CEO @GTM Partners | WSJ best selling Author of MOVE | Co-founder @Terminus @Peak Community

10 years ago, found my true passion: Teaching.

1️⃣ Teaching business – How to build and scale companies to win in business.
2️⃣ Teaching leadership – How to align teams for success to win at work.
3️⃣ Teaching life – How to bring work "skills" home to lead in life.

That’s why I combine them all to teach the business of Go-To-Market, leadership, and life.

Built and exited two well known companies (Pardot → Salesforce $2.7B, Terminus → acquired twice).
Written 3 books, including WSJ bestseller MOVE: The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework.
Created the GTM Operating System, now used by thousands.
Hosted 1,000+ podcast episodes on GTM Made Simple.
Taught 70,000+ students through my LinkedIn courses.

I write daily on LinkedIn around the five core truths about Go-To-Market:

🚀 Trust in NRR.
🚀 CEO owns GTM.
🚀 Systems > Goals.
🚀 GTM is a transformation process.
🚀 Business transformation happens in teams.

175K+ people read my weekly research note on GTM: https://gtmonday.substack.com/
11K+ people follow my personal insights: https://becomingintentional.substack.com/
10k+ people apply principles of going from full-time to fractional to make $250k to a $1M a year: https://fractionalfreedomfriday.substack.com/

To Book me for speaking, keynotes: https://sangramhere.com/ or just DM me.

I’m on a mission to make Go-To-Market simple—for CEOs, founders, and teams. If you want to bring clarity, alignment, and trust to grow your business, let's talk.

Join my MOVE book companion course for CEOs, founders and GTM leaders 
and GTM Operating System Course (Used in two $100M+ exits, rated 4.5/5 stars)

DM me. Let’s build something great—intentionally. Join the MOVEment!

Sangram Vajre

my 15-year-old just closed a $300 deal + $50/month retainer.

here's how it happened.

i told him early on: we'll pay for tennis shoes, rackets, training. but food with friends? you gotta earn that.

when he was younger, we paid him for reading books. never for chores. chores are just part of being in a family.

now at 15, time to level up.

so he went to his tennis coach and asked a simple question: "what do you need help with?"

turns out they run Facebook ads and get about 15 leads a day. but no one has time to call them back quickly.

he said: "i'll call every lead as soon as they click."

now he's learning FB ads. learning CRM. learning follow-up.

$300 to set it up. $50/month to keep it running.

honestly... i'm starting to wonder if college is even the move. or if he should just keep building this.

but here's what i know for sure:

the right kind of pressure makes kids think outside the box.

not pressure to be perfect. pressure to figure it out.

my wife gave me that same gift in 2014 when she said "you have 1 year make your business work or you need to get a real job."

that led me to build Terminus (by DemandScience) to incredible heights and now i am doing the same with GTM Partners.

it's time to pass on the "healthy" pressure and see what happens next.

how are you teaching your kids about money and work?

love,
sangram

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Terminus (by DemandScience)

GTM Partners

Built two $100M+ companies | WSJ Best Selling Author of MOVE on go-to-market | GTMonday Editor with 175K+ subscribers teaching the GTM Operating System

in 2014, i asked my wife if i could quit Salesforce and start a company.

we had debt, no savings, and a second kid on the way.

she didn't say no.

but she didn't say yes either.

after a week of back and forth, she said 3 things that changed my life:

1. "i don't want you to have any regrets—or me stopping you."

2. "i'll get a job so we can pay the mortgage and keep going."

3. "you have 1 year. make the business work or find a real job."

she handed me permission and pressure at the same time.

that lit a fire i didn't know i had.

in the next 12 months:

→ we built Terminus (by DemandScience) from $0 to $1M ARR in 9 months
→ created the ABM category
→ launched 4 FlipMyFunnel events
→ started a daily FlipMyFunnel podcast
→ wrote ABM for Dummies

all because she believed in me enough to bet on me—and loved me enough to give me a deadline.

today, as a 2x entrepreneur, here's what i know:

the people who change your life aren't always the ones who say "you can do it."

sometimes they're the ones who say "you have 1 year. prove it."

who believed in you before you believed in yourself?

love,
sangram
p.s. if you've been in GTM at a corporate for 10+ years, it's 10x easier today than it was for me in 2014 to launch your own thing. do it.

Salesforce

i asked 1,500 people at a conference:

"how many of you are using AI?"

every hand went up.

"how many are using AI to be more productive?"

every hand stayed up.

"how many of you are actually more productive?"

the whole room laughed.

that's the irony of 2026.

we have more tools than ever.
more automations than ever.
more AI than ever.

and somehow... we're busier than ever.

here's what i think is happening:

AI is making us faster at the wrong things.

→ faster at creating content no one reads
→ faster at sending emails no one opens
→ faster at building reports no one acts on

speed without strategy is just organized chaos.

the companies winning right now aren't the ones with the most AI tools.

they're the ones who got clear on what actually matters—then used AI to do only that.

productivity isn't about doing more.

it's about doing less of the wrong things.

what's one thing AI helped you stop doing?

love,
sangram
p.s. i love doing keynotes and saying things no one will say it out loud :)

just finished my 7th CEO roundtable and had a light bulb moment.

every single CEO is talking about AI.

but almost all of them are focused on the same thing:

→ cut headcount
→ automate tasks
→ reduce spend

and then they wonder why nothing feels different.

i wonder if we're looking at AI all wrong.

AI isn't meant to reduce cost.

it's meant to increase value.

cost reduction is a one-time win. you cut once, you're done.

value creation compounds. new products. new markets. new ways to serve customers.

the companies winning with AI aren't asking "how do we do the same thing cheaper?"

they're seem to be asking "what can we do now that we couldn't do before?"

that's a completely different question.

and it requires a different mindset.

not "replace the human."

