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.
2️⃣ Teaching leadership – How to align teams for success.
3️⃣ Teaching life – Because business without purpose is empty.

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+ subscribers follow my personal insights: https://becomingintentional.substack.com/
To Book me for speaking, keynotes: https://sangramhere.com/

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

10 years. 3 companies. 1 designer behind all of it.

meet Shannel Wheeler, PMP.

she has designed every brand element of three of my most successful businesses:

→ Terminus (by DemandScience) and thru 5 acquisitions — from zero to $100M+ business
→ FlipMyFunnel — 100K+ community that created the ABM category (as stated by Forrester when Terminus was named as a leader back in the day)
→ GTM Partners — helping 100 GTM execs become financially independent by building $300K+ businesses

every deck. every website. every visual that brought these ideas to life.

that work helped create 1000s of jobs and new markets.

as i came across this photo today, it made me smile and appreciate lifelong friendships that make life epic.

she didn't tell me to do this.

but if you need a branding genius or fractional designer — reach out to her. you'll thank me later.

love,
sangram

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

*** Fractional CMOs and aspiring Fractional GTM Leaders:

as a 2 time CMO turned Fractional GTM Leader building a $7M advisory business in last 4 years, i finally have something put together.

my step-by-step process of how Bryan Brown and I - 2 people team built a profitable fractional business and how we are scaling it in 2026.

plus as of this morning, 70+ GTM OS Certified Partners who joined in 2025 are already averaging $250K+ based on the recent survey.

after 4 long years and helping 70+ GTM OS certified partners achieve their personal and financial dreams, i am finally sharing my learnings in a keynote to PE firms and Marketing Summit:

Title: How to Build Your Fractional GTM Business in 2026

i also went ahead and did a recording of this so i can run thru key ideas in a bit more depth than the keynote.

as of this morning, i packaged it up in a nice little course with slides, videos, and examples of real fractional success stories from people like Tim Hillison Sarah Allen-Short Sue Foley and a few other leaders on how they went from "should i" to "i make more than a traditional CMO and get my life back"

so... who is it for? 

NOT for everyone. it's for serious GTM leaders who want to build a fractional  business of $250K+/year and know that the old playbooks are not working anymore and are looking to find better ways to build your business and transform your life, not just career.

how to get it:
like and comment "Access" and my EA will dm you the link 

timing: 
after my keynote tomorrow at 11 am EST.

love,
sangram
p.s. follow Sangram Vajre on all things go-to-market and if you are in ATL come say hi!

#CMO #fractional #GTM

$13M CEO: "our ICP is broken."

me: "who built it?"

CEO: "marketing."

me: "that's the problem."

CEO: "what do you mean? ICP is a marketing thing."

me: "no. ICP is a business thing. when marketing builds ICP alone, sales ignores it. product doesn't know it exists. CS is left cleaning up bad-fit customers."

CEO: "but... our marketing team should know our customers."

me: "do they sit on sales calls? do they see the CS tickets? do they know which deals close fast and which ones drag for 6 months?"

CEO: "that's not their job."

me: "exactly. that's why ICP can't be their job either."

CEO: "so what are you saying?"

me: "i'm saying you need to be in the room. you, your CRO, your CMO, your CS leader. ICP is a GTM decision. not a marketing exercise."

CEO: "i don't have time for that."

me: "you don't have time to define who you're building the entire company around?"

CEO: "we're already selling. we just need marketing to fix the targeting."

me: "you're not going to like this… but i don't think we're a good fit."

CEO: "what?"

me: "you want us to fix your GTM. but you're not willing to be part of the fix. that never works."

we walked away from that deal.

and i'd do it again.

because here's the truth:

ICP is not a marketing job.

CEO has to part of this process and it's the foundation of all your GTM.

and when the CEO won't sit in that room, nothing we do will matter anyway.

did i make a mistake by declining to do advisory for this company?

love,
sangram
p.s. if you are CEO and wants a GTM OS Certified Partner to do planning that is expert in your industry, just dm me and i will connect you!

$11M CEO: "i need to hire a CMO, right now."

me: "why?"

CEO: "we need to scale."

me: "you can't afford it."

CEO: "what do you mean?"

me: "hire a seasoned fractional who's been there, done that. 10-20 hours a week. pair them with an implementer to get things moving. scale to $20M+, then think about full-time."

CEO: "i don't believe in fractional."

