Olivier Tytgat 🪖

Co-Founder & Head of Sales

CEO @ Outbound Catalyst | generate pipeline consistently with our revenue systems

👋 I'm Ollie, and here's my journey in a nutshell: 

- Helped over 25+ tech companies get their first 10-50 clients through smart revenue systems
- Trained over 250 people from diverse backgrounds on becoming the best cold callers ever
- Hosting a podcast where we decode B2B Revenue Systems: https://open.spotify.com/show/5LMwgSpPBRfffF4OyQsXC5?si=7bb99931399e40aa

🚀 On a mission to helping another 25+ tech companies increase their pipeline and net new revenue (building out Outbound Catalyst to be the 🥇 GTM agency in the EU).

🧠 Sharing my learnings from generating 100 million plus in pipeline and growing a growth/GTM agency in my newsletter -> https://bit.ly/newsletter-linkedin-website-profile 🧠

What you'll get by following me:

🚀 Actionable tips to grow smart outbound/revenue systems

🔥 Transparent & actionable advice, no fluff

💼 Exclusive updates on Outbound Catalyst's growth 

I’ll be posting growth tips and tactics - so hit that “Follow” button!

DM "GTM Scan" & see if you qualify for a free GTM Audit (value: €5K)

Peace, pipeline & revenue ✌️

Ollie

Founding Member

As a Founding Member of the Sales Hacker community, I exchanged ideas on how to provide value for the community. 

Sales Hacker is a community where B2B Sales Professionals share their experiences, best practices and exchange interesting ideas and other content.

Olivier 🔎 Tytgat

Most "GTM engineers" aren't engineers at all.

Spencer Tahil and I had a heated conversation about this last year (lol) on his podcast.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

What most people call "GTM engineering" is what VAs in the Philippines were doing for €5/hour four years ago.

Building lists using PhantomBuster and Icypeas and Prospeo.io.
Cleaning data manually.
Copy-pasting what others share on LinkedIn.

Clay just made it easier. But easier doesn't equal engineering.

An engineer (the real definition):
"A person who designs, builds, AND maintains machines, structures, or systems."

That requires:
- 5-7 years of study (at minimum)
- Deep understanding of architecture
- Ability to design, execute, and maintain
- Systems thinking, not task execution

What I see instead:
→ Bootcamp graduates with 6 months experience
→ Asking for €5K/month salaries
→ Can't explain their QA process
→ Have never done a sales job
→ Expect agencies to guide them while charging premium rates

The market is confused because buyers don't know what they're hiring for.

And suppliers don't know what they're actually delivering.

This creates a cycle:
Bad hire → Underperformance → "GTM doesn't work" → Next bad hire

The truth? There are maybe 100 people globally who can truly:

- Design end-to-end GTM systems
- Build AND maintain them
- Understand growth architecture
- Execute with deep industry expertise
- Do this across multiple domains

Everyone else? They're specialists learning in public.

Which is fine, if expectations are aligned.

But calling yourself an engineer when you're building lists in Clay?

That's like calling yourself a mechanic because you can change your oil.

We need better education on both sides of the table.

Olivier 🧪 Tytgat

I engineer effective growth for B2B SaaS companies without the bloat | DM “GTM Scan” & I’ll give you 3 ways to increase your revenue in the next 90 days.

Founder: "We need $50K for paid ads to get our first 1,000 users"

Marie Martens from Tally: "We got 1,000 users in 6 months with $0 spend"

Here's the cold outbound system they used to get their first customers👇

(No budget. No audience. No customers. Just execution.)

Most early-stage founders think you need:
- Paid ads budget
- Existing audience
- VC funding
- Marketing team

Marie did the opposite:
She spent 6 months sending cold DMs. Manual. One by one.

The System:
1/ Ultra-Targeted List Building
↳ Found people who uploaded form builders on Product Hunt
↳ Looked for founders, product people, technical backgrounds
↳ No Clay. No automation. Just a spreadsheet.

