When I took on the Americas GTM role, there was no roadmap—just the mandate to carve one. This is the dual playbook of designing the vision and running the ops.
The Blueprint – Vision, Not Vanity
Early GTM tempts you to perform strategy—slides, dashboards, pretty funnels. We did the opposite. We listened.
- CISOs who didn't need another tool; they needed control.
- Engineers duct-taping privileged access with brittle workflows.
- Partners unsure how to position us while clients drowned in vendor access and compliance friction.
Our ICP came from pain proximity, not persona decks. We focused where urgency met a clear buying path: regulated teams (SOX/HIPAA/NIST), third-party access chaos, and legacy-PAM fatigue.
The Build – Execution Is Leadership
Strategy met mud fast. A partner-led deal went quiet. We didn't stall; we created options—spinning a respectful direct path in parallel.
- First SDR: clarity over speed; learning loops, not vanity metrics.
- Data vendor: choose fit for our stage, not our ego.
- CRM cleanup: manual, again because dirty data breaks truth.
The Shift – From Manual to Repeatable
Momentum is easy. Letting go without losing quality is the art. We cloned what landed: message → sequence → one-pager → battlecard. We automated the right 30% and protected nuance.
We built a knowledge base for the team-to-be. We cleaned the CRM for clarity in handoffs.
The Reflection – The Dual Role
Some days I lead like an architect. Others, like an operator. Most days—both. There's no clean handoff between vision and execution.
The duality is the job. The labyrinth isn't a detour. It's the design.
You can't outsource clarity. You can't automate trust. You earn both by showing up, iterating, and recommitting to what matters.
What This Series Covers
- GTM Architect: maps, messaging, partner strategy, measurement.
- Operator: calls, sequences, demos, pipeline hygiene.
- Apprentice Sales Engineer: translating features into value, discovery, PoCs.