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!
Have you ever talked to a CEO with a huge market who still can't grow? That's the growth trap most CEOs never break free from. Today you're going to hear how one of them broke out, in his own words.
Let's dig in.
A Huge Market, Slow Growth: What's the Deal?
Serge Gander runs bNovate, a Swiss company that does something wild.
It detects bacteria in water in real time. 15 years in business, about 50 people, 500 units shipped, 100+ customers across 100+ countries, including Fortune 500 names in municipal water, food and beverage, and pharma.
Real technology. Real traction. And like a lot of CEOs we work with, Serge had a problem you might recognize. Nobody heard much about it, and growth was slower than the tech deserved.
Here's why.
His total addressable market looked incredible on a slide. Three or four industries, global reach, massive upside. And that was exactly the problem. It was too big to execute against.
Everything was a priority, so nothing was.
TAM Looks Great on a Slide. But It Won't Grow You.
A giant TAM (Total Addressable Market) feels like ambition. Usually it's a lack of focus dressed up as opportunity. You spread the team across every industry you could theoretically serve, the messaging goes generic, and the needle barely moves.
That's the trap.
And you don't get out of it by working harder against the whole market. You get out by choosing.
Big Idea: From TAM to TRM (Total Relevant Market)
So Serge brought in Melanie, a GTM OS certified partner, Melanie and her team at CRO2Go, to run bNovate on GTM OS.
In four to five weeks Melanie and her team did the work most companies skip.
They took his total addressable market and narrowed it to what we call the total relevant market. The TRM. Not every industry. The two segments where bNovate could win first, fast, and with a message that actually lands.
Along the way they did the real work: ICP, stakeholder mapping, and messaging. Selling into the cloud meant new buyers, and a CIO does not care about your features, they care about ROI. So they built the message around value and impact, then turned the strategy into a playbook the team could run.
Watch This Work (Not Magic) In Action:
How a GTM OS Certified Partner, Melanie, Helped Serge, the CEO, Transition from Guesswork to Growth Work.
Serge said it better than I can:
"bNovate gives customers data so they stop guessing what's in the water. That's exactly what the GTM OS framework did for us. It replaced guesswork with discipline, all the way to execution."
The Part Most CEOs Underestimate (Don’t skip this)
Serge's team is full of brilliant engineers. Deep tech thinkers who love the product.
The shift he needed was cultural: from tech push to market pull.
Here's the trick. Engineers like structure, and a framework is structure they'll accept. Melanie with the GTM OS framework and structure gave the team crisp one-liners they called their "joker cards," ready for every conversation. They moved bNovate from being a vitamin (a nice-to-have with a dashboard) to a painkiller (the message that makes a customer say "they get me").
The impact showed up in order: internal alignment first, then sharper focus in market, then better customers who felt understood before the demo even started.
Why This Matters For You And What Should You Do Now
64% of CEOs say go-to-market is their biggest problem. Not AI. Not competitors. Not the product. It's taking the corporate strategy to market in a way that actually generates value and revenue.
So if your TAM is huge and your growth is slow, you probably don't have a market problem. You have a focus problem. Shrink the market you're chasing down to the one you can win, and watch what happens.
Our blunt advice to CEOs and GTM leaders:
A big TAM is not a GTM strategy. Focus is.
CEOs: If you're a CEO or run go-to-market (GTM) and want to achieve similar success, consider working with one of our GTM OS certified partners. They can help you eliminate the uncertainty in your GTM efforts and return to growth. Check out our complete GTMarketplace, as top companies worldwide run on GTM OS.
Fractionals: If you have over 10+ years of GTM (marketing, sales, operations) experience and want to become part of the GTM OS Certified Partner program, DM me on LinkedIn. If you qualify, my team will set up an interview process to determine if it's a fit and help you land projects with CEOs looking to transform their GTM.
Now, let's get moving.
love,
sangram
p.s. 100,000+ GTM leaders read our content every day. If you want more frameworks like this, follow along at runongtmos.com and let's get moving.