2/ The Pitch
↳ "Hey, we're building this. I thought you might be interested because of [specific reason]"
↳ Shared a link to the MVP (just the form builder, no login, no landing page)
↳ Asked for feedback, not a sale

3/ The Results
↳ 1 in 5 replied (20% response rate on cold outreach)
↳ Early users joined their Slack (now 3,000 members)
↳ Super short feedback loops = rapid product improvement
↳ 1,000 users in 6 months, then doubled in one day on Product Hunt

The lesson? Manual outreach at tiny scale beats paid ads when you have:

No budget
No brand
But a product people actually want

Founders forget: You don't need to scale before you validate.

What's stopping you from sending 50 manual DMs today?

Full episode with Marie drops on Wednesday. 

(link in comments to get notified first)

Olivier Tytgat 🧪

Helping 50+ B2B SaaS companies engineer effective growth without the bloat | DM ‘Roadmap’ → 3 ways to grow revenue this quarter

$100M in pipeline. 30+ companies. 100+ SDRs trained. Here's what actually moves the needle.

Yesterday I shared why I'm going all-in on content in 2026. Today, let me show you what we've actually built.

Since founding Outbound Catalyst, we've helped B2B sales teams move from unpredictable prospecting to systematic pipeline generation.

The results:
→ $100M+ in pipeline generated across 30+ companies
→ 100+ SDRs trained on systematic prospecting
→ $5M in software sold, $1M+ in services (last 3 years)
→ 50+ salespeople got at least 1 full day back per week

What's different about our approach?
→ We don't sell you on volume. We build pipeline engines that work whether you're actively prospecting or not.

Not "send 10,000 emails and hope."

But "send 4,000 highly-targeted emails with signal-based triggers and generate double the meetings."

The companies winning in 2026 have figured out one thing:
→ Predictable revenue isn't a motivation problem. It's a systems problem.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be breaking down the exact frameworks we use:
📜 The 10 Commandments of Modern Prospecting
📜 5-step list building that actually converts
📜 The only 3 campaign types you'll ever need
📜 How to turn your phone into a competitive advantage

Looking forward to sharing what actually works.

What's your biggest outbound challenge right now?

I almost skipped this post. 

After taking a break over the holidays, I questioned whether another "outbound in 2026" talk would just add to the noise.

But then Dylan Mendes reached out.

He's doing something interesting: bringing together senior sales leaders from traditional industries with the approaches that are working in tech.

And honestly? That gap is where the real opportunity lives.

On Wednesday, I'm speaking at his event about what it actually takes to run successful outbound this year.

Not for tech companies who've been doing this for years.

For leaders at traditional businesses who are just now asking:
"How do we build outbound systems that scale without losing what makes us human?"

Here's what I've learned working with both:

Traditional businesses have advantages tech companies don't:
- Deeper customer relationships
- Longer sales cycles that allow for actual personalization
- Less tolerance for "spray and pray" (which is actually good)

But they're missing:
- Systems that enable reps instead of burdening them
- Smart automation that amplifies expertise (not replaces it)
- AI applications that actually move the needle

Tomorrow's session covers:
→ Building go-to-market systems that increase output
→ Enabling teams through automation and AI
→ Creating processes that benefit reps AND hit company goals

Wednesday, 6pm Brussels time.

If you're leading a sales team and wondering how to make outbound work in 2026, this is for you.

Link in comments.

(And if you're not joining for me, at least join for the other speakers 😄: shoutout Philippe Corbisier de Cobreville, Haris Odobasic, Pascal Persyn)

What's your take: are traditional businesses actually better positioned for authentic outbound than tech companies?

I'm about to show you something I probably shouldn't.


I just ran our new GTM Playbook Selector on Aircall (yes, the $200M ARR sales engagement platform/VOIP system).

The analysis that came back was so shocking, I had to pause before posting this.

But this is exactly the problem most B2B SaaS companies have, and they don't even know it.

Let me show you what I found. 

Aircall is doing ~$200M ARR. 