"elevate the human creativity and capacity."

one CEO paused and said: "i've been solving the wrong problem."

immediately energy came back into the conversation and we went 30 mins over talking about all the positives that comes with adding AI without trying to cut costs as the primary driver.

my big take away: 

i am going to start thinking and advising CEOs on how to use AI to increase value and not reduce cost as a starting point moving forward.

begs the question - which one are you doing — reducing cost or increasing value?

love,
sangram
p.s. DM me if you are a CEO and need GTM advisory related to this topic.

i spent 20+ years exploiting the B2B playbook.

built two $100M+ companies. three best-selling books. thousands of GTM strategies deployed.

and now i'm ready to say it out loud:

i helped write the OLD playbook. now i'm burning it.

more headcount doesn't mean more revenue.
more tools doesn't mean more pipeline.
more activity doesn't mean more growth.

we've been optimizing a system that's running out of gas.

the next era of B2B doesn't belong to the exploiters.

it belongs to the explorers.

that's exactly what i'm unpacking in my opening keynote at Agentic GTM: Realizing Revenue on March 26-27.

the talk: Growth Without the Bloat

here are the 5 BIG ideas i'll break down:

→ revenue per employee and NRR become the only metrics that matter
→ services as a software takes over SaaS
→ generalists will be more valuable than specialists
→ the rise of experienced solopreneurs fueling a new SMB category
→ AI to increase business value — not reduce cost

this isn't theory. it's what i'm seeing work right now.

if you're a CEO, CRO, or CMO trying to figure out what's next — this one's for you.

which of the top 5 BIG ideas are you excited about? 

📅 March 26 | 11:00 AM ET
🎟️ Attend The Metadata.io Agentic GTM: Realizing Revenue Virtual Event
Register now link here:  https://lnkd.in/eZJen_RD

love,
sangram

took me 4 years to figure this out. now i see it everywhere.

CEOs don't pay premium for strategy decks. they pay for clarity.

after $7M+ in GTM advisory,  here are the ONLY 8 things CEOs actually write BIG checks for:

𝗙𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗦 (𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀)

1. define your ICP & prioritize segments — stop chasing the wrong customers.

2. build a roadmap around your highest-value products — focus on what drives real revenue.

3. develop a differentiated point of view — stand out instead of competing on price.

𝗘𝗫𝗘𝗖𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 (𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲)

4. implement a GTM motions playbook — repeatable plays that actually work.

5. accelerate ROI & time-to-value — turn customers into advocates, fast.

6. focus on data-driven customer and product insights — fuel NRR growth.

𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 (𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲)

7. create an executive GTM dashboard — full visibility, no surprises.

8. align teams with clarity & trust — move faster, execute better.

notice what's NOT on this list?

more leads. more content. more tools.

CEOs at $10M–$100M don't need more. they need less — with more precision.

which of these 8 is your company struggling with most right now?

love,
sangram

p.s. our 100+ GTM OS Certified partners solve these 8 problems daily for CEOs from startups to billion dollar companies. if you need help, check out GTMarketplace or just dm me.

a CEO of an $11M company asked me last week:

"we're growing 30% a year. why does it feel like we're running in place?"

i asked one question: "what's your NRR?"

she paused. "i think it's around 90%."

that's the problem.

here's the math most CEOs don't run:

→ 90% NRR: you lose 10% of your revenue every year. you need 40% new business just to grow 30%. you're filling a leaky bucket.

→ 110% NRR: your existing customers grow 10% on their own. now you only need 20% new business to hit the same 30% growth.

→ 120% NRR: your customers are doing the heavy lifting. new logos become gravy, not survival.

same growth target. completely different effort.

most CEOs at this stage are obsessed with new logos. i get it. new logos feel like progress.

but the companies that scale aren't the ones with the best sales teams.

they're the ones where customers stay, expand, and refer.

NRR isn't a CS metric. it's a GTM metric.

if your marketing and sales teams aren't thinking about retention and expansion, you're leaving the easiest revenue on the table.

her response: "i've been solving the wrong problem."

do you know your NRR?

love,
sangram
p.s. building a GTMarketplace with 100+ certified GTM partners who are solving these problems daily for CEOs.

when you work for a company, every competitor becomes your enemy.

when you go fractional, every other fractional becomes your homie.

meet Matt Anthony and Stacy Sutton.

both are successful GTM leaders. both are GTM OS Certified Partners building profitable businesses. both are in ATL.

so what do they do? they meet up. they build together.

this is what happens when you shift from W2 to 1099.

something changes in your mindset.

you stop seeing other people in your space as threats. you start seeing them as allies.

but here's the thing no one talks about:

going fractional can get lonely. really lonely.

you leave the meetings, the Slack channels, the water cooler. you're on your own.

and then you find others doing the same thing.

now with 100+ GTM OS partners across the globe, i see this happening all the time.

people meeting up. sharing deals. building businesses together.

people ask me: "what's the ROI of building this community?"

my answer: a big smile on my face.

that's the ROI.

did i go overboard with the word "homie" here?

love,
sangram
p.s. follow Matt Anthony and Stacy Sutton for each of them are building an incredible practice to help CEOs fix and scale their GTM, fast.

last week, our GTM OS fractionals closed over $1M.

not in a quarter. in one week.

how? they follow the same system: brand, demand, delivery.

→ brand: they don't look like every other fractional. they use GTM OS certified research and process to stand out from the sea of consultants who aren't really building a business.

→ demand: they show CEOs exactly what they'll get. no fluff. outcome-based frameworks that make the value obvious before the first call.