6 months later, the same CEO calls me back.

they'd fired two full-time CMOs.

now they wanted a referral for a fractional (since we have a GTMarketplace for match making for founder to fractional)

look — i get it. hiring full-time works when you have everything in place.

but sometimes you don't need a full-time exec.

you need a smart, experienced person who's been there and done that.

someone who can move fast, set the foundation, and not burn through your runway while you figure it out.

fractional isn't a backup plan.

for a lot of companies, it's the smarter first move.

your take?

love,
sangram

my 15-year-old son just made 100 sales calls.

got cursed at. hung up on. told to never call again.

then he asked me the question every founder eventually asks: "papa, why is nobody buying?"

here's what broke my heart — and taught us both everything:

he built this beautiful AI website builder. automated booking. slick interface. the simply works.

his pitch was perfect: "i'll build you an AI-assisted website that handles everything automatically!"

business owners' response? 

click.

not because he's 15. not because the product was bad.

because he was in problem-market fit, not product-market fit.

huge difference.

𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁 = selling painkillers to people with migraines
𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁 = selling vitamins to people who feel fine

my son was selling vitamins.

"AI-assisted website" sounds cool to us tech folks.

to a plumber who gets clients from word-of-mouth? 

it's like offering to upgrade the engine on a car that runs perfectly fine.

the brutal truth i had to tell him:

most business owners don't wake up thinking "i need an AI website."

they wake up thinking "i need more customers" or "i'm losing jobs to competitors."

if your first 100 calls feel like pulling teeth...

you're not bad at sales.

you're solving the wrong problem.

find the migraine first.

then build the painkiller.

my son pivoted his pitch last week. instead of "AI website," he now leads with "what if you never missed another customer call?"

3 actually calls in 5 days.

same product. different problem.

that's the entire game.

love,
sangram

p.s. watching your kid learn GTM lessons at 15 that most founders don't get until series B? priceless. he's now teaching me snapchat... we are even.

undefined undefined

about to keynote at my fist RKO at Ignitium: ABX Orchestration 

amazing energy and excitement for the future.

sharing our research why and how  some teams succeed and others don’t, based on:

1,000+ B2B companies…
1,000+ CEO and leader interviews…

it’s magical when a group of people come together and what they can do.

wish me all the best! 

love,
sangram

No alternative text description for this image

for 4 years straight, this is my travel hack.

of course when you travel, a lot falls on your spouse and kids.

it seems infinitely challenging since it’s not normal and everything seems a bit off at home.

so i have been doing this for about 4 years… and it simply works! 

i leave handwritten cards for my wife, son and my daughter.

for my wife: a scripture verse and that she got this!

for my son: i am counting on you and you can rise up to the responsibilities at home and proud of him. 

for my daughter: i am proud of her and she needs to take care of mom while i am gone and hug her a little tighter. 

they typically read it th night i am out at dinner table.

my prayer is that they have fun and my words might replace some of my presence and being normalcy to their day…

what’s your family hack when you travel?

love,
sangram

*** big news for fractional GTM leaders. 

we just unlocked two tools — free for 1 year as our certified partners are making $250K+/year on average. 

if you want to run a real fractional business — not a chaotic side hustle — you need two things from day one:

1️⃣ a simple purpose-built CRM for fractionals to manage deals and delivery

2️⃣ a prospecting tool to start real conversations

GTM OS Certified Partners now get both at no cost for one full year:

Insightly CRM by Unbounce  — manage deals, clients, and landing pages without the enterprise bloat.

SalesIntel.io — verified contacts, clean lists by ICP, and a repeatable way to fill your pipeline.

why these matter together:

prospecting without a CRM = chaos.
CRM without prospecting = empty pipeline.

75+ GTM OS certified partners are already building their businesses on this foundation.

no duct-taped systems. no "i'll set this up later."

fractional freedom doesn't come from hustle.

it comes from leverage.

who: if you're serious about building a $250K+ fractional business in 2026 or have an existing fractional business that you want to scale. 

how to get it: like and comment "freedom" 

timing: my EA will DM you the details in 24 hrs.

love,
sangram
p.s. i wish i had these tools as we built our little $7M advisory business with just Bryan Brown and i doing it. now 75+ other amazing fractional GTM leaders are building their little business and you can too.

most GTM plans fail by Q2.

ours don't. here's the 6-step process we use every quarter.

