{"id":664,"date":"2025-01-24T21:43:50","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T22:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/?p=664"},"modified":"2025-01-28T16:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T16:57:42","slug":"insight-from-a-1-3b-acquisition-and-7-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/insight-from-a-1-3b-acquisition-and-7-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"Insight from a $1.3B acquisition and 7 startups"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Hello and welcome to <strong>The GTM Newsletter by GTMnow <\/strong>\u2013 read by 50,000+ to scale their companies and careers. GTMnow shares insight around the go-to-market strategies responsible for explosive company growth. GTMnow highlights the strategies, along with the stories from the top 1% of GTM executives, VCs, and founders behind these strategies and companies.<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>Insight from a $1.3B acquisition and 7 startups<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The most successful companies understand that product and go-to-market strategy must be deeply interconnected.<\/p>\n<p>Too often, businesses treat these as separate domains\u2014one focused on development, the other on selling. But sustainable growth requires a cohesive approach, where every decision about the product is made with its market fit, buyer journey, and expansion potential in mind.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/scottpgifis\/\">Scott Gifis<\/a> has led the growth of seven startups, including serving as President at AdRoll and as President and COO of Frame.io, where he helped drive the company\u2019s $1.3B acquisition by Adobe.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing from his extensive experience, Scott breaks down four key strategies to successfully align product and go-to-market execution for scalable growth.<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sizing-normal lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"1456\" height=\"1048\" data-src=\"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1e766ad5-47e8-4ac7-aaf1-4377d9e10969_1456x1048.jpg\"><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>The 4 key considerations for aligning product and GTM strategy to drive growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3>1. Your product is the foundation of your GTM strategy<\/h3>\n<p>The biggest mistake companies make is thinking they can simply add a go-to-market (GTM) strategy to a product that wasn\u2019t designed with it in mind. Instead, leaders need to plan from the start how customers will find, use, and grow with their product.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key questions to ask:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Who is your buyer?<\/strong> Is the person using your product the same one making the purchase decision? If not, a product-led growth (PLG) strategy may not be the right fit.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Can your product grow on its own? <\/strong>Some products, like Twilio, naturally expand as customers use them more. If yours doesn\u2019t, you\u2019ll need a different approach to scaling.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What is your customer\u2019s journey? <\/strong>Think about how they first find your product, how they start using it, and what keeps them coming back. If your product is complex, a strong customer success team can make all the difference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your GTM strategy should complement your product\u2019s natural strengths, not work against them. If your product isn\u2019t designed for a certain growth motion, forcing it will lead to inefficiencies.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Pricing and packaging is the link between product and growth<\/h3>\n<p>Pricing and packaging are more than just setting a price\u2014they help customers understand the value of your product, how they use it, and whether they stick with it long-term. Many companies overthink pricing or delay important decisions. But pricing is not set in stone\u2014it should change as your business grows and your customers\u2019 needs evolve.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best practices for smart pricing:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Know your customer<\/strong> \u2013 Set your pricing based on who is buying your product and how their needs change over time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Offer value at every level<\/strong> \u2013 HubSpot is a great example: It adds new features as businesses grow, making it easy for customers to upgrade naturally.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make it easy to understand<\/strong> \u2013 Complicated pricing can turn customers away. Keep it clear and match how they like to buy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t block key features<\/strong> \u2013 If integrations make your product more useful, don\u2019t limit them. Instead, charge for extra<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. Align the entire business around the customer lifecycle<\/h3>\n<p>Too many companies focus on internal functions (marketing, sales, CS) instead of aligning everyone around the customer\u2019s lifecycle. Without a unified approach, marketing generates leads that sales can\u2019t convert, product teams miss key adoption signals, and growth stalls at predictable revenue plateaus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to fix this:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Map every internal team\u2019s KPIs to customer lifecycle success <\/strong>\u2013 If sales, marketing, and product aren\u2019t working towards the same customer outcomes, friction will stall growth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clarify the difference between customer lifecycle and customer journey<\/strong> \u2013 The lifecycle is the overall relationship between customer and company, while the journey is how they experience the product and purchase process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Unify goals across teams<\/strong> \u2013 Every department should share a clear understanding of entry and exit criteria at each stage of the customer journey.