How do I decide which GTM roles to hire, and in what order?

Lemkin gives actual numbers for the decisions leaders agonise over: when to hire, how to set quota, how many reps per manager. Opinionated in a way that is useful even where you disagree.

Building a world-class sales org

On Lenny's Podcast by Jason Lemkin ~85 min

Exotel sells across India, South East Asia and the Middle East, so Bhatia can compare emerging markets rather than treating the US as the only destination. Useful when you are choosing which market to expand into and how to staff it.

GTM Blueprint for Emerging Markets, Sachin Bhatia Exotel, Founder's Deep Dive E23

On SaaSBoomi by Sachin Bhatia ~60 min

This is where the SDR and AE split came from, and the summary gives you the whole model without the book. The rule that no AE prospects and no SDR closes explains why GTM org charts look the way they do.

15-Minute Summary of Predictable Revenue

From Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross ~15 min read

• Split the role into three: SDRs on cold accounts, market response reps on inbound, AEs as the only quota carriers who close.
• Start SDRs at 50 to 100 prospecting emails a day, aiming for a 10 percent response rate.
• The core myth it attacks: selling more does not mean hiring more salespeople, it means building lead generation.
• Hire for talent and initiative over experience, since technique can be taught.

A rare account of the specific moments a GTM changed shape, from narrowing to cold email agencies, to reversing the demo, to layering enterprise on top of self-serve. Best-in-class practice described as decisions rather than principles.

The GTM Inflection Points That Powered Clay to a $1B+ Valuation

From First Round Review by Varun Anand ~25 min read

• Clay started with about 20 customers paying 30 to 200 dollars a month before the pivot that worked.
• Founders ran 8 plus reverse demos a day, watching users work rather than presenting.
• The waitlist stayed on for 15 months after public launch, through millions in ARR.
• Pricing is credits tied to columns times rows, and they took three swings before enterprise pricing landed.

Kirani has backed Freshworks, Chargebee and BrowserStack, and his rule that the product stays horizontal while the GTM goes vertical is the most quoted line in Indian SaaS for good reason. Covers push versus pull markets, channel focus, first pricing and first hires in one piece.

How to Build a Clear and Actionable GTM Strategy

From SeedToScale (Accel India) by Shekhar Kirani ~15 min read

• Keep the product horizontal but make the go-to-market vertical, and aim to get the first 100 customers fast.
• Read search and keyword volume to tell a pull market from a push market: the pull model works well up to roughly 3 to 5 million dollars ARR.
• CAC is the only real proof a channel works, so get one channel working before adding a second.
• Per-user pricing beats a departmental licence early, and deep discounts for the first 100 customers are fine.