→ delivery: with 100+ certified partners and data from 1000+ companies running on GTM OS, everything they do is already battle-tested. no guessing. no improvising. A+ delivery from day one.

most fractionals are winging it alone.

building their own decks. creating their own frameworks. hoping it works.

our partners don't have to.

they walk into every engagement with a system that's been pressure-tested across industries, stages, and company sizes.

this is why i love this community.

you don't have to figure it out by yourself.

you don't have to compete on price.

you don't have to feel like "just another consultant."

you get to build a real business — with a real system — alongside people who are doing the same thing.

this is the best time to go all in on building a fractional business... if you have 10+ years of GTM experience.

love,
sangram
p.s. throwback picture from GTM Made Simple roadshow

in 2024, we had 3 GTM OS Certified Partners.

today? almost 100. across 3 continents.

but the numbers aren't what got me this week.

it's this photo.

Shelli Ryan, APR, Fellow PRSA and Melanie J. Lennert-Anliker on stage in Dubai sharing our new research and building a profitable GTM business.

at the same time—same week—

GTM OS sessions running in the UK - Abbas Shivji Navin Jaitly - leading the way!

another in Sydney, Australia - Sue Foley, i see you!

 in Canada - Murtaza Kumail Abbas, you are killing it brother!

in San Francisco - Lydia Flocchini and Tim Hillison doing joint roundtables

Bryan Brown and i just looked at each other like... is this real?

we didn't build a course.

we get to build a MOVEment.

→ 3 partners → 100 partners
→ 1 county → 3 continents
→ 0 businesses on GTM OS → over 1,000 today

and now GTMarketplace has the leading marketing and sales execs ready to take control of their careers.

here's what i've learned:

you don't scale a framework by selling it.

you scale it by giving people something worth teaching.

the partners aren't just certified. they're invested. they're on stages. they're in rooms we'll never be in. they're reaching companies we'll never meet.

that's not a business model.

that's a belief system.

to every GTM OS partner out there—thank you.

you made this real.

who's someone in your world building something bigger than themselves right now?

love,
sangram

CEO @ Ad Hoc | Veteran Cross-border Go-to-Liquidity™ & Go-to-Market Operator, specialty in improved EBITDA quality and non-rep dependent revenue programs that create results in 90 days

CEO & Co-Founder CRO2go | Fractional CRO & Board Director | Scaling B2B SaaS & FinTech Revenue Across Europe | INSEAD Board Programme | Pioneering fractional leadership model | Speaker

Helping £1M–£10M Life Sciences, HealthTech & SaaS founders turn messy traction into predictable revenue | Fractional CRO | GTM Partner & Advisor

GTM Certified Advisor and Sales Specialist / Fixing Stalled Growth, in B2B Growth Focused Companies/ Best - Selling Author and International Speaker

Entrepreneur | CMO | Strategist | GTM Advisor & GTM OS Certified Partner

All Things GTM | Fractional Revenue Leader | Dad x 3

Legal Tech Category Designer & Leader | Fractional GTM Operator & Advisor | Creator of Legal Tech Revenue Science™ + Motion to Scale™ | 5× GTM Growth & Exits | Multi-GTM Awards| ILTA Influential Woman in Legal Tech

Turning Lumpy Revenue into Predictable Growth | Global GTM Operator + Engineer | FlexScale & FullStack GTM for Engineering-Led Scaleups | $1B+ Impact | Ex-Visa, Microsoft, PayPal | #gotimmarket

Transform your GTM & align your teams with our GTM O.S. framework & certification

***Hot take *** every company is about to land in one of three places.

and your GTM strategy depends on which one you're in.

𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝟭: 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 (Competition zone)

you compete on efficiency or necessity. your product gets cheaper every day. AI and automation are compressing your margins.

GTM here = speed to market, volume, low-touch sales. you win on distribution, not differentiation.

𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝟮: 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 (Winning Zone)

you compete on transformation. your customers don't just use your product — they become something different because of it. you get overvalued every day.

GTM here = outcomes, stories, premium pricing. you win on depth, not reach.

𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝟯: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗱𝗱𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 (Instability Zone)

you're not the cheapest. you're not the most transformational. you're just... there.

GTM here = competing on everything, winning on nothing. no clear positioning. no pricing power. no moat.

this is where most companies go to die.

the hard truth?

most GTM teams are building playbooks for lane 2 while their company is stuck in lane 3.

or worse — they're in lane 1 and pretending they're in lane 2.

the first job of any GTM leader is to get honest about which lane you're actually in.

then build the strategy that fits.

which lane is your company in right now?

love,
sangram

time for a reintroduction.

most of you know me as the Terminus guy. the ABM guy. the author of a few books.

but here's what i get to do now — and honestly, it's something i could only dream of.

i get to help people turn 10+ years of GTM experience into a real business.

not a side hustle. not "consulting between jobs." a real, sustainable business.

i've been doing this on and off for 5 years. but in the last year, Bryan Brown  and i have done it 100 times.

100 GTM leaders. building $250K–$500K+ practices. working with startups and PE firms who actually value their expertise.

just last week, was our first $1M week with a few certified partners (fractionals) sharing their wins in the community. 

this is the new reality.

so here's what i've learned:

the skills you built climbing someone else's ladder? they're worth more than you think.

but it only works if you're serious about it.

this isn't for people looking for a backup plan.

it's for people ready to bet on themselves.

so if you've gone fractional /solo — or you're thinking about it — i want to help.

and if you know someone who fits that description, tag them or send them my way.

this is the work i am meant to do right now.

thank you for supporting the GTMovement!

if you want to share the word, pls repost it.

love,
sangram

"We've been running on EOS for 10 years. When I saw GTM OS, it immediately clicked—it's the missing operating system for go-to-market." that's what Eric Baum, CEO of Bluleadz told me last week. 

