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).
Bryan and Sangram (guess who’s who)
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!
"If you don't believe in what you do, nobody else is going to believe in you. Go-to-market is the business. And you have to show up like you mean it, even on the days you don't feel it."
First, Tell Me If You Can Relate To The Context Switching Problem
Every leader faces this. But as a CEO or GTM leader, it hits different and harder.
You go from a sales call to a customer who's about to churn. Then to a customer who's thrilled. Then back to someone churning. Then another sales call.
And every single time, you have to keep your energy up.
If it goes down, people see it. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody will.
Sometimes it feels like you're faking it. Sometimes you wonder if others think you're making it up. But deep down, you believe in it. You have to.
I just got back from six calls today. A mastermind where several people signed up. A great sales call explaining how to run go-to-market. An advisory call. All of it.
And as I'm driving home, the same thought keeps coming back:
Go-to-market is the business. And if you don't believe in what you do, nobody else will either.
The Day I Learned This the Hard Way
At Terminus, we went from $1M to $5M to $15M, then a $100M+ private equity exit.
But there was a week in the middle of all that where everything felt heavy.
We were trying to raise money. We had hiring issues. Churn problems. My co-founder and I walked into a meeting that week and we were down. We weren't feeling it. It was a standard meeting, nothing special, so we weren't overly prepared.
And the meeting went sideways.
Nothing happened. The momentum just died. Everyone in the room started feeling low because we were low.
We walked out and I told my co-founder: never again.
Never again will I walk into a meeting thinking about my own problems when I'm there to serve, to support, to build.
From that day on, I made a commitment.
And I built a simple system to keep myself honest.
The Green, Yellow, Red Framework
Before every week, I map my calendar.
Green meetings are the ones I'm excited about. Sales calls. Partnership conversations. Customer calls where we're building something together. These give me energy.
Yellow meetings are okay. Podcasts. Team syncs. Internal conversations. They're fine, but they're not the highlight of my day.
Red meetings are the hard ones. Tough conversations. Conflict. Problems that need solving. These drain energy if you're not ready.
Here's the rule: I shouldn't have more than two or three red meetings a week.
If my calendar shows a lot of green, several yellows, and one or two reds, it's a great week.
If my calendar is full of reds, I've got a problem.
Why This Works Every Single Time.
The red meetings make me aware.
Let's say it's Monday and I have a red meeting on Thursday. Every time I look at my calendar, and we all look at our calendars 50 times a day, that meeting is in my mind.
So I'm doing two things:
1. Trying to solve it before I get there.
Can I address the issue before the meeting even happens? Can I turn a red into a yellow before Thursday?
2. Preparing for it.
I'm not going from meeting to meeting to meeting with no thought. I know what's coming. I'm ready.
This is how you handle context switching. You don't just react. You prepare.
Let me show you:
WATCH: Let me show you how to do this:
The Goal Is To Feel Productive. Not Tired.
Fact check: In the beginning, you might have a lot of reds. Some yellows. Maybe one or two greens.
The goal in business and in life is to flip that.
A whole bunch of greens. Several yellows. And one or two reds that you're fully prepared for.
When you know whether you're walking into a green, yellow, or red, you show up differently.
Green: I'm excited. I'm naturally on.
Yellow: I need to put in a few extra thoughts. Stay engaged.
Red: I'm prepared. Nothing is going to stop me from being productive in this conversation.
Our blunt advice to CEOs and GTM teams right now:
Look for Momentum. Not Meetings.
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.