Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.comFor inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund: https://gtmfund.com/#AI #Sales #GTM #SaaS #ArtificialIntelligence #RevenueOperations #Startup #B2B #RevOps #AIAgents #Founder #SalesLeadership #CMO #CRO #GoToMarket #AIStartup #TechPodcast #SalesTech #FutureOfWork #AutomationThe 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. 

Tyler Hogge helped take Divvy from zero to a $2.5B acquisition by Bill.com. Now, as General Partner at Pelion Ventures, he argues that charging for software is dead, per-seat pricing is collapsing, and the next decade of venture-scale companies will be built on outcomes, not subscriptions.In this episode of the GTMnow VC Podcast, Tyler sits down with Max to break down what comes after SaaS pricing, why founder intensity is the only trait that still matters in 2026, and how Pelion concentrates capital into its biggest winners (Cloudflare alone returned over $1B to the fund). He also shares why most startups won't survive going head-to-head with OpenAI and Anthropic, the "bent the odds" contract he signed with Redo's CEO, and the lesson from raising four kids that changed how he leads.This is an honest, no-fluff conversation about where venture is going as AI commoditizes software.Chapters:00:00 Intro01:14 Intro18:48 Tyler joins23:09 "Sell Jesus, sell anything"27:42 The $2.5B Divvy exit34:39 The "bent the odds" contract38:11 Startups vs. OpenAI and Anthropic39:05 "Software is worth zero"40:55 The death of per-seat pricing43:02 Lessons from raising 4 kids46:44 "LinkedIn is the trailer park"Connect with Tyler:https://x.com/thoggehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/thogge/Connect with Max:https://x.com/hackitmaxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/Connect with Paul:https://x.com/PaulGTMhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirving/About Tyler Hogge:Tyler Hogge is a General Partner at Pelion Ventures, Utah's oldest and largest venture fund with $500M AUM across eight funds. Before Pelion, Tyler was VP of Product at Divvy, which sold to Bill.com for $2.5B in 2021. Earlier in his career, he was a product leader at Wealthfront under Andy Rachleff and Adam Nash. He's based in Utah and one of the most active venture capitalists on X.About GTMnow:GTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, a pre-seed and seed-stage B2B SaaS venture firm backed by an LP base of 300+ C-suite and VP-level operators from the best go-to-market organizations in tech. The GTMnow VC Podcast publishes every other week with the investors and operators shaping the next decade of B2B software.Brought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fund admin infrastructure allowed us to scale without sacrificing agility, from onboarding hundreds of LPs seamlessly to handling compliance, capital calls, and reporting as our fund size evolved.Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.comFor inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund:https://gtmfund.com/Subscribe for new episodes every week#VentureCapital #VCpodcast #SaaS #AI #B2BSaaS #GTMnow #StartupFunding #TylerHogue #PelionVentures #FounderAdviceVisit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/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. 

Boomi was founded in the early 2000s by Rick Nucci, acquired by Dell in 2010, and then spun out to Francisco Partners and TPG Capital in 2021. Today it powers 30,000+ enterprise customers globally and moves more data per second than the entire Visa card network, times two. What started as an integration platform has evolved into something bigger: the leading data activation company, purpose-built for the agentic AI era.Steve Lucas took over as CEO in early 2023, just as ChatGPT was about to reshape the entire software landscape. A three-time CEO with nearly 30 years in enterprise software, Steve previously led Marketo through its $4.75B acquisition by Adobe (the largest in Adobe's history at the time), scaled iCIMS into the world's leading talent acquisition cloud, and held senior roles at SAP, Salesforce, Adobe, and BusinessObjects. He's also the author of "Digital Impact: The Human Element of AI Driven Transformation," a book arguing that the AI revolution will stall unless companies fix the fragmentation of their data first.In this episode, Sophie Buonassisi sits down with Steve at HumanX in San Francisco to unpack why 2026 is the year AI moves from pilot to production, the three diagnostic questions every CEO should ask before deploying agentic AI, and why "change only happens at the speed of trust." Steve also gets candid about the internal protest that erupted when Boomi rolled out its first CSM agent, his prediction that AI will go from influencing 20% of executive decisions to making 90% of them within 2 years, and how he picked up Claude Code on an airplane to vibe-code a contracts agent for his sales team.If you're a founder, operator, or GTM leader trying to figure out whether your business is actually ready for agentic AI (or just chasing the buzzword), this one is for you.TIMESTAMPS0:00  Intro0:58  Welcome to GTMnow at HumanX1:10  Why 2026 is when AI moves from pilot to production2:32  Influencing decisions vs. making decisions: the next 2 years3:18  Digital Impact: why fragmentation will stall the AI revolution5:01  "Get your data to the gym": the new slogan5:20  The 3 questions to know if your company is AI-ready6:47  Change happens at the speed of trust7:53  The internal protest behind Boomi's CSM agent9:32  From integration platform to data activation: the strategic shift10:50 Steve's most transformative AI workflow as a CEO11:12 Vibe coding with Claude on an airplane12:20 Where to follow Steve and BoomiHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnowlinkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi  Guest: Steve Lucas, CEO at Boomihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/nstevenlucas/Visit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Sponsors: .Tech - Domains, where the next generation of builders is planting their flag. Secure your .tech domain today from any registrar of your choice. Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.comFor inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund: https://gtmfund.com/Keywords: #AI #AgenticAI #Boomi #SteveLucas #GTMnow #DataActivation #HumanX #EnterpriseAI #AIStrategy #B2BSaaS #ClaudeCode #VibeCoding #CEOInterview #DigitalTransformation #futureofworkThe 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. 

Okta's CRO Jon Addison joins GTMnow host Sophie to break down the full story behind Okta's remarkable revenue turnaround, the launch of Okta for AI Agents, and the go-to-market playbook that's carrying them from $3B toward a $5B ARR target.From nearly $850M in operating losses to over $760M in operating income, Okta's transformation is one of the most significant turnaround stories in enterprise SaaS. In this episode, Jon pulls back the curtain on exactly how it happened.In this episode:- Why 91% of enterprises are already deploying AI agents but only 10% have a security strategy for them- How Okta's "AI governance gap" insight became the foundation for their biggest product launch in years: Okta for AI Agents- The GTM restructure around specialization that unlocked productivity and drove 40% higher average contract value on new product deals- How Okta became a partner-first company: 95% of their top 100 deals in the last fiscal year were partner-led, and what operationally made that possible- Why the first discovery call no longer exists, and how sellers need to show up differently in the AI era- Jon's new internal sales methodology, APEX, built on Command of the Message for the AI era- How Okta is using AI internally to transform their own go-to-market motion, from conversational intelligence to pre-sales assistants- What the path to $5B ARR actually looks like: enterprise expansion, international growth, public sector, and the massive new TAM unlocked by non-human identity- Jon's leadership philosophy: why human-centric selling is becoming more critical as AI takes over the repetitive workHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnowhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisiGuest: Jon Addison, CRO at Oktahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-addison-3399175Timestamp:0:00 - Cold open1:19 - Welcome + Jon's background: from London to Silicon Valley1:52 - How Jon got into software and identity management4:08 - Okta for AI Agents launch announcement5:04 - 90% of customers live with agents, only 10% confident in securing them6:31 - What's driving the governance gap in the market7:53 - Speed of agent innovation must be matched by security and governance8:36 - 40% higher ACV on deals that include new products9:43 - Why consolidation around a single identity platform is resonating11:45 - How AI agents unlock a massive new TAM for Okta13:05 - Okta's turnaround: from $850M operating losses to $760M operating income13:36 - Key decision 1: GTM specialization drove productivity15:02 - Key decision 2: becoming a partner-first company16:14 - What cracking the partner-led model actually looks like19:08 - How long it takes to see ROI from a partner-led pivot20:12 - The path from $3B to $5B: enterprise, international, public sector21:49 - Using AI internally: launching "Apex," the AI-era sales methodology23:04 - What the Apex sales methodology entails24:25 - Buyers now show up with strong opinions before the first call25:44 - How discovery is changing: human-centric selling in the AI era27:33 - Headcount and AI: what skills matter in the future29:31 - Why relationships are Okta's core competitive advantage30:36 - The role of experiences: F1, events, and the 7-touchpoint rule31:47 - Broad GTM surface area: ABM, ecosystem, brand33:47 - The future of identity: SaaS disruption, consolidation cycles, and Okta's position37:06 - Jon's leadership style: coaching reps and unlocking potential39:01 - Positive vs. negative leadership and the 1-to-10 touchpoints frameworkVisit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (TwitteThe 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. 

Jennifer Li, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), breaks down why the firm allocated $1.7 billion of its latest $15 billion fund specifically toward AI infrastructure, and what she's betting on next.Jennifer has backed ElevenLabs from Series A all the way through Series D, watching it grow to an $11 billion valuation. In this episode, she explains what she saw in voice AI before anyone else did, what makes a founder worth backing regardless of the tech, and why the next wave of AI infrastructure is being rebuilt from the ground up.In this episode:- Why a16z bet $1.7B on AI infrastructure (and why now)- The shift from cloud to AI-native infrastructure: storage, compute, orchestration, memory- How ElevenLabs crossed the uncanny valley in synthetic voice- Voice agents as the first AI category to truly scale in the enterprise- What "king-making" in AI go-to-market actually looks like- The traits that made Jennifer write a check for ElevenLabs on founder conviction alone- Open source vs. frontier models: what 2027 looks like- Why world models and vision language models are the next unlock- AI and human creativity: why directors and authors won't be replaced- How a 1-2 person studio can now make a full movieHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnowhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisiGuest: Jennifer Li, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitzhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferhli/https://x.com/JenniferHliConnect with Max: https://x.com/hackitmaxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschulerConnect with Paul:https://x.com/PaulGTMhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirvingTimestamps:0:00 - Cold open1:06 - Max & Paul intro: are we in a bubble?1:46 - AI vs. dot-com era: the key differences4:55 - B2B SaaS disruption and value destruction (Thoma Bravo / Medallia)6:39 - Intercom / Finn: crossing the chasm from legacy to AI-native8:08 - Introducing Jennifer Lee, a16z General Partner8:31 - Paul's key takeaway: the distribution era9:41 - Why speed to default brand has never mattered more11:33 - The ElevenLabs story: a16z led Series A, B, and C12:02 - Why the seed strategy still works13:37 - What the best founders do differently with model capabilities15:58 - Jennifer Lee joins: why a16z raised $1.7B for infrastructure16:22 - What existing infrastructure is being rebuilt for AI19:19 - Specific areas a16z is focused on: models, storage, dev tools, security20:35 - 90%+ of code now written by agents21:52 - What Jennifer saw early in the 11 Labs / voice AI space25:19 - Go-to-market in AI infrastructure: what's working27:29 - Becoming the default brand: the "Kleenex effect" in AI28:37 - What makes a founder worth backing on conviction alone30:48 - Predictions for 2026/2027: open source catching up fast31:39 - Most exciting new modalities: world models and vision language models32:07 - AI and human creativity: can they coexist?34:42 - What's blocking the creative AI future36:05 - "The best ideas live in the graveyard"36:57 - Closing advice: make AI tools your friendsVisit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Brought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fundThe 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. 