Eric runs a very successful agency on HubSpot and EOS Worldwide.

he's seen what works and what doesn't. and his take got me thinking about why so many EOS companies still struggle with revenue.

EOS gives you operational discipline. 

→ rocks 
→ scorecards 
→ accountability 
→ meeting rhythms 

but EOS doesn't tell you how to go to market. 

it doesn't answer: 

→ who's your real ICP? 
→ what's your positioning? 
→ how do marketing, sales, and CS actually align? 
→ where's the pipeline breaking down? 

that's the gap GTM OS fills. 

EOS runs the company. 
GTM OS runs the revenue engine.

most companies have one or the other. 

few have both working together. 

but when they do? that's when things start compounding. 

Eric's seeing it with his clients — the ones running both systems are moving faster and with more clarity than the ones trying to figure out GTM on their own. 

if you're already on EOS and feel like go-to-market is the missing piece — this might be worth exploring. 

are you running both or just one? 

love, 
sangram 
p.s. shoutout to Eric Baum for the insight — always learn from people doing it in the field.

in 20 mins… i am doing a keynote called “Growth without bloat” 

why i am excited:

1. brand new research from 1000+ companies and over 100 CEO conversations since beginning of this year

2. new model showing the gap in B2B worldview and real worldview when it comes to go-to-market

3. 8 ideas that will cost $0 to create more revenue and will make your CEO scratch their heads.

so wish me best and see you soon!

it’s hosted by Lisa Sharapata and Gil Allouche at Metadata 

let’s go!

love,
sangram 
p.s. if you want slides just comment “growth” and my EA will dm you… i think that’s how you go viral 🫣

No alternative text description for this image

i spent 35 years believing the biggest risk was becoming an entrepreneur. i had it completely backwards.

before that? i thought the only way to build something meaningful was living paycheck to paycheck. climbing someone else's ladder. hoping for the next promotion.

today, i think that's the greatest myth — especially if you have 10+ years of experience.

here's what nobody tells you:

you already know what it takes to build a business.

you've built pipelines. you've closed deals. you've led teams. you've driven revenue.

you just did it for someone else.

and no — you don't need to raise money. you don't need a $100M company to call yourself an entrepreneur or soloprenuer. you don't even need a software idea.

what you need is to make a meaningful living on your terms.

when i see CMOs and CROs working 60-70 hours a week, grinding for 1-2 years, and then back on the job hunt... it breaks my heart.

why not have 2-4 clients instead of one employer?

why not diversify your income so you're never at the mercy of one company's next layoff?

why not leverage 20 years of experience AND have fun doing it?

the risk isn't going out on your own.

the risk is waiting too long to start.

am i wrong?

love,
sangram
p.s. "the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." — William Mather Lewis

looking for 3-5 AI-powered GTM tools to introduce to our 100+ GTM OS Certified partners and agencies.

here's why this matters:

there are 10,000+ GTM AI tools out there. buyers have no idea what's actually good.

too much noise. too many demos. too little trust.

so how do people actually decide what to buy?

they ask someone they trust.

our 100+ partners are building $250K-$500K+ fractional businesses all over the world. each one works with 3-5 clients at a time.

that's 300-500 companies in this ecosystem right now.

here's the deal:

→ give our partners access to your tech
→ they recommend it to clients when it fits
→ they earn a commission on referrals
→ they post about it on LinkedIn (real usage, not paid ads)

this isn't influencer marketing.

it's micro-advisor distribution.

trusted people recommending tools they actually use to clients who actually need them.

no cold outreach. no ad fatigue. no "request a demo" forms.

just warm introductions from people who've already earned trust.

i think this is how B2B buying is going to work moving forward.

not more ads. more trusted advisors.

if you're building AI-powered GTM tech and this sounds interesting — DM me "PARTNER" and let's talk.

love,
sangram

p.s. we have a rigorous process so if you can't handle an influx of deals yet, hold off for now.

just wrapped a LIVE workshop with 25 GTM leaders who want to go fractional.

4 hours. no fluff. just the real stuff.

here's what we covered:

𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁
→ why you and why now?
→ 3 ways to build a fractional business
→ 8 outcomes CEOs actually pay for
→ 15 limiting beliefs holding you back

𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
→ build your LinkedIn and define your ICP
→ set up your tech stack and funnel
→ create a content strategy for consistency
→ sell through frameworks — outcomes, not hours

𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
→ how to land 1-3 clients in 90 days
→ the 10-week challenge to make it real

this is the system our 100+ GTM OS partners use to build $250K–$500K+ practices.

not theory. not motivation. a real playbook.

if you're thinking about going fractional — or already started and feeling stuck — i want to help.

comment "GTM" and my EA send you the entire deck starting Friday.

plus i am included a recording in which i will show how we built a $7M advisory using this process. no silver bullet - just consistently doing what only 1% would do. 

who is this NOT for: in between jobs or not serious about building a $250k+ business or having less than 10+ years of marketing/sales/CMO/CRO experience. 

comment "GTM"... let's go!

love,
sangram
p.s. thank you Aby Varma for having me + Stacy Sutton and Matt Anthony for being there as GTM OS Certified Partners doing this for real!

how do you make $500K consistently as a fractional CMO/CRO leader?

not once. not in a lucky year. but predictably.

it's a math problem, not a motivation problem.

here are the 3 models i see working:

→ model 1: 4 retainers at $10K/month = $480K

→ model 2: 3 retainers + 2 strategic projects at $50K each = $460K–$500K

→ model 3: 2 PE-backed clients at $20K/month = $480K

$500K is not about 12 clients. it's about 2–4 serious ones.

but here's what separates $250K fractionals from $500K fractionals:

$250K fractionals sell execution — content, ads, HubSpot management.

