Removing the dust in outdated sectors through AI & ML & People

At GTM Talent, we're banking on the fact that AI & ML technology will disrupt sectors operating on legacy systems or infrastructure.

Having been the 1st hire in Europe & Asia for the fastest growing fintech recruitment agency (at the time), I understand the nuance of finding people that fit the needs of a business finding market-fit in new product categories. 

My goal is to help future-thinking founders overachieve on their GTM by hiring their early A-players.

Companies I’ve built teams for include Sequoia-backed Two, Keyrock (Ripple), Trustly (EQT & Nordic Capital), Monite (Point72 & Valar Ventures), Teylor (Barclays), & Worldline (ex-Ingenico) to name a few.

Reach me at: nav@gtmtalent.tech or here on LI 👋🏼

had one of my favorite operators, Stefan Ross jump on the pod with me last week

and honestly the energy this guy brings is next-level 

for one, he's been responsible for developing the partner motion for multiple unicorns already like Pigment & Celonis

every good channel/alliance starts with asking "who sits in my adjacent ecosystem?"

pro tip: if you can't sell your product yourself, how can you expect partners to?

more to come from this session 🤝

Navin Premkumar

at GTM Talent i'm helping the founding team at a Y Combinator-backed start up 

they've recently injected a seed round of €11M

looking for a founding AE to help build the U.S. sales motion alongside the CEO

you'll be responsible for driving new logo acquisition in the insurance market

it's a classic E2E full-cycle role from prospecting through to close

what we're looking for:
- someone motivated by high performance that constantly aims for 120% because simply hitting quota isn't enough
- someone with exp. within core insurance operations or selling to insurance businesses (carriers, MGAs, third-parties)

this is a fully in-office role based in NYC

James Barker and i talking about the infamous black book when making your early GTM hires

there are nuances that affect this 

but generally we think that founders might have this a bit too high up on their list of "must-haves"

wdyt?

we had one of our very first episodes with none other than Jay Mirpuri 

here's a snippet of our convo around events, since they've been buzzing after the recent Lovable x McKinsey & Company hackathon

heard they even got Mario Götze to shout-out

startups, there's something unique about getting your prospects in the same room as your customers

after coffee with Khushi Mehta i left with such high energy ⚡️

she’s a true builder

who actually started her career out in film, on her way to bollywood

she ended up starting an edtech 

throughout her career she’s signed partners like OpenAI, finding revenue channels for multiple start ups

now she’s covering all topics content & demand gen at Kleio 

Khushi and I trauma bonded over IB and the GMAT

but we both love start up world

here’s to more Khushi’s out there who’re keen to continue building 🫶🏼

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recruiter slang in 2025, tell me your outreach is AI without telling me it's AI 🪄

here's how I interpret the following:

"I came across your profile.." really means 

"you're part of a huge list that LI or whatever created for me to bulk oureach"

"Your experience at Company X is invaluable" really means

"i have no f*cking clue what you're doing in your role, but I also have no time to research or care"

"Hope you're well" really means 

"I was too lazy to skip the to substance of this message"

"This role offers a chance to leverage your skills in a dynamic environment" 
really means

"We're looking for someone who's done it before but for less $$"

And my personal fav, "Your sales & business development experience aligns well with what they're looking for"

"They need a hunter who can do it with virtually 0 support or lead gen"

i had such a great jam with Marwan Salman  

he’s been the founding GTM member for multiple start ups

working with founders to win revenue and those key early logos

the hype market is real and even VCs are still adapting to the growth multiples for these “AI natives”

but from his and my exp, one thing prevails

founder discipline and execution speed 🤝

if you’re interviewing for founding AE roles, be sure to ask tough questions and challenge the founding team

why this hire, why now? 

if they can’t show some signal of market pull, it’s probably too early

last week we sat down with Helmut Kaeser, who was previously building out the sales motion at multiple start ups 

most recently with Jua 

we covered a few topics, but this one hit different

even with referrals through investors + strong technical experts on the team and a crisp value proposition

there was still buyer hesitation

tip: if you're creating a new category, education and thought leadership takes time

met Annika Bautista the other day 😌

asides from me raving as a happy lemlist customer

we talked a lot about start up careers, as someone 2 people who both love the ecosystem

she considered VC and instead worked as the right hand to the CEO for a few early stage companies

now, she is responsible for running growth experiments for taplio & tweet hunter

she actually outbounded her way in to this role

i guess it’s safe to say we should all be more like her :)

a couple months back I heard about Peec AI through Mert Celik

this was pre-1M ARR, and before Profound announced their Series B with Sequoia Capital

i was happy to hear that a European challenger had so much traction at such an early-stage

then I hopped on a call with Felix Ketterer, who said they were pulling in close to 150K new revenue every week.

0 outbound...

that's right, all product-led

i'm not recruiting for the team now (shoutout to Bluebird who beat me to it)

but i'm all about connecting the right people in the start up ecosystem

they're hosting a live session to talk about a few of these topics on Monday at 19 CET

if you're a builder or want to understand how search is changing, sign-up:

https://luma.com/si9uutf6

i'm officially launching "In the Trenches - European Edition"

today the truth is most narratives around a lot of start ups come from boardrooms, investor updates, and polished founder stories.

but for those who've built before or are building now

we all know the real work, where deals are won and lost, where the playbook gets written in real time 

that happens at the ground level 

this show is where we talk to the people who helped create revenue through their successes and f*ckups 

real, raw conversations with Europe's best operators

at GTM Talent we're exclusively helping a repeat founder that raised over $15M in their first year from Y Combinator and other leading investors

this is their 2nd hire in NYC, to build the U.S. sales motion alongside the CEO.

this person will be responsible for running the E2E sales cycle, selling to  mid-market insurers & MGAs 

deals are currently in the $100–500K range

we're looking for a top-performer, someone who's proven themselves comfortable navigating multi-stakeholder cycles before

this is a hardcore, high-performance role with most of the team working 6-days a week in the NYC office

if you have:
- a track record of going above 100% quota attainment, because simply hitting target isn't enough
- exp. within insurance operations, insurtech, or SaaS for insurance companies

DM's are open for any intro's to my network across the pond!

taplio

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