The GTMnow Podcast

• GTM 153: Building Technical Growth Machines & Signal-Based Selling with Austin Hughes

  Austin Hughes is the founder and CEO of Unify, a platform helping high-growth teams turn buying signals into pipeline. Previously, Austin led the growth team at Ramp, where he scaled the org from 1 to 25+ and pioneered a product-led, experiment-driven GTM approach. With a background in investment banking and venture capital, Austin brings a uniquely analytical and first-principles mindset to modern B2B growth.Discussed in this Episode:Why you should run marketing like productDistribution is a startup's best friendHow Austin’s content strategy turned LinkedIn into a hyper-efficient channelWhy the best growth hires today are ex-engineers or investorsHow AI is redefining go-to-market motionsHighlights: 04:00 Ramp’s growth org: running 100+ experiments per quarter08:45 Why LinkedIn became Unify’s silver bullet11:30 Austin’s content creation workflow (and why he doesn’t use AI to write)13:00 Technical vs. traditional growth marketers—how to hire for impact17:00 Using Unify to merge 1st & 3rd-party data into a signal pipeline20:30 How automation + human-in-loop GTM creates leverage24:00 Austin’s Carta example: what perfect relevance looks like27:00 What broke in outbound and why signal-based selling is the fix32:00 When startups should start ingesting signals36:30 Culture of experimentation: “failure is just a data point”39:00 How Unify is using AI internally for GTM and support ops43:00 What’s coming next: AI-relevant messaging, BDR collaboration tools47:00 The end of traditional marketing roles—and what comes nextGuest Speaker Links (Austin Hughes):LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-t-hughes/Unify: https://www.unifygtm.com/Host Speaker Links (Sophie Buonassisi):LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Newsletter: https://substack.com/@sophiebuonassisiWhere to find GTMnow (GTMfund’s media brand):Website: https://gtmnow.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow/Twitter/X: https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: /@gtm_nowThe GTM Podcast (on all major directories): https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Thanks to our Sponsors: TriNetFounding a company is hard enough. Navigating payroll, benefits, and compliance shouldn’t slow you down. That’s where TriNet comes in. They work with startups and scaling businesses to help take HR off your plate, so you can stay focused on building product, growing revenue, and hiring great people - the go-to-market engine. B2B companies like Hivebrite and Equilend trust TriNet to help handle the infrastructure of their workforce, so their teams can focus on execution. Sponsor Link: The GTM Podcast The GTM 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.

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• GTM 152: What’s Actually Working in GTM Right Now: Lessons from Centari, Atrix AI, & Gaiia

  What’s actually working in go-to-market right now? In this live panel from the GTM Fund AGM, three early-stage leaders from three exceptional companies—Centari, Atrix AI, and Gaiia—break down how they’re closing enterprise deals in some of the most challenging verticals: legal, pharma, and telecom. From viral LinkedIn content and founder-led dinners to the now-infamous "donut drop" strategy, this episode is packed with practical, first-principles GTM plays you won’t find in a sales playbook.Kevin Walker (Centari) – Founder & CEO of Centari, a legal tech platform providing deal intelligence to large law firms and, soon, financial services. A former M&A attorney at Paul Hastings, Kevin brings deep insider knowledge to solving complex legal workflows.Vera Kutsenko (Atrix AI) – Founder & CEO of Atrix AI, a platform helping medical affairs teams at pharma and med device companies capture and operationalize real-world insights. Vera has become a thought leader in AI for regulated industries—recently authoring a viral book on AI in medical affairs.Stephen Farnsworth (Gaiia) – VP of GTM at Gaiia and early GTM leader at Workato and Outreach. Gaiia is an end-to-end ERP, billing, and CRM platform for independent internet service providers (ISPs), tackling a niche but high-value market with massive infrastructure needs.Discussed in this Episode:Centari built trust with top law firms by pairing deep domain credibility with a thoughtful, relationship-driven sales approach.Atrix AI sparked inbound demand by turning a single viral LinkedIn post into a full-length book on AI in medical affairs.Gaiia chose not to hire SDRs, focusing instead on high-ACV deals and personalized outreach in a tightly defined TAM of telecom providers.Gaiia’s “donut drop” strategy—personally delivering treats to rural ISP offices—created brand awareness and unlocked new pipeline.Both Centari and Atrix AI scaled founder-led sales by hiring a Chief of Staff to operationalize and extend GTM efforts.Atrix AI uses educational AI workshops to qualify buyers, build trust, and stand out in a noisy vendor landscape.Centari combats pilot fatigue and skepticism in legal tech by showing deep empathy, hiring former lawyers, and proving value early.Highlights:03:00 – Why Atrix AI scaled founder-led sales with viral content and thought leadership06:00 – The accidental (and wildly successful) AI & medical affairs book launch08:00 – Centari’s early GTM strategy: legal empathy, cookies, and product conviction11:00 – Gaiia’s high-ACV model and why SDRs don’t make sense for their TAM20:00 – The Donut Playbook: creating pipeline by showing up IRL23:00 – Why Chief of Staff was a critical early hire for scaling sales ops27:00 – How Gaiia is thinking about building community in a slow-moving vertical28:00 – What’s next: repeatability, vertical expansion, and community infrastructureGuest Speaker Links:Vera Kutsenko LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verakutsenko/Stephen Farnsworth LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-farnsworth/Kevin Walker LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kpwalker1/Host Speaker Links (Paul Irving):LinkedIn: The GTM Podcast The GTM 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.