So I thought: "Let's see what this system says about their GTM."

What the system pulled... 

Repvue reviews from their sales team:

"Frequent changes in leadership"

"My direct leadership is not inspiring"

"Hard to build pipeline consistently"

"A lot of turnover on CRO's team"

"Brand new team, September 2025"

"No room for growth, not listening to employees"


Then it analyzed their trajectory:

- Raised $100M+

- Grew to 500+ employees

- Laid off 100+ people in 2022-2023

- Built infrastructure for "growth at all costs" — now needs "efficiency optimization"

The diagnosis: Their GTM motion is misaligned.

The tool flagged that they're probably:
❌ Not tracking intent signals properly
❌ Running multiple disjointed tools (not a unified system)
❌ Reps aren't cold calling (pipeline gaps everywhere)
❌ Leadership turnover is killing execution consistency

Look — I'm not here to roast Aircall.

Building at that scale is f***ing hard. I can't imagine managing hundreds of reps through hypergrowth, then a correction, then a rebuild.

But this is exactly why I built this system.

Because most companies are:

❌ Using the wrong GTM motion for their current stage

❌ Copying what worked 2 years ago (but doesn't work now)

❌ Not seeing the signals that their system is breaking

The system generated 9 pages of analysis for Aircall.

It included:

✅ What's misaligned in their current GTM

✅ Which channels they should double down on

✅ Where they're likely burning budget

✅ A prioritized roadmap to fix it

And it took less than 3 minutes.

So here's my offer:

I'll run this for YOUR company. For free.

Just:

🧲 Comment "ROADMAP" below

🤝 Send me a connection request

✍ Fill out the 2-minute form I'll send you

It will generate your custom GTM roadmap and send it to you automatically. 


P.S. This was my first official N8N workflow. Took days to build (mainly to get it running right). Still has some formatting bugs... But it works. And the insights are 🔥.

Most revenue leaders are solving the wrong problem. 

They're hiring closers when they need pipeline architects.

I'm Olivier, Founder of Outbound Catalyst.

I'm turning 30 this year, which made me realize I've spent almost a decade in B2B sales.

When I started, I had to figure out prospecting from scratch. 

Like most reps, I was stuck in the brutal feast/famine cycle:
→ Prospect hard for 1 week
→ Stuck in meetings for 2-3 weeks
→ Empty calendar next month
→ Panic and repeat

Six months in, something clicked. I automated my entire prospecting engine. 

10-15 meetings per week, on autopilot.

Most people thought I was just good at sales. The truth? I was good at building systems.

Here's what I discovered:

As I moved into revenue leadership, companies kept hiring me to "fix revenue." 

But the problem was never closing, it was predictable pipeline.

The companies winning in 2026 aren't working harder ➝ they're working more systematically.

They've built pipeline engines that run whether they're actively prospecting or not.

That's why I founded Outbound Catalyst.

Our results:
🎯 $100M+ in pipeline generated for 30+ companies
🧠 100+ SDRs trained on systematic follow-up through the phone
⚙️ 50+ salespeople got at least 1 full day back per week

What I'm building in 2026:

A programmatic revenue OS 
↳ plug-and-play systems that generate predictable pipeline across different revenue stages.

Not custom playbooks that break when you scale. 

Systematic frameworks that work whether you're a 5-person team or a 50-person team.

What you'll see from me:
⚙️ Pipeline Engineering:
➝ How to build engines that generate meetings while you're closing
➝ Signal-based prospecting for focused markets
➝ The validation process before any automation

⚙️ Systematic Execution:
➝ Campaign architectures that scale with your team
➝ RevOps + Outbound integration
➝ Data strategies beyond basic enrichment

🔥 Contrarian Takes:
→ Why most "best practices" break at scale
→ Why AI amplifies problems instead of fixing them
→ Why response quality beats response quantity

My core belief:

If you can't make it work manually, you can't scale it with technology.