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leverage cross-functional insights<\/strong> \u2013 Marketing, product, and sales must work in tandem. Product signals (e.g. feature usage, activation data) should inform sales outreach and marketing efforts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Define failure criteria<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s easy to measure success, but companies often fail to predefine when to abandon an initiative. Set clear failure benchmarks to cut ineffective programs early.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. Building the right teams and tools for growth<\/h3>\n<p>Great strategies fail without the right people and operational alignment. Many startups make critical hiring mistakes, such as hiring too conservatively (one person instead of two) or prioritizing \u201cexperience\u201d over grit and adaptability.<\/p>\n<p>Team building cheat codes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Never hire just one<\/strong> \u2013 Whether it\u2019s sales reps or product managers, a single hire lacks comparison points. Invest in at least two people to create benchmarks and knowledge-sharing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hire for the problem today, not three years from now<\/strong> \u2013 A common mistake is hiring someone for a future vision instead of solving immediate needs. Prioritize what will drive the next 12-18 months of growth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look for<\/strong> <strong>T-shaped players<\/strong>\u2014people with deep expertise in one area but cross-functional ability to collaborate across departments. These are the <strong>force multipliers<\/strong> who drive outsized impact.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Invest in customer success over SDRs<\/strong> \u2013 A strong CS function improves retention and expansion more than outbound prospecting ever will. Onboarding is the highest-ROI investment you can make.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make revenue operations a strategic priority<\/strong> \u2013 GTM ops and finance must work from a single model of truth. If finance and sales teams present different revenue data, operational inefficiencies will slow growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" style=\"text-align: center\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/thegtmnewsletter.substack.com\/p\/insight-from-a-13b-acquisition-and?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: center\"><em> Tag GTMnow so we can see your takeaways and help amplify them.<\/em><\/h6>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong> <img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\ud83d\udca1\" class=\"wp-smiley lazyload\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" data-src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/1f4a1.png\"> GTMfund Toolkit<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>We spilled the beans on how we\u2019ve become a Superhuman customer, and the response across our GTMfund community Slack and social channels was a clear testament to how Superhuman has been a game-changer for efficiency among leaders and teams. A few of the messages:<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sizing-normal lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"1456\" height=\"455\" data-src=\"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/94bfe7db-3118-43f4-81d5-93bf3269987e_3024x945.jpg\"><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Superhuman is generously offering the GTMnow community exclusive access to 1 month free on the platform.<\/strong> If you add any teammates in January to your team, they\u2019ll get a free month too.<\/p>\n<p>To claim this offer, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.superhuman.com\/gtmnow\">www.superhuman.com\/gtmnow<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\ud83d\udc42\" class=\"wp-smiley lazyload\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" data-src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/1f442.png\"> More for your eardrums<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/robgiglio\/\">Rob Giglio<\/a> is the Chief Customer Officer at Canva, where he oversees Canva\u2019s sales and go-to-market functions. Rob brings to Canva over 20 years of industry experience leading and executing global marketing and sales initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Rob joins Canva from HubSpot, where he was also Chief Customer Officer, and before that, he was the Chief Marketing Officer at Docusign. Prior to Docusign, Rob spent over ten years at Adobe, leading the global sales and go-to-market teams for their Digital Media Business Unit and holding responsibility for over $7B in revenue.<\/p>\n<div id=\"youtube2-4BDfZ1BiTPQ\" class=\"youtube-wrap\" data-component-name=\"Youtube2ToDOM\">\n<div class=\"youtube-inner\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/gtmnow.com\/gtm-130-scaling-to-billions-how-docusign-hubspot-canva-built-winning-gtm-strategies-rob-giglio\/\">GTM 130: Scaling to Billions: How DocuSign, HubSpot &amp; Canva Built Winning GTM Strategies<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Listen on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/in\/podcast\/the-gtm-podcast\/id1369291464\">Apple<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2SA1dgQ2Yc5t4V5GcBLnD2\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4BDfZ1BiTPQ&amp;list=PLGXnz4Tyz3-SfJ5DPByHtUOQOFB3yJ6zZ\">YouTube<\/a>, or wherever you get your podcasts by searching \u201cThe GTM Podcast.