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• GTM 151: How to Scale Vertical SaaS in 2025 | Dennis Lyandres (Ex-CRO, Procore)

  Dennis Lyandres is an Advisor with ICONIQ and a Board Member of Speedchain and CaptivateIQ. Dennis amassed incredible insights through his experience as the Chief Revenue Officer of Procore, where he helped grow the company from $10M to $900M+ in revenue and guided it through a successful IPO. At Procore, he led all customer-facing functions—Sales, Marketing, CS, RevOps, and BD. He’s now an investor, advisor, and board member to iconic B2B SaaS companies, and one of the most respected voices in GTM for vertical SaaS.Discussed in this Episode:Why the best SaaS companies align people, product, and GTM into one unified strategyUsing AI as a GTM advantage starts with a crawl-walk-run approachScaling multi-product in vertical SaaS means following the money and the painGTM leaders win when they speak product and co-own strategy with engineeringCustomer relationships are your most undervalued strategic growth leverYour top 5% of talent deserve a purpose-built strategy to maximize impactLean AI teams are redefining what’s possible with just a handful of operatorsHighlights:03:00 Dennis’s journey as the Chief Revenue Officer at Procore: from $10M to IPO05:00 The “People, Product, GTM” triad and AI-native orgs07:00 Why vertical SaaS startups need a talent strategy (and most companies lack one)09:30 Multi-product GTM strategy explained via Procore and other verticals13:00 How Go-To-Market teams can show up better for product teams18:00 Building deep customer strategy across functions in a B2B startup23:00 Price’s Law and the T30 program for top performers within a revenue organization24:30 Lean AI startup: what it is and what it isn’t30:00 Crawl-walk-run AI adoption in Go-To-Market teamsGuest Speaker Links (Dennis Lyandres):LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dlyandres/Speedchain: https://www.speedchain.com/ICONIQ: https://www.iconiqcapital.com/Host Speaker Links (Sophie Buonassisi):LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/Newsletter: https://substack.com/@sophiebuonassisiSponsors: TriNetEvery early-stage founder is told to focus on product and growth. But behind every product launch and revenue milestone is a team – and building that team is one of the hardest and important parts of the journey.“Build the team that builds the company.” – that is part of your go-to-market strategy responsible for growth. Hiring the right people, keeping them supported, and creating the infrastructure to help them thrive is critical. TriNet exists to make that easier. TriNet’s full suite of HR solutions is designed to support companies at critical inflection points – from early traction to scale.Learn more at https://trinet.com/gtmnowThe GTM Podcast The GTM 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.

