Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
The OKR Paradox: Why Google's Goal-Setting Framework Became Its Own Enemy•
The PM Role is Evolving. Enter the Producer.•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
The Hidden Cost of 'Friendly' Feedback•
Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
The 'Imaginary Customer' Problem: Why ICP Often Misleads•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
Your Dashboard Is Lying to You (Stop Hiding Behind Data)•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
The Hidden Cost of 'Friendly' Feedback•
The PM Role is Evolving. Enter the Producer.•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
The 'Imaginary Customer' Problem: Why ICP Often Misleads•
The OKR Paradox: Why Google's Goal-Setting Framework Became Its Own Enemy•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Your Dashboard Is Lying to You (Stop Hiding Behind Data)•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
The OKR Paradox: Why Google's Goal-Setting Framework Became Its Own Enemy•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
The 'Imaginary Customer' Problem: Why ICP Often Misleads•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
The Hidden Cost of 'Friendly' Feedback•
Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)•
The PM Role is Evolving. Enter the Producer.•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
Your Dashboard Is Lying to You (Stop Hiding Behind Data)•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
The OKR Paradox: Why Google's Goal-Setting Framework Became Its Own Enemy•
The PM Role is Evolving. Enter the Producer.•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
The Hidden Cost of 'Friendly' Feedback•
Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
The 'Imaginary Customer' Problem: Why ICP Often Misleads•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
Your Dashboard Is Lying to You (Stop Hiding Behind Data)•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
The Hidden Cost of 'Friendly' Feedback•
The PM Role is Evolving. Enter the Producer.•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
The 'Imaginary Customer' Problem: Why ICP Often Misleads•
The OKR Paradox: Why Google's Goal-Setting Framework Became Its Own Enemy•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Your Dashboard Is Lying to You (Stop Hiding Behind Data)•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
The OKR Paradox: Why Google's Goal-Setting Framework Became Its Own Enemy•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
The 'Imaginary Customer' Problem: Why ICP Often Misleads•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
The Hidden Cost of 'Friendly' Feedback•
Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)•
The PM Role is Evolving. Enter the Producer.•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
Your Dashboard Is Lying to You (Stop Hiding Behind Data)•
Get Off the Sidelines: It's Your Turn to Play•
Agile: The Secret Behind Success vs. The Reason We Fail•
Pricing is Power: If You Can't Raise It, You Don't Have a Business•
The 'Glass Slipper' Trap: Why Early Retention Metrics Mislead•
The Hidden Crisis: How Silent Quitting Reveals a Broken Feedback Loop in Modern Organizations•
GTM 101: Startup Revenue Architecture•
The 'Global Market' Myth: Why Local Wins First•
The AI Revenue Illusion: GMV vs ARR•
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Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)

Why GTM Is Suddenly Everywhere (The Shift from PLG)

4 min read

Suddenly, everyone is a "GTM Expert."
LinkedIn bios are changing. "Head of Growth" is becoming "Head of GTM."
VCs who spent five years tweeting about "Product-Led Growth (PLG)" are now writing threads about "Sales-Led Motion."

Why?
Did the market suddenly discover a new science?

No.
The market environment shifted.

The "Build It and They Will Come" Myth

For the last decade (the ZIRP era), we operated with a specific mindset.
The mindset was called Product-Led Growth (PLG).

The promise was appealing:
"If you build a great product, users will find it. They will use it. They will swipe their credit cards. You don't need 'salespeople' in the traditional sense. You just need better UX."

Founders loved this. Especially technical founders.
It told them what they hoped was true: "You don't have to focus on outbound sales. Just code."

So they built.
They built beautiful dashboards. They built "collaborative workspaces."
And for a while, it worked. Not just because the model was sound, but because capital was accessible. Companies bought software they might not have strictly needed.

Then interest rates went up.
CFOs started asking, "What does this tool actually do?"
And the churn began.

GTM is Often a Euphemism for "Sales"

Now, those same founders are adjusting.
They realize that products do not always sell themselves.
Even the best product in the world needs a transmission mechanism to transfer value to the customer and transfer money back to the company.

But "Sales" is sometimes viewed negatively in Silicon Valley.
It can sound aggressive. It can sound outdated.

So we often use a more academic term: Go-To-Market (GTM).

It sounds strategic. It sounds intellectual.
It allows teams to hold meetings about "GTM Strategy" and feel productive, even before they start picking up the phone and asking for money.

Let’s be honest:

  • GTM = "How we get paid."
  • GTM Strategy = "Who we call and what we say to get paid."
  • GTM Motion = "The repeatable process of getting paid."

The "Feature Trap"

Why is GTM trending now?
Because we are seeing the challenges of "Products that are essentially features."

Here is the cycle I see every week:

  1. Founder builds a cool AI tool.
  2. Posts on Twitter/Product Hunt. Gets 10,000 signups.
  3. Founder thinks: "We have PMF!"
  4. Month 3 retention is 4%.
  5. Founder thinks: "The product isn't good enough yet."
  6. Founder builds more features.
  7. Retention stays at 4%.

This is not a product problem.
This is a GTM problem.

You are attracting the wrong people (curious onlookers), with the wrong promise (hype), at the wrong price point (free/cheap).
Adding more features to a leaky bucket doesn't fix the leak. It just makes the bucket heavier.

Stop Just "Talking" About GTM. Build the Plumbing.

GTM is not a slide deck.
It is revenue plumbing.

If you are a Seed/Series A founder, stop reading newsletters about "GTM Frameworks" and focus on execution.
Do this instead:

  1. Don't rely solely on "Self-Serve."
    Put a "Talk to Sales" button on your site. See who clicks it. Talk to them. Ask them why they clicked.
  2. Raise your prices.
    Pricing is the fastest way to filter out noise. If they won't pay $50, they might not be your ideal customer. They are a server cost.
  3. Map the friction.
    Where does the deal stall?
  • Does it drop off at the landing page? (Messaging problem)
  • Does it drop off at the demo? (Product value problem)
  • Does it drop off at the contract? (Pricing/Legal problem)

That is GTM.
It’s not magic. It’s not a philosophy.
It’s the unglamorous, foundational work of clearing the pipes so money can flow.

The era of "Product-Led" magic is over.
Welcome back to the era of Business.