Kyle Parrish joined Figma as the first-ever sales hire when the company was doing $2M in ARR and helped scale it to $950M ARR. Figma then went on to IPO (FIG). But the path there was anything but smooth.In this episode, Kyle breaks down what it actually took to build Figma's enterprise sales motion from scratch, including the no-discount rule that made procurement teams furious, the 40-hour interview weeks when hiring felt impossible to keep up with, and what it was like to lead a 300-person team through a failed $20B Adobe acquisition, and then have their best year immediately after.We cover:- Why Figma refused to discount, even when Microsoft pushed back- How to hire the right first sales rep as a founder- The PLG to enterprise transition most companies get wrong- What the Adobe deal collapse actually felt like from the inside- How Figma went from 3 products to 8 overnight and launched into an IPO- What great sales look like in the AI eraTimestamp:0:00 – Intro 1:02 – Guest intro: Kyle Parrish 1:35 – Joining Figma at $2M ARR in 2018 5:01 – First meeting with Dylan (Figma CEO) 6:13 – How to find your first sales hire 9:05 – Stage alignment in early hiring 11:43 – Early-stage operators need "scar tissue" 13:19 – Northstar metric at Figma 14:13 – Obsessing over customer conversations 16:44 – Building Figma's brand through community 17:31 – Scaling the "unscalable" 20:08 – In-person GTM vs. digital 22:47 – Was there a moment Figma might not make it? 24:48 – Pivoting after the Adobe deal collapsed 28:10 – Figma's no-discount rule 31:05 – Enterprise ELAs replacing discounting 34:47 – What makes a great salesperson in the AI era 36:56 – Missionaries vs. mercenaries in AI-era GTM 39:47 – Spotting the next Dropbox or Figma 43:46 – Kyle's post-Figma investing focus 45:58 – Family, travel & what's nextGuest: Kyle Parrish, former VP Sales at Figma LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kparrish8/X: https://x.com/KyleHParrishHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/X: https://x.com/sophiebuonaVisit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/Sponsors: Nooks - the AI workspace for outbound teams: https://www.nooks.ai/gtmfund.Tech - Domains, where the next generation of builders is planting their flag. Secure your .tech domain today from any registrar of your choice. Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.comFor inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund: https://gtmfund.com/The GTMnow PodcastThe 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. 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. 

AI isn't just changing how we sell. It's changing how buyers make decisions before they ever talk to you.Sam, Founder and CEO of TestBox, joins Sophie on GTMnow to break down exactly what's happening to the B2B software buying process right now, and what go-to-market leaders need to do about it immediately.If you're a founder, CRO, or AE wondering why your pipeline feels different, this conversation will give you a clear framework for what's happening and what to do next.What we cover:Why 70-80% of purchase decisions are already made before the first call (and it's accelerating)The shift from discovery calls to validation calls, and how to prepareCEO (AI-version of SEO): how LLMs are shaping what buyers believe about your productThe "day one shortlist" shrinking from 3-4 vendors to 1-2 vendorsAgent-to-agent procurement: Sam's timeline for when AI agents fully take over buyingWhy the mid-funnel is actually getting longer, not shorterThe "Fake Nothing, Prove Everything" campaign that went viral post-Series AHow TestBox runs 15 AI experiments per week across the entire companyUsing Google Vertex video analysis to read prospect body language on sales callsHow to build an AI-first culture without burning out your teamBooks: The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, No Ego, Courageous Marketing, Good to GreatTimestamps:0:00 - Cold open1:09 - What TestBox does2:43 - How buying has changed5:48 - What founders/CROs should do now7:05 - GEO: AI version of SEO9:02 - Why mid-funnel is expanding21:17 - Agent-to-agent procurement26:02 - All procurement by agents in 3-5 years29:09 - How vendors differentiate beyond product33:30 - The croissant campaign breakdown45:50 - 15 AI experiments per week47:10 - Analyzing prospects via video AI48:29 - Building AI culture in your team52:39 - Book recommendationsGuest: Sam Senior, Founder and CEO TestBoxLinkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelsenior/⁠TestBox:⁠ https://www.testbox.com⁠Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Newsletter:⁠ https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com⁠Visit us on:⁠ https://gtmnow.com⁠Follow us on LinkedIn: / gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter):⁠ https://x.com/GTMnow_⁠ Follow us on YouTube: / @gtm_now Follow us on TikTok: / gtmnow_ Follow us on Instagram: / gtmnow_  The GTMnow PodcastThe 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.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. 

Auren Hoffman (Flex Capital) joins the GTMnow podcast to share some of the most contrarian takes in tech today, from why AI moats are gone, to why your next VC meeting will be with a bot, to why AI is secretly going to trigger a baby boom.In this episode:- Why Auren runs 500+ AI agents to source deals, and what that means for founders raising capital- The "agent-to-agent" meeting prediction: by end of 2026, first VC conversations will be fully automated- Why every software moat has been "blown up" and what Salesforce, LinkedIn & DocuSign need to do to survive- The OpenAI x The Hustle acquisition breakdown: why it's the smartest (and cheapest) distribution play in AI- Why missing a great deal is 10x more painful than making a bad one, Auren's honest VC mistake framework- The baby boom thesis: why AI, IVF, self-driving cars & cheaper energy could reverse the fertility decline- Why companies won't sign yearly SaaS contracts anymore, and what that means for every B2B founderAuren Hoffman is the founder of Flex Capital, SafeGraph, and LiveRamp. He's an early backer of Replit, Perplexity, Rippling, Vercel, Coinbase, Chime, and AppLovin.Connect with Max: https://x.com/hackitmaxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschulerConnect with Auren:https://x.com/aurenhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/auren/https://www.youtube.com/@summationpodGTMnow shares how the best in tech build, scale and invest.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes, The GTMnow Newsletter editions, and other content.GTMnow is run by GTMfund - we are an early-stage venture firm made up of 350+ go-to-market executives from the fastest-growing companies.Chapters:00:00 - Intro01:05 - GTMfund Q1 recap 02:38 - OpenAI x The Hustle breakdown 06:18 - Redpoint's optimal VC deployment period 11:24 - Auren Hoffman intro 13:04 - Why am I seeing this deal? 26:26 - Sizing up founders at Replit, Perplexity & Rippling 28:49 - What separates great founders 32:10 - 500+ AI agents for deal sourcing 33:40 - Agent-to-agent VC meetings by 2026 45:13 - Every software moat is blown up 49:09 - Who kills Salesforce next? 51:30 - Why no one signs yearly SaaS contracts anymore 51:50 - AI will trigger a baby boom 56:22 - Thinking generationally#AI #VentureCapital #GTM #StartupFunding #AurenHoffman #FlexCapital #SaaS #ArtificialIntelligence #Founders #SalesVisit us on: https://gtmnow.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowFollow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/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. 

Wade Foster is the CEO of Zapier, a company that sits between 7,000+ apps and runs millions of automations every single day. That gives him a front-row seat to how companies are actually adopting AI, not just talking about it.In this episode, Wade breaks down the exact decisions he made at Zapier to go from 10% AI usage to 97% company-wide, why agents and workflows are not the same thing, and what most leaders are getting completely wrong about AI fluency.What you'll learn:The difference between agents and workflows (and when to use which)What triggered Zapier's internal "Code Red" after GPT-4 launchedThe one-week hackathon that took AI adoption from 10% to 50% overnightThe AI fluency rubric Zapier built: Unacceptable, Acceptable, Adaptive, TransformativeWhy leaders who aren't using AI are the biggest bottleneck in their companiesHow to measure AI ROI: floor raisers vs ceiling raisersHow AI now handles 50% of Zapier's customer support ticketsWade's personal "advisory council" of AI sub-agents he uses for every major decisionWhy building a company today is 10x cheaper but distribution is 10x harderThe truth about fundraising: you're selling your company, not raising moneyHow Zapier stayed profitable by only hiring when it hurtGuest: Wade Foster, CEO of Zapier LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster/Company - Zapier: https://zapier.comHost: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comEpisode highlights0:00 - Intro1:13 - The Seinfeld Quote & Kanye Text story3:16 - Workflows vs. Agents: What's the difference?6:09 - Zapier's Code Red moment8:55 - The hackathon that moved AI adoption from 10% to 50%12:06 - Making AI fluency a hiring requirement13:47 - Building the AI fluency rubric16:40 - Why leaders are the biggest AI bottleneck18:12 - Revenue impact of going AI-first22:09 - Would Wade build Zapier differently today?23:20 - Is Zapier's moat at risk from agents?24:59 - Staying profitable with minimal capital28:37 - The riskiest contrarian bet that paid off31:52 - Wade's 3 personal AI workflows36:53 - Favorite books for foundersGTMnow is the media brand of GTMfund, sharing go-to-market insights from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by 350+ of the best GTM executives. Subscribe for weekly episodes with the operators, founders, and investors behind the fastest-growing software companies.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. 