Looking forward to connecting with:
- Revenue leaders building systematic engines
- Sales teams tired of unpredictable pipeline
- Anyone who believes revenue should be engineered, not hoped for

What's the biggest gap in your pipeline system right now?

p.s. tomorrow I'm releasing something special, stay tuned!

In 2 hours, I'm presenting "Outbound 2026" 🎤

And I'm going to break the 10 Commandments that separate successful outbound from spam.

These aren't LinkedIn theories. They're battle-tested across hundreds of campaigns that actually generated pipeline.

Here's a preview of what's NOT working anymore:
🚫 Most teams still optimize for volume. 
10,000 emails per month. 
47 sequence variations. 
Every shiny automation tool.

Result? 0.8% reply rates.

The companies crushing outbound in 2026 follow different rules:

📜 Commandment #1: Quality Over Quantity

One client cut their list by 90% and doubled meetings. 
→ Ten perfect leads > 1,000 spray-and-pray prospects.

📜 Commandment #2: Personalization is Non-Negotiable

Not [First Name] tokens. Real research. 
→ Personalized relevance per prospect = 2% to 11% reply rates.

📜 Commandment #3: Multi-Channel by Design

Email alone = 2-3%. 
→ Email + LinkedIn + Phone = 8-10%. 

One channel is hope. 
→ Multiple channels is strategy.

But here's the commandment most people violate:
📜 You cannot scale what doesn't work manually.

Test 50-100 prospects first. Fix what breaks. Then scale proven assumptions, not hopeful ones.

I'll be covering all 10 commandments in today's presentation at Scaling Sales in 2026 from We Are Sales (link in comments), including the tactical frameworks for building the best lead lists you'll ever build.

If you're running outbound and tired of mediocre results, drop a "🔥" below and I'll share the full breakdown afterward.

What's the #1 outbound myth you want me to bust today?

Your lead gen agency got you positive replies, now what?

One of the things we hear often from colleagues in the space is that their clients complain they aren't converting replies into meetings.

Now we didn't have to figure this out, because we lived it.

Ever since 2019 we've been applying what we call "warm calling."

The system is simple: do your smart automations to get a reply, once you get a reply, pick up the phone as fast as you can.

Here's exactly how we do it.

1️⃣ Tier 1: Positive Replies
↳ Call within 5 minutes
↳ Pre-qualify on the spot & Book the meeting

2️⃣ Tier 2: Gray Zone Replies
Anything that's not a clear "yes" or "unsubscribe"
↳ Call within 24 hours
↳ Outcome: meeting, nurture, or disqualify

3️⃣ Tier 3: No Response
↳ Add tier 1 & 2 leads to backlog call list
↳ Re-engage every 3-6 months
Call during downtime or when behind on pipeline

4️⃣ Tier 4: Unsubscribe/Do Not Contact
↳ Automations unsubscribe them & add them to the blocklist

These people aren't surprised you're calling. They've already engaged with your email. Most are actually open to a short conversation.

And to no surprise, you'll see 20-40% more meetings booked within days.

The reply isn't the win. The meeting is.

Are you following up on replies with calls, or letting conversations die in your inbox?

p.s. right? (lol)

Your fancy tech stack isn't the problem.

You can send 50,000 emails a month.

You can automate every touchpoint.

You can waterfall through 10 enrichment tools.

And still have zero predictable revenue.

Because knowing how to use tools ≠ knowing how to engineer growth.

Here's what actual growth engineering looks like:
One of our customers - 8 years in, fully bootstrapped, fastest-growing in their space - scaled from 0 to €5M ARR profitably. 

Their sales team? Grew from 3 to 5 people, the last 2 years.

Their strategy wasn't complicated. It was consistent.

Here's how it went down:
€0 → €1M ARR: Pure cold calling → Found first 100 customers & validated ICP

€1M → €2M ARR: Added paid ads on top → Built "inbound" flow while keeping outbound

€2M → €5M ARR: Layered in automated outbound (where we came in) → Email campaigns + warm calling + ads running simultaneously 

The System:
• Automated email campaigns qualify and warm up the market (in sync with ads). 
• SDRs call engaged prospects + hand-raisers within minutes → 30% convert to meetings
• Strategic outbound calling on priority accounts layered throughout

The Results:
Our part-time SDR books 30-50 meetings/month. Consistently.