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• GTM 150: 80% of Exec Roles Aren’t Posted, Here's How to Land Them Anyway with Andy Mowat

  Andy Mowat is the Co-Founder of Whispered, and is responsible for building incredible  RevOps and GTM systems at unicorns like Upwork, Box, and Culture Amp. With over two decades of experience leading marketing ops, sales ops, and go-to-market infrastructure, Andy is a true pioneer of modern RevOps. Today, he’s building tools to help tech executives collaborate on company insights, search strategies, introductions, and the deepest database of unposted GTM roles anywhere.Discussed in this Episode:- Why 80–98% of VP and C-level roles are never posted—and how to access them.- The importance of clarity: how GTM operators should articulate their focus to stand out.- How venture networks and backchanneling drive most executive hiring decisions.- The rise (and limits) of fractional work as a bridge between full-time roles.- What AI agents are doing behind the scenes at Whispered to match execs to roles.- Why company stage, growth rate, and CEO quality are critical in picking your next role.- What GTM functions (e.g. RevOps, Demand Gen) are most in-demand right now.Highlights: 04:30 Why most executive roles are never posted07:00 How Whispered operates as a curated talent network13:30 Why GTM execs struggle to articulate their focus—and how to fix it16:45 The right way to build a target company list21:00 Engaging your network and VC talent teams the right way28:00 What AI is (and isn’t) changing about hiring and team structure34:00 How to evaluate growth-stage companies and pick winners36:30 Head of vs. VP vs. CRO: The real meaning of title across company sizes41:00 Most common mistakes execs make in their job search44:30 Using customer advocacy and growth loops to scale Whispered46:00 Is email dead? Why it's still critical to GTM and talent outreachGuest Speaker Links (Andy Mowat):- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amowat/- Whispered: https://www.whispered.com/Host Speaker Links (Sophie Buonassisi):- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/- Newsletter: https://substack.com/@sophiebuonassisiWhere to find GTMnow (GTMfund’s media brand):- Website: https://gtmnow.com/- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow/- Twitter/X: https://x.com/GTMnow_- YouTube:  @gtm_now  - The GTM Podcast (on all major directories): https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/Sponsor: QualifiedQualified is the Agentic Marketing Platform with the world's leading SDR agent, Piper the AI SDR. Marketing teams trust Piper to autonomously drive inbound pipeline at scale, delivering real-time engagement and conversion. Trusted by top brands like Asana, Box, Brex, Clari, GE Healthcare, and more, Qualified is redefining how companies generate pipeline in the age of AI.Sponsor Link: https://www.qualified.com/plus/category/ai-sdr-summit?utm_source=gtmfundThe GTM PodcastDon’t miss The GTM Podcast dropping every Tuesday discussing true stories and experiences including trials and tribulations in the Go-To-Market world.#career #jobsearch #techcareersThe GTM Podcast The GTM 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.

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• GTM 149: How to Scale International Sales Teams with Rick Kelley

  Rick Kelley is the former SVP of Gaming & App Monetization Solutions at Meta and Managing Director of Meta Ireland, where he led a $1B+ revenue organization & played a pivotal role in building out Meta’s go-to-market teams across North America & EMEA. Over his 15-year career at Meta, Rick was instrumental in driving international expansion, especially across Europe, the Middle East, & Africa—helping to localize strategy, scale high-performing sales teams, & bring new ad products to market. Today, he advises founders on global GTM execution, sales hiring, & how AI is reshaping the future of commercial organizations.Discussed in this Episode:The operational playbooks that scaled Meta’s ad salesWhy AI will shift how sales orgs think about headcount & human capitalThe three traits Rick looks for in great sales leaders—& how to spot them earlyWhy early-stage companies should prioritize hiring builders, not closersHow to segment go-to-market motions by customer journey, not just ACVWhy “coachable, humble, gritty” still wins—even in an AI-powered GTM worldHighlights:6:30 How Meta scaled repeatable playbooks across SMB, Mid-Market, & Enterprise10:00 The role of humility & coachability in building scalable teams13:00 Why top sales leaders are systems thinkers—not just great closers16:00 AI’s impact on headcount & how to scale without over-hiring21:00 Making your first 5 sales hires count25:30 Early-stage mistake: over-complicating GTM before validating demand30:30 Why product & GTM must be tied at the hip—especially in AI-first companies34:00 From Facebook to Meta: what changed & what didn’t in sales strategy37:00 Final thoughts: GTM myths, leadership advice, & staying groundedGuest Speaker Links (Rick Kelley):LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rickkelleyHost Speaker Links (Sophie Buonassisi):LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisiNewsletter: substack.com/@sophiebuonassisiWhere to find GTMnow (GTMfund’s media brand):Website: gtmnow.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/gtmnowTwitter/X: x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: /@gtm_nowSponsors: UserEvidenceUserEvidence is the CustThe GTM Podcast The GTM 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.

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