The GTMnow Podcast

• VC 1: Inside the New Exit Economy: IPOs, Secondaries & AI with Meritech’s Alex Clayton

  Alex Clayton is one of the clearest minds in growth-stage investing, the person elite founders turn to when the market is noisy and the stakes are high. A General Partner at Meritech Capital, Alex has built a reputation for breaking down complex businesses with uncommon clarity, from his legendary S-1 teardowns to his frameworks on power laws, secondaries, and AI-native growth. Before Meritech, he honed his craft at Spark Capital and Redpoint, backing breakout companies like Braze, JFrog, Outreach, Pendo, Duo Security, and RelateIQ. A former ATP tennis pro and Stanford team captain, Alex brings that same discipline, pattern recognition, and competitive fire to evaluating the next generational companies.Discussed in this episodeWhy GAAP revenue and cash burn are the two metrics that quietly govern everything.How AI is changing growth rates, margins, and what “good” looks like in SaaS.The rise of secondaries, and why they now rival or exceed IPO volume.How to read an S-1 like a pro (and what Alex looks for first).Founder ownership, fund lifecycles, and how long companies really stay private.Why power laws in venture are getting even steeper in the AI era.How AI is reshaping pricing models from seats to usage and outcomes.Which iconic private companies are most likely to go public in the next 3 years.Episode highlights02:40 — Is the IPO window really back? 05:10 — Secondaries quietly outpacing IPOs08:10 — The only two metrics that matter10:56 — AI growth that breaks SaaS mental models26:20 — From “software” to “SaaS” to “AI”… and back again29:25 — Seat-based pricing vs outcome-based AI pricing34:55 — The capital tidal wave & longer private lives44:00 — Bubble vs biggest opportunity of our careers57:17 — What the rest of the 2020s look like1:03:41 — Why GAAP revenue + cash burn still winBrought to you by: AngelListHow did we build the GTMfund back office? Easy!We leveraged AngelList’s Rolling Fund product for Fund I, which was the perfect vehicle to scale up GTMfund in its first iteration. This structure allowed us to build our network, and add revenue leaders while we raised and deployed capital simultaneously, which was crucial for getting early points on the board and building relationships with founders.For Fund II, we transitioned to a traditional closed-end fund structure through AngelList. This time with institutional investor support. This model allowed us to be more intentional about our portfolio construction. We worked closely with the AngelList team throughout this process, and they were incredible — always there to support us and our LPs every step of the way.If you’re raising a fund or are looking to migrate your fund, we highly recommend you check them out. You can do so at www.angellist.com/gtmfund.Follow Alex ClaytonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aclaytonX (Twitter): https://x.com/afcFollow Max Altschuler (Host)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/The GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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• GTM 170: 0 Customers → $4B: Inside Snowflake’s GTM Machine with Chris Degnan

  Chris Degnan is the former Chief Revenue Officer of Snowflake, where he helped scale the company from pre-product to over $4B in ARR and more than $100B in market cap. Over his 11-year tenure, Chris built Snowflake’s go-to-market engine from the ground up, from personally running the first outbound campaigns to leading a global sales organization through four CEOs and one of the largest software IPOs in history.Today, he advises founders and revenue leaders on how to build high-velocity GTM teams, hire with grit, and scale with discipline. Chris is also the co-author of Make It Snow, the definitive playbook on Snowflake’s go-to-market journey, co-written with CMO Denise Persson.Discussed in this episodeThe early days of Snowflake: selling a stealth startup with no productHow to hire and identify truly self-motivated, gritty sales talentThe lessons from John McMahon that shaped Snowflake’s leadership DNAHow to build sales-marketing alignment that actually scalesThe near-death experiences that almost killed SnowflakeWhat great CEOs do differently, from Muglia to SlootmanThe power of focusing on new logo acquisitionThe evolution of sales methodologies: MEDDPICC, culture, and curiosityThe truth about AI’s “bubble”, and what’s real beneath the hypeEpisode highlights00:02:21 — Why join Snowflake pre-product and in stealth.00:05:36 — The original outreach script and what resonated with prospects.00:06:49 — Scaling from lists to SDRs; Degnan’s “8 meetings per week” rule.00:09:11 — Hiring for self-starters; the interview opener: “Tell me your life story.”00:12:49 — The feedback loop that kept a CRO in seat for 11 years.00:24:46 — The outage that almost killed Snowflake, and how leadership showed up.00:28:34 — New logo gates every quarter and why it mattered more than anything.00:34:05 — “Customer success is everyone’s job”: removing CS, monetizing PS, driving adoption.00:36:40 — Databricks: where Snowflake ceded ground and what they’d do differently.00:39:19 — Why going public was the right move for enterprise trust.This episode is brought to you by our sponsor: BoomPopWe’re deep in event planning right now, as no doubt many of you are.Whether it’s an offsite, conference, or any other kind of event,BoomPop makes that happen with end-to-end planning all in one place.They handle everything from venues to experiences, so you can focus on the delights of meeting in person, not the logistics.Being part of GTMnow, you’re eligible for full-service event planning for just $99 per person (terms apply). Head to boompop.com/gtmfund to explore seamless support for your events.Follow Chris DegnanLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-degnan-524470Make It Snow (book):https://makeitsnowbook.comThe GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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• GTM 169: How Airbyte Hit $1B: The Open-Source, Community-First Playbook

