Break into a GTM career

Work out which seat you want, then get good enough at the craft to be hired into it.

4 steps, 64 questions underneath

1. 1
   What GTM actually is

   The job behind the acronym: how a product finds, wins and keeps customers, and who does what.

   What does 'go to market' actually mean? People say GTM constantly and I still cannot define it. 4 → I am a founder and I have never sold anything in my life. Where do I actually start? 5 → How do I tell whether our GTM is genuinely working or we just got lucky with a few deals? 4 → What is the real difference between product-led, sales-led and everything in between, and which one are we? 4 → When do I stop selling myself and hire the first person, and what kind of person should that be? 6 → All 16 questions in What GTM actually is →
2. 2
   GTM roles and career paths

   SDR, AE, AM, growth, product marketing, RevOps, sales leadership: what each one really does and how people move between them.

   SDR, AE, AM, growth, PMM, RevOps: what do these people actually do all day? 6 → I want to start a GTM career in India but I have zero sales experience. What is the realistic first job? 4 → I have been an SDR for about 18 months. How do I actually make the jump to AE? 5 → I am the first GTM hire at a startup. What is my job really, and how do I not get fired in 12 months? 4 → How do I decide which GTM roles to hire, and in what order? 5 → All 16 questions in GTM roles and career paths →
3. 3
   Outbound that works

   Cold email, cold calls, LinkedIn, sequences and lists. How to start conversations with people who have never heard of you.

   I have never sent a cold email in my life. Where do I even start? 4 → I am a founder in India and my buyers are in the US. How do I get a stranger twelve time zones away to reply? 4 → My cold calls die in the first ten seconds. What do I actually say when they pick up? 4 → How do I build a target list that is worth working instead of scraping ten thousand random companies? 4 → When do I hire SDRs, and how many AEs can one SDR feed? 4 → All 16 questions in Outbound that works →
4. 4
   Running a sales process and closing

   Discovery, demos, qualification, champions, procurement and the last mile to a signature.

   I have a call booked with a real prospect tomorrow. What do I do on it? 4 → Founder-led sales sounds terrifying. Why can I not just hire a salesperson? 4 → How do I know if a deal is real or if I am being strung along? 4 → My demos go well and then the deal stalls. How do I stop that? 5 → How do I turn random wins into a sales process someone else can run? 4 → All 16 questions in Running a sales process and closing →