$500K fractionals sell architecture — revenue design, GTM resets, alignment across marketing + sales + product.

execution scales down. architecture scales up.

the other difference? specificity.

generic fractionals cap at $250K.

the ones crossing $500K have a wedge:

→ post-Series A pipeline resets
→ PE-backed revenue acceleration
→ ABM for $100M+ portfolios

and the hard truth?

$500K requires selling. confidently. at that level.

many people can do the work. few are willing to price it.

if you don't sell, they can't buy.

which model are you running right now?

love,
sangram
p.s. we now have 100 GTM OS Certified Partners doing this and just celebrated several folks crossing this milestone on our Monday Mastermind. if you want to join the MOVEment, just  dm me.

a partner at a $10B PE firm asked me last week:

"what's the hourly rate for a fractional CMO?"

my answer: "don't be a hammer looking for nails."

she's trying to help her portfolio companies scale with "just in time" hiring instead of full-time execs. smart move. but she was thinking about it wrong.

here's what i told her:

we're shifting from "knowledge workers" to "wisdom workers."

knowledge workers get paid for what they know.
wisdom workers get paid for the outcomes they create.

the best fractional GTM leaders i know don't charge by the hour. they charge by the transformation.

and this shift is happening fast.

→ fractional CFOs normalized it first. companies realized they didn't need a full-time finance exec—they needed outcomes.

→ Fiverr normalized it at the entry level. millions of people building income without a boss.

→ now it's happening in GTM.

for the first time, marketing and sales leaders with 10+ years of experience are building $300K–$500K practices.

not consulting gigs.

not "between jobs" work.

real businesses.

when Bryan Brown and i started the GTM advisory business in 2021, we were figuring this out as we went. today? it's a proven path.

the old model: charge by the hour, compete on rate, get commoditized.

the new model: charge by the outcome, compete on wisdom, build a real business.

this isn't a trend.

it's a reset.

if you've been thinking about making the leap, check out GTMarketplace — 100+ GTM leaders already building $300K+ practices. link in comments.

love,
sangram
p.s. dm me if you want to be on this GTMarketplace only if you have 10+ years of marketing/sales/GTM experirence.

Fiverr

the US lost 92,000 jobs in February. badly missing estimates of 55,000 payroll additions. unemployment rose to 4.4%.

at the same time, fractionals in our GTM OS community had a record week (not just a month) — generating over $1M in just one week.

same economy. different outcomes.

one group is waiting for permission.

the other group built their own.

i'm not saying fractional is for everyone. it's not.

but if you've spent 10+ years in GTM, built pipeline, led teams, and delivered results for others... 

then it begs the obvious question...

why are you still waiting for someone else to decide your future?

the economy doesn't care about your resume.

but your skills? your network? your ability to deliver outcomes?

those are yours. no one can lay those off.

the shift from W2 to 1099 isn't just a tax change.

it's a mindset change.

from "i need a job" to "i am the job."

what do you think is going to happen in 2026 to your job?

love,
sangram

Alan Gonsenhauser

11X CMO Preferred by Private Equity | Interim CMO | Coached 150 CMOs to Become Indispensable | SaaS / Enterprise SW / Health IT | P&L GM | Ex-Forrester / SiriusDecisions | GTM OS Certified Partner |

I coach B2B CMOs to become indispensable. Let’s build the right plan, then put it into action. A GTM plan built with a CMO Coach and  Interim CMO / Fractional CMO who’s mentored over 150 senior Marketing executives. The one private equity firms turn to when they need to build or rebuild GTM and Marketing at a health-tech or SaaS / Enterprise software company. Fast. We’ll fix cross-functional alignment issues and accelerate customer-led net revenue retention and growth. 

Three case study examples with private equity portfolio companies: 
FinThrive: https://swaay.health/2023/01/16/finthrive-maintained-velocity-with-an-interim-cmo-and-executive-coach/
Precisely: https://www.demandrevenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/DR-PRECISELY_CASE-STUDY-FINAL.pdf
FinThrive NPS 3.0 with Chief Customer Officer and VP Portfolio Marketing: https://www.demandrevenue.com/usingnps3full/   
https://swaay.health/2024/10/28/using-nps-3-0-to-improve-customer-experience-in-real-time-at-finthrive/

I'm an Interim CMO  and GTM Advisor who’s worked in Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Operations. At Forrester and SiriusDecisions I mentored 130 CMOs, using hundreds of models and frameworks to drive marketing operational efficiency and growth. Since 2021 I’ve been an Interim CMO or a CMO advisor at 10 PE portcos of Clearlake Capital, TA Associates, KKR, Morningside, Insight, Blackstone, CVC, and Thoma Bravo. 
 
Only 11% of companies know how to love and delight customers. Those companies see concrete, customer-led growth. They can charge more. And that translates to upside pricing power, operational productivity, financial, and valuation opportunities and greater brand goodwill as an intangible asset. 

To get there, I focus on marketing and customer infrastructure, including people, processes, technology, product, data, analytics and pricing. Get Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Product, and Finance aligned. And drive up the Net Promoter Score (NPS 3.0), gross & net retention, and customer lifetime value. 

Let’s remake Marketing’s DNA with the people, tools, and strategy it needs to drive the company’s financials. 

Whatever marketing problems you’re dealing with, I’ve seen and resolved them. Together, we’ll spot the patterns and fix the problems. And if you have capability or skill gaps, I’ve built a diverse network I pull from.