  Michel Tricot is the co-founder and CEO of Airbyte, the open-source data movement platform he launched in 2020. Before Airbyte, Michel led integrations and served as Director of Engineering at LiveRamp, where he scaled the teams and pipelines that synced massive data volumes. He also helped build rideOS as a founding engineer and Director of Engineering. Michel has spent 15+ years in data infrastructure, with a focus on commoditizing data pipelines and giving teams control and sovereignty over their data. Discussed in this episodeWhy Airbyte launched open source first (catching engineers “at the search”)Project-market fit vs. product-market fit, and why they’re differentThe content engine: founder-led writing, shipping slides, and radical transparencyTurning interest into community: 25k+ Slack, champions, and hiring from withinThe near-misses: hiring ahead of PMF, support-heavy community, cloud complexityGoing upmarket: enterprise motion, longer cycles, and team ramp realitiesAI wave → agents as “data consumers” and what it means for pipelinesReplatforming for control & sovereignty, not just “more connectors”This episode is brought to you by our sponsor: ZoomInfoZoomInfo is the GTM Intelligence Platform built for sales, marketing, and RevOps.By unifying data, workflows, and insights into a single system, ZoomInfo helps revenue teams find and engage the right buyers, launch go-to-market plays faster, and drive predictable growth. With industry-leading accuracy and depth of data, it gives your team the intelligence advantage to win in competitive markets.It’s trusted by the fastest-growing companies and has become the category leader in GTM Intelligence.Learn more at zoominfo.com.Follow Michel TricotLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheltricotX (Twitter):https://x.com/MichelTricotWebsite:https://airbyte.com/AirbyteHost linksLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuonaNewsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/Website: https://gtmnow.com/Where to Find GTMnowWebsite: https://gtmnow.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnowX (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowPodcast Directory: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcastThe GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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• GTM 168: How ZoomInfo Built a $1B RevOps Engine, The Operating Cadence Behind Breakout Growth | Tessa Whittaker

