C17 Lab

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Clay

Certified Enterprise Partner

Smartlead

Instantly.ai

Square

Head | Channel & Product Partnerships

SIXT

Director

Booking.com

Head | Portfolio Acquisition

CEO at Morning Leads | We make it unreasonable for prospects to ignore you • Top Certified Clay & Smartlead Agency •

To make an ungodly amount of money, you’ve got to grow your business. 

You can only grow your business in two ways.

1. Get more customers

2. Make them worth more

To get more customers, you need to get more leads.

Getting leads is simpler and easier than you think.

1. Make really good stuff ➜ Your offer

2. Give it away for free ➜ Your lead magnet

In short, you want to increase someone’s conviction that they will receive value in the future if they respond to the message you send.

All things being equal, when you double your leads, you double your business.

C17 Lab’s whole mission is to get prospects to show interest in what you sell and double your business.

Enzo Carasso 🧲

My accountant hates when I do this, but I let certain clients run campaigns a little bit longer so they can see the ROI before clearing invoices.


Why? When you know your system works, you can afford to prove it first.

Outbound is the hardest acquisition channel - and that's precisely why it's valuable. When done right, it gives you the ability to turn your top of funnel on and off at will.

Here's the reality: prospects exist on a spectrum of awareness and trust.

𝟏 = Most Informed | 𝟓 = Least Informed

𝟏. Brand/Content: They know you. They booked a call knowing what you sell and what problem you solve.
𝟐. Warm Intro: Someone vouched for you. They booked a call because they trust the referral.
𝟑. Warm Outreach: You know them, they know you. Familiarity exists.
𝟒. Paid Media - They discovered you through enough ads exposure. They booked a call because of your offer/lead magnet caught their attention.
𝟓. Cold Outbound - They've never heard of you before receiving your 75-word message in their inbox. They booked a call because of the offer you made.

Cold outbound sits at #5. The furthest point from a sale. The longest cycle. The most friction.

But in their first 57 days, we booked 84 meetings and our client closed 2 deals. 82%+ qualification rate. 77.38% show rate. 4.5 leads per day.

The difference? An offer designed specifically for cold audiences.

Most companies try to sell the same way to cold prospects as they do to warm. It doesn't work like that.

When you design for uninformed buyers with outbound in mind, you accept that sales cycles will be longer. Prospects need more proof, more hand-holding, more work.

But if that's the price for controllable pipeline? It's worth it every time.

Founder @ C17 Lab | We Engineer Unstoppable Pipelines | c17.ai

recruiters… have you done your BD today? 👀

I’m a headhunter who helps founders hire Clay-powered GTM Engineers, CSMs, and Ops leaders who can actually scale delivery.

I’ve built internal teams for agencies like Growth Today, C17, and other top lead-gen and SaaS companies.

500 hours of interviews. 300 candidates screened. I know exactly what separates a system builder from a systems user.

Most agencies fail to grow because they treat delivery like a service instead of a product.
The best ones build teams that think in workflows, automation, and ROI.

That’s where I come in.

I headhunt operators who understand Clay, n8n, Smartlead, and CRM systems inside out. People who automate, optimise, and own outcomes.
Because a good hire runs campaigns.
A great one builds engines.

If you’re a lead-gen or SaaS founder ready to build a Clay-powered team that performs in 30 days or less, message me.

Your next hire should scale your business, not your problems. ⚙️

Noëmie Jacquemin

Yes… GTM Engineers can now earn up to $250,000 a year.

And every week someone asks me:
 “How do I get into those 6-figures roles?”

Here’s the truth 👇
Being good at Clay will not get you there.
Knowing outbound will not get you there.
Even being “fast at automations” won’t get you there.

Those quarter-million salaries come from something deeper:
The ability to build the entire revenue engine.

