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!

The headlines say the IPO market is back. And they're right.

What the headlines aren't saying: if you bought at the top, you are underwater.

Figma went public. Down 74% from peak.

Circle went public. Down 73%.

Corv went public. Down 58%.

Omada, Chime, Hines Health, Toro. All of them down double digits.

The average across this class of recent IPOs is approximately 44% below their highs. (last I checked)

These were the darlings of the SaaS world.

Every one of them had the growth story. The revenue numbers. The hype. The S1 that made investors lean forward. They rang the bell. They celebrated.

And then reality hit.

Because what they didn't have was profitable revenue. Strong unit economics. A go to market engine that compounds instead of burns.

I've seen this movie before.

I ran marketing at Pardot when we were a $10M company. We got acquired through ExactTarget into Salesforce and I went from a $10M company to a $10B+ company almost overnight. I watched how the best businesses in the world operate. And I also watched what happens when growth without profitability catches up to you.

The market always eventually asks two questions:

Are you efficient? Are you profitable?

Every company getting punished right now got there by ignoring those questions for too long.

In our CEO roundtables, this is the conversation that keeps coming up. And I want to give you a framework that will change how you think about your business.

Type 1: IPO Growth

Revenue is up. New logos are up. ARR is up. The S1 looks good. The board is happy. You're hitting milestones. You're talking about the next raise.

But your NRR (net revenue retention) is below 100%.

If that's you, hear this clearly: you are not growing. You are replacing customers you already lost and calling it growth. You are filling a leaky bucket. And the market, or any investor, or any acquirer, will eventually see through it. Those are the companies going down 44%, 58%, 73% right now.

Type 2: Compounding Growth

This is what I focused on building Terminus. This is what over 3,000 companies running on GTM OS are focused on now.

The questions are different. Not "what is our pipeline?" but "is that pipeline the right ICP?" Not "what is our ARR?" but "is our NRR over 120%?" Not "how many new logos did we close?" but "is our CAC payback under 12 months?"

Here is why 120% NRR matters so much. If your net revenue retention is at 120%, you can double your revenue in 3.8 years without adding a single new customer. Your existing customers stay, expand, and become your growth engine. That is what compounding looks like. That is what makes a business predictable enough to build on.

I asked Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, what her single most important metric is.

She did not flinch. NRR. A publicly traded company running billions in revenue and the CEO's north star is whether existing customers are staying and expanding. Not new logos. Not pipeline. NRR.

That is the difference between a business that grows and a business that compounds.

Let me show you how:

In the CEO roundtables, I see a pattern in the companies that are struggling. They are on a hamster wheel.

New logos. Revenue numbers. Board is happy. Raise the next round. Repeat. Hit the IPO or the exit eventually.

Nobody stops to ask:

is this growth repeatable? Is my go to market engine compounding? Do my unit economics actually work?

The GTM OS forces these questions early. Not when the market punishes you. Before.

Which gross margin is high enough to sustain this product? Which customer segment retains the best? Should we open a new market or go deeper in the one that's already working? Is the revenue we're chasing profitable revenue?

One CEO in a recent roundtable told me he had been running EOS for years. Loved it.

Said it was phenomenal for running the company, getting his team aligned on vision, managing the big rocks. Then he saw GTM OS and it clicked immediately. He said:

That is exactly right. And when the revenue engine has bad unit economics underneath it, the whole company eventually feels it. The layoffs that are happening right now in the name of AI? A lot of them are bad unit economics finally coming due.

1. Know your NRR. Not just you. Everyone.

Every person in your business should know your net revenue retention number. It does not matter if it is 75% or 85% today. What matters is that you know it, you name it, and every initiative in your company is pointed at improving it. NRR is the single best predictor of long term growth and value in any B2B business. If you do not know this number, that is the first problem to fix.

2. Fix your CAC payback time.

If it takes you more than 24 months to recoup the cost of acquiring a customer, you are financing your growth. That financing always comes due. Either in a fundraising round you did not want to do, or in the cost cutting that shows up as "AI-driven restructuring" on an earnings call. Get CAC payback under 12 months and your business starts financing itself. That is the path to not needing a lifeline.

3. Shift obsession from acquisition to expansion.

68 to 78% of go to market leaders at best-in-class companies are focused on retention and expansion, not new acquisition. 40 to 50% of new ARR at the best SaaS companies comes from existing customers expanding. This is how Salesforce forecasts so precisely at $10B in revenue. They already know 60 to 70% of the number before the year starts because it comes from expansion contracts that are already in place. They are forecasting the 30%. Everyone else is guessing at 100%.

Momentum is good. New logos feel great. Press releases are fun. But if you are celebrating growth without asking whether that growth is profitable, repeatable, and compounding, you are building toward the same outcome those IPO companies are living right now.

If you are a go to market leader, your job is not just to hit the number. Your job is to build an engine that compounds. Otherwise, every month you start from zero. Every month is a war.

If you are building toward an exit or an IPO, the window is open. But the market will not give you a premium for growth without profitability. Profit is the only way out of any valley of death.

One operating system. One revenue engine. One definition of success.

That is what compounds.

If you are wondering whether your go to market engine is compounding or burning, go to runongtmos.com/move and take the assessment. Over 3,000 companies have used it to get clarity on exactly this. It will show you where you are and what to fix first. Let's get moving.

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.