€5M ARR with efficient cashflow. No burn.

The difference?

They didn't stop at learning tools. They engineered a repeatable system where each channel validates and feeds the others.

→ Cold calling proved message-market fit.
→ Paid ads scaled awareness.
→ Automated outbound created consistent pipeline.
→ Strategic calling captured high-value accounts.

Growth tactics are easy to learn.

Revenue engineering takes systems thinking.

What's your current bottleneck: tactics or systems?

Holistic Go-To-Market & AI for B2B / 12 domains / €2M up to €1B+ / 14 int. known experts.

As a Chief Revenue Officer, I operated 25+ B2B AI, SaaS and traditional companies in more than 20 industries, I can help you: 

- to build an AI-native modern revenue system. 

- to take your revenue system and team to the next level by taking full ownership as a CRO (full-time) or fractional CRO (every day, half a day)

- by supporting you and the team as a Revenue Architect and/or GTM advisor.

Stephane Maes

8 months in, I decided to shut down The GTM Syndicate and I'm looking for 1 (full-time) or two companies (my fractional, every day, half a day concept) to take their revenue system to the next level, using all my experience.

Can sugarcoat it LinkedIn style, but the truth is I didn't succeed in generating enough revenue and traction with the concept the past 8 months to make it a viable company - or to make a living out of it.

After ADCR Capital, I was convinced bringing together 20 known domain experts, spanning a narrative of the 21 domains of a modern revenue via "the house" narrative, would be a real game changer.

Most challenges are multi-domain and making the McKinsey focused on auditing revenue systems in total or a domain or subdomain would be refreshing. To be a real long term partner, who has that ability and that really knows you.

Turns out that was a mistake. But as the saying goes, you either earn, or you learn. Had 2 years of a lot of learning. I now decided for myself, it's time for earning again :).

I also had counted on certain dynamics between the experts and brand equity that catalyzed the brand. That ultimately didn't play out as I thought it would. That's also perfectly alright.

Deeply grateful to our 20 domain experts who lend me their face and brand for 8 months in my attempt to make this work.

Now I'm back on the market, looking for projects I can be passionate about as a seasoned operator (20+ B2B companies as executive revenue leader), ideally with an ACV of 50k to 1mio+, which is what my speciality is.

I always operated 1 or 2 companies historically and led the revenue team, taking it to the next level. It's what I always did since I was 22 years old, always via my management company. It's what I do.

Having been able to bring together this top group of people, hopefully is a demo of what I am capable of in terms of vision and building top teams. 

It's a piety customers or the market thought otherwise, but the market dictates and decides - always.

Would love to discuss, if I could add value to your company. Really someone who sits with you behind the whole chess board. Leading the revenue engine and team but also great with boards, investors, finance, funding and M&A - or overall contributing to the long term vision & strategy.

Feel free to reach out.

Looking for 1-2 companies as an AI-native revenue leader & company builder / CRO, Revenue Architect & GTM advisor / Winning By Design Ambassador

Since I shut down the GTM Syndicate a few days ago, what's next?

Back to being an operator & company builder, as a seasoned and AI-native revenue leader and Chief Revenue Officer profile.

Having effectively operated 25+ B2B SaaS, AI and traditional companies in the most various of industries, enables me to offer experience and a broad view, few can offer.

Gave it some thought and I'm open to finding the right company, with a great product and team where I can be very passionate about and have lots of fun.

Either dedicated (full-time) or two companies, according to my time-and-time again validated concept of being there every day, half a day (fractional).

Also very happy to guide revenue leadership teams and revenue team overall, as a GTM advisor, if you're already covered but would love to have me as a co-pilot and sound board.