Ed Sim has been a VC for 30 years. He's backed companies like Clay, Front, BigID, and Snyk. He writes What's Hot in Enterprise IT every single Saturday, 489 weeks in a row. And right now, he says this is the most exciting and terrifying moment he's ever seen in his career.In this episode, Max and Ed break down what's actually happening inside startups and boards right now, why the old playbooks are dead, and what separates the companies that will survive this AI shift from the ones quietly getting killed by it.Discussed in this episodeWhy engineering is no longer your bottleneck (and what is)The 5 P's Ed uses to evaluate every inception-stage investmentThe autonomous enterprise thesis and what it means for how companies are builtWhy AI-native leadership is now a survival reqxtuirement, not a nice to haveThe full Clay story: $600K to $100M ARR, how they stayed lean, and what actually unlocked growthThe 3 CH's framework for being a great board partner to foundersWhy the best founders today are inside the AI jet stream, not chasing itWhat every board meeting sounds like right nowEpisode highlights0:00 Intro & 1:05 Episode Preview: Ed Sim & Key Takeaways3:10 The Jet Stream Analogy: Two Types of Companies5:43 How GTM Operators Should Evaluate Companies Like Angel Investors7:20 The Collapsing of Moats & AI-Native Business Opportunities10:00 Rebuilding Industries vs. Selling Software to Them15:00 Why Old GTM Playbooks Are Dead17:46 Ed Sim's Background: From Cutco to 30 Years in VC21:43 The Five P's of Inception Investing23:04 How to Evaluate Potential & TAM in a Fast-Changing Market25:40 Staying Ahead of the Jet Stream as a Founder26:32 The Autonomous Enterprise Thesis28:44 Agent of the Week: How Companies Should Adopt AI Agents29:10 How Agents Are Changing Engineering Bottlenecks31:15 What Incumbents Must Do to Survive the AI Wave32:53 Intercom, Snowflake & How Legacy Companies Are Adapting36:43 The Clay Story: How They Found Their Footing38:33 The Three C's of Working With Founders (Cheer, Challenge, Chill)40:07 Clay's Growth Trajectory: $600K to $100M+ ARR41:10 Clay's Agency GTM Model & Community Moat43:50 Ed's Fund Model: $500K to $15M Checks at Inception46:57 What's Hot in Enterprise IT & Venture Right Now48:03 Closing RemarksKey takeaways1. Engineering is no longer your bottleneck. Your people are. Code is shipping faster than your sales, marketing, and customers can absorb it. The constraint has flipped completely and most companies haven't noticed yet.2. Painkillers beat vitamins every time. The only startups worth backing at inception are solving a hair-on-fire problem someone desperately needs fixed, not a nice-to-have they can live without.3. The 3 CH's of being a great board partner. Know when to Cheer (when founders are getting beaten up), when to Challenge (when they feel invincible), and when to Chill (when they just need breathing room to figure it out). Elliot used all three with Clay to perfection.4. If your CEO came from sales, you are in trouble. Surviving this AI shift requires product-driven, agent-native leadership at the top. The companies that adapted, Snowflake, Intercom, Atlassian, all changed leadership first.5. The best founders are inside the AI jet stream, not chasing it. The question Ed asks every founder today: are you struggling to keep up, or are you the one constantly shipping and adapting faster than anyone can copy you?<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. 

This episode was recorded prior to Teresa Anania’s move to Chief Customer Officer at Verint. At the time of recording, she was SVP of Customer Experience at Sophos.Teresa Anania (CCO at Verint, formerly CCO at Sophos) joins GTMnow to share how she's built customer success into a true revenue engine at a company serving 600,000 customers across over $1 billion in annual revenue, and why the old reactive, relationship-based CS model is no longer cutting it.At Sophos, the threat landscape is compounding fast. AI is accelerating the speed and sophistication of attacks, which means response times, customer journeys, and success motions all have to evolve in lockstep in order to keep up. Teresa has spent her career at companies like Zendesk, Autodesk, and ON24 building the operational frameworks that make that possible at scale.Mentioned Resources: Cleverbridge: Merchant of Record for Software & SaaS​Guest links: Teresa Anania - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-anania/Sophos - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sophos/Sophos - Website: https://www.sophos.com/Host links:Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comSponsors: - HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/- Nooks - the AI workspace for outbound teams, where AI agents handle prospecting, research, and sequencing so reps can focus on conversations. Learn more at https://www.nooks.ai/- Cleverbridge – the digital commerce platform helping enterprises optimize post-sale revenue through renewals, winbacks, and add-ons with buyer-friendly purchasing experiences. Learn more at https://grow.cleverbridge.com/lp/digital-commerceTranscript available under the episode here: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. 

Jason Demant just joined GTMfund as Partner, Head of Networks after 6 years at Foundation Capital where he reviewed over 1,000 emerging manager funds and invested in 100+.In this episode, Max (GP), Paul (GP), and Jason break down what separates the VC firms that survive from the ones that quietly die, why the best founders today are skipping mega funds at pre-seed, and what LPs are excited in about emerging managers.What we cover:The real reason raising from mega funds at pre-seed can backfireWhy less than 10% of VC firms ever make it to Fund 3What makes an emerging manager fundable (sourcing, founder support, durability)The media flywheel that gives certain funds an unfair advantageHow LPs should think about mega funds vs. emerging platforms (the barbell approach)Why founders are the ones now choosing their investors, not the other way aroundConnect with Jason:   / jasondemant   Connect with Max:   / maxaltschuler  Connect with Paul:   / paulsirving  GTMnow is the media extension of GTMfund, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage B2B companies. Every episode features operators, investors, and founders on the front lines of go-to-market.Timestamps:0:00 Intro1:54 Jason's Background at Foundation Capital3:07 Why Jason Chose GTMfund4:35 How Media Has Evolved in the VC Ecosystem6:20 What Separates Winning Emerging Managers from the Rest8:28 GTM Fund's Flywheel: Fund, Community & Media10:41 Building a VC Firm Is Like Building a Startup12:31 Emerging Managers vs. Mega Funds (a16z, Lightspeed)14:01 Why Top Founders Are Picking Emerging Managers for Early RoundsThe 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. 

NEW: @Paul Fipps (President of Global Customer Operations at @ServiceNow) joins GTMnow to break down how ServiceNow built the customer engine behind $10B+ in revenue and 20%+ growth for five consecutive years.From CIO at Under Armour overseeing a 300 million-member connected fitness ecosystem, to now leading global sales, customer success, field marketing, and partners at one of the most disciplined GTM organizations in enterprise software, Paul has seen what it takes to scale from both sides of the table.In this conversation, you'll learn:- Why complacency is a bigger threat than competition at scale- How to detect churn long before it shows up in a report- What a CIO cancelling 900 AI pilots tells you about where enterprise AI is actually headed- How ServiceNow unified sales, customer success, field marketing, and partners into one GTM motion so customers never feel the org chart- Why ServiceNow monitors customer health daily — and what signals their teams actually track- How community became a core GTM advantage, not just a marketing channel- How ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower governs agents across the enterprise stack- Inside “Now on Now”: how ServiceNow generated $335M in annualized AI productivity gains using its own platform- How integrating Claude into the GTM workflow cut account planning from days to minutes- What DTC product thinking from Under Armour unlocked in enterprise GTM- How ServiceNow shifted from 6-month product releases to monthly innovation cycles- Paul’s advice for building a world-class GTM organization: put the best people in the right seatsGuest links: Guest - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulfipps/Guest company - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicenow/Guest company website: https://www.servicenow.com/Host links:Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comSponsors:HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights: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. 

Brett Queener (Partner at Bonfire Ventures) joins GTMnow to share what three decades across Siebel, early Salesforce, co-founding, and seed-stage investing has taught him about what actually wins now that software is cheaper and faster than he ever imagined.Brett was one of the earliest GTM hires at Salesforce when it had seven employees. He helped build the go-to-market playbook that defined a generation of SaaS: enterprise segmentation, sales motion design, product marketing, the whole works. He then co-founded SmartRecruiters, angel invested in companies like Outreach and Pando, and eventually joined Bonfire Ventures as a Partner to do early-stage investing the way he thinks it should be done: hands-on, operator-led, and built around founders who are ruthless about execution.Guest links:Brett Queener - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettqueener/Bonfire Ventures - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bonfire-ventures/Guest company website: https://www.bonfirevc.com/Host links:Max - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/Max - X: https://x.com/HackItMaxPaul - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirving/Paul - X: https://x.com/PaulGTMNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comBrought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fund admin infrastructure allowed us to scale without sacrificing agility — from onboarding hundreds of LPs seamlessly to handling compliance, capital calls, and reporting as our fund size evolved.As we expanded from Fund I to Fund II, AngelList took care of the back-office operations, allowing us to stay focused on what matters most: investing in world-class founders and building the strongest go-to-market network in venture.They’ve scaled with us across funds and into the future.If your fund is growing in size or complexity, check them out at https://angellist.com/gtmfund.Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights:00:00 – Brett's career: Siebel, Salesforce employee #7, co-founder, angel investor, seed-stage VC06:58 – The big shift: from passive CRUD apps to agentic software that does the work for you08:07 – "Failing upwards" and what the fastest-growing companies taught Brett about investing in people10:58 – Why Brett moved into VC: 25 years of operators whose collective worth hit $25B16:50 – What Brett looks for in founders now and how it's changed over 6-7 years18:05 – Why anybody can build anything: Brett builds a fully functional travel app in 15 minutes19:20 – The last remaining 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. 

Dan Wright (Co-founder & CEO of Armada) joins GTMnow to unpack what it actually takes to bring AI infrastructure to the places the cloud was never built to reach.The cloud covers about 30% of the world. The other 70% (think: oil rigs, the Arctic tundra, military ships, remote mines) is where some of the most critical decisions happen, making latency a life-or-death and billions of dollars difference. Armada is building the infrastructure for that part of the world: modular, ruggedized AI data centers that go to the data, instead of the other way around.From the first offshore edge computing deployment with the US Navy, to cutting avalanche response times in Alaska from over a day to real time, to sovereign AI installations in Saudi Arabia with Aramco and Microsoft, Armada is redefining what operating at the edge even means.In this episode, we cover:- Why cloud infrastructure was built for a pre-AI world and what that gap costs- How Starlink turned every remote location into a potential AI cluster- What "distributed intelligence" means and why it's the founding principle behind Armada- The global race for AI sovereignty and why modular compute is the linchpin- How Armada goes to market when a product demo involves shipping a 40-foot container to a desert (yes, really)- Why customer champions are better than any sales rep- The Microsoft partnership and how Armada extends Azure to places Azure could never go on its own- Category creation lessons from building a company before the market had a name for the industry- What's next: SpaceX, sovereign AI, and why Dan thinks humans are on the moon in two years (yes, REALLY)Guest links: Dan Wright - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wrightdh/, hDan Wright - X: https://x.com/danwrightSFArmada - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/armadaai/Armada - Website: https://www.armada.ai/Host links:Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Sophie Buonassisi - X: https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comSponsors: HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/Nooks - the AI workspace for outbound teams, where AI agents handle prospecting, rThe 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. 

