Head of AI & Data strategy, Revolutionizing GovCon at Procurement Sciences

I help Aerospace & Defense organizations modernize without losing what makes them mission-critical.

With 15+ years in A&D at Lockheed Martin and GDIT, I know the terrain: complex programs, siloed systems, tight compliance, and the high stakes of delivering at scale. Now at Salesforce, I work with public sector leaders to align technology with mission outcomes — using tools like Data Cloud, Mulesoft, Tableau, and Slack to make transformation not just possible, but practical.

My edge? I speak your language — program lifecycle, cybersecurity, workforce upskilling, supply chain visibility — and bring solutions that fit the reality of your environment, not fantasy decks.

Proud husband to an Army veteran, and someone who’s built digital strategy from the inside out.

Let’s connect if you’re navigating digital transformation in Aerospace & Defense — and want a partner who gets both the mission and the margin.

Anthony Brown

Brendan Short

Playing long-term games w/ long-term people ✨ Building Groundswell

Currently writing about the future of gtm/tech, at The Signal. Subscribe now (it’s free): www.TheSignal.club 

I’ve worked at a couple of startups ($0-$10M), a couple of big companies (Zoom Video, Apollo.io), and I’ve started a couple of venture-backed SaaS companies (Hexa.ai, Groundswell).

I’ve been an SDR, AE, Head of Sales, SDR/Ops Leader, and CEO. Jack of all trades, master of none, perhaps. 

I like learning and building. 🤘

Writer

• Separating the signal from the noise—a weekly newsletter on all things GTM tech

Brendan Short 🌊

brendan short

Exploring the future GTM playbook → Writing The Signal | Playing long-term games with long-term people 🫡

Acquisition predictions (just for fun): 

- OpenAI acquires Clay 
- Apple acquires Anthropic 
- Microsoft acquires Outreach 
- Salesforce acquires Gong
- Vista acquires Apollo
- Zoominfo goes private
- Tesla acquires X/Grok
- Databricks acquires Rox

founders and gtm leaders should hire tinkerers ↓

revops, gtm engineers, ai ops, growth, managers, sdrs. across the board, really.

tinkerers get outsized results in this moment in time.

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

"Jevon's Paradox" suggests GTM headcount will *increase* in the AI era, not decrease. 

Story time. When VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet software) launched in 1979, the obvious prediction was fewer analysts. 

Instead, their numbers grew. 

Why? 
The demand for analysis had been artificially constrained by its cost. 

When spreadsheets made analysis 100x cheaper, companies didn't do the same work with fewer people. They started asking questions they'd never bothered to ask before.

This is Jevons Paradox, named after the economist who noticed in 1865 that more efficient steam engines didn't reduce coal consumption. 
They increased it by making coal viable for new use cases. Efficiency gains lower costs, which expands usage to consume all the new capacity.

The AI parallel is direct. If the pattern holds, companies will produce dramatically more content, codebases will grow more ambitious, and new categories of cognitive work will emerge. 
You're already seeing it with AI-powered GTM. It didn't reduce sales or ops headcount, it created an entirely new role (GTM Engineer) doing work that wasn't feasible before.

If you're AI-pilled, you should be betting alongside Jevon's Paradox—that the power of AI will justify more headcount (not less). 

This is one of my (paradoxical) predictions for 2026:

→ There will be an increase in GTM hires, not a decrease. 

(But, the roles (skill sets) of these hires will look different from 2021)

What do you think?

In my 13 years of GTM, I've never seen this much change in the playbook. Here are the 5 ideas from 2025 that changed how I think about GTM going into 2026:
 
1. Micro-Campaigns 

The old way of “list building” is evolving, thanks in large part to AI. You just, quite literally, couldn’t do this stuff before.

Instead, build micro-campaigns: 

- Small, highly-targeted lists of, say, 50-250 contacts.
- These lists are generated using *very* specific filtering and/or signals (usually using AI/agents at least for certain parts).
- Each list (aka “micro-campaign”) is relevant this week, but won’t be next month.

The most important component is around timing. If you don’t reach out ~right away, you’ll lose the (sales) opportunity.

2. GTM Tech's Race for Power AND Ease of Use 

Tools like Clay are powerful but require 50-100 hours to master. Incumbents are easy but inflexible. The winner will be whoever reaches the upper-right of the 2x2 first (see full article for image). 

3. 6 Ways to Modernize Your GTM Motion From working with 14 Seed-Series C companies: 

Here are the 6 things I now suggest in every engagement, based on what we learned from 14 deployments (please steal/tweak/implement them yourself):

- AI-enabled Company Tiering (“Custom ICP”)
- AI-enabled Contact Sourcing + Categorization (aka Key Buyer Personas)
- Signal-based sales plays (evergreen)
- AI-generated (drafts of) emails
- Reporting/Attribution
- Data orchestration (architecting a system of intelligence)

4. Should You Buy an AI SDR? 

The answer isn't binary—it depends on your motion. 