  Tessa Whittaker is the VP of Revenue Operations at ZoomInfo, where she leads a 70-person global team powering one of SaaS’s most efficient $1B+ revenue engines. Over the past decade, she’s helped architect the systems, cadence, and AI workflows that underpin how ZoomInfo operates at scale.Tessa is known as one of the most thoughtful operators in tech, bringing structure, clarity, and rigor to how GTM organizations run. Her work sits at the intersection of data, process, and execution, proving that with the right operating cadence, even the most complex go-to-market systems can move in rhythm.Discussed in this episodeBuilding a personal operating system (Salesforce's V2MOM, Notion, weekly reviews) that maps vision → methods → measurable actions.“Operating rhythm” for GTM: the meetings, reviews, and enablement that create predictable execution.Color-coding calendars to align time with quarterly KPIs (and fixing misallocation).Counterintuitive up-market move: automate down-market so scarce humans focus on enterprise.AI intake & prioritization agent: compressing 10–15 hrs of RevOps scoping into one interaction.Democratizing creation: org-wide agent “hackathons,” usage leaderboards, and adoption lessons.Health OS during sprints: cut alcohol, protect sleep, simplify to sustain output.What to buy vs. build; auditing tech stacks; avoiding (and accepting some) agent sprawl.Episode highlights00:00 — Systems beat motivation; why cadence creates consistency.01:36 — RevOps as connective tissue of SaaS; the “invest earlier” regret.03:58 — From EA to SVP-level ops leader to VP RevOps: the long workback.06:51 — Why operators obsess over simplifying complexity.12:24 — Time as the scarcest resource: color-coding calendars to goals.20:05 — The RevOps operating rhythm at ZoomInfo (and how AI slots in).21:48 — Going upmarket? Automate downmarket first to free resources.31:19 — Intake agent: collapsing 10–15 hours of back-and-forth into one interaction.36:48 — Democratizing creation: internal agent hackathons and a usage leaderboard.44:30 — The Alchemist and reframing growth: get uncomfortable to keep climbing.This episode is brought to you by our sponsorsThe best talent isn’t actively job hunting. Pursuit helps companies hire elite go-to-market talent on a non-retainer basis. As a key GTMfund partner, they equip sales and marketing teams with top performers.If you’re hiring for sales or marketing roles, reach out to Pursuit at pursuitsalessolutions.com/gtm or message a GTMfund team member.Guest links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-whittaker-44903940Where to Find GTMnowWebsite: https://gtmnow.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow/X (Twitter):https://x.com/GTMnow_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_nowThe GTM Podcast: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/The GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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• GTM 167: Competing with Giants: Inside You.com’s Battle Against OpenAI & Google | Peter Grant

  Peter Grant is the Chief Revenue Officer at You.com, the AI search and productivity platform reshaping how people find and create information. A veteran GTM leader, Peter has built and scaled revenue engines at some of tech’s most iconic companies — from Siebel Systems to Salesforce to C3.ai — working directly under legends like Tom Siebel and Marc Benioff. Today, he’s leading You.com’s charge against giants like OpenAI and Google, bringing precision, storytelling, and speed to the most transformative era in technology.Discussed in this episodeHow Peter defines “the biggest opportunity of our lifetime” in AILessons from working under Tom Siebel, Marc Benioff, and Rishi KhoslaHow to hire SEAL-Team-Six-level GTM talentWhy belief and speed are non-negotiables when competing with giantsYou.com’s differentiation strategy against OpenAI and GoogleHow to operationalize AI literacy and agentic workflowsThe ROI gap in generative AI adoption, and how to fix itBuilding products that stand on truthEpisode Highlights00:14 — The biggest opportunity in technology this century05:25 — Lessons from working directly with Thomas Siebel06:41 — How to hire “SEAL Team Six” sales talent10:24 — Why “train hard, fight easy” defines great enablement20:08 — The new sophistication bar for AI literacy in sales25:14 — How You.com differentiates against OpenAI & Google30:00 — Peter’s personal AI productivity system: 40 agents40:12 — Speed, truth, and trust: You.com’s go-to-market culture48:30 — The “war room” story: building a sales plan overnight59:45 — No easy days: why startup life mirrors special forcesThis episode is brought to you by our sponsor: BoomPopA quick pause to spotlight a partner that helps GTM teams actually connect—BoomPop.Your next big unlock might not come from another meeting… it’s from getting your team in the same room. BoomPop makes that happen with end-to-end offsite planning all in one place.They handle everything from venues to experiences, so you can focus on the delights of meeting in person, not the logistics.And as a listener of GTMfund, you’re eligible for full-service event planning for just $99 per person (terms apply).Head to boompop.com/gtmfund to start planning your offsite.Guest LinksLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/peterkgrantCompany: you.comRecommended BooksThe Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben HorowitzElephants Can’t Dance by Louis V. Gerstner Jr.The Master Algorithm by Pedro DomingosNo Easy Day by Mark Owen — a favorite for its lessons on grit and resilienceThe GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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