Revenue Stalled? Sangram Vajre Recommends Fixing Your Broken GTM
According to Sangram Vajre, co-founder of Terminus, pioneer of ABM, and 3X best-selling author, technology companies are having difficulty moving through the three stages of growth: Problem, Product and Platform-Market Fit.
I had the privilege of interviewing Sangram about his book, MOVE, and how companies can leverage the Go-To-Market (GTM) process for growth.
Topics covered in our interview included:
B2B Marketing today vs. 10 years ago
The unseen Go-To-Market challenges at Terminus
The NRR difference between a $500M and a $1B valuation
How Snowflake closed millions on a shoestring ABM budget
The worst question in the history of SaaS
To give you a sense of Sangram’s perspective, here are three highlights from our interview:
Focusing on GTM as a way to avoid stalling out
During our conversation, Sangram mentioned that less than 1% of VC-backed companies ever hit $10M in revenue. He cited a McKinsey study that points to broken GTM as the number one reason companies fail to hit the $10M mark.
As Sangram explains, "This is what led me to write my book MOVE, where experts like Geoffrey Moore (‘Crossing the Chasm’), Brian Halligan (Co-Founder of HubSpot), and early-stage startups discuss what a modern Go-To-Market process looks like and what companies should and should not do."
Resolving role confusion - Who owns GTM?
Based on a survey of more than 1,000 C-Level Executives, Sangram reports that 77% of B2B Professionals believe that ultimate responsibility for GTM sits with someone other than the CEO - this includes Marketing, Sales, Products, Finance or another department leader.
According to Sangram, overall accountability and clarity around individual roles and how they drive the business forward are critical to GTM success. This is why Sangram reached out to Brian Halligan, Co-Founder of Hubspot (a $1 billion public company) and asked him: “Who ultimately owns GTM, and how do you define it?”
Sangram says Halligan replied that he thinks of Go-To-Market like a product and sees the three primary roles of a CEO as:
Focus on Go-To-Market with a realistic and comprehensive view.
Be very clear about the company's vision and repeat it to the employees, partners and customers.
Be great at culture - if you can't hire the best people in the world, then you're not going to survive.
Aligning sales and marketing for effective GTM
Beyond the question of who owns GTM within the organization, Sangram believes that Sales and Marketing alignment is also critical to GTM success. While leading Terminus, Sangram discovered what he believes can help unite the two functions. At Terminus, Sangram reported to venture capitalists and says that sales and marketing were one line item.
"If you really look at a business statement and how VCs invest money, they look at sales and marketing as their Go-To-Market. And marketing typically exists in most companies to drive business ahead.”
So what’s the secret to getting sales and marketing aligned, according to Sangram? “Companies will do well if marketing and sales are one line item and their bonuses are determined in the same way. This will automatically change the equation and conversation internally."
Watch my full interview with Sangram to hear more about common pitfalls and a better way for startups to approach Go-To-Market:
Work with us.
Is your GTM broken? AH Marketing can help position your company for GTM success. We’ll work with you to:
Develop an Ideal Market Positioning & Category Strategy
Address Product-Market Fit
Build a Compelling Company Vision & Purpose
Improve Sales & Marketing Performance
If your business needs help connecting the dots to improved GTM performance, please CONTACT US for a FREE 30-Minute Consultation, where we can discuss your marketing challenges and what’s standing in the way of your success.