NEW: @Sheila Vashee (CMO of @Figma) joins GTMnow to share how she thinks about brand building across every stage. From selling brownies at age eight, to second marketing hire at Dropbox scaling to $1B+ in annualized revenue, to now leading marketing at one of the most beloved software brands in the world, Sheila has seen it all.In this conversation, you’ll learn what brand actually means (hint: it's not your logo), how PLG companies make the leap to enterprise, why being obsessively close to your customers is a compounding advantage, and how AI is reshaping the marketing playbook without replacing the human craft that sets great brands apart.Guest links:- Guest - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilavashee/ - Guest company - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/figma/- Guest company website: https://www.figma.com/Host links:- Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/- Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona- Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comSponsors: - HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/- Granola - the AI notepad that turns meetings into action by capturing context, decisions, and next steps automatically. Head to https://www.granola.ai/gtmfund  and get three months free with the code GTMFUND.Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights:00:00 – The brownie stand: why brand building started at age eight03:55 – How Sheila defines brand: it's what people say when you're not in the room05:08 – Joining Dropbox as the second marketing hire06:07 – Space Race: the campaign that defined Dropbox's early strategy06:56 – What consumer marketing taught her about driving revenue08:29 – Measuring brand ROI through match market testing09:15 – How Figma thinks about brand building at a macro level11:21 – The PLG-to-enterprise equation: what Figma did early that Dropbox waited too long on15:02 – Why building the enterprise team is both operational and optical17:12 – How FigmThe 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. 

Bill Binch (Operating Partner at Battery Ventures) joins GTMnow to share the operational frameworks he's built across 116 quarters on quota, and what actually changes when you move from driving revenue to advising an entire portfolio.Before Battery, Bill was employee #16 at Marketo, where he led sales from zero revenue through IPO and a Vista Equity acquisition. He then served as CRO at Pendo, helping scale ARR to nearly $100M in only three years. His career spans some of the most defining sales organizations in enterprise software, from Oracle to PeopleSoft.- Bill Binch - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-binch-302a4a2/, - Battery Ventures - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/battery-ventures/- Battery Ventures website: https://www.battery.com/Host links:- Max - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/- Max - X: https://x.com/HackItMax- Paul - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirving/- Paul - X: https://x.com/PaulGTM- Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comBrought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fund admin infrastructure allowed us to scale without sacrificing agility — from onboarding hundreds of LPs seamlessly to handling compliance, capital calls, and reporting as our fund size evolved.As we expanded from Fund I to Fund II, AngelList took care of the back-office operations, allowing us to stay focused on what matters most: investing in world-class founders and building the strongest go-to-market network in venture.They’ve scaled with us across funds and into the future.If your fund is growing in size or complexity, check them out at https://angellist.com/gtmfund.Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights:00:00 – Bill's career path: Oracle, Marketo employee #16, Pendo CRO, and choosing Arizona over tech hubs15:01 – Battery's approach: why there's no one-size-fits-all playbook19:56 – Outreach's accidental sales experiment: remote vs. in-person results21:23 – What nobody tells you about the transition from CRO to operating partner23:01 – Gold watch and slippers? Why opeThe 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. 

Dan Lee (Co-Founder & CEO of Nooks) joins GTMnow to give a behind the scenes on how Nooks is launching a new Agent Workspace and AI Sequencing layer designed to operate across the full action set of a rep’s day — calls, emails, research, prospecting, and strategy.The conversation explores why top of funnel is changing the fastest, why traditional sequencing tools optimize the “move” but not the strategy, and how AI systems that learn from rep behavior can compound advantage over time. As adoption deepens, automation can move from ~40% of outbound execution toward 70% and beyond, while switching away resets that intelligence.We also discuss the broader category shift: customers pushing AI-native tools to take on incumbents, the rise of agent workspaces as the new interface for GTM teams, and why calls remain the most data-rich channel in outbound compared to silent email non-responses.Sponsors:Granola - the AI notepad that turns meetings into action by capturing context, decisions, and next steps automatically. Head to https://www.granola.ai/gtmfund and get three months free with the code GTMFUND.HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/Guest links: Guest - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan9lee/Guest company - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nooksapp/Guest company website: https://www.nooks.ai/Host links:Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comTranscript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights:00:00 – Announcing the Agent Workspace and AI sequencing product01:25 – Why sales is fundamentally human (even in the AI era)02:39 – The Agent Workspace as the human–AI interface02:56 – Why legacy sequencing tools were built for a manual world04:14 – The sales chess analogy: understand the board before making the move05:02 – Reps spend too much time "making the move"06:00 – Nooks as a simulatiThe 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. 

Emir Atli (Co-founder and CRO of HockeyStack) joins GTMnow to share how go-to-market is shifting in the AI era — from fragmented tools and GTM sprawl to unified, AI-native platforms built on a single data foundation.Originally known for attribution and market intelligence, HockeyStack is evolving into a central operating system for go-to-market, spanning marketing, sales, and post-sales through AI agents, blueprints, and an execution layer.We also explore weekly GTM sprints, founder-led content as a pipeline driver (even with <100 followers), and the long-game mindset behind building a generational company from age 20 after YC.In this episode, we cover:- Why you can’t layer AI onto legacy GTM — you must rebuild GTM around AI- The “sprawl crisis” and why siloed tools break without a single data foundation- HockeyStack’s evolution from attribution to a unified GTM operating system- AI agents, blueprints, and the shift from reporting to execution- Why consolidation is moving from tools to full buyer journey control- The case for a winner-takes-all GTM platform- How AI increases leverage across reps, managers, and pipeline reviews- Weekly GTM sprints and faster iteration cycles in the AI era- Founder-led content as a core growth engine and pipeline driver- LinkedIn as a top channel for MQL-to-opportunity and deal acceleration- The 10-year mindset, YC lessons, and building a generational companySponsor:Granola - the AI notepad that turns meetings into action by capturing context, decisions, and next steps automatically. Head to https://www.granola.ai/?via=gtmfund&dub_id=ytmcNnCjtlqCbgH5 and get three months free with the code GTMFUND.Guest links: Emir Atli - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiratli/- HockeyStack - Website: https://www.hockeystack.com/- HockeyStack - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hockeystack/Host links:- Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/- Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona- Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comTranscript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights:00:00 – The GTM sprawl crisis and why AI breaks in siloed systems01:50 – From attribution to a GTM operating system02:41 – Launching AI agents, blueprints, and the execution layer in 202603:57 – Building a single data foundation across the buyer journey05:09 – Why GTM must be rebuilt around AI (not layered with tools)06:23 – Doing "more with more" and increasing management leverage07:30 – Tool consolidation vs controlling the buyer journey08:48 – 2026–2028: the great GTM consolidation wave09:01 – The case for a winner-takes-all GTM platform10:10 – Moat: data foundation + application layer11: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. 

Amanda “Robby” Robson (Founder of Modern Technical Fund) joins GTMnow to break down how she evaluates companies at the very earliest stages and why discipline matters more than ever in today’s market.Amanda has spent over a decade in venture before launching Modern Technical Fund, investing across verticals ranging from security and compliance to developer tools at firms like Norwest and Cowboy Ventures. Her investment thesis is centered on backing elite technical founders early and helping them translate deep engineering talent into real products, real customers, and real momentum.In this conversation, we unpack how Amanda thinks about founder quality, market timing, and risk when there’s limited data and plenty of noise, which is more critical than ever in an AI-heavy investing environment.Guest LinksAmanda’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-robson-7227685b/Amanda’s Twitter: https://x.com/robby_mtfModern Technical Fund’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-technical-fund/Modern Technical Fund website: https://moderntechnicalfund.com/Host links: Max - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/Max - X: https://x.com/HackItMaxPaul - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirving/Paul - X: https://x.com/PaulGTMNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comBrought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fund admin infrastructure allowed us to scale without sacrificing agility — from onboarding hundreds of LPs seamlessly to handling compliance, capital calls, and reporting as our fund size evolved.As we expanded from Fund I to Fund II, AngelList took care of the back-office operations, allowing us to stay focused on what matters most: investing in world-class founders and building the strongest go-to-market network in venture.They’ve scaled with us across funds and into the future.If your fund is growing in size or complexity, check them out at www.angellist.com/gtmfund.Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnowThe 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. 

Archana Agrawal (President of Intercom) joins GTMnow to share how Intercom (founded in 2011) successfully restructured its product, pricing, and go-to-market to become AI-native at a speed and scale most legacy SaaS companies haven’t achieved.Their agent, Fin, now handles 80%+ of support volume, resolves 1M customer issues per week, and has grown from $1M to $100M+ ARR with a $0.99 outcome-based pricing model backed by up to a $1M performance guarantee if resolution targets aren’t met.In this episode, we cover:- Why customer support is fundamentally a 24/7 business- How Fin now handles 80%+ of customer queries through automation- Why human empathy often breaks down in real-world support workflows- How AI makes instant, individualized service possible for the first time- Why Intercom put a million-dollar guarantee behind its resolution rate- What it takes to confidently price software on outcomes- Why the future of support is humans + AISponsors: Granola - the AI notepad that turns meetings into action by capturing context, decisions, and next steps automatically. Head to https://www.granola.ai/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=gtmfund&utm_campaign=intercom-episode  and get three months free with the code GTMFUND.HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/Guest links: - Archana Agrawal - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/archana-agrawal/- Intercom - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/- Intercom’s Fin Agent: https://fin.ai/Host links:- Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/- Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona- Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comTranscript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com/Highlights:00:00 – Why Intercom went all-in on AI03:23 – What Fin is and how it changes customer support05:27 – How Fin scaled to a 6The 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. 

Lou Shipley (three-time CEO, Harvard Business School professor, and author of Unlikely Entrepreneurs) joins GTMnow to break down why most founders struggle to turn good ideas into great companies.Lou has led companies through acquisitions, teaches sales and go-to-market at Harvard, and has spent decades studying what actually separates companies that scale from those that stall.In this conversation, we unpack why understanding customer pain and learning how to sell are still the two most important founder skills, especially as product moats decline and go-to-market becomes the real differentiator.In this episode, we discuss:- Why understanding customer pain matters more than having a great idea- Why early selling should optimize for learning, not revenue- Why founders can’t outsource sales too early- How distribution becomes a competitive advantage at scale- What makes “unlikely entrepreneurs” outperform expectations- Why small, high-quality teams beat large organizations- Why churn is a symptom, not the root problem- How product-market fit quietly changes as companies grow- Why founders must evolve from heroic sellers to system builders- How culture becomes a real go-to-market assetLou also shares lessons from teaching sales at Harvard, profiling 13 unlikely entrepreneurs, and working with founders who realized too late that they were building the wrong company for the wrong customer.If you’re a founder, operator, or investor trying to avoid costly early mistakes and build a company that actually scales, this episode will give you a clearer mental model for what matters most.Timestamps:00:00 – What actually makes a company great00:26 – Why early selling is about learning, not revenue01:47 – Why founders misunderstand customer pain02:06 – “If you build it, they will come” is a lie02:33 – Distribution as the real moat02:58 – What makes an “unlikely entrepreneur” succeed06:15 – Why age and experience increase founder success07:01 – Curiosity, coachability, and risk elimination09:29 – Why founders can’t outsource sales too early15:26 – Pattern recognition vs short-term ARR21:10 – Founder-led sales vs scalable systems29:12 – Leadership, culture, and delegation33:18 – Founder evolution from $1M to $100M38:24 – When product-market fit starts to break39:15 – Why churn is a lagging indicator39:54 – Why small teams outperform large ones44:22 – Lessons from Unlikely Entrepreneurs45:23 – Final advice for foundersSponsors:HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at hockeystack.comGuest links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loushipley/X: https://twitter.com/loushipleyHost (Sophie Buonassisi) links:LinkedIn: 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. 