This is what the top tier is hiring for:

They want people who can:
 • Build GTM systems across Salesforce, Hubspot, Marketo, Outreach, Gong, Clay, Snowflake and more
 • Design automations that replace entire manual workflows
 • Turn raw data into ICP models and account scoring
 • Orchestrate data flows across warehouses and GTM platforms
 • Support new product launches with technical GTM execution
 • Partner with Sales, RevOps, Product and Marketing
 • Own system health, governance, and adoption

This is not “I know Clay.”
This is I know how revenue works.

And when companies look for top GTM talent, they look for people who have:
 • +3 to 10 years in Sales, RevOps, or Business Systems
 • Real experience supporting the full GTM process
 • Integration experience with iPaaS tools like Tray or Zapier
 • Reporting and analytics depth
 • API fluency
 • The ability to translate business problems into scalable systems

That mix is what gets you the $100k to $250k+ range.
Not solo tools.
Not buzzwords.
Not a few Clay tables.

GTM Engineering at the highest level is not about “knowing the software.”
 
It is about building predictable, scalable revenue systems.

So if you want to reach the top of the market, here’s the roadmap:
Learn data.
Learn systems.
Learn revenue.
Then use automation to tie it all together.

Clay is the beginning.
 -> Not the finish line.

What would you add?

building Clay-powered GTM teams —​> GTM Engineer | CSM | Ops | VP | CRO | RevOps Leaders ⚙️

GTMe is hard.
RevOps is hard.
Automation is hard.

SAYING Nate,N8,NA8,n...8.....n,n8n. IS HARD. 

Pick your hard. 

Turns out I say "NA8" without realising, but one candidate said to me:
"It's ok, I call it N8". 

So I feel ok now. We're OK.

PS: Hit follow for more Friday inspirational posts.

If Clay disappeared tomorrow, would half the “GTM Engineers” still have a job?


Short answer: yes.
Long answer: it depends on which GTM Engineer you are.

After going through more than 50 GTM job descriptions this month, I can confirm…
None of them describe the same role.

And that’s because the market is maturing.

The GTM Engineer title is splitting into sub species:
-> The strategist who shapes GTM architecture with powerful copies
-> The technical builder who lives in Clay, n8n, and APIs
-> The automation expert building the internal magic
-> The RevOps brain who turns chaos into revenue logic

This is where it gets fun.
Because you are no longer “just” a Clay operator.

You are part of a new discipline forming in real time.
A movement blending sales, automation, data, psychology, and invention.

Want the full breakdown on where this role is going?

Drop “GTMe” in the comments and I’ll send you access to the live session I’ve been invited on by Ruadhán Ó Cúláin:
Thursday 4 December
16:30 to 17:30 GMT

This one is going to reshape how you see the field 🤯

I'm 29.

10 years ago, I was a pastry chef dreaming of becoming a head chef.

Now, I'm a founder, headhunter, and GTM specialist building Clay-powered teams for lead gen agencies and SaaS companies.

Here is everything that shaped me.

Leaving the kitchen world and moving into business management:
• Structure makes or breaks growth
• Leadership is not volume, it is clarity
• Independence unlocks ambition

Launching my first social media agency that completely flopped:
• Skill is nothing without clients
• Entrepreneurship tests your ego first
• Failure is data, not identity

Moving into recruitment and drowning for the first year:
• The market rewards consistency
• Sales is a skill, not a personality
• You learn faster when you have no choice

Building a recruitment agency seven years ago:
• Systems matter more than hustle
• Every placement is a tiny business case
• You become dangerous when you understand people

Healing from illness and rebuilding my life:
• Discipline is the real freedom
• Stress shapes your biology
• What you tolerate becomes your reality

Discovering Clay and GTM engineering:
• My brain found its playground
• Automation is the new leverage
• Operators are the new founders

Launching Rec Growth and helping founders hire GTMes:
• Talent shapes revenue
• Clarity removes 90 percent of hiring mistakes
• Founders underestimate the cost of the wrong operator

Starting my new agency from scratch in 2025 to prove my system:
• Walk your own talk
• A framework is only real when it survives contact with reality
• Stakes create focus, and focus creates results

You can build anything if you are willing to outgrow the person you used to be.

