Daniel Rodriguez’s Post

So it's time to start building the foundation of your first GTM team…What do you do? Where do you begin?  As someone who has spent the majority of my career in the start-up world, here are some things to consider when you are thinking about building out the beginning of what will become your GTM team Foundation for Growth: The first GTM team is much more than just sales or marketing; it's the foundation of our customer engagement strategy. This team sets the tone for how the market perceives you and establishes the groundwork for scalable, sustainable growth. Market Fit and Feedback Loop: Early GTM hires are crucial for refining our product-market fit. They are on the frontline, gathering critical feedback from our early adopters and helping us iterate our product to better meet the needs of our target audience.  Simply put, they are the ones on the ground, hearing direct feedback from prospects and customers, and that feedback is essential to growing. Building Relationships: Your GTM team will be instrumental in building long-term relationships. Whether it's through thoughtful outreach, customer support, or personalized engagement, these early interactions define our brand's relationship with its customers.  This is where you can set yourself apart from others, by giving customers the best experience possible. Strategic Alignment: The GTM team is not just about selling a product, it's about aligning our product capabilities with market needs. Your insights and actions will not only drive sales but also influence product development and strategic direction, shaping the future of our company. Driving Revenue: The GTM team's role is not just about sales, it's about driving revenue. Your success in executing your go-to-market strategy will directly impact your growth and sustainability, funding further innovation and expansion. You are the key to your success. As you build this team, you should be looking for passionate, innovative, and customer-focused individuals who are excited about making a tangible impact. During this time, you really are setting the foundation of whats possible, results, culture, perception, everything.  Having been through it a few times, it’s a really special time, especially if you are a part of it.

Just last month, a CTO confided in me, 'Our SaaS product is top-notch, but breaking into new markets feels like an uphill battle.' It struck a chord—how many tech leaders feel they're sitting on gold but lack the reach to share it? In the fast-paced world of B2B SaaS, I've seen companies wrestle with scaling their offerings without skyrocketing their customer acquisition costs. The frustration of having an innovative solution that doesn't get the spotlight it deserves can be overwhelming for both executives and their teams. Working with a budding tech firm, we faced this challenge head-on by embracing channel sales. Instead of solely relying on their internal sales team, we collaborated to build a network of strategic partners—resellers, VARs, and MSPs—that aligned with their target market. Initially skeptical about relinquishing some control, they soon witnessed a 60% increase in market penetration and a significant reduction in acquisition costs. It was a powerful reminder that sometimes, amplifying your reach means extending your hand. I'm curious—how have others in the tech industry leveraged partnerships to accelerate growth? What successes or hurdles have you experienced in integrating channel sales into your strategy? #ChannelSales #B2BSaaS #PartnerSuccess #TechGrowth #InnovationLeadership

Well put by a few people with in-the-trenches perspectives on GTM. It has a VC / Startup angle to it, but still very applicable to PE. - aligning marketing and sales is a big deal. - get ICPs locked in before hiring your new sales leader. - founder-led sales motions need to be repeatable, and scalable. - marketing KPIs should be tied to revenue, not necessarily MQLs. (for example, close rate is tied to lead quality) https://lnkd.in/gPQqwQsj

The buying process for software sucks. + outbound sales is getting harder and harder. We need to make things easier for everyone. Out with the old In with the new way of buying & selling software. GTM leaders want an easier way to buy software. Brands want to give an easier experience They want to be seen by multiple potential buyers at the same time. Enter RevGenius Demo Day 👀 We are connecting founders and GTM leaders over a concise demo day session. 🤝 Buyers can learn about the hottest new software and trends Without being bothered by clunky inbound processes. Founders can get in front of buyers at scale. What an easy way to meet everyone's needs 2 days 9 startups and counting Want to see the hottest new GTM tech? 🕶️ Want to pitch your startup to 500+ GTM leaders? 👏 Join on May 15 & May 16 for 90 minutes Demo Day starts at 11 AM Eastern Sign up here https://lnkd.in/gme5d-p6

How does a company scale from $0 to $230M ARR with outreach as its main GTM tactic? Outreach’s journey is a masterclass in scaling through a 5-phase framework. With the right support any modern B2B company can adapt it: 1. The Doer Start with a hands-on sales hire focused solely on selling. Outreach’s first rep hit $1M in six months, proving the model. 2.The Builder: Build a team and processes. Hire experienced agency from trusted networks and scale only as pipeline grows. 3. The Doctor: Diagnose bottlenecks and hire ahead of demand to maintain momentum and balance. 4. The Architect: Design scalable systems and hire leaders who align with the culture. Structure your team for sustainable growth. 5. The Communicator: Align teams around strategic shifts, like moving upmarket, to drive company-wide transformation. This framework, with the right support, can help any B2B company scale effectively. #B2BSales #GTM #SalesLeadership #businessgrowth #SaaS

