Over the last 20 years, we've built two $100M+ companies and made hundreds of mistakes along the way. Everything we do runs on our GTM Operating System frameworks. We even wrote a book called MOVE — which became a WSJ best-selling book on go-to-market, quoted by Geoffrey Moore (author of the iconic Crossing the Chasm).

Our mission: help 100,000 businesses run on GTM OS to build profitable companies. We're at about 3,000 now so we have a long way to go.

We also run the GTMarketplace — connecting CEOs with 100+ certified fractional CMOs, CROs, and ops leaders all over the world who know the GTM Operating System.

With that intro, let's get moving!

Clay, the AI company everyone is talking about right now, generated 6 million LinkedIn impressions from executive content in just the last three months.

Not from ads. From content. From their team showing up and telling their story.

Bruno, their head of marketing, shared the breakdown. The majority of the people they're trying to sell to are on LinkedIn.

So instead of just running ads, which is what most companies do, which is why your budget is so high and your cost of acquisition is so high, they asked a different question:

In my CEO roundtable, one CEO asked me about Clay’s growth which led me to think back on my own journey doing a very similar thing as Clay.

When I look at what Clay is doing, I recognize the playbook. Because we ran it at Terminus a decade ago.

At Terminus, we went from $1M in year one to $5M to $15M in year three. We helped build the ABM category. We created Flip My Funnel, a movement, a podcast with over 1,000 episodes. I don't think there's another B2B podcast in the world with 1,000 episodes. We wrote best selling books on ABM. We spoke everywhere.

And we helped create a role that didn't exist before: the ABM Manager/Director/VP.

and now some of those people are becoming CMOs and CEOs which is one of the greatest joys of my life.

There are $1M to $100M companies built around the ABM category.

That role gave people a career path. It gave the category legitimacy. And it gave Terminus a brand that drove demand at a fraction of the cost.

Clay is doing the same thing right now with the "GTM Engineer" and might I say, in a bigger way.

Here's what Clay figured out, and what we learned at Terminus:

1. Create or own a category.

Clay locked in on AI-powered go-to-market. They're not just selling a tool. They're defining what the future of GTM looks like.

At Terminus, we didn't just sell software. We sold ABM as a movement. We changed how people thought about demand gen. It was transformational.

2. Champion a new role.

Clay created the GTM Engineer role. They even hired someone with that title to prove it works.

At Terminus, we did the same with ABM Manager. We hired for it. We talked about it. We made it real.

When you create a role, you create a career path. When you create a career path, you create believers. And believers become your best marketers of your brand.

3. Become an evangelist.

At Terminus, I went from Co-founder CMO to Co-founder Chief Evangelist. My job was to be the walking, talking billboard for the category.

Varun is doing the same thing at Clay right now. He's speaking at events. He's on LinkedIn constantly. He's telling the story of what's happening in the market and why Clay matters.

That's how you build brand… that drives demand.

Most CEOs put 70-80% of their GTM budget into demand.

But here's what they miss: companies with great brand create demand at a fraction of the cost.

If Salesforce calls you, you don't ask what they do. The brand already did that work. The sales conversation is easier. The cost of acquisition is lower.

That's what Clay figured out. That's what we did at Terminus. When someone heard "Terminus," they knew ABM. The conversation started further down the funnel.

Brand doesn't replace demand. Brand makes demand cheaper and faster.

This is the third pillar of our GTM Operating System.

We call it Brand and Demand, not Brand or Demand.

Most organizations focus almost entirely on demand. More ads. More SDRs. More spend.

But the companies that win focus on brand first. They create categories. They champion roles. They become the story people want to follow.

Then demand follows.

Ask yourself:

1. Do you have a category, or do you need to create one?

If you're competing in someone else's category, you're fighting on their terms. The companies that break out define their own space.

2. Is there a role you can champion?

ABM Manager. GTM Engineer. What's the role that doesn't exist yet in your space? Can you create it, hire for it, and talk about it?

3. Who is your evangelist?

Someone on your team needs to be the face of the movement. Speaking, writing, showing up. If nobody is doing that, your brand is invisible.

The 6 million impressions are impressive. But that's not the real story.

The real story is that Clay has generated massive pipeline and revenue. They're a $100M+ company now, growing fast.

Not because they outspent everyone on ads. Because they out-branded everyone.

They became the company people want to follow. And when you're the company people want to follow, demand takes care of itself.

love,
sangram

p.s. 100,000+ GTM leaders read our content every day. If you want more strategies like this, follow along at runongtmos.com — and let's get moving.