Healey Cypher (multi-time founder and CEO of BoomPop) joins GTMnow to unpack one of the fastest growing channels for company growth: in-person events.As AI floods digital channels with perfectly personalized messages, trust is becoming harder to earn online. Healey explains why events, dinners, and in-person experiences are becoming a premium GTM channel, not a nice-to-have, and how founders can use them intentionally for distribution, alignment, and acquisition.In this episode, we discuss:- Why in-person events are becoming a premium GTM channel in an AI-first world- How founders can de-risk distribution before building the product- The most common internal missteps that derail startups early- Why offsites are the new HQ for remote and hybrid teams- How to design offsites that drive alignment, not just fun- What makes a dinner actually work — including overlooked details like acoustics- How teams use events for customer acquisition and partnerships- Why kindness and positivity can be a real leadership advantageHealey also shares a powerful insight from Sam Altman that reframes how we should think about AI’s impact on trust and human connection.If you’re interested in scaling events as a growth channel, this episode will give you all the details you need and an understanding of what is working in today’s world.Timestamps:00:00 – Why founders underestimate distribution03:30 – Product vs distribution: what actually matters early06:45 – Why most startups fail from internal misalignment10:30 – Culture, communication, and focus as scaling constraints14:40 – Hybrid work broke alignment17:45 – Why offsites are becoming the new HQ21:30 – Events as a go-to-market strategy25:00 – AI, outbound fatigue, and inbox trust collapse28:40 – “In-person experiences are becoming a premium”32:30 – How to use events for customer and partner acquisition36:15 – What makes a high-impact event vs a wasted one39:50 – Dinners, summits, and unforgettable experiences43:30 – Leadership, kindness, and “don’t be a jerk”47:40 – Mental state as a competitive advantage52:30 – Final reflections and advice for foundersSponsors:HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at hockeystack.comGuest links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healeycypher/?hl=enHealey’s podcast: https://www.dontbeajerkpodcast.com/Mentioned Resources:Host (Sophie Buonassisi) links:X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comHost (GTMnow) links: 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. 

Why do so many go-to-market motions fall apart right when a company starts to scale?In this episode of GTMnow, Sophie Buonassisi sits down with Jeanne DeWitt Grosser, former GTM leader at Google and Stripe and now COO at Vercel, to unpack why GTM fragility is one of the most underdiagnosed risks in startups and scaling companies.This is a deep, operator-level conversation about what actually breaks in sales, why AI won’t magically fix it, and how the best teams treat go-to-market like a product that must be designed, tested, and iterated.If you are a founder, operator, or investor navigating growth, this episode will give you clearer mental models for building GTM that actually holds up under pressure.In this episode, we cover:Why most GTM motions fail at scale, even with strong productsWhat it really means to treat go-to-market like a productHow AI changes execution without changing fundamentalsThe rise of the forward deployed engineerWhy “lost on price” is usually a lieWhat great sales reps still do better than anyone in the AI eraHow to think about joining companies “early” without getting timing wrongListen if GTM feels fragile, unpredictable, or overly dependent on heroes.Timestamps00:00 – Introduction01:00 – “Yes is great. No is great. Maybe will kill you.”02:00 – Why go-to-market should be treated like a product04:45 – Designing the experience of being sold to06:30 – Using AI to debug GTM process failures09:00 – Why “lost on price” usually isn’t about price12:00 – What go-to-market engineering actually is16:00 – The rise of the forward deployed engineer20:45 – AI, agents, and what still needs human judgment25:45 – What great sales reps do differently in the AI era29:30 – Why GTM roles are becoming more consultative33:30 – Will there be an AI reckoning?38:00 – What “joining early” really means42:00 – Career lessons from Google, Stripe, and Vercel44:00 – Closing thoughts 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. 

Mark Goldberg is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Chemistry, a new early-stage venture firm with a $350M debut fund backing standout software companies from Seed to Series A. Prior to Chemistry, Mark was a Partner at Index Ventures, where he led early-stage investments across software and fintech for nearly a decade. Before Index, Mark was one of the first business hires at Dropbox, helping the company navigate hypergrowth. Discussed in this episodeWhy Mark studied international relations, and why venture feels like “the liberal arts of jobs”Index’s US “invisibility” era and what that taught him about building a new firmThe Chemistry spinout thesis: “take great multi-stage DNA, reconstitute it with focus”Fund design: pre-seed → seed → A, light reserves, and concentrated doubling-downHiring strategy: network access > spreadsheet diligenceCulture principles: excellence, performance, “no one takes themselves too seriously”Conviction-based investing vs consensus IC, and why omissions are the real killerThe hardest lesson in venture: managing co-founder dynamics (and when to just listen)Episode highlights00:00 — “A+ people want to work with A+ people.”01:46 — GTMfund’s 2026 prediction: big players come roaring back (Google, Meta, Microsoft, Uber/Waymo).14:51 — GTMfund platform metrics: thousands of support items, intros, hires, and fundraising connects.26:29 — Why Mark left Index to build Chemistry: big-fund lessons, rebuilt with focus.33:39 — Chemistry’s strategy: early-stage focus, light reserves, and building for “product-market discovery.”44:05 — “Venture doesn’t scale well.” Why Chemistry stays small to avoid bureaucracy.49:59 — Events that actually work: chess tournaments, surfing, and hobby-driven gathering > happy hours.54:56 — Investment process: conviction, not consensus—optimize for outliers, not averages.1:10:32 — Hardest lesson in venture: co-founder dynamics, and learning when to listen (not “advise”).Brought to you by: AngelListFrom starting as a small, operator-led rolling fund, to evolving to an institutional platform, AngelList has been a core partner in every phase of GTMfund’s growth. Their software-first fund admin infrastructure allowed us to scale without sacrificing agility — from onboarding hundreds of LPs seamlessly to handling compliance, capital calls, and reporting as our fund size evolved.As we expanded from Fund I to Fund II, AngelList took care of the back-office operations, allowing us to stay focused on what matters most: investing in world-class founders and building the strongest go-to-market network in venture. They’ve scaled with us across funds and into the future.If your fund is growing in size or complexity, check them out at www.angellist.com/gtmfund.Follow Mark GoldbergLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-goldberg-25458110X (Twitter): https://x.com/Mark_Goldberg_X (formerly Twitter)Chemistry (website): https://www.chemistry.vc/ChemistryThe 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. 

Abbas Haider Ali is SVP of Customer Success at GitHub, where he leads a 550+ person post-sales organization supporting a $2B+ ARR business serving over 150 million developers, including more than 90% of the Fortune 100.Previously, Abbas was VP of Customer & Partner Success at Twilio following its acquisition of Segment, and has held executive roles at xMatters, Opnet Technologies, Managed Objects, and IBM. He is also a General Partner at GTM Operators Network, investing from seed through growth, and is deeply committed to mentorship and advancing underrepresented leaders in tech.Discussed in this episode:Why “AI-led growth” can hide churn and value erosionLagging vs leading indicators for retention enduranceWhy the CS investment benchmark is shifting from 10% → ~7%A simple “waterfall” for allocating post-sales budget: support → onboarding → outcomesHow to “lever up” the envelope with premium support + professional servicesWhy expansion (not renewals) is the early signal of product-market fitThe rise of AI-powered specialized generalists in post-salesWhen forward deployed engineers make sense (and when they’re just a fad)Episode highlights00:00 — Why customer expansion is the real signal of product-market fit00:50 — Lagging revenue vs. leading indicators of endurance04:11 — Why the CS benchmark dropped from 10% to 7%08:41 — How AI moved from internal efficiency to customer-facing leverage11:41 — Why retention cost matters more than CAC in the AI era14:17 — The simplest framework for allocating the 7% CS budget18:53 — Founder-led CS, design partners, and early-stage PMF myths23:16 — The rise of AI-powered specialized generalists30:00 — When forward-deployed engineers actually make sense49:31 — The one rule for building a durable SaaS companyThis episode is brought to you by our sponsor: HockeyStackIf you run go-to-market, you already know the problem: your data lives everywhere. Spreadsheets, CRMs, sales calls, ad platforms… yet you’re still guessing what to do next.HockeyStack is the AI platform for modern GTM teams. It unifies all your sales and marketing data into a single system of action. Built-in AI agents help teams prospect the right accounts, improve conversions, close and expand deals, and scale what works. That’s why teams like RingCentral, Outreach, ActiveCampaign, and Fortune 100 companies rely on HockeyStack to eliminate wasted spend, take better decisions, and make space to think.Learn more at hockeystack.comFollow Abbas Haider AliLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbashaideraliX (Twitter): https://x.com/abbashaideraliGitHub: https://github.com/AbbasHaiderAliFollow Sophie Buonassisi (Host)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisiX (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com 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. 

Adam Carr is the Chief Revenue Officer at Apollo, where he’s scaling revenue by layering sales on top of a $150M+ ARR product-led growth engine. Previously, Adam helped scale Miro from a PLG-led company into a global sales organization, contributing to its growth into a $17.5B business. He’s known for building systems-driven GTM teams that turn product signals into durable revenue.Discussed in this episodeWhy PLG is gravity (signals + acquisition) and sales is the monetization layerThe “one-team” model to prevent PLG vs. sales cannibalizationBuilding talent density (and why slowing hiring can be the fastest path)Hiring for curiosity, coachability, ownership, and team-first executionThe “architect / systems thinker” profile for modern sellersA new post-sales model: CSMs → technical GTM Engineers + intervention-led journeyUsing customer journey milestones to drive expansion and prevent churn proactivelyAI in GTM: streamlining manual work so humans focus on better conversationsEpisode highlights00:00 — PLG is about signaling + acquisition (not monetization)01:30 — “PLG isn’t the monetization way… it’s layering sales.”02:41 — Talent density: hire for the next 12–18 months, not just “today”04:50 — The soft skills that scaled Miro: curiosity, coachability, ownership08:38 — Why Adam hires “architects” (system thinkers) instead of just sellers10:41 — The mindset shift: celebrate value realized, not contracts signed15:41 — Replacing CSMs with “go-to-market engineers” + an intervention model19:14 — Turning PLG signals into PQA/PQL routing (and reducing the “noise”)29:26 — “100M ARR is late” — when to start layering sales into PLGGuest linksLinkedIn (Adam Carr):https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamhcarrFollow Sophie Buonassisi (Host)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisiX (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.comWhere to Find GTMnowWebsite: https://gtmnow.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowX (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowPodcast Directory: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcastThe 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. 