How people buy has changed the past 2 years. A lot of people are still operating like two years ago, selling the same way, to a changed buyer in a changed world.

I could have a lot of impact on taking that revenue system next level and by building an ai-native revenue engine, adapted to today's buyer and market.

If you're building something cool, from early revenue up to 100m+, I'd be happy to explore if that might be a fit and how I can support you and the team.

Also not your typical "CRO" but a real company builder, proficient in finance, funding, investors, boards & M&A. Someone who really builds out the company with you and is much more than "just a CRO".

Open to VC-backed, PE-owned or bootstrapped.

Don't want to box it or limit it, curious what will come on my path now.

Also never worked 1 day in my life on payroll, so absolutely have that entrepreneurial spirit, by heart. It also has to work via my management company.

I also believe operators like that are very rare, and I truly could have an incredible impact, at the right company.

Feel free to reach out if that sounds like something worth exploring.

We don’t do deals. We build relationships. And in complex sales, that means time, patience, and a lot of asynchronous touch points.

Content, reputation and DMs. Conversations that go quiet and then restart months later. One of those conversations changed our entire direction.

A top CRO at a 100M+ company replied to an outbound message. We did discovery. At the time, I only had one thing to offer: a full revenue system audit. Really in the beginning of the GTM Syndicate and our first campaigns.

She gave me direct feedback. Clear. Sharp. Fair. And instead of defending the offer, we listened. That feedback became the reason I rebuilt everything.

We went from one monolithic audit to an overarching framework where companies can start with one domain, multiple domains, or the full system. Sales. Marketing. CS. RevOps. Partnerships. Subdomains when needed.

That was the real turning point.

Not a brainstorm. Not a roadmap session. One core ICP stakeholder taking the time to explain what would actually help.

Fast forward.

Nine months of iteration later. Continuous voice-of-customer loops. From rough outbound and MVP collateral to a fully orchestrated model with domain experts embedded where it matters.

Recently, their VP Sales left. She now needs to step and be the ad-interim solution herself and look for a permanent solution. 

Already overloaded (I l meanwhile learned how hard she works every day, to put that "overload" in full perspective). Already carrying the system. There only are so many hours a day.

She reached out again and asked a simple question: how would you help me turn Sales into a modern revenue system?

The answer wasn’t a deck.

We proposed:

1. First, a deep audit of the Sales domain

2. Then stepping in as ad interim VP Sales, part-time (every day half a day) up to 4/5th

3. A 6–12 month transformation where we build the system, build the team, then help hire and hand over to a long-term leader

That’s how I’ve always worked. Two companies at a time. Mornings and afternoons. Ownership, not advice.

I also told her, Sales of course never lives in isolation.

Marketing signal quality.
CS handoffs.
RevOps visibility.
Partnership motion.
ICP and ABM.
AI workflows for list building, intent, and account tracking.

When needed, Syndicate experts can plug in:

- Pricing and packaging that added 400M ARR across their 60 clients last year

- RevOps and HubSpot specialists mapping the full bowtie end to end

- Data and AI experts turning noise into usable signal

- Advanced, AI-driven Account-based Marketing

Nothing about this is transactional. It’s a relationship built over time, proven through iteration, and activated when things get real.

When your revenue system is under pressure, do you have partners who’ve already earned the right to step in and carry it with you?

We'd love to earn that right.

We don't do deals, we build relationships.

When was the last time you let someone look at your entire revenue engine?

Not a sales audit.
Not a marketing review.
Not a RevOps clean-up.

An outside-in look at how the whole thing actually behaves.

For most teams, the answer is never. Instead, help comes in fragments.

A sales expert looks at sales.
A marketing specialist fixes demand.
Ops cleans up tooling.
Everyone improves their part.

And still, the outcomes don’t change.

Because no one is looking at what those improvements do together.

2026 has started. And go to market has already changed so much in 2025.

Buyers changed how they buy. Signals moved. Cycles fragmented. AI amplified whatever was already broken or already strong.