The buying process for software sucks. + outbound sales is getting harder and harder. We need to make things easier for everyone. Out with the old In with the new way of buying & selling software. GTM leaders want an easier way to buy software. Brands want to give an easier experience They want to be seen by multiple potential buyers at the same time. Enter RevGenius Demo Day We are connecting founders and GTM leaders over a concise demo day session. Buyers can learn about the hottest new softwares and trends Without being bothered by clunky inbound processes. Founders can get in front of buyers at scale. What an easy way to meet everyone's needs 2 days 10 startups and counting Want to see the hottest new GTM tech? Want to pitch your startup to 500+ GTM leaders? Join me May 15 & May 16 for 90 minutes Demo Day starts at 11 AM Eastern Sign up here https://lnkd.in/g_fNTTAy

Early-stage companies that have tried everything and didn't get positive results usually have a product-market fit issue. By everything I mean - every single sales and marketing channel. I worked with 50+ B2B companies < $5M ARR and in more than 50% of cases when there's a problem, there's a misalignment between the offer and the market they're trying to serve. You can usually tell right away this is the case when: 1. None of the channels showed any results 2. The company is resorting to "exotic" tactics 3. They're always overcomplicating their growth strategies 4. Churn is high 5. They changed multiple managers/agencies and none of them got any results. If you're the CEO you should be aware of this. Sales and marketing can't fix bad products. My number 1 suggestion to everyone who's managing a company is to be pragmatic. Ignore your emotions. A lot of founders want to be like Steve Jobs and stick to their ideas until the end because no one views the market the same way they do. Truth is, founders like Steve Jobs are the anomaly. And the times are different. There are so many products being released every day that if you're not solving anyone's problem you won't move forward. ___ #ProductMarketFit #B2BStartups #B2BGrowth

How easy is it to buy from you? Across the board, new business sales cycles are getting longer with increased CFO scrutiny for new purchases across categories. From public companies, to startups at different stages, we're seeing GTM orgs rethink, and question every layer of the GTM experience to try and reduce friction. You should too. Here is a simple list to start with these - 💲 Pricing on your website Does your category and product really warrant hiding it behind a contact us CTA? If you don't know, or aren't sure, then you probably don't need that CTA. Let your buyers get that buy-in faster. Check out Hockeystack's report on this. 🙅♀️ Qualification process. Does your current inbound volume warrant a gatekeeper? Listen to your qualification calls. Is that information really something you can collect only on a scheduled call? If you're not sure you're just prolonging your sales cycles for best practises. 🤝 Onboarding and support Why aren't you on a Slack connect with every deal you've managed to bring on to this point? Why not? Especially if you offer a POC before closure. If you're worrying about the volume of requests to expect and don't already know, you're losing more than you're saving. Every single RevenueHero customer is on a Slack channel, and the effect on sales cycles are massive. 🤝 Feature requests and product management Especially if you're early stage, do you really need that PRD and alignment with vision and mission before you decide to pick up that feature that 3 prospects have already asked for? Put your engineers on Slack, let them observe the Slack connect channels, ship the features that your first few prospects wanted quick, see it help you close your next 5 deals in that same quarter. If someone comes at you with the Henry Ford, faster horses analogy, really ask yourself. Is that paradigm shift and adding that additional condition to your workflow really comparable? None of this sounds scalable/isn't best practise. But unless you know for certain, you're just letting best practises build walls between you and your buyers. #makebuyingsimple

Another amazing 24 hours in NYC, here’s what GTM leaders are thinking about: 1) The conversation has gone from “What is AI and how do I use it?” to “Is it really necessary and how do I ensure it’s actually providing value?” 2) Cold calling works, cold email works, it’s just less effective due to all the automation and noise. That means your team needs to meld automation with personalization (human) for their outreach but probably expect lower conversion rates. Not ideal for efficiency metrics. 3) If you haven’t worked with Jen Allen-Knuth “DemandJen” you are missing out. Her ability to highlight outreach best practices and pitfalls is extremely thought provoking. 4) It seems as though many vendors are converging with features that encroach on their former partners. Businesses realize this and are going to pick 1-2 platforms to go all in on. 5) Founders don’t want to spend all the money they have, they want efficient growth - even when they have deep pockets. The sting of the past few years has made many hesitant to push the accelerator too quickly (in a good way). 6) The time is now for ops/growth experts to shine. Demand gen has evolved into opportunity for ops experts to create smart workflows and automation to drive tangible insights to your team to drive business. 7) Step 1 of any sales process needs to define a very clear ICP who has the pain you are solving. Very few companies are open to discussing products that don’t address a top 2-3 priority for the company. There are significantly less tire kickers than in the past. How you define and identify your target ICP who is currently in market will be the differentiator between teams that achieve their goals and those that fall behind. That’s all from NYC, now off to take my daughter trick or treating 🍫🎃

Idea: The buying process for software sucks. + outbound sales is getting harder and harder. We need to make things easier for everyone. Out with the old In with the new way of buying & selling software. GTM leaders want an easier way to buy software. Brands want to give an easier experience They want to be seen by multiple potential buyers at the same time. Enter RevGenius Demo Day We are connecting founders and GTM leaders over a concise demo day session. Buyers can learn about the hottest new softwares and trends Without being bothered by clunky inbound processes. Founders can get in front of buyers at scale. What an easy way to meet everyone's needs 2 days 10 startups and counting Want to see the hottest new GTM tech? Want to pitch your startup to 500+ GTM leaders? Join me May 15 & May 16 for 90 minutes Demo Day starts at 11 AM Eastern Sign up in the comments