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!

Here's what I see over and over again.

Not enough leads? —> Hire a marketing person to run ads.

Pipeline stuck? —> Hire more SDRs.

Customers churning? —> Hire a CS person.

I've done all of it.

At Pardot, we got acquired by Salesforce. That was my moment going from a $10M company to a $10B company.

Then at Terminus, we went from zero to $1M in year one, $5M in year two, $15M in year three, then got acquired by private equity for life changing dollar amount.

And here's what I learned: I was looking at the business the wrong way.

You don't have a marketing problem.

You don't have a sales problem.

You don't have a customer success problem or even a product problem.

Bryan and I wrote a WSJ bestseller book on go-to-market called MOVE. Now, I'm not trying to sell you the book but I bring that up since I do want to sell you the concept because it can save your business.

We interviewed over 100 CEOs from SaaS, from private equity, all over the world.

Here's what go-to-market actually means:

1. It's a transformational process.

It's not an overnight thing. It’s not a strategy meeting. It's not something you figure out at an offsite.

Want to invest in marketing or sales? That's a GTM decision.
Open an office in EMEA or stay in North America? GTM decision.
Build more product or acquire a company? GTM decision.

Brian Halligan, when he was CEO of HubSpot, told me he makes 100 go-to-market decisions every week if not every day. Think about that.

2. It brings high-performing teams together on clarity.

Our research shows 68% of high performers say if they have clarity on where the company is going and what bets you're making, they'll run through walls for you.

They just don't have the clarity. That's your job as CEO.

And the high-performing GTM team isn't just marketing or sales. It includes product. Customer success. Rev Ops. All of it that makes or saves money.

3. It creates a flawless customer experience.

If a customer is having a bad day, they don't think "I have a support problem." They think your brand is bad.

Nobody in your company should pass the buck. Whoever gets the call walks with the customer until the problem is solved. That's how you run go-to-market.

The CEO.

Every interview I ever did, the CEOs said it without flinching. They own it. They know they own it.

If you're the CEO and you're not owning go-to-market, nobody is.

If you are not the CEO, you need to share this with them for it literally their job.

Why?

Because go-to-market is the business.

Eight questions. Every high-performing company we studied had clarity around these eight questions.

Not certainty. Clarity.

1. Where can we grow the most?
Not where can we grow. Where can we grow the most. Where's the profit? Where are the customers who stay?

2. Which products create the highest customer value?
Not which products are we launching. Which ones create the highest value for customers.

3. What is our differentiated point of view?
If your website says the same thing as your competitor's website, you don't have a differentiated point of view. You just have a point of view.

4. Which go-to-market motions will drive revenue faster?
Our research shows six different GTM motions. HubSpot built inbound. Salesforce built outbound with floors of salespeople. You might be partner-led, community-led, or event-driven. Pick one or two. Not all six.

5. What's the ROI in your customer's mind?
Not your ROI. Theirs. When we do advisory work, CEOs say "our product is amazing." Then we look at G2 reviews and the customers say the value is the time they saved. Know the difference.

6. How do we reach our customers where they are?
Meet them in the channels they actually use. Not the ones you wish they used.

7. Which metrics show the health of the business?
At Terminus, we looked at ARR and thought faster growth meant a better business. But if your NRR is over 120%, you can double revenue in 3.8 years without adding a single new customer. Revenue per employee is another one. These are business metrics, not marketing dashboards.

8. Do we have clarity, alignment, and trust as an executive team?
Leadership rises and falls on this. When you stop pointing fingers at marketing, sales, or CS and start saying "we have a go-to-market problem," you bring people together.

Go to runongtmos.com/move and download the GTM dashboard. Over 3,000 companies have taken the assessment to make the GTM, better and here’s why.

In the words of Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm, “every business needs to run on GTM Operating System”

Our blunt advice to CEOs and GTM teams right now:

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.