See how Marketing becomes a bright spot in a company.
 Visit demandrevenue.com to learn more and contact me directly.

+1 508-523-7955 | ag@demandrevenue.com | demandrevenue.com
Schedule a meeting: https://calendly.com/alan-gonsenhauser/15min

Founder and CEO

Helps private equity investors accelerate profitable growth across their portfolio companies. Gets sales, marketing, product, and customer success aligned. Drives customer experience and customer-led growth. Builds and mobilizes efficient marketing infrastructure to scale the business. Focus: B2B and B2B2C SaaS Software, Health Tech, and Medical / Dental Devices.
•	Engagements: Drive marketing due diligence, provide interim executive leadership, enhance marketing organization and infrastructure capabilities, advise CMOs and executive teams, lead integrations, carve-outs, and mergers & acquisitions. 
•	Key focus areas: Improving customer experience, retention, and lifetime value; accelerating demand processes; optimizing martech stacks; repositioning value propositions; rebranding portfolio companies;  strengthening cross-functional alignment; and developing tactical and long-term growth strategies and profit modeling. 
Recent Engagements:
*Executive Advisor to CMOs at Koerber Supply Chain Software. Cornerstone On Demand, CGO/CMO Tungsten Automation (Formerly Kofax), Paysafe 7/23 - Present, and Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.
*Interim CMO / Fractional CMO at Brightly, a Siemens Company; $200M SaaS Software Smart Asset Management and Sustainability firm, $3B Siemens Infrastructure 8/22 - 2/23	 
*Fractional CMO / Interim CMO at FinThrive: $450M SaaS Health IT, Clearlake Capital 4/21 – 9/21
*CMO and CCO Executive Advisor at FinThrive: 10/21 - 12/22
*CMO Executive Advisor at Precisely: $900M Data Software, Clearlake Capital 4/21 - 6/22
*Fractional  CMO / Interim CMO at Linus Health: Digital Brain Health, Morningside Ventures 10/21 - 2/22.
*CMO Advisor to multiple CMOs 4/21 - Present

You just got the call. A PE-backed company wants you as their new CMO.
Maybe you've been a CMO before. 
Maybe this is your first time in the seat. Either way, I can tell you from experience; having done this 11 times myself and coached over 150 CMOs and marketing leaders through it, many in PE-backed companies, the first 100 days in a PE-backed environment are fundamentally different from anything you've experienced in a public or founder-led company.
The clock is already running. Your PE sponsors are measuring time in months, not quarters. The board expects a marketing-driven value creation plan before you've even learned where the coffee machine is.
So let me save you from the mistakes I see CMOs make over and over again.

You just got the call. A PE-backed company wants you as their new CMO. Maybe you've been a CMO before. Maybe this is your first time in the seat. Eith

The PE CMO's First 100 Days: A Playbook for Value Creation, Not Just Survival

Coaches CMOs to Become Indispensable | CEO & CMO GTM Advisor | 11X CMO & GM Preferred by Private Equity | Interim & Fractional CMO | Enterprise / SaaS SW & Health IT | Ex-Forrester / SiriusDecisions |

Every PE-backed company I work with has the same obsession. More pipeline. More leads. More top of funnel. And almost none of them can tell me their churn rate by customer cohort with any confidence.
That's like pouring water into a bucket without checking whether it has holes. The answer, by the way, is that it almost always does.
Sangram Vajre Bryan Brown Drew Neisser CMO Huddles Matt Heinz 
#ChurnReduction #CustomerRetention #PrivateEquity #NRR #GRR #CMO #DemandRevenue

View newsletter: The Private Equity CMO Advisor

Every PE-backed company I work with has the same obsession. More pipeline. More leads. More top of funnel. And almost none of them can tell me their c

Open article: Fix Churn Before You Spend Another Dollar: Customer Cohort Triangulation for PE CMOs by Alan Gonsenhauser • 5 min read

Fix Churn Before You Spend Another Dollar: Customer Cohort Triangulation for PE CMOs

95% of Your Buyers Aren't In-Market Right Now
So why is 90% of your budget chasing them?

Kerry Cunningham's 6sense research changed how I think about demand gen entirely. And Brent Adamson has been documenting the complexity of B2B buying behavior for years. The data is clear: when buyers enter the market, they start with a shortlist of 4 to 5 vendors. The winner comes from that Day 1 list 95% of the time.

So if you're spending $1M on demand gen to reach 5% of your TAM, you've effectively wasted $950K on timing. And worse, you've ignored the 95% who could become in-market in the next few quarters but don't know your name.

That's not a demand generation problem. It's a brand problem. You need brand gravity with the 95% who aren't ready yet, so when they are ready, you're already on the shortlist.

The best CMOs I've coached run brand and demand in parallel. Both matter. Your CAC will reflect the difference.

Outcomes over activities.

Be the CMO they can't afford to lose.

Happy to chat here: pecmo.us 
Sangram Vajre Drew Neisser CMO Huddles

Companies with aligned go-to-market teams grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. You've probably heard that stat before. I cite it constantly from SiriusDecisions and Forrester's study of 400 B2B companies that achieved alignment. But here's the part that frustrates me; almost every PE-backed company I work with knows this data, agrees with it in principle, but many still operate with sales, marketing, product, and customer success running as separate silos with separate metrics, separate budgets, and separate definitions of success.