Let's say you were restarting your GTMe career in 2025, what skill would you double down on first?

I’m hiring across multiple GTMe roles right now. 

(If you haven't guessed that yet...) 

If you work in lead gen, RevOps, GTM engineering, or automation… this might be your moment.

Here’s what I’m looking for 👇

1. GTM Engineers
 For lead gen agencies across the US, UK, and EU.
 • 1 to 2 years agency experience
 • or 3+ years with Clay, automation, n8n, system ownership, and client delivery
 • Ability to build and maintain live GTM systems, not just theory

2. Head of Operations
 • Strong ops background in lead gen or SaaS
 • Experience managing GTM teams, delivery, onboarding, and internal systems
 • Strong operator mindset, data-driven, great with process and scale

3. VP of Strategy
 • Senior-level strategic thinker
 • Deep experience in GTM, demand generation, and client delivery
 • Ability to architect offers, roadmap, positioning, and revenue systems
 • Works closely with founders and GTM teams

Salary range:
From 50k to 150k depending on seniority, technical depth, and ownership level.

If you’re actively looking, open to a move, or simply curious, reach out.

Hiring is easy. Retaining talent isn’t.

Right now, the market is flooded with GTM Engineers, CSMs, and Operators.

And guess what?

Every lead gen agency and half the SaaS world is trying to hire the same people.

So if you’re lucky enough to land a good one, keeping them is your real challenge.

Here’s what I tell my clients 👇

1. The first week defines the next three months.
If your onboarding is messy, remote, or “figure it out as you go,” they’ll feel it.
Structure the first week.
Set goals. Assign a buddy. Shadow sessions.
Make it clear they’re part of something that works.

2. Clarity on commission and compensation.
If you change the structure, always change it up, never down.
Confusion kills motivation faster than any bad month of results.

3. Progression beats perks.
Don’t inflate titles just to close the hire.
When the honeymoon ends, they’ll realize there’s nowhere left to grow and start looking elsewhere.
Show them what the next 6 to 24 months could look like instead.

Retention isn’t about free coffee or fancy Notion dashboards.

It’s about clarity, communication, and progression.

Because in an opportunity-driven market, your best people won’t leave for money.
 
They’ll leave for meaning.

I’m not convinced most lead gen agencies will survive the next few years.

And I’m not convinced the outbound world we know today will even exist.

I say that knowing this:
I still meet 500+ headcount SaaS companies with no proper CRM.
So the market is not just broken.
-> It is uneven.

And it is changing faster than most people realise.

Talking daily with GTM Engineers, automation experts and RevOps leaders has made one thing very clear:

Outbound is not dying. 
The way we measure and execute it is.

Lead gen won’t collapse because email is dead.

It will collapse because a new level of predictive deal architecture is emerging.

Not just scoring.
Not just intent.
 
But deep, contextual understanding of:
 • market signals
 • company changes
 • product usage
 • social behaviour
 • micro and macro triggers

We are getting close to a world where your system knows the prospect is sick for 3 days straight because they posted about the flu, and instead of “circling back,” an AI agent sends something more human than your SDR ever could.

Maybe a chicken soup. 

I’m exaggerating…
But only slightly.
We’re closer than people think.

Should we be concerned?
Maybe.
 
Especially when so many agencies still:
 • avoid real CRM reporting
 • keep data in Notion or spreadsheets
 • have no visibility on how activities influence deals
 • run outbound like a craft project, not a system

Meanwhile, RevOps teams are building architectures that track every touch, every trigger, every influence point…
and they’re connecting it in ways that make old-school outbound look prehistoric.

That’s the gap.
And it’s widening.

The future of outbound won’t be about volume.
It will be about understanding.
 
-> Signal.
-> Context.
-> Intelligence.
-> Orchestration.

Some agencies will adapt.
Most won’t.