Automate where it makes sense, stay manual where it doesn't. 

Calculate carefully, then execute.

Another 2x2 image is in the full article (below). 

5. The Rise of the GTM Engineer 

The term “GTM Engineer” is a cocktail of wide-ranging ingredients: exuberance, anger, and confusion.

Semantics aside, I believe most GTM orgs will adopt this in the next few years. And the early adopters will have a competitive advantage.

More in the latest edition of The Signal → https://lnkd.in/gJ3aQgCE 

PS: Thanks to our sponsor, Attention! AI agents for RevOps.

We've all just scratched the surface on what's possible with AI in GTM.

(mini-essay • over warm coffee • on a cold saturday morning • in austin)

From 2015-2020, the people who got ahead in their careers used google/youtube/etc. to learn faster (and get more done). 

From 2020-2035, the people who will get ahead in their careers will use AI to learn faster (and get more done). 

The throughline: agency. 

Agency is the ability to iterate without permission.

Check out this article on the top, here: https://lnkd.in/gy2iuwCh

"The most important skill to learn in the next 10 years (and why generalists win in the AI age)"

Open article: The most important skill to learn in the next 10 years by letters.thedankoe.com

The most important skill to learn in the next 10 years

SDR Leaders: Pipeline is harder to generate than ever before, and the playbook is evolving faster than any period in the last two decades. Now is the time to lean in and learn with colleagues. Here's one tactical way:

On March 5th, SDR Leaders of USA is having a conference here in Austin, Texas: Funnel 26. 

A whole day of the best senior SDR leaders coming together to discuss the strategic importance of our function.

Talks, discussions, and workshops with some of the best SDR operators. 

Founders and execs: pay to have your SDR Leader go. You won't regret it. 

Sign up on their website today to lock in the price: thefunnelconference.com.

—————————

I have no affiliation. Just a fan and friend of what David Wilkins is building. 

(And, selfishly, stoked to support the growing GTM community here in Austin)

See you there! 

✌

Open article: Home by thefunnelconference.com

Open article: ProspectingStack.com by prospectingstack.com

My takeaways from Session 1 from the AI x GTM Summit: "Sorting the World into Your CRM (GTM Gold Is Stuck in Your Top Seller's Brain: How to Extract and Operationalize It)"

Session by Matthew Silberman and Andreas Wernicke (two legends). 

1. Your best reps have tacit knowledge that's never been systematized
- GTM intuition walks out the door when top performers leave
- We've captured activity data for decades, but not the intelligence behind performance

2. Why Traditional ICP Definitions Fail
- Companies define ICP once, maybe twice, using tired firmographics
- Top sellers don't think in firmographics—they think in patterns
- The real details (timing, triggers, context) are never captured in CRM
- The world changes fast; ICP definitions don't

3. The 4-Step Framework for Extracting GTM Intuition

- Deep Interviews
- Structure Your Intuitions
- Discover First-Principles Data Points
- Generate Outbound Experiments

4. Why It's Called GTM Engineering
- It's circular, not linear—a continuous loop
- Four quadrants always spinning: Build and harvest intuitions
- Refine definitions and scoring rules
- Experiment with enrichments and signals
- Run plays and review results
- ICP work is ongoing, not quarterly

5. Execution: How to Sort the Messy World

Three Misconceptions About AI in GTM
- "It's quick" (Reality: Production ≠ demo. Building systems that don't break takes time.)
- "It's expensive" (Reality: Classification agents can cost $0.00087/run. Map your TAM for ~$200.)
- "It's Clay and pray" (Reality: Precision and relevance > blasting AI slop to everyone) 

The Context Shift (2024 → 2026)

- Old Process: Website → Agent Building → Agent Outputs → Data Transformation → Integration → CRM
- New Process: Context → Context → More Context → Agent → Output
What "Context" Actually Means

Building Agents the Right Way
- Build foundational documents first (deep concept definitions)
- Use those documents as context when building agents
- Generate structured prompts using AI (Claude Code)
- Result: High confidence, high accuracy, explainable reasoning—for ~$0.01/company

6. Real Example: Qualifying LinkedIn Engagers

The Lazy Approach = DM all of them with AI-generated fake personalization
Contributes to AI slop machine)

The Better Approach (Precision Targeting) = "Qualification gates", which results in 50 engagers → 4-5 qualified prospects worth genuine outreach

7. The Data Quality Process (Another Loop)
- Start with a data hypothesis
- Build version one
- Review results line-by-line with client
- Ask: Is this classification correct? Why not?
- Iterate on the agent
- Review again
- Repeat until you have approved data
- Scale execution

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 
- The scarcest resource in GTM isn't data—it's taste, human touch, and intuition
- AI can't create intuition, but it can extract, structure, and scale it
- Build with intention, relevance, and context

Article + YouTube video of the full session: https://lnkd.in/g5s7ttSe

They say AI is sycophantic.