Cassie Young is a General Partner at Primary Venture Partners, a $1B AUM early-stage firm in New York backing category-defining SaaS, fintech, and vertical software companies. Before investing, she spent 15 years as a GTM operator, serving as Chief Revenue Officer at Sailthru and later Chief Customer & Commercial Officer at Marigold (Campaign Monitor, Sailthru, and other martech brands), where she scaled global sales, marketing, and customer success organizations.Today, Cassie leads investments while also running Primary’s Impact program, giving founders access to a 30-person team across talent, GTM, and strategic finance, and she continues to teach operators through programs like Pavilion and Duke’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship board.Discussed in this episode:How Cassie “accidentally” became a VC after 15 years in GTM leadership.The career advice Bill Gurley gave her that changed her trajectory.Why Primary refuses to say “platform” and instead built a 30-person Impact team.How she actually sources pre-seed/seed founders before they leave their jobs.Primary’s 5-part Founder Outcomes Framework (vision, talent, JDCE, and more).The difference between real traction vs. “happy ears” and fake design partners.Why she’s picky on GTM/AI tools and looks for step-change, not incremental gains.How operators can actually break into VC (hint: it’s all about doing the work).Episode highlights00:35 — Clay, usage-based pricing, and the $100M ARR rocketship09:10 — The real story on AISDR: where AI reps actually work (and where they really don’t)14:02 — Inside “The Gross Retention Apocalypse” and why AI experimental budgets are a ticking time bomb22:46 — How Cassie accidentally became a VC and the Bill Gurley advice that changed her career path27:17 — Why Primary hates the word “platform” and how Cassie built a 30-person Impact team for founders36:10 — Cassie breaks down her 5-part founder outcomes framework (including “jaw-dropping customer experience”)46:01 — Avoiding “happy ears”: how founders should really use design partners and MedPick-style rigor57:48 — Time to value as the new north star and why nailing a tight wedge beats peanut-buttering features1:01:29 — So you want to be a VC: Cassie’s playbook for operators to break into venture (without delusion)Brought to you by: AngelListHow did we build the GTMfund back office? Easy!We leveraged AngelList’s Rolling Fund product for Fund I, which was the perfect vehicle to scale up GTMfund in its first iteration. This structure allowed us to build our network, and add revenue leaders while we raised and deployed capital simultaneously, which was crucial for getting early points on the board and building relationships with founders.For Fund II, we transitioned to a traditional closed-end fund structure through AngelList. This time with institutional investor support. This model allowed us to be more intentional about our portfolio construction. We worked closely with the AngelList team throughout this process, and they were incredible — always there to support us and our LPs every step of the way.If you’re raising a fund or are looking to migrate your fund, we highly recommend you check them out. You can do so at www.angellist.com/gtmfund.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. 

Dave Boyce is a go-to-market–focused technology executive, author of Freemium, and longtime SaaS operator and board member. Over two decades leading and advising B2B companies, he’s helped founders navigate the shift from sales-led to product-led, from gut-driven to instrumented, and now from manual GTM to AI-assisted systems. Today, Dave teaches revenue architecture and PLG through Winning by Design’s Growth Institute, works with leadership teams on Bow Tie–based growth models, and is all-in on how AI will reshape GTM as a true engineered system.Discussed in this episodeWhy classic sales & marketing playbooks haven’t caught up to how modern buyers actually buy.How the Bowtie model exposes the real levers of growth that funnels hide.Why PLG-style thinking is now essential even for sales-led and enterprise motions.The 3 first principles of freemium: empathy, generosity, and metrics.Where AI can reliably outperform humans across the customer journey, and where it absolutely shouldn’t.How to design hybrid human + AI workflows using a clear data model, not vibes.What RevOps should own in a modern revenue architecture (and why it can’t just serve the CRO narrative).Hard-earned founder lessons from Fundly on reinvention, calling bets early, and letting go of old branches.Episode highlights00:00 — GTM is still running 20-year-old playbooks01:29 — “Sales, marketing, CS… the last unengineered engine”03:20 — The myth of “just add more heads”05:50 — The Fundly story: reinvention, too late08:30 — Why Freemium had to be written11:01 — Three first principles of freemium15:25 — Mapping AI across the entire customer journey19:29 — “Automate the predictable, humanize the exceptional”25:18 — What the Bowtie exposes that funnels hide27:25 — Building a “minimum viable BowtieThis episode is brought to you by our sponsor: ZoomInfoZoomInfo is the GTM Intelligence Platform built for sales, marketing, and RevOps.By unifying data, workflows, and insights into a single system, ZoomInfo helps revenue teams find and engage the right buyers, launch go-to-market plays faster, and drive predictable growth. With industry-leading accuracy and depth of data, it gives your team the intelligence advantage to win in competitive markets.It’s trusted by the fastest-growing companies and has become the category leader in GTM Intelligence.Learn more at zoominfo.com.Follow Dave Boyce (Guest)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boycedaveSubstack: https://daveboyce.substack.comWhere to Find GTMnowWebsite: https://gtmnow.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowX (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowPodcast Directory: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcastThe 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. 

Brian Weinberger is the Chief Revenue Officer at Sisense, a leading analytics platform helping companies embed intelligence into every product experience. With over 30 years in sales leadership across New York’s tech scene, Brian has built and scaled go-to-market teams at every stage—from early-stage startups to category-defining giants like Yext, Segment, and Salesforce.Discussed in this episodeThe evolution of partner selling — from VARs to SIs to ecosystemsHow to know if partner selling fits your GTM modelThe delivery-first mindset that drives retentionDirect vs. partner motion: Microsoft vs. SalesforceWhy enablement is the #1 green flag for partner successPartner marketing: how to make resellers self-sustainingUsing AI to power future-ready GTM modelsThe case for hybrid work in high-performance sales culturesEpisode Highlights00:00 — The “year four” moment when partners are selling for you01:07 — 30 years of selling through partners in New York03:22 — Start partner strategy with delivery, not distribution06:32 — Why partner selling creates “superhuman” sellers09:59 — Salesforce vs. Microsoft: direct vs. reseller — and why the future is hybrid12:13 — The startup hack: sell delivery on your paper, subcontract partners17:16 — A 90-day playbook for integration partnerships21:39 — Hiring the right people to build a partner business27:18 — How Sisense runs delivery partners and an Australian reseller29:55 — White-labeling Snowflake: using resell to get the giant’s attentionThis episode is brought to you by our sponsor: BoomPopWe’re deep in event planning right now, as no doubt many of you are.Whether it’s an offsite, conference, or any other kind of event, BoomPop makes that happen with end-to-end 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.Being part of GTMnow, you’re eligible for full-service event planning for just $99 per person (terms apply). Head to boompop.com/gtmfund to explore seamless support for your events.Follow Brian WeinbergerLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianweinbergerRecommended BooksWhat Great Salespeople Do by Michael Bosworth & Ben Zoldan — The power of storytelling in salesThe Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler & Robin Koval — Why kindness compounds in businessSacred Hoops by Phil Jackson — Coaching and leadership lessons from the Bulls dynastyReferencedSisense: https://www.sisense.comSnowflake: https://www.snowflake.comAWS: https://aws.amazon.comSalesforce: https://www.salesforce.comMicrosoft: https://www.microsoft.comAccenture (SI example): https://www.accenture.comThe 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. 

This bonus episode dives into how Cristina Cordova (Stripe’s 20th hire, early leader at Notion, now COO at Linear) spots exceptional talent early, and how she pressure-tests whether a team and product are truly worth betting on. It’s a crisp, tactical look at evaluating “spikiness,” finding beloved products (even with limited data), and building GTM the right way from day one.Cristina Cordova is a seasoned operator who has scaled some of the most iconic companies in tech. At Stripe, she built and led partnerships that became a foundational revenue engine, including the pivotal deal with Shopify. At Notion, she helped turn viral adoption into a durable distribution strategy powered by community. Today, Cristina is the Chief Operating Officer at Linear, where she’s applying her experience building high-velocity GTM engines to the next generation of developer-first tools.This is a clip from the full episode with Cristina (an inside look at the judgment frameworks behind Stripe, Notion, and now Linear) and the practical filters every GTM leader can use to pick winners early.Discussed in This ClipHow to recognize “exceptional” even outside your own domainFinding early proof a product is truly beloved (signals > vanity metrics)Starting with a sharp market wedge, then earning the right to expandWhy founders who excel at something—anything—tend to excel at company-buildingWhat to expect from early operators: founder mode and bias to executeSales hiring for technical buyers (and why quotas can help earlier than you think)Aligning tightly with founders as an exec: relationships drive outcomesHow to assess GTM on day one: ride-alongs, raw customer feedback, ground truthHighlights00:00 — The difference between good and great—and how to spot it across functions00:12 — Why this clip hit: Cristina’s framework for identifying exceptional people early01:17 — Looking for skills you don’t have—and recognizing greatness outside your lane03:38 — Evidence a product is beloved (Stripe on Hacker News, Notion on Twitter)04:49 — Start with a wedge; win big later (why early enterprise skeptics don’t matter)07:54 — “Spikiness” and unconventional signals of excellence (Minecraft servers to sales)12:52 — What great early leaders do: see problems, create strategy, then execute16:45 — Sales at product-led companies: hire technical sellers, set quotas sooner21:31 — How Cristina assesses GTM on day one: ride-alongs, direct customer observationThis episode is brought to you by our sponsor: BoomPopWe’re deep in event planning right now, as no doubt many of you are.Whether it’s an offsite, conference, or any other kind of event, BoomPop makes that happen with end-to-end 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.Being part of GTMnow, you’re eligible for full-service event planning for just $99 per person (terms apply). Head to boompop.com/gtmfund to explore seamless support for your events.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. 