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude80\" class=\"wp-smiley lazyload\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" data-src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/1f680.png\"><strong> Startup to watch<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/games\/ai-or-not-raises-5m-to-stop-ai-fraud-deepfakes-and-misinformation\/\">AI or Not<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/games\/ai-or-not-raises-5m-to-stop-ai-fraud-deepfakes-and-misinformation\/\"> \u2013 announced a $5M Seed round<\/a>. AI or Not is an AI detector trusted by 200k+ users that checks for AI generated content in images, audio, KYC identity documents and more. They are building AI to detect AI and help businesses stop fraud, power content moderation and prevent KYC scams.<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\ud83d\udc40\" class=\"wp-smiley lazyload\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" data-src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/1f440.png\"> More for your eyeballs<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pocus.com\/blog\/demystifying-the-ai-sales-landscape\">Demystifying the AI sales landscape<\/a>. The sales tech landscape has never been more confusing, here\u2019s how AI has shifted categories and what that means for buyers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/rqg6nlpdkTY\">Size of mind beats size of wallet.<\/a> You can\u2019t just spend your way anymore to winning customers. If you\u2019re smart and thoughtful about how you go-to-market, you can use content to win customers.<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\ud83d\udd25\" class=\"wp-smiley lazyload\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" data-src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/1f525.png\"> Hottest GTM jobs of the week<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/careers.crossbeam.com\/jobs\/5471745-revenue-operations-manager-us\">Revenue Operations Manager<\/a> at Crossbeam <em>(Remote \u2013 US)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.ashbyhq.com\/vanta\/d5892780-397b-48d6-90de-60e335ec8b87\">Account Manager, SMB<\/a> at Vanta <em>(Remote \u2013 US)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ats.rippling.com\/armada-careers\/jobs\/7c184f9c-3037-4da1-8901-4f5927a79d58\">Growth Marketing Manager<\/a> at Armada <em>(San Francisco)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.lever.co\/owner\/38b1deb7-07c9-492e-a2ea-3c49fe80deb3\">Head of Community<\/a> at Owner <em>(Remote \u2013 US)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.ashbyhq.com\/Magical\/b934de07-03af-41a6-aafb-c0868a67195a\">Healthcare Account Executive, Full Cycle<\/a> at Magical <em>(Remote \u2013 US)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>See more top GTM jobs on the <a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gtmfund.com\/jobs\">GTMfund Job Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you\u2019re looking to scale your sales and marketing teams with top talent, we couldn\u2019t recommend our partner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pursuitsalessolutions.com\/gtm\">Pursuit<\/a> more. We work closely together to be able to provide the top go-to-market talent for companies on a non-retainer basis.<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong><img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\ud83d\uddd3\" class=\"wp-smiley lazyload\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" data-src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/1f5d3.png\"> GTM industry events<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><em>Upcoming go-to-market events you won\u2019t want to miss:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wynter.com\/spryng\/lp\">Spryng by Wynter<\/a>: March 24-26, 2025 <em>(Austin, TX)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/events.joinpavilion.com\/cmo-summit-2025\">Pavilion CMO Summit<\/a>: April 17, 2025 <em>(Atlanta, GA)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vancouver.websummit.com\/\">Web Summit<\/a>: May 27-30, 2025 <em>(Vancouver, CAN)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/events.bizzabo.com\/cro-summit-2025\">Pavilion CRO Summit<\/a>: June 3, 2025 (Denver, CO)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastrannual.com\/\">SaaStr Annual<\/a>: September 10-12 (San Francisco, CA)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/attendgtm.com\/\">Pavilion GTM Summit<\/a>: September 23-25, 2025 <em>(Dallas, TX)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>GTMfund 2025 events TBA\u00a0(global)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/thegtmnewsletter.substack.com\/subscribe?\">Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h6>This newsletter was entirely written and edited by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sophiebuonassisi\/\">Sophie Buonassisi<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ssbarker\/\">Scott Barker<\/a> (not AI!).<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/gtmnow.com\/insight-from-a-1-3b-acquisition-and-7-startups\/\">Insight from a $1.3B acquisition and 7 startups<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/gtmnow.com\">GTMnow<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello and welcome to The GTM Newsletter by GTMnow \u2013 read by 50,000+ to scale their companies and careers. GTMnow shares insight around the go-to-market strategies responsible for explosive company growth. GTMnow highlights the strategies, along with the stories from the top 1% of GTM executives, VCs, and founders behind these strategies and companies. Insight [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions\/669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtobigisland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}