In this environment, fragmented help isn’t just inefficient. It’s risky.

Local optimizations now create second-order problems faster than before. Progress in one domain quietly breaks flow somewhere else.

That’s why our starting point is always the same. We look at the system from the outside in. One domain, multiple domains, or the full revenue engine.

Depending on size, scale, and complexity, that ranges from:

1. Me screening the entire revenue system end-to-end

2. A small number of selected domain experts based on your specific challenges and me, screening your revenue system

3. For €50M+ companies, each domain being reviewed by its domain expert, coordinated as one system.

But this doesn’t stop at diagnosis. We’re not a strategy-only partner. And we’re not a collection of advisors handing over a deck.

Through the GTM Syndicate, we embed with your team.

We stay involved. We help you to decide what to implement and when. And we make sure it actually happens! That’s the difference.

Strategy.
Tactics.
Operations.
Execution sequencing.
All owned, not outsourced.

The output isn’t advice.

It’s a clear picture of how your revenue system behaves today. Plus a prioritized action plan based on impact, dependency, and risk.

From there, implementation finally makes sense. And it also sticks. Where you as an executive are the orchestrator. We just help you to make better music.

And for the right company, I’m not just helping with orchestrating from the outside. I’m still open to rolling up my sleeves. 

Being there every day or half a day. As your CRO inside the business. Or as a close advisor to you and your team, 2 to 4h a week. See myself adding a lot of value there in both scenarios.

Hit me up if any of this would seem interesting to you.

When was the last time?

I watched Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off last night. It hit harder than I expected. Not because of skateboarding.

He was world-class early. Lived for competition. Then, years later, got tired of the competition while still living for it.

- That moment when the money dried up.
- When everyone around him said grow up.
- When his wife’s environment questioned why he was still trying.
- When he adjusted his life downward just to keep going.
- Selling the house.
- Tearing down the ramp he made with his dad.

He uses one word that matters here: jaded.

When you make serious money early and it just keeps coming, you don’t learn durability. You learn velocity.

You don’t think long-term. You don’t secure. You assume the tap is permanent. Until it isn’t.

They then had to make choices and adapted their lifestyle, so they could keep on skating and building.

I had my GTM superstar phase early and it lasted for 11 straight years. 

Recognition. Velocity. Being ahead of the curve. Then, a decade later, realizing that winning inside the game was no longer the point.

Competition stops being fuel at some point. It starts being noise. Then he felt free and started to create again instead of being a robot, as he describes it.

He then later went back to competition, because he lives for it. But he had changed because of that journey.

What struck me most wasn’t his success. It was his refusal to quit when the external signals flipped.

No applause. No certainty. Just the thing itself.

Skate.
Build.
Figure it out.
Never stop skating.

That’s not ambition. That’s identity. 

This is the Personal Transformation framework. 

Not the polished before and after. But the quieter shift from proving yourself to staying true to the thing you’re built to do even when it stops making sense to others.

Birdhouse, his skateboard company, wasn’t built at the peak. It was built after the illusion broke.

Most people don’t fail because they’re not good enough. They stop because the environment no longer validates the path.

I'll never stop skating.

The hard question is simpler than we admit. Are you still doing the work because it matters to you or because it used to win you approval?

Everyone is talking about closed feedback loops in GTM.

Marketing.
Sales.
Customer Success.
Partnerships.
RevOps.

But most teams can’t answer a simple question. What exactly is closing the loop?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth. A closed loop is not data flowing. It’s accountability flowing.

Most loops look like this:

- Marketing ships leads.
- Sales works them.
- CS inherits the outcomes.
- RevOps reports after the fact.

Information moves. Ownership doesn’t. So nothing is actually closed. 

A real closed loop exists only when three things happen at the same time. 

1. The signal travels end to end. Not activity, not volume but outcome-based signals that survive handoffs.

Why did this deal convert?
Why did this customer expand?
Why did this churn happen?

