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, 16 questions underneath, read for breaking into gtm

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.

   The gist GTM is the whole answer to one question: how does a stranger who has your problem end up paying you and staying. That covers who you sell to, what you say to them, how they first hear about you, who talks to them, what you charge and who keeps them after the sale. It is not a launch plan or a marketing campaign, those are pieces of it. The useful test is that you can draw your GTM on one page as a path a real customer walked, from first hearing your name to renewing. If you cannot draw it, you do not have a GTM yet, you have a set of activities.

   📄 The Most Common Go-to-Market Questions This Expert Gets from Early Founders It answers the four questions every early founder actually asks (what is my ICP, how do I run a sales call, which motion, how do I forecast) in one... 4 questions on 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?

   The gist An SDR finds and opens conversations, mostly by email, calls and LinkedIn, and hands over meetings, while an AE runs those conversations to a signature through discovery, demo, pricing and procurement. An AM keeps and grows the account after the sale, and growth or demand gen builds the machine that makes strangers show up in the first place. A product marketer decides what the company says and arms everyone else to say it. RevOps owns the plumbing and the numbers so all of the above can be measured. In small companies one person wears three of these hats, which is exactly why the labels confuse newcomers.

   📄 15-Minute Summary of Predictable Revenue 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 ... 4 questions on 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?

   The gist Start with twenty companies, not two thousand. Pick people you can describe precisely (job title, company size, the specific problem you think they have) and write each of the first twenty emails by hand so you learn what makes someone reply. Keep it to four or five sentences: why you are writing to them specifically, the problem in their words, one line of proof, and a small ask like fifteen minutes. Your reply rate on the first batch will be embarrassing and that is the point, you are collecting evidence about your message, not building a machine yet. Only once a message reliably gets replies should you think about tools, sequences or volume.

   📰 How to find and win your first 10 B2B customers It orders the seven ways early customers actually arrive (network, cold outbound, investors, community, content, press, launch) by how much trust e... 4 questions on 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?

   The gist Ask questions and shut up. Gong's analysis of more than half a million calls found the sweet spot is somewhere around eleven to fourteen questions, spread through the call rather than fired off at the start, and the best calls surface three or four real business problems. Aim for a talk to listen ratio near forty six to fifty four, which will feel like you are barely talking. Open by stating the purpose of the call, the benefit to them and a check that it works for them, then dig into what happens today and what it costs. Do not demo until you know what to demo, and end with a specific next step and a date, not "I will send something over".

   📄 Effective strategies for successful sales discovery calls Gives you numbers to aim at on your next call instead of vague advice: roughly 11 to 14 questions, spread through the call rather than front-loaded... 4 questions on running a sales process and closing →