step 1: identify your GTM valley of death

every company is stuck in one of three valleys — awareness, conversion, or retention. you can't fix all three at once. pick the one that's bleeding.

step 2: know your stage

are you in problem stage, product stage, or platform stage? each requires a completely different GTM motion. most companies run a platform playbook when they're still in problem stage which is killing the momentum.

step 3: name your top 3 GTM problems

we've identified 15 common GTM problems. pick your top 3. not 7. not 10. three for next 90 days and fix it. focus wins.

step 4: run the MOVE framework with your exec team

this exposes the gaps in how your leadership team thinks about GTM. marketing sees one thing. sales sees another. this gets everyone on the same page.

step 5: answer the 8 GTM OS questions

this puts your entire go-to-market on a single slide. who you serve. how you win. what you measure. one page. total clarity.

step 6: build your 90-day project list

not a 12-month roadmap nobody follows. a focused list of projects that move the needle this quarter.

that's it. 6 steps. every quarter.

give it a shot!

love,
sangram

p.s. we have 70+ GTM OS Certified Partners who can run this process for you who have collectively experience of running this a 1000 times. if you're a CEO or GTM exec who wants a facilitator to help — at least once, if not every quarter — comment below.

i'll match you with a GTM OS Certified Partner who specializes in your industry and segment.

love,
sangram

fractional CMO: "i work with B2B SaaS companies."

me: "which ones?"

CMO: "all of them."

me: "that's the problem."

CMO: "what do you mean? i have broad experience."

me: "broad experience doesn't win deals. specificity does. when you say 'all of them,' buyers hear 'none of them deeply.'"

CMO: "but if i niche down, i'll lose opportunities."

me: "you'll lose the wrong ones. and win the right ones faster."

CMO: "how do you know this works?"

me: "because i've watched it work. 5 times. 5 different niches. 5 fractionals building $250K+ businesses."

here's the proof:

→ Alan Gonsenhauser — PE-Backed Companies Over $100M + CMO Coaching

Alan focuses on "PE companies."
he picked $100M+ companies with CMO turnover, board pressure, and scale challenges.
he's a CMO coach specifically for portfolio companies that need strategic maturity, not more tactics. that's a niche inside a niche.

→ Shelli Ryan, APR, Fellow PRSA — Cross-Border GTM + BPO Services

while others stay broad, Shelli went ultra-specific:
helping implement BPO with cross-border companies.
that niche is exploding.
and she owns it.

→ Tim Hillison — Engineering-Led Founders

Tim isn't "GTM for all founders."
he's the go-to partner for engineering-led CEOs who need clarity, confidence, and commercial muscle.
his niche? technical founders who don't speak GTM.
his value? he translates complexity into revenue.

→ Lydia Flocchini — The Queen of Legal Tech (20 Years Deep)

Lydia isn't trying to be a horizontal fractional.
she leaned into who she already is: the most experienced GTM leader in legal tech.
founders listen. buyers trust her instantly.
she doesn't chase business — business comes to her.

→ Sarah Allen-Short — The "Work Doula" for Visionary CEOs

Sarah isn't chasing founders.
she chose to serve a completely different niche:
helping CEOs through growth, change, and chaos — with the frameworks and experience to back it up.
the more she helps, the more people show up.
she created her own category — and it works.

5 people. 5 completely different niches. all winning.

the lesson?

you don't need to serve everyone.

you need to serve someone so well that they can't imagine working with anyone else.

if you are a fractional CMO, CRO or GTM leader, comment your niche below and i will amplify it.

so... what's your niche?

love,
sangram
p.s. give these amazing GTM fractionals a follow!

2026 prediction: small, focused events will outperform big conferences.

here's proof it's already happening.

3 GTM OS Certified Partners — Maria Scheifler, Caitlin Clark-Zigmond, and Newell Falkinburg — are hosting a 90-minute workshop in Denver.

no keynotes. no expo halls. no swag bags.

just 20 GTM leaders working through the 15 most common GTM problems together.

you'll walk away with:
→ your top 3 GTM problems prioritized
→ peer perspectives from leaders in different industries
→ frameworks you can use immediately

small. focused. in-person. high signal.

the pendulum is swinging back from massive virtual events to intimate rooms where real work gets done.

if you're a CEO, CRO, or CMO in Denver — check it out.

link in comments for event and if you think it's a trend, share other events like this.

love,
sangram

i bring work home every. single. day.

but not the way you think.

i don't bring emails, slack, or stress.

i bring the skills.

the same frameworks that helped my two companies scale to over $100M, i've found they work at home too.

so my wife and i built a family operating system.

here's what the Vajre household runs on:

→ "Vajre's always make it thru with God's love, grace and truth" — our family mission statement (every company has mission and core values, why don't my family?)