2. Someone is responsible for acting on the signal. Not just or only shared visibility or alignment.

A named owner who is expected to change behavior upstream based on downstream reality.

3. The system is allowed to change. Closed loops break when insights are collected but architecture stays frozen.

ICP.
Qualification.
Incentives.
Handoffs.
Capacity allocation.

If none of those can move, the loop is performative. This is why many teams feel data rich and direction poor.

They built reporting loops, not learning loops and definitely not correction loops.

A closed loop is finished only when the system behaves differently next cycle. Otherwise it’s just a dashboard.

Where in your GTM motion do signals travel end to end but ownership stops halfway?

When is it time to replace a (full-time or fractional) CRO or to hire one?

You don’t miss a CRO because revenue slows. You miss one when no one actually owns how revenue works end to end.

Here’s the clean distinction I see in practice.

You miss a CRO when:

- Revenue problems are cross-functional, not local. Marketing, Sales, CS, RevOps are all doing reasonable things and the outcome still degrades.

- Decisions keep getting escalated but never resolved. Trade-offs exist, but no one has the mandate to choose between speed, margin, risk, and focus.

- Forecasts feel fragile. Not wrong, but constantly revised. The system reacts instead of predicts.

- Founders or CEOs are the glue. They are still arbitrating GTM conflicts weekly because no one else truly owns the system.

That’s not a talent gap. That’s an ownership gap.

It’s time to replace a bad CRO when:

- They optimize functions instead of flows. Sales looks “better” while cost of revenue, churn, or delivery strain quietly worsens.

- They confuse activity with control. More dashboards. More initiatives. Less clarity about why outcomes move.

- They act as a super-VP of Sales. Strong opinions on deals, weak ownership of the full revenue architecture.

- They explain misses with narratives, not mechanisms. Market, timing, buyers, execution. Never system design.

- Alignment becomes a meeting, not a structure.
Lots of talk. Same frictions. Same handoffs breaking.

That’s not bad intent. That’s role misfit at the current stage.

The hard truth most teams avoid… You don’t need a CRO when revenue is simple. You don’t survive without one when complexity overtakes intuition.

And replacing a CRO isn’t about performance. It’s about whether the company has outgrown how revenue is being owned.

Question worth asking honestly: who currently owns the behavior of our revenue system when things conflict? And do they know their stuff?

Coincidentally, I’m back on the market looking for an interesting company or 2 companies as a full time or fractional (every day, half a day) Chief Revenue Officer.

If me auditing your revenue system, combined with a priority based action plan sounds like something, also very possible.

And what makes me different than all others? I’ve factually operated 25 B2B SaaS, AI and traditional companies in as much industries. Enabling me to have a unique look at companies - and your company.

And having the ability to understand every department, every part of your revenue system but also finance, funding, investors and m&a.

That’s rare. Much rarer than you’d think.

First or second working day of the year.

The inbox fills up again.
Meetings restart.
Targets get repeated.

And almost automatically, teams drift back to volume.

More outreach.
More calls.
More campaigns.
More motion.

This week I had a conversation with a 40M ARR company. 

Their challenge sounded familiar: “We want to run a more focused motion.
But we keep sliding back into volume.”

Not because they don’t believe in focus. But because once pressure returns, reflex takes over.

December was reflection. January is reflex.

Here’s where it quietly breaks.

- ICP exists on paper, but isn’t enforced in the system.
- ABM is the ambition, but not the default behavior.
- GTM engineering is discussed, but not wired into execution.

So when decisions get fuzzy, the system does what it knows best.
It scales activity.

Volume isn’t the problem. Volume becomes the problem when it replaces choices that were never locked in.

- Which accounts do we not go after?
- Which signals actually qualify intent?
- Which parts of the motion are allowed to scale, and which are not?

If ICP isn’t operational, ABM collapses into targeting theater. If ABM isn’t executable, GTM engineering becomes tooling without leverage. And when none of it is explicit, volume fills the gap.

What decisions will you finally make explicit before the system pulls you back to volume again?

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