Alex Clayton is one of the clearest minds in growth-stage investing, the person elite founders turn to when the market is noisy and the stakes are high. A General Partner at Meritech Capital, Alex has built a reputation for breaking down complex businesses with uncommon clarity, from his legendary S-1 teardowns to his frameworks on power laws, secondaries, and AI-native growth. Before Meritech, he honed his craft at Spark Capital and Redpoint, backing breakout companies like Braze, JFrog, Outreach, Pendo, Duo Security, and RelateIQ. A former ATP tennis pro and Stanford team captain, Alex brings that same discipline, pattern recognition, and competitive fire to evaluating the next generational companies.Discussed in this episodeWhy GAAP revenue and cash burn are the two metrics that quietly govern everything.How AI is changing growth rates, margins, and what “good” looks like in SaaS.The rise of secondaries, and why they now rival or exceed IPO volume.How to read an S-1 like a pro (and what Alex looks for first).Founder ownership, fund lifecycles, and how long companies really stay private.Why power laws in venture are getting even steeper in the AI era.How AI is reshaping pricing models from seats to usage and outcomes.Which iconic private companies are most likely to go public in the next 3 years.Episode highlights02:40 — Is the IPO window really back? 05:10 — Secondaries quietly outpacing IPOs08:10 — The only two metrics that matter10:56 — AI growth that breaks SaaS mental models26:20 — From “software” to “SaaS” to “AI”… and back again29:25 — Seat-based pricing vs outcome-based AI pricing34:55 — The capital tidal wave & longer private lives44:00 — Bubble vs biggest opportunity of our careers57:17 — What the rest of the 2020s look like1:03:41 — Why GAAP revenue + cash burn still winBrought to you by: AngelListHow did we build the GTMfund back office? Easy!We leveraged AngelList’s Rolling Fund product for Fund I, which was the perfect vehicle to scale up GTMfund in its first iteration. This structure allowed us to build our network, and add revenue leaders while we raised and deployed capital simultaneously, which was crucial for getting early points on the board and building relationships with founders.For Fund II, we transitioned to a traditional closed-end fund structure through AngelList. This time with institutional investor support. This model allowed us to be more intentional about our portfolio construction. We worked closely with the AngelList team throughout this process, and they were incredible — always there to support us and our LPs every step of the way.If you’re raising a fund or are looking to migrate your fund, we highly recommend you check them out. You can do so at www.angellist.com/gtmfund.Follow Alex ClaytonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aclaytonX (Twitter): https://x.com/afcFollow Max Altschuler (Host)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/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. 

Chris Degnan is the former Chief Revenue Officer of Snowflake, where he helped scale the company from pre-product to over $4B in ARR and more than $100B in market cap. Over his 11-year tenure, Chris built Snowflake’s go-to-market engine from the ground up, from personally running the first outbound campaigns to leading a global sales organization through four CEOs and one of the largest software IPOs in history.Today, he advises founders and revenue leaders on how to build high-velocity GTM teams, hire with grit, and scale with discipline. Chris is also the co-author of Make It Snow, the definitive playbook on Snowflake’s go-to-market journey, co-written with CMO Denise Persson.Discussed in this episodeThe early days of Snowflake: selling a stealth startup with no productHow to hire and identify truly self-motivated, gritty sales talentThe lessons from John McMahon that shaped Snowflake’s leadership DNAHow to build sales-marketing alignment that actually scalesThe near-death experiences that almost killed SnowflakeWhat great CEOs do differently, from Muglia to SlootmanThe power of focusing on new logo acquisitionThe evolution of sales methodologies: MEDDPICC, culture, and curiosityThe truth about AI’s “bubble”, and what’s real beneath the hypeEpisode highlights00:02:21 — Why join Snowflake pre-product and in stealth.00:05:36 — The original outreach script and what resonated with prospects.00:06:49 — Scaling from lists to SDRs; Degnan’s “8 meetings per week” rule.00:09:11 — Hiring for self-starters; the interview opener: “Tell me your life story.”00:12:49 — The feedback loop that kept a CRO in seat for 11 years.00:24:46 — The outage that almost killed Snowflake, and how leadership showed up.00:28:34 — New logo gates every quarter and why it mattered more than anything.00:34:05 — “Customer success is everyone’s job”: removing CS, monetizing PS, driving adoption.00:36:40 — Databricks: where Snowflake ceded ground and what they’d do differently.00:39:19 — Why going public was the right move for enterprise trust.This episode is brought to you by our sponsor: BoomPopWe’re deep in event planning right now, as no doubt many of you are.Whether it’s an offsite, conference, or any other kind of event,BoomPop makes that happen with end-to-end 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.Being part of GTMnow, you’re eligible for full-service event planning for just $99 per person (terms apply). Head to boompop.com/gtmfund to explore seamless support for your events.Follow Chris DegnanLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-degnan-524470Make It Snow (book):https://makeitsnowbook.comThe 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. 

Michel Tricot is the co-founder and CEO of Airbyte, the open-source data movement platform he launched in 2020. Before Airbyte, Michel led integrations and served as Director of Engineering at LiveRamp, where he scaled the teams and pipelines that synced massive data volumes. He also helped build rideOS as a founding engineer and Director of Engineering. Michel has spent 15+ years in data infrastructure, with a focus on commoditizing data pipelines and giving teams control and sovereignty over their data. Discussed in this episodeWhy Airbyte launched open source first (catching engineers “at the search”)Project-market fit vs. product-market fit, and why they’re differentThe content engine: founder-led writing, shipping slides, and radical transparencyTurning interest into community: 25k+ Slack, champions, and hiring from withinThe near-misses: hiring ahead of PMF, support-heavy community, cloud complexityGoing upmarket: enterprise motion, longer cycles, and team ramp realitiesAI wave → agents as “data consumers” and what it means for pipelinesReplatforming for control & sovereignty, not just “more connectors”This episode is brought to you by our sponsor: ZoomInfoZoomInfo is the GTM Intelligence Platform built for sales, marketing, and RevOps.By unifying data, workflows, and insights into a single system, ZoomInfo helps revenue teams find and engage the right buyers, launch go-to-market plays faster, and drive predictable growth. With industry-leading accuracy and depth of data, it gives your team the intelligence advantage to win in competitive markets.It’s trusted by the fastest-growing companies and has become the category leader in GTM Intelligence.Learn more at zoominfo.com.Follow Michel TricotLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheltricotX (Twitter):https://x.com/MichelTricotWebsite:https://airbyte.com/AirbyteHost linksLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/Website: https://gtmnow.com/Where to Find GTMnowWebsite: https://gtmnow.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowX (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowPodcast Directory: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcastThe 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. 

Tessa Whittaker is the VP of Revenue Operations at ZoomInfo, where she leads a 70-person global team powering one of SaaS’s most efficient $1B+ revenue engines. Over the past decade, she’s helped architect the systems, cadence, and AI workflows that underpin how ZoomInfo operates at scale.Tessa is known as one of the most thoughtful operators in tech, bringing structure, clarity, and rigor to how GTM organizations run. Her work sits at the intersection of data, process, and execution, proving that with the right operating cadence, even the most complex go-to-market systems can move in rhythm.Discussed in this episodeBuilding a personal operating system (Salesforce's V2MOM, Notion, weekly reviews) that maps vision → methods → measurable actions.“Operating rhythm” for GTM: the meetings, reviews, and enablement that create predictable execution.Color-coding calendars to align time with quarterly KPIs (and fixing misallocation).Counterintuitive up-market move: automate down-market so scarce humans focus on enterprise.AI intake & prioritization agent: compressing 10–15 hrs of RevOps scoping into one interaction.Democratizing creation: org-wide agent “hackathons,” usage leaderboards, and adoption lessons.Health OS during sprints: cut alcohol, protect sleep, simplify to sustain output.What to buy vs. build; auditing tech stacks; avoiding (and accepting some) agent sprawl.Episode highlights00:00 — Systems beat motivation; why cadence creates consistency.01:36 — RevOps as connective tissue of SaaS; the “invest earlier” regret.03:58 — From EA to SVP-level ops leader to VP RevOps: the long workback.06:51 — Why operators obsess over simplifying complexity.12:24 — Time as the scarcest resource: color-coding calendars to goals.20:05 — The RevOps operating rhythm at ZoomInfo (and how AI slots in).21:48 — Going upmarket? Automate downmarket first to free resources.31:19 — Intake agent: collapsing 10–15 hours of back-and-forth into one interaction.36:48 — Democratizing creation: internal agent hackathons and a usage leaderboard.44:30 — The Alchemist and reframing growth: get uncomfortable to keep climbing.This episode is brought to you by our sponsorsThe best talent isn’t actively job hunting. Pursuit helps companies hire elite go-to-market talent on a non-retainer basis. As a key GTMfund partner, they equip sales and marketing teams with top performers.If you’re hiring for sales or marketing roles, reach out to Pursuit at pursuitsalessolutions.com/gtm or message a GTMfund team member.Guest links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-whittaker-44903940Where to Find GTMnowWebsite: https://gtmnow.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow/X (Twitter):https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowThe 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. 

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. 

This bonus episode dives into how Rick Kelley helped scale Meta’s global sales organization (from 900 employees to 90,000) and the playbook behind building high-performing international teams.Rick Kelley is the former SVP of Gaming and App Monetization Solutions at Meta and Managing Director of Meta Ireland, where he led a $1B+ revenue organization and played a pivotal role in building out Meta’s go-to-market teams across North America and EMEA. Over his 15-year career at Meta, Rick was instrumental in driving international expansion, especially across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa—helping to localize strategy, scale high-performing sales teams, and bring new ad products to market. Today, he advises founders on global GTM execution, sales hiring, and how AI is reshaping the future of commercial organizations.This is a clip from the full episode with Rick, an inside look at how Meta built its $1B EMEA business and the lessons every GTM leader can apply to scale globally.Discussed in This Clip:The exact framework Rick used to decide which EMEA markets to enter firstHow Meta built a $1B+ regional business from just three salespeopleThe power of centralization in early-stage go-to-marketWhy you should plan every headcount allocation before hiringCreating “optionality” in your sales org to weather changeHow gaming became Meta’s fifth global regionWhen to localize sales teams versus staying centralizedWhy AI can make sales more efficient—but can’t replace relationshipsHighlights00:12 — Scaling Meta: from 900 to 90,000 employees01:22 — How Rick Kelley built Meta’s mid-market sales org from scratch02:15 — The data-driven framework Meta used to prioritize global markets04:50 — Why startups should build expansion plans before executing07:52 — Centralized vs. in-country hiring: Rick’s take for startups09:49 — The importance of sales ops and forecasting discipline13:32 — Hiring leaders who scale with you, not limit you14:59 — How AI will reshape (but not replace) sales relationships16:09 — From zero to $1B: lessons in efficiency, cost, and cultureThis Episode Is Brought to You ByZoomInfo is the GTM Intelligence Platform built for sales, marketing, and RevOps. By unifying data, workflows, and insights into a single system, ZoomInfo helps revenue teams find and engage the right buyers, launch go-to-market plays faster, and drive predictable growth. With industry-leading accuracy and depth of data, it gives your team the intelligence advantage to win in competitive markets.It’s trusted by the fastest-growing companies and has become the category leader in GTM Intelligence.Learn more at zoominfo.com.Follow Rick KelleyLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickkelley/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. 