I vehemently disagree...

My goal with The Signal is to separate the signal from the noise as it relates to the modern GTM playbook. That means showcasing the smartest GTM operators building on the bleeding edge. 

Last month, we had 650 people register for the inaugural "AI x GTM Summit" by The Signal. 

Andreas Wernicke and Matthew Silberman ran the first session. Which was awesome because I've personally worked with both of them on consulting projects. And they're both top 1% GTM Engineers (among other things). 

They were kind enough to share their biggest learnings from 2025. Distilling 10,000 hours into 10 minutes (each). The session was dense with nuggets of (modern GTM) gold. 

Yesterday, I published a summary of the session and the full YouTube video. 

Here's what we covered: 

- AI: The age of intuition
- Now you ICP it, now you don’t
- Solve all your problems (in just four easy steps!)
- Step 5/∞: ABC, Always be…calibrating
- Unstructured world → Structured
- AI agent misconceptions
- AI agent building in 2026
- A real example: qualifying LinkedIn engagers
- (an important) PS
- 22-minute video of the full session

Here's how the article on The Signal (.club) closes: 

"Build with intention (take foundations seriously). Build for relevance (bespoke to your market). Build with great context (what does good look like). That’s how you get outsized results right now."

Read it here → https://lnkd.in/g5s7ttSe

if you’re managing $100k/mo in ad spend, you should join Demand Collective (it’s free!). 

Eric is a legend and being incredibly thoughtful and intentional about building this community. 

if you don’t see value after joining, i’ll personally venmo you a refund (reminder: it’s free to join). 

ps: you do have to apply to get in. 

apply today!

founder @ demand collective | community, content & events for smart demand gen practitioners

Last quarter, I posted about how I went full-time on Demand Collective. What I didn't tell you is that I did so because I got laid off. Now, I'm so excited to share that that layoff was the best thing that ever happened to me. 

Demand Collective is officially a profitable business 😅 

4 incredible sponsors (Vector 👻, Seam AI, CaliberMind, Scrunch) took a bet on this community and what we're building so that I can spend the next year OBSESSING over making this the most valuable resource for demand practitioners I possibly can. 

We all know what broken looks like in marketing communities. 5,000+ person slack groups where the only 50 people engaging are vendors pitch slapping you. Recycled tactics. Stale webinars. Notification overload. 

We started Demand Collective because we wanted something different. 

And it's working.

Members are loving that there's finally a curated, private space specifically for in-house leaders running sophisticated demand machines.

-- The Slack group has grown to 340+ members from world-class demand teams like Glean, Samsara, Box, Datadog, UserGems, Ashby. 
-- Thousands of marketers read our newsletter every week. Highlighting *real stories* of what’s actually working for other practitioners, not proofless POVs.
-- 750+ marketers registered for our events like FED Talks, the virtual summit for demand marketers fed up with the fluff on LinkedIn and our private "Catalina Demand Mixer"
-- And we've had private community-only Q&As with incredible leaders like Lily Ray, Bryon Russell, Chris Shuptrine, 💡 Nolan McCoy and Eric MacColl who I wouldn't have dreamt of meeting 12 months ago.

This started as a side project. And truthfully, I only went full-time because I was pushed to. 

But take this as a reminder that sometimes that layoff can be the best thing that ever happened to you. 

It was for me, I'm so excited to keep building on this resource for marketers like you in 2026. 

--
None of this would be possible without four sponsors who believed in this vision early, because they believe the industry needs a space like this.

These are all tools I personally recommend! Check em out (& tell them I sent you 🙂 )

→ Seam AI - the next 6Sense. AI-first, more flexible, less expensive. Trusted by the best GTM teams like Drata, Articulate, and Betterment. Get your free POC here.

→ Vector 👻 - the only way to build ad audiences (on every platform) at the contact level. Now with AI Agents to automate bidding, audience updates, and everything else you hate doing. 

→ CaliberMind - the marketing attribution platform built for enterprise complexity. Trusted by ROI-obsessed marketers at co’s like ADP, NetApp, and Siemens.

→ Scrunch - the key into the AI-first customer journey: Monitor brand presence. Get actionable insights to grow it. Generate an AI-friendly version of your site to influence LLM results.

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