Companies with aligned go-to-market teams grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. You've probably heard that stat before. I cite it constantly fr

Open article: GTM Alignment Is Not a Marketing Problem; Building a GTM Operating System by Alan Gonsenhauser • 6 min read

GTM Alignment Is Not a Marketing Problem; Building a GTM Operating System

Most marketing executives struggle in private equity because they expect the strategy to follow them.
I spent years at Xerox, GE, and Panasonic where marketing owned strategic direction. We had pricing teams, demand forecasting, inventory management infrastructure. Marketing sat at the head of the table by default.
Then I moved into serving PE portfolio companies as an interim CMO and GTM advisor.
In PE, the strategy is already written in the investment thesis. The clock is already running. My work shifted from designing long-range frameworks to figuring out how to translate that thesis (the value creation plan) into near-term wins the CFO could see in the model.
The whole conception of time is different. At GE, a quarterly planning cycle felt fast. In PE, if you haven't demonstrated measurable EBITDA impact in 90 days, people start questioning whether marketing is a value creator or an indulgence.
The hardest habit to break was assuming marketing would naturally lead. In PE, marketing has to show it can move win rates, deal velocity, and long-term value under real constraints, without the crutch of large, centralized teams and long planning cycles.
The corporate instincts that kept you safe in a global enterprise can quietly work against you in a portfolio company.
It helps to adjust quickly when transitioning to a PE portco environment.
Feel free to schedule a chat here: pecmo.us

The 47% Problem.

That's the average health score of a B2B database.

Meaning more than half your data is wrong, incomplete, or stale. And you’re making pipeline decisions, board presentations, and budget requests based on it.

I've seen this firsthand across a dozen PE portfolio companies. The CMO walks into the board meeting with attribution data and pipeline metrics. The CFO pokes one hole. The entire narrative collapses.

Not because the marketing wasn't working. Because the data underneath it was fundamentally unreliable.

Here's what I tell every CMO I coach:

Before you invest another dollar in ABM, intent data, or predictive analytics; answer one question: How clean is your CRM?

If you can't trust the foundation, nothing you build on top of it matters.

Five steps to fix it:
1. Deduplicate ruthlessly
2. Enrich with validated third-party data
3. Establish governance protocols; not a one-time project but an ongoing discipline
4. Validate every integration point
5. Build a maintenance cadence your ops team actually follows

I've seen companies cut 35% of their martech costs just by rationalizing what sits on top of dirty data. Latané Conant has talked about this brilliantly. Intent data is only as good as the foundation it reads from.

Stop swimming in data and starving for insights. Fix the foundation first. And make date cleanliness and timeliness "a thing." Resource it properly!

Be the CMO they can't afford to lose.
Here's a link to chat: pecmo.us 

#PrivateEquity #CMO #DataDriven #B2BMarketing #MarketingROI #DemandRevenue

Kevin Appleby Kerry Cunningham

Stop Chasing Pipeline. Start Stopping Churn.

Every PE-backed company I work with has the same obsession
More pipeline. More leads. More top of funnel.

And almost none of them can tell me their churn rate with confidence.

Here's the math that should keep every PE operating partner up at night:

Reducing churn by even a few percentage points can do more for your EBITDA and exit multiple than doubling your lead gen budget.

You can't outrun churn with more pipeline. You have to fix the leaky bucket first.

Fred Reichheld wrote the playbook on this in his book #WinningOnPurpose. He calls it "earned growth": the idea that your best new customers come from the love of your existing ones. And he's right. After coaching 150+ CMOs and marketing leaders, many in companies backed by PE investors, I can tell you this. The companies that win aren't the ones spending the most on acquisition. They're the ones whose customers never want to leave.

I like to think of myself as a customer capitalist. Your revenue and your profitability are in the rearview mirror. Your future growth depends on the customer experience you create today.

Three things the best PE CMOs do differently:
1. They measure churn with the same rigor they measure pipeline
2. They own customer experience, not just customer acquisition
3. They make NPS a board-level metric, not a marketing vanity number

If you want to drive your future financial results, customer-led growth is really critical.

Be the CMO they can't afford to lose.

Sangram Vajre Drew Neisser Matt Heinz

#CustomerExperience #NPS #PrivateEquity #CMO #Retention #ChurnReduction #CustomerLedGrowth

Here’s a number that should make every CMO uncomfortable: 70% of the marketing content your team produces never gets used by sales. Not “underperforms

Open article: Why 70% of Your Marketing Content Goes Unused (and What to Do About It) by Alan Gonsenhauser • 5 min read

Why 70% of Your Marketing Content Goes Unused (and What to Do About It)

CMOs need to speak the language of business—and understand the financials.

Marketing leaders who grasp financial statements can identify truly profitable deals and campaigns. They can tie marketing efforts directly to revenue and ROI, securing buy-in from the C-suite.

Marketing isn't just creative; it's a strategic investment. Learn to show the numbers. #CMO #MarketingLeadership #FinancialLiteracy #BusinessStrategy

Over the years, after walking into many companies, there is something I always like to ask about Martech. I often will say: "Walk me through your martech stack. Tell me what each tool is actually doing for you today."

As for the answers, they are almost always the same. There is a lot of time spent thinking about the answer. A lot of "we bought that for X, but we are sort of using it for Y today." A lot of "to be honest, I am not even sure if anyone is really using that anymore." Then someone pulls out the monthly invoices, and there is a moment of silence.

The tools that people purchased and made sense at the time have drifted off into doing three or four things fairly well. The integrations that were supposed to connect everything have introduced an entirely new layer of data problems. 

And the overall spending has gotten so large that it is really difficult to make a case for it when the CFO starts asking questions.

 What is interesting is that most CMOs already know this is happening. However, most CMOs do not attack this issue because the martech stack was built by someone prior to them (or themselves), and it is too much of a pain in the neck to clean it up.