Guy Yalif is Chief Evangelist at Webflow and a veteran B2B marketing leader with 20+ years across Twitter, Yahoo, BrightRoll, and as co-founder/CEO of Intellimize (acquired by Webflow). He champions AI-driven optimization for sites and content, bringing a rare blend of aerospace-engineer rigor and operator experience from four successful exits to help teams win the shift from SEO to AEO.Discussed in this episodeWhy AEO is an evolution of SEO (and what truly changes)The shift from keywords to “clusters of questions” as the new topic modelWebflow’s four-part AEO framework: content, technical, authority, measurementTactics that moved the needle: adding FAQs + schema; prioritizing freshnessWhy PR/brand and plain-text mentions matter more to AI enginesHow to measure AEO: presence in questions, share of voice, and sentimentWhere to start: two moves any founder can ship this weekRisks of ignoring AEO and the early-adopter advantageEpisode highlights00:21 — “Your SEO resources are your AEO resources. This is an evolution, not a reset.”01:15 — Webflow’s AEO promise: answer engines are a massive arbitrage—akin to early SEO/SEM/mobile.03:00 — Why “ranking for keywords” is obsolete; topics = clusters of questions across the funnel.07:49 — The 4-part AEO framework: content, technical (schema & structure), authority, measurement.10:11 — Case study: Add ~6 FAQs + inline schema to product pages → half of new citations came from 6 pages; +24% organic in 2 weeks.15:23 — If you only do two things: (1) answer questions comprehensively, (2) add schema metadata.21:46 — Webflow data: AI-search traffic converts ~6x better than non-branded organic; unbranded share grew from 0% → 42% in a year.24:02 — How buyers actually use LLMs in-flow; why your website still matters (to humans and machines).29:58 — The learning curve is back: why AEO is resetting the playing field and rewarding curiosity.This episode is brought to you by our sponsor:ZoomInfo is the GTM Intelligence Platform built for sales, marketing, and RevOps.By unifying data, workflows, and insights into a single system, ZoomInfo helps revenue teams find and engage the right buyers, launch go-to-market plays faster, and drive predictable growth.With industry-leading accuracy and depth of data, it gives your team the intelligence advantage to win in competitive markets.It’s trusted by the fastest-growing companies and has become the category leader in GTM Intelligence.Learn more at zoominfo.com.Follow Guy Yalif:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gyalif/X (Twitter): https://x.com/gyalifX (formerly Twitter)Webflow author page: https://webflow.com/people/guy-yalifThe 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. 

Kieran Flanagan is the SVP of Marketing at HubSpot and Co-Host of Marketing Against the Grain. A longtime operator and investor, he’s at the forefront of how AI is reshaping go-to-market. With a background in engineering and years leading growth and marketing teams, Kieran now spends his time building, experimenting, and sharing lessons on how prompting, agents, and personality-led growth will define the next era of software companies.Discussed in this episodeWhy prompting and context engineering are the most important skills for GTM operatorsHow “vibe prompting” accelerates learning and output with LLMsThe three keys to building AI fluency inside teamsMeasuring ROI from AI across sales, marketing, and operationsWhy every professional is now a manager (of AI agents)How websites will evolve into multimodal closing mechanismsThe rise of personality-led growth in B2B marketingWhy curiosity and persistence matter more than ever in an AI-first worldEpisode highlights00:46 — The 100x difference between good and bad prompting03:57 — The rise of “context engineering” as a GTM skill07:22 — Kieran’s 3-part framework for AI fluency inside teams09:31 — Why “vibe prompting” is as powerful as vibe coding11:00 — How AI boosts conversions & deal velocity in sales workflows15:10 — Using ChatGPT memory as a personalized prompting coach22:19 — Everyone now manages a PhD-level AI intern31:12 — The 3 biggest shifts coming to GTM: influence, AI optimization, multimodal37:42 — Why AI makes human creativity more valuable than ever43:06 — The grind, reps, and curiosity as the ultimate AI skillsBrought to you by: MutinyAre you a B2B Marketer running campaigns for target accounts? Then you know the struggle: tedious and manual processes, endless delays to get things live, and sales feeling like you’re not doing enough.That’s where Mutiny comes in. Mutiny is the fastest place to launch breakthrough campaigns for your target accounts. AI agents research your accounts, build personalized landing pages, and scale everything from LinkedIn ads to sales handoffs, all in one seamless workflow. No more stitching tools together. Just smarter, more impactful campaigns powered by real data. Launch in days, not weeks.See why teams who use Mutiny generate 3X more account engagement.Book a demo at mutinyhq.comGuest linksLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieranjflanagan/Newsletter (The AI Marketing Generalist):https://www.kieranflanagan.io/Podcast (Marketing Against the Grain):https://www.youtube.com/@MATGpod/videosHost linksLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/ Website: https://gtmnow.comThe 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. 

Cristina Cordova is a seasoned operator who has scaled some of the most iconic companies in tech. At Stripe, she built and led partnerships that became a foundational revenue engine, including the pivotal deal with Shopify. At Notion, she helped turn viral adoption into a durable distribution strategy powered by community. Today, Cristina is the Chief Operating Officer at Linear, where she’s applying her experience building high-velocity GTM engines to the next generation of developer-first tools.Discussed in this episodeWhy Cristina joined Stripe without knowing what an API wasBuilding Stripe’s early partnerships and salvaging the Shopify dealHow Notion pioneered community-driven growthLessons on brand, design, and investing for the long termWhat Cristina looks for in exceptional founders and operatorsHow Linear is scaling GTM with AI-driven prioritizationThe difference between “keeping the lights on” and transformative leadershipCristina’s frameworks for evaluating product resonance and customer loveEpisode Highlights00:43 — The rare superpower behind Cristina’s career: joining breakout companies early2:46 — Why Cristina joined Stripe without knowing what an API was12:22 — On Cristina’s first day, Shopify walked away from Stripe’s deal — and how she won them back16:55 — How Notion scaled by making consumer use free and fueling community-driven growth20:52 — Why investing in brand early is a leading indicator of durable growth25:27 — Cristina’s framework for spotting beloved products in the market37:53 — How Cristina applied lessons from Stripe to build Linear’s GTM from scratch47:30 — Where AI fits into GTM: prioritizing opportunities, not replacing humans56:01 — Why Linear built high-quality swag kits for early customers58:28 — Where to follow Cristina’s journey todayThis episode is brought to you by our sponsorHarmonic helps you discover the best startups way ahead of the competition. We use it at GTMfund, as do thousands of investors at firms like USV and Insight. GTM teams at companies like Notion and Brex also rely on the platform to stay ahead.Harmonic tracks millions of startups and lets you search using simple filters or natural language to match exactly what you’re looking for. When you find a company that looks interesting, Harmonic pulls everything into one place (founder backgrounds, traction, and market data) so you can quickly evaluate and understand if it’s a fit.At GTMfund, we even have a private Slack channel called #companywatchlist powered entirely by Harmonic.Get 2 dedicated sessions with their team to help you test and structure the perfect searches here.Guest LinksLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinajcordovaX (Twitter): https://x.com/cjCThe 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. 

Kyle Norton is the Chief Revenue Officer at Owner, the fast-scaling restaurant SaaS platform valued at over $1B. Since joining from Shopify, Kyle has helped grow the company from $2M to $50M+ in ARR by instilling a high bar for sales talent, building RevOps early, and driving a disciplined go-to-market strategy. A podcast host himself, Kyle shares deep expertise on sales hiring, leadership, and GTM AI, while keeping his focus on building a generational company.Discussed in This EpisodeWhy Kyle let go of half the sales team just 45 days inThe importance of setting a high bar for sales talent and cultural fitInvesting in RevOps and data foundations far earlier than conventional wisdomHow to reduce churn by narrowing ICP and saying no to misfit customersLessons from running hiring retros to assess interview process effectivenessThe balance between remote vs. in-office roles for scaling GTM teamsHow Owner approaches AI in go-to-market, starting with data over “shiny tools”Kyle’s leadership philosophy: servant leadership and building for growthEpisode Highlights00:44 — Owner’s journey from $2M ARR to unicorn02:01 — Kyle explains why he fired half the sales team just weeks into the role04:56 — Why Owner set a sky-high bar for early sales hiring08:13 — Kyle’s case for bringing in RevOps “too early” and why it paid off12:39 — Reducing churn by saying no to 30% of potential customers15:57 — Why hiring fit matters more than a candidate’s “pedigree”21:49 — What Kyle learned from running hiring retros on interview data30:25 — Owner’s AI GTM transformation: starting with third-party data48:34 — Kyle’s take on the remote vs. in-office debate for sales teams54:53 — His leadership philosophy: servant leadership + relentless coaching59:19 — Kyle’s essential reading list for sales leadersThis episode is brought to you by our sponsors:QualifiedPiper is the #1 AI SDR on G2.AI SDR agents are changing the future of sales. And Piper is leading the way.Piper is the top-ranked AI SDR on G2, trusted by hundreds of high-growth GTM teams — including many in the GTMfund community. She works around the clock to follow up with every lead, book meetings, and qualify prospects, all by reading real buying signals.That means your team spends less time chasing and more time closing.Piper isn’t just automating repetitive work — she’s transforming pipeline generation at scale.Discover how AI SDRs like Piper can help you build pipeline faster at qualified.com.PursuitThe best talent isn’t actively job hunting. Pursuit helps companies hire elite go-to-market talent on a non-retainer basis. As a key GTMfund partner, they equip sales and marketing teams with top performers.If you’re hiring for sales or marketing roles, reach out to Pursuit at pursuitsalessolutions.com/gtm or message a GTMfund team member.Guest LinksLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylecnorton/Podcast: https://therevenueleadershippodcast.com/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.