What do you see happening?

PS: I can be bought with GF brownies and matcha... in case you have an scraping my info.

“How do I get hands-on Clay experience if everyone only hires people who already have it?”

A question asked almost daily. 

And it's a valid one.
Because right now everyone wants a Clay operator with real experience…
but you need experience to get the experience.

Classic 🐓  and 🥚 

Here’s where I told them to start 👇
1. Get visible
If nobody knows what you do, you don’t exist.
Post on LinkedIn.
Share your experiments.
Don’t just say “I’m a Clay freelancer.”
Say “I can build you a 5k ICP list + intent signals in 48 hours.”
Make your value concrete so people can picture hiring or referring you.

2. Get scrappy with small projects
Upwork. Fiverr...
Pick up tiny gigs.
Real work > another “practice workflow.”

3. Join the right rooms
Clay Slack groups
Automation communities
WhatsApp groups
Founder groups

Start there. Stack win 🏆 

The hands-on part compounds fast once you’re in motion.

I’m not omniscient, so I’ll throw it to the room: What else would you add for someone trying to break into Clay roles right now?

Prediction:
2026 will be the year GTM Engineers and CSMs start earning six figures regularly.

Not just in SaaS.
In lead gen too.

Why?
Because the market has woken up to something simple:
These roles are not “tech assistants.”
They are revenue infrastructure.

A GTM Engineer who automates outbound, maintains deliverability, enriches ICP, builds workflows and plugs into RevOps is worth way more than a couple of SDRs hoping for reply rate miracles.

A CSM who drives retention and upsell without burning founders alive in client calls is not “nice to have.”
They are margin protection.

Competition for them will only increase.
Salaries will follow.

And if I were a lead gen founder, here is exactly how I would keep mine:

✅ Path to mastery, not a job title
They want to grow. Make space for it.

✅ Revenue share tied to impact
They scale your pipeline and retention. Let them scale their earnings.

✅ Access to founders and strategy
Talented operators do not want to be told what to build.
They want to build what matters.

✅ Autonomy with accountability
Micromanage builders and they will leave.
Ignore them and they will disengage.
Give clarity and trust.

✅ Healthy pipeline and meaningful work
Top GTM talent leaves when the business stalls.
They do not want busy work. They want velocity.

The agencies that keep talent next year will not win because they pay the most.
They will win because they treat these roles as strategic, not tactical.

2026 is not a war for SDRs.
It is a war for operators who think, build, and drive revenue.

If you are a founder, now is the time to prepare.

Retention > replacement.
Always.

What would you add to this list?

Thank you Sönke Venjacob for having share about the GTMe market 🙌

PS: Podcast link in the comments.

Clarification for everyone lost in my DMs: I recruit Clay people. I do not recruit for Clay.

But... really how I feel when I get applications for Clay 👀 👇 

HAPPY FRIDAYYY 🥳

Some of the most common mistakes I see GTM Engineers make…
also known as “the small things that quietly block big opportunities.”

On LinkedIn:
• No tech stack clarity. If I can’t see the tools you actually work with, I can’t tell if you sit closer to RevOps, Growth, Strategy, or pure technical execution
 • No tools list, no certifications, no upskilling signals. People don’t hire you because of certs, but they do trust you more when they can see your range
 • No bio, no tagline, no job description. Your profile shouldn’t feel like a puzzle. It should take ten seconds to understand what you do and who you help

In interviews:
-> The “Clay-focused” candidate who’s never owned a full outbound system end to end…VS. the operator who’s quietly shipped workflows, fixed pipelines, and built systems long before Clay showed up
 
-> The second group undersells themselves. The first group oversells themselves. 

The GTM market is noisy right now.

Clarity beats self-declared expertise every time.

Show your tools, show your work, show your actual impact.

That alone puts you ahead of most people in your niche.

What am I missing?

Varun Anand dropped the “How to get hired in this market” playbook last night and…

HERE ARE MY MENTAL NOTES. 