However, what I have consistently found is that you can generally reduce martech spend by 35% without losing anything that would have a material impact on revenue. A smaller stack means cleaner data. Cleaner data means you can begin to provide attribution you can stand behind. 

Attribution you can stand behind means your CFO will stop viewing your budget conversations as a negotiation and start viewing your budget conversations as a business conversation.

Here's a question I ask every CMO I coach: When was the last time you sat down with your CFO; not to defend your budget, but to build it together and review corporate priorities, initiatives, and problem solve?
If the answer is "never," you're not alone. But you are in trouble.
In my 11 times as CMO and 3 times as a P&L General Manager, the single biggest shift I made wasn't finding a better campaign or a new martech tool. It was learning to speak finance. And it changed everything about how boards perceived my work, funded my programs, and trusted my judgment.
The data backs this up; companies with aligned marketing and finance functions grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. That's not marginal. That's the difference between a 3x MOIC and a 5x MOIC.

Here's a question I ask every CMO I coach; When was the last time you sat down with your CFO; not to defend your budget, but to build it together and 

Open article: The CMO-CFO Alliance; How to Speak Finance Before You Present to the Board by Alan Gonsenhauser • 4 min read

The CMO-CFO Alliance; How to Speak Finance Before You Present to the Board

Marketing managers need more than creative ideas; they need business acumen.

Strategic priorities are key. Communicating with the C-suite requires a different language. Demonstrating impact trumps mere activity.

Elevate your marketing role by speaking the language of business. #BusinessAcumen #MarketingStrategy #Leadership #CommunicationSkills

Many companies believe they have a clearly defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), but alignment across departments is often lacking.

Sales teams, driven by quarterly targets, might onboard accounts that don't align with the ICP, prioritizing acquisition over long-term retention and growth. This misalignment, coupled with an over-focus on new business, leads to neglecting existing customers. Furthermore, frequent M&A activity introduces data silos, resulting in "dirty data" and hindering a unified customer view.

Achieving a shared understanding of the ICP is crucial for sustainable growth. #ICP #CustomerRetention #DataQuality #SalesAlignment #StrategicGrowth

When I made the switch from finance to marketing, I didn't exactly follow a conventional career path.

Most of my first 5 years or so of my career were spent using spreadsheets to develop investment models and learning how CFOs and boards of directors make capital-allocation decisions. Then I worked as a chief marketing officer (CMO) for the next 25 years, 7 times. After that, I became a fractional and interim CMO (4 times in the last 5 years) and also helped coach over 150 marketing professionals, and I saw the same exact thing happening over and over again.

CMO's who couldn't effectively explain their view of finances would get "consumed" by the people making those decisions. They may have been great marketers, but they were speaking a completely different language.

In reality, the CFO was looking at payback periods and cash flow predictability. The board of directors of a PE-backed company is evaluating enterprise value and how the company will be perceived by a potential acquirer.  If the CMO shows a slide with marketing qualified leads (MQLs), impression share, etc., most people in the boardroom are going to glaze over and lose interest.

What I learned, and what I try to counsel every CMO I coach, is how to frame marketing investment decisions related to capital allocation vs. a budget request. Each dollar allocated to marketing should have an expected return, a timeline to revenue, and a clear line to revenue, wherever possible. This isn't because marketers are naturally inclined to think this way; it is simply the language that gets you a seat at the table, not just another line item on a spreadsheet.

If you're a CMO who wants to talk about how to better speak the language of finance, or any other issue, you would like to get an outside perspective on. Let's chat, the link's in the first comment.

Marketing leaders need to speak the language of the C-suite.

That means shifting focus from marketing activities and vanity metrics to business outcomes and financial KPIs. CEOs and CFOs care about revenue, ROI, and market share.

Demonstrate how marketing investments drive those critical metrics and you'll not only justify your budget, you'll earn a seat at the table. #MarketingLeadership #FinancialMetrics #BusinessOutcomes #ROI #StrategicMarketing

Vanity metrics can be misleading in marketing.

While certain marketing metrics are important within the department, they often don't translate into tangible business results that resonate with executives. It's crucial to focus on metrics that directly impact revenue and overall business success.

Are your metrics telling the whole story, or just a vanity project? #MarketingMetrics #BusinessImpact #DataAnalysis #StrategicMarketing

Data quality isn't just a technical issue—it's a strategic imperative.

Clean data enables accurate insights, informed decisions, and effective AI. Without it, even the best strategies can fail. CMOs who prioritize data cleanliness gain a competitive edge.

AI magnifies everything. Garbage in, garbage out. #DataQuality #AIinBusiness #StrategicPrioritization #CMO

A CMO collaborating with the C-suite on repositioning understands the CEO's critical role in core positioning.

Strategic alignment isn't a solo act. Involving the entire executive team ensures buy-in and a unified vision. Repositioning touches every facet of the organization, making collective ownership essential.

How can leaders champion a collaborative approach to strategic shifts? #Repositioning #LeadershipAlignment #StrategicThinking #ExecutiveLeadership

What makes a CMO truly great?

It's about more than just marketing. The best CMOs align marketing with overall business strategy, proactively collaborate with the CFO, and take true ownership of business outcomes. They become indispensable.

Are you building a marketing function that drives revenue and earns a seat at the table? #CMO #MarketingLeadership #BusinessStrategy #Leadership

A CMO's true value lies in their ability to translate complex market trends into actionable insights for the C-suite.

They're the bridge between the external landscape and internal strategy, ensuring leadership understands emerging opportunities and potential threats. Effective communication of these trends is paramount for informed decision-making.

Are your marketing leaders equipped to be that bridge? #CMO #MarketingLeadership #MarketTrends #StrategicCommunication

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