→ no pay for chores — you live here, you contribute (ownership without entitlement)

→ want to earn real money to buy something?  Read books, serve the community, sell or build something (leaders are readers, does, dreamers and drivers)

→ eat only when mom sits and takes the first bite (mom does a lot, the least we can do is wait for her and honor her)

→ dinner table is tech-free and sacred — memories are made with eye contact (focused convo, no phones)

→ yearly goals + monthly 1:1s date with each kid, weekly 1:1 with spouse — 5 years straight (performance reviews works when done regularly, not once a year)

→ on vacation, only mom has the phone (connection needs disconnection)

we've been doing this for years.

not because we're perfect. we're far from it.

but because the same principles that made my companies great, i wanted to see if that will make my family better and stronger.

we all need an operating system and in absence of it, i have found myself just surviving BUT one day we decided to live like that no more.

mission. ownership. respect. focus. growth. boundaries.

it works in the boardroom.

it works at the dinner table.

so... what's one "work skill" you've brought home?

love,
sangram

1st time when we launched ABM at a $35M company, we thought we had it all figured out.

we didn't.

here's what actually happened:

we picked 100 "dream accounts."
we built personalized ads.
we sent direct mail.
we tracked engagement.

6 months later?

→ 3 meetings booked
→ 0 closed deals
→ $50K+ spent

the board asked: "what went wrong?"

the honest answer? we fell in love with the tactic, not the strategy.

here's what we missed:

1. we picked accounts we wanted, not accounts that wanted us.
no intent signals. no timing data. just logos we thought would look good on our website.

2. we personalized everything except the message.
custom ads with their logo. personalized landing pages. but the value prop? generic. they didn't care.

3. sales wasn't bought in.
marketing ran the show. sales saw it as "marketing's project." when leads came in, follow-up was slow. alignment was broken from day one.

4. we measured activity, not outcomes.
engagement scores looked great. but engagement doesn't pay the bills. pipeline does.

the fix?

we rebuilt ABM from scratch:

→ started with sales and CS input on account selection
→ used intent and signal data to find accounts already in-market
→ aligned on a shared revenue segment, not just MQLs
→ measured ICP-fit pipeline and closed revenue, nothing else

that's when ABM started working.

my lesson: 

ABM isn't broken.
GTM isn't broken.
Marketing or sales isn't broken.

but the way most teams run it? absolutely is.

your take?

love,
sangram

i got rid of all my crazy expensive tech for videos and here’s what i use now:

- iphone for crisper quality video (no lag or worries about quality)
- yeti mic 
- direct light from the sun by facing the window

that’s it!!

what’s your setup? 

love,
sangram

i want to help 100 solopreneurs make $300k+ in 2026.

one catch - you have to have 10+ years of GTM leadership experience.

not a typo. not a flex. a mission.

here's my why.

i became financially free at 41.

and it broke my brain in the best way.

for 15 years, i chased revenue. exits. titles.

built two companies past $100M. got the outcomes everyone says they want.

but when the money stopped being the goal... everything shifted.

work became projects, not obligations.
family became legacy, not "balance."
money became leverage, not the scoreboard.
partnerships became lifelong relationships, not transactions.

i stopped asking "how do i make more?"

started asking "how do i help more?"

that question led me here.

sangram here...

if you're new — i came to America 25 years ago with less than $500.

no network. no playbook. just hunger.

built Terminus to a $100M+ exit. 
wrote a WSJ bestselling book on go-to-market. 
editor of FractionalFreedomFriday with 7K+ subscribers.
editor of GTMonday with 175K+ subscribers teaching the GTM O.S.

but my next chapter isn't about building another company for myself.

it's about helping 100 new solopreneurs build $300K+ businesses.

we're building GTMarketplace — the largest network of certified fractional GTM leaders.

not a job board. not an agency.

a place where PE and recruiting firms  as well as CEOs and founders find proven fractional and interim CMOs, CROs, and GTM operators who've already solved their exact problem.

