GTMnow Podcast
GTMnow
The GTMnow Podcast interviews well-known tech executive, VC, and founders - the expert operators in the trenches who have ‘been there, done that’ to build some of the fastest-growing software companies. Every week, a guest joins Sophie Buonassisi to dissect their stories, revealing expert insights around what worked, what didn’t, and how things actually went down. This podcast is produced by GTMnow, the media brand of GTMfund - sharing insight on go-to-market from working with hundreds of…
Recent Episodes
Why More AI Won't Grow Your Revenue (and What Will) | Loreal Lynch (CMO, Nooks)
Sep 15, 2026Loreal Lynch, CMO of Nooks, discusses why simply adding AI agents to existing sales processes won't drive revenue growth without fundamental operational redesign. Drawing on her experience as CMO of Jasper during the first AI wave, she explains the shift from automation (which frightens teams about job replacement) to labor augmentation, where 10x productivity agents enable hiring more reps rather than eliminating them. The conversation covers the iceberg model of human vs. agent work, the critical infrastructure requirements for scaling agents (dialer, email, calling systems), and how CMO-CRO alignment around shared pipeline targets—rather than sourced lead attribution—unlocks revenue organization performance.
Building an AI-Era Sales Machine | Chris McDonough (VP Sales, Campfire)
Sep 10, 2026Chris McDonough, VP of Sales at Campfire, discusses his career trajectory through four hypergrowth companies (Motive, Samsara, Vercata, and now Campfire) and the lessons learned selling through explosive scaling periods. He breaks down how AI is reshaping the sales profession—creating a wider gap between top and bottom performers rather than replacing reps—and shares his contrarian views on AI outbound, SDR bench strength, and building AI-native sales organizations from scratch. McDonough also reveals how a two-week decision to relocate to San Francisco fundamentally changed his career, and why joining companies in hypergrowth is the fastest way to accelerate professional development.
Inside Electric's AI Relaunch, from a 3X Founder | Ryan Denehy (Founder & CEO, Electric)
Aug 27, 2026Ryan Denehy, founder and CEO of Electric, discusses the company's radical pivot to become an AI-native software platform after operating as a hybrid IT services and software business for seven years. He breaks down the five-step playbook for total business reinvention, explains how the shift to AI-native products enabled a move from direct sales to channel-led distribution through payroll platforms like ADP, and shares lessons from selling two previous companies to public companies.
What the Top 1% of Sellers Do Differently | Ross Rich (CEO, Accord)
Aug 25, 2026Ross Rich, co-founder and CEO of Accord, discusses what separates top-performing salespeople from the rest and why AI is widening rather than closing that gap. He shares insights from his five years at Stripe leading go-to-market and partnerships, and explains how great sellers combine genuine curiosity and trust (the "give a shit factor") with deeply internalized frameworks that become subconscious. Rich emphasizes that the biggest disconnect in sales organizations is between what CRO leadership thinks they're implementing and what actually reaches the field, and argues that sustainable change requires people, process, and technology—in that order—with the CRO driving a simple, shared language and field-friendly processes.
Will Salesforce Win the AI Era Like It Won Cloud? | Kris Billmaier
Aug 11, 2026Kris Billmaier, EVP and GM of Agentforce Sales and Growth Products at Salesforce, discusses how Salesforce is positioning itself to win in the AI era, much like it did in the cloud era. He covers the rebrand of Sales Cloud to Agentforce, the shift from CRM to "agentic revenue orchestration," the headless strategy embedding Salesforce capabilities into Slack and ChatGPT, and internal wins like an engagement agent generating $100M+ in pipeline. The conversation explores product innovation, go-to-market evolution, pricing changes, and how Salesforce maintains agility as a 70,000-person company.
Inside Deel's $1M → $1.5B Sales Machine | Chris Lee
Aug 3, 2026Chris Lee, Head of Sales, Americas at Deel, shares the pivotal decisions behind scaling the company from $1M to $1.5B in revenue. He discusses his five-star sales experience framework, the "deal speed" cultural value that differentiated Deel against legacy competitors, how he achieved zero regrettable director-level attrition over 5.5 years through hire-slow-fire-fast principles, and the role of "Ghostbusters"—internal operations specialists who fight organizational decay as the company scaled from 30 to 7,000 employees.
The Enterprise→PLG Playbook: Reversing the Motion Everyone Runs Backwards | Shensi Ding (CEO, Merge)
Jul 22, 2026Shensi Ding, cofounder and CEO of Merge, discusses the company's evolution from early-stage startup serving small companies to enterprise-focused infrastructure provider for AI integration, and now back toward a dual motion including PLG. Merge powers logos like OpenAI, Perplexity, Netflix, and Uber with integrations, agent handler tooling, and smart LLM routing. Ding shares lessons on founder-led sales, hiring missionaries over mercenaries, the shift from enterprise-first to hybrid go-to-market, and his hands-on approach to building new products with AI.
The Blueprint for a High-Performing Sales Team | Brian Le, Notion
Jul 9, 2026VC: How a 2-Person Fund Runs Like a Startup (Memos, KPIs, R&D) | Vanessa Larco, Premise (ex-NEA)
Jul 8, 2026Why a $1.2B exit felt like his biggest failure, and the customer-obsession thesis behind Agency
Jul 2, 2026
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