I was at Clay Club London yesterday, surrounded by actual humans from LinkedIn (shocking, I know). 

Varun shared a hiring playbook so brutally simple that people almost ignored it.
But it works.

And it applies way beyond GTM engineers.

Here is the distilled version.

1. Forget volume.
 Spraying your CV on LinkedIn job posts is the fastest way to disappear.
 Everyone thinks “apply more.”
 The winners think “go specific.”

2. Build a list of companies you actually want.
Just like you build an ICP for outbound, build an ICP for your job hunt.
Who do you want to work with.
Which team.
Which founder.
Be intentional.

3. Reach out directly to the people who matter.
Not recruiters.
Not HR.
The operator or founder you would work under.
Lead with insight, not desperation.

4. Stop sending giant Looms with your entire life story.
If you were doing outbound, you would never send a 3 minute case study as the first touch.
You would ask permission.
You would hook them.
You would keep it tight.
Same logic applies here.

5. Show value before they ask.
This one hit hard.
Varun shared how they hired a YouTube editor who sent them a breakdown of what was wrong with their channel and exactly how he’d fix it.

No fluff.
No “please consider me.”
Just proof.

-> They hired him on the spot because the value was undeniable.

This is not “free labor.”
This is showing what you can do, at a small enough scale to give them a taste without draining yourself.

The truth:
If you want to stand out in 2025, you need to think like a GTM operator about your own career.
Signals.
Targeting.
Positioning.
Relevance.

Stop applying like everyone else.
Start prospecting yourself like a product worth buying.

What would you add?

describe what's a GTM Engineer, only wrong answers... 

🍿 

Happy Friday!

I screened 40 GTM engineers this week.
Different backgrounds. Different skill sets. One thing in common...

Their inboxes are on fire 🔥 

Anyone who updates their title to “GTM Engineer” right now is getting swarmed with opportunities.

The noise is loud and the market feels electric.

And it’s funny, because I lived this once already.

Post-covid, when SDRs suddenly went from “entry-level” to 80k base with 1-2 years experience.

Then the bubble cooled.
Egos deflated.
It happens.

Do I think GTM Engineering will crash?
No.

Not if we stay grounded and make decisions with a long-term brain, not a short-term dopamine hit.

If I could go back and talk to my SDR candidates during that wave, I’d say this:
• Don’t jump just for the highest offer
• Ask if the business has real legs, not just hype
• Choose projects you want to master, not sample
• Stay somewhere long enough to build depth, not noise

Six-month hops look like growth in the moment.
But fast jumps can turn into a ceiling later when you’re expected to operate at a senior level.

Not calling anyone out.
Not doom-saying.
Just a little wisdom from someone who’s watched this movie twice now and would like to see a different ending... Bandersnatch style 🎬

Food for thought 💭

building Clay-powered GTM teams —​> GTM Engineer | CSM | Ops | VP | CRO ⚙️

If you want to hire a GTM Engineer before the end of the year, stop what you’re doing.

Here’s the timeline everyone forgets:
 There are 31 days before Christmas.

And I know what you’re thinking.
 “It’s fine. Holidays don’t stop hiring.”

Technically, yes, you can hire anytime.

But here’s the problem:
In about two weeks, the entire market slows down.

 Not because people disappear…
 but because coordination becomes a nightmare.

One founder is travelling.
A candidate is flying home.
Interviewers are off for team events.
Budgets need one more approval.
Final calls get pushed to “after the break.”

Suddenly your clean 14-day hiring process turns into +5 weeks.
Not because of lack of interest, but timing.

If end of year onboarding is the goal,
the window is now before the slowdown hits.

Calling all my GTMe network and Lead Gen founder... simple question but how many clients does one GTM Engineer manage in your agency? 

PS: Now that Cloudfare is down, I know you got time to spill the tea 🫖

How many clients do you or your GTM Engineer manage? 

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

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Noëmie Jacquemin

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The Battle

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