bcos the smartest execs aren't climbing corporate ladders anymore.

they're building freedom on their own terms.

if you're a fractional leader ready to stop explaining your value...

or a founder who needs GTM expertise without the full-time overhead...

this is what i'm building for you.

welcome to the fractional GTM movement.

love,
sangram

it’s windy.
it’s cold.
it isn’t fair.

that’s what my son told me this morning at his national tennis tournament in Rome, Georgia. 

so i told him what i know best from experience:

there is no perfect day… 
u have to make your day, perfect. 

in life, sports and business… we don’t practice for perfect conditions. 

you just do your best… 

no regrets!

what would you have said?

love,
sangram

"who owns GTM?"

on every podcast. every stage. every exec session — i get asked this one question over and over again.

so i'm here to settle this debate.

this is based on all the research we've done on GTM — the WSJ best-selling book MOVE, and over 1,000 live GTM assessments with exec teams from startups to publicly traded companies.

hint: it's not who you think.

answer in the video 👇

your take...

love,
sangram

CEO of $13M business: "i don't believe in fractional and agencies."

me: "78% of fast growing business CEOs disagree with you."

we just ran this survey at GTM Partners. 

78% plan to increase fractional and agencies GTM investment in 2026. 
only 7% plan to reduce it.

71% said their experience was positive—56% called it a major impact, another 15% said fractionals and agencies fill an important gap.

this isn't a fringe experiment anymore. 
it's an operating model shift.

why it's accelerating:

→ GTM complexity is rising faster than headcount tolerance. companies need alignment across marketing, sales, CS, rev ops, and product—but not all of it full time.

→ experience gaps are widening. many CEOs are scaling in markets they've never been in before. hiring a full-time CRO or CMO is expensive, slow, and risky when the GTM motion isn't clear yet.

→ speed matters more than stability. fractional leaders are hired to diagnose, design, and execute—not to play politics or optimize for tenure.

but here's what CEOs still get wrong:

→ hiring a fractional to "help" without giving them real authority
→ treating the role as advisory when the problem is operational
→ expecting full-time outcomes from part-time access
→ using fractionals to avoid hard decisions about strategy, people, or focus

when fractional fails, it's usually because the CEO wanted optionality instead of accountability.

what good fractional leadership looks like:

→ they diagnose fast. ICP quality, pipeline velocity, messaging clarity, ownership gaps—they know where to look first.

→ they design systems, not heroics. the goal is repeatable motions the team can run.

→ they create leverage. a good fractional leaves the org stronger than they found it.

if you're a CEO exploring this model, start by finding someone who's done the work you're trying to do next.

your take?

love,
sangram
p.s. look out for the full research coming out on GTMonday next week

#fractional #GTM #CEO

why would you turn down $25K newsletter sponsorship, again?

we did. last week. here's why.

a CEO reached out wanting to sponsor GTMonday. good company. real budget. easy yes for most publishers.

we said no. again.

we don't even call GTMonday a newsletter. 
we call it GTMonday, a research note, on purpose.

because the moment you take sponsorship money, you owe someone something. your research gets filtered. your recommendations get influenced. your voice gets quieter.

we wanted none of that.

3 years into writing this weekly research note, every framework we share is original. every insight comes from working with real companies. no sponsor approved it. no brand paid for ad placement.

that decision cost us short-term revenue.

but it built something bigger.

so what's the ROI of the research we publish freely for 3 years straight on a weekly basis? 

it led to a $7M+ advisory business.

175,000 people read is each Monday and share it all over the world.

70+ GTM OS certified fractionals have built their own businesses around our frameworks and the GTM OS.

every week we learn about companies that are now running the GTM Operating System, literally!

turns out, giving away your best thinking attracts the people who actually want to work with you.

not clicks. not impressions. no banner ad. real relationships that turn into real business.

so no — we're not looking for sponsors. 

now.. if you have a unique pov, then let's hear it and may be we will feature you for free.

that's the trade-off we made. and we'd make it again.

what do you think? 

love,
sangram
p.s. if you have haven't checked out GTMonday on Substack - just look it up!

