What world-class GTM looks like in 2026 | Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (Vercel, Stripe, Google)

About this video

• Video Title: What world-class GTM looks like in 2026 | Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (Vercel, Stripe, Google)
• Channel: Lenny's Podcast
• Speakers: Lenny Rachitsky, Jeanne DeWitt Grosser
• Duration: 01:26:02

Overview

This video features a conversation between Lenny Rachitsky and Jeanne DeWitt Grosser, COO at Vercel, about the evolving landscape of go-to-market (GTM) strategies, particularly in the context of AI. They discuss the definition and scope of GTM, the emergence of GTM engineers, AI's role in sales, and best practices for building effective GTM teams and processes. The discussion also touches upon GTM as a product, innovative sales tactics, segmentation strategies, and the ideal profiles for GTM roles.

Key takeaways

• Evolving Definition of Go-to-Market (GTM): GTM is not just marketing and sales, but any function that touches a customer or generates revenue, including customer success, support, and partnerships, requiring an integrated lifecycle approach.
• Rise of the GTM Engineer: This new role brings technical prowess and AI capabilities to GTM, aiming to rearchitect workflows, enable personalized customer experiences at scale, and ultimately increase operational efficiency.
• AI in Sales: AI agents can automate tasks in sales processes, such as prospecting and lead qualification, freeing up human sellers to focus on higher-value interactions and potentially increasing their time spent with customers.
• GTM as a Product: Treating the customer buying journey as a product involves creating unique, human-centric experiences that differentiate a company, especially when technical product differentiation narrows.
• Effective GTM Tactics: Key tactics include providing unique insights through data, offering well-architected guides and blueprints for implementation, and mastering discovery to understand customer needs and risks.
• Segmentation is Crucial: Effective segmentation involves analyzing companies not just by size but also by growth potential, business model, and workload type to tailor GTM strategies and messaging.
• Building a Sales Org Engineers Love: This requires sales teams to possess deep product knowledge, act as a credible extension of the product management org, and contribute R&D insights from customer interactions.
• PLG's Role and Limitations: Product-led growth is relevant for many companies, especially startups, but often has a ceiling, necessitating the addition of sales functions to support larger deal sizes and sustained growth.
• Pricing as a Product: Pricing strategies should align with customer value and company costs, and companies should be willing to adjust them, including potentially removing free trials if they don't serve strategic goals.
• Diversified Sales Hiring: Hiring a mix of experienced salespeople and individuals with non-traditional backgrounds (e.g., consulting, banking) fosters a richer learning environment and broader skillsets.