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

Most fractional / interim CMOs, and GTM Advisors try to break into private equity the same way they win startup work.
That’s the first mistake.
PE firms do not hire GTM leaders to “help.” They hire them to reduce risk.
They are not buying more content, more pipeline activity, or more experimentation
They are buying confidence in outcomes and speed under pressure from leaders who have been there before
That difference changes everything.
(Video replay and slide deck attached)

View newsletter: The Private Equity CMO Advisor

Fridays tend to make me more reflective. In a “What did I misunderstand for too long?” way. So here’s a short list I wish more CMOs heard earlier abou

Open article: How to Break into Private Equity as a Fractional CMO or GTM Advisor (+ replay / deck) by Alan Gonsenhauser • 2 min read

How to Break into Private Equity as a Fractional CMO or GTM Advisor (+ replay / deck)

After five years working as a fractional & interim CMO and a CMO Coach, I’ve noticed the same few marketing mistakes keep popping up across many organizations.

First, most value propositions are too complicated. If your sales team cannot explain why your company is the clear winning choice in one clean sentence, the market you serve won’t understand why your organization is either.

Second, too many companies judge marketing only by leads. The real impact marketing has on the organization shows up in win rates, deal size, retention, and expansion. That’s where marketing actually moves revenue for the company.

Third, in many companies, brand is treated as a design exercise rather than a growth lever. The branding determines whether your company's sales team is invited to deals at all. It builds trust with potential clients and customers long before a sales call.

Fourth, in many companies, customer experience is discussed but not fixed or holistically implemented and improved over time. The fastest improvement often comes from listening to detractors, removing friction, and turning current and prior customers into promoters.
And one tip for CMOs:

Start with strategy, not execution. If the work begins with tactics, it rarely leads to meaningful change.

Narrow your focus. Know the problems you solve best. Pick three max. Know which companies feel those problems the most.

Marketing is not necessarily about doing more.

It’s more important that your marketing makes it easier for clients or customers to choose your business and harder for your competition to replace it.

2025 was a meaningful growth year for me on LinkedIn.
Below are some numbers and I thank Margaret Molloy 🙋‍♀️for the idea to do this! Here are the stats:

275,235 impressions (+129%) *
= 77,742 members reached **
18,871 followers (+16.5%)
2,486 newsletter subscribers (+1,728%) †
52,032 article views
74,223 article impressions
1,792 article engagements
4,248 profile views

My shift was strategic in 2025, making some changes to drive brand awareness and thought leadership, including:
1. Started a weekly LinkedIn newsletter: The Private Equity CMO Advisor. †
2. Podcast guest on several podcasts, Created Youtube videos and shorts using Opus.pro which I posted on my website and LinkedIn continuously.
3. Prioritized commenting thoughtfully on other peoples posts on LinkedIn and responded to comments on my own. 
4. Some vulnerability in my posts which were some of the highest performing.
5. Increased posting frequency and experimented with format and length.

In 2026, I plan to continue these strategies, be vulnerable more often, try to challenge the status quo with more provocative posts (Thank you, Drew Neisser for that guidance!), and talk about my hobbies, music, food, traveling, etc.

I would like to thank everyone who showed up in 2025 and engaged with me. I so appreciate your efforts and I'm always open to your feedback! 
Specifically includes great networking groups I'm a member of such as #CMOCoffeeTalk 6sense each Friday run by Matt Heinz and Latané Conant, CMO Huddles run by Drew Neisser, Virtual Advisory Board (VAB) run by David Rodrigo Fernández Esquivel and GTM Partners run by Sangram Vajre and Bryan Brown. These are all wonderful networking groups you should consider joining!

I would also wish to thank my "Virtual outsourced team" 🌱Dean Waye, my thought partner, Jason Vinglas content creation, Hernan Latorre videographer, Leopoldo Pirela web developer, Jeffrey Tockman Referral networking, and Paula Courtemanche virtual assistant. You are the absolute best team a solopreneur could ever hope for!

In case you are wondering, this was my best performing post of the year: https://lnkd.in/e5xXFnj5 \

26,748 impressions, 19,046 members reached
236 likes, 66 comments
69 followers gained

Wishing you all a very Happy and healthy New Year and continued success in your personal and business endeavors!

Alan

*Impressions: number of times content appeared on a screen
**Reach: number of unique LinkedIn members who saw content at least once
†Newsletter: The Private Equity CMO Advisor by Alan Gonsenhauser.

🔔 Double-tap the bell on my profile to see my posts in 2026. 

#LinkedIn #YearInReview #BrandBuilding #CMO #Solopreneur

Most CMOs don’t last past four years in their role.

For most, it’s not because they aren’t good at the job. But, instead, they get pulled into the wrong mindset and methods. 

One of the biggest reasons I’ve seen otherwise talented CMOs struggle is because they engage in tactical marketing firefighting instead of strategic leadership.

I’ve been in that chair 11 times. I’ve coached over 150 CMOs worldwide.

 Here’s what I’ve learned about who lasts in the CMO role, and who doesn’t:

🔑 The CFO is your first ally, not your final hurdle.

Don’t wait until budget season to schedule a meeting with the CFO. Build the relationship early, speak in the language of finance not marketing to the CFO (my background is in finance, so this was a bit easier for me, but do yourself a favor and learn it), and you’ll stop fighting uphill every quarter.

🔑 Reactive CMOs burn out. Proactive CMOs endure.

When you’re chasing marketing campaigns and boardroom fire drills, you stay tactical. When you set the agenda around key areas such as the pipeline through proper ICP, customer retention, and investor story, you move into strategy. 

This is just one example.

That’s the difference between being replaceable and being relied on as a CMO.

🔑 “Activity metrics” get ignored. “Trust metrics” get remembered.

Vanity metrics such as impressions and MQL counts won’t save your job. Pipeline creation, deal velocity, and retention will lead to scalable revenue growth.

🔑 Sales won’t use what they don’t own.

If you build marketing messaging in a silo, it stays there. Pull sales into the process so they can give valuable input on what they’re hearing from actual customers and prospects. It will help carry the branding and product story forward.

🔑 Investors are part of your audience, too.

In PE- or VC-backed firms, the exit narrative matters as much as the customer narrative. Miss this key concept, and you’ll always be explaining yourself to the CEO, the board, or the investors backing the business.

🔑 Every CMO has tenure moments.

A few key meetings can make or break a CMO each year. Board reviews, budget cycles, and QBRs are the big ones that will help decide whether you’re seen as indispensable or expendable in your role as a CMO. Treat them as job defense, because they are.

When you shift from reactive to proactive, from tactical to strategic, everything changes:
 
That’s when your tenure as CMO grows, and it also expands your C-Suite influence. Which ultimately makes the role stop feeling like a revolving door and prevents it from becoming one.

That’s what I help CMOs build through coaching.

If you’re ready to protect your role and expand your impact, let’s talk with a no-obligation 15-minute strategy call.

https://lnkd.in/ehBYvA4s

"Are you product-led or customer-led?"
When you answer "both," you may just have triggered a valuation discount.
I've seen this pattern across PE portfolio companies: CMOs hedging their bets with "hybrid" GTM strategies: pouring budget into freemium funnels AND high-touch customer success. The result? Mediocre performance on both, ballooning CAC, and a muddy story that kills valuation.
Emerging companies with singular, disciplined GTM motions achieve faster growth and better margins than those trying to do both. In a PE-backed world, clarity = currency.

The Question Every PE Sponsor Asks: "Are you product-led or customer-led?" When you answer "both," you may just have triggered a valuation discount. I

Open article: Why "Hybrid" GTM Is Killing Your Exit Multiple by Alan Gonsenhauser • 4 min read

Why "Hybrid" GTM Is Killing Your Exit Multiple

The anti-playbook for CMOs. NO. NO, Don’t:

10. Kill your people. 

Bring them with you. (It’s called “team,” not “survivor island.”)

9. Steer the ship in a direction where your team won’t follow. 

If no one’s on deck, you’re just a lonely captain shouting at waves.

8. Just focus on demand and the current pipeline. 

Revenue this quarter matters, but so does having one next year.

7.Ignore customer churn with a shrug and “not my job.” 

Losing customers is revenue leakage that kills your new business efforts.

6. Just tout NPS as a shiny number. 

Use it as a continuous improvement tool, or it’s just lipstick on a PowerPoint.

5. Get sucked into the reactive tactic treadmill. 

Random acts of marketing may appear busy, but busy ≠ doesn't necessarily equate to impact.

4. Limit your focus to the next two quarters. 

If you only see what’s right in front of you, you’ll miss the iceberg.

3. Underinvest in brand equity. 

Strong brands can carry sales through storms; weak brands get washed out with the tide.

2. Share activity metrics outside of marketing. 

Nobody cares how many emails, webinars, or press releases you push if it doesn’t move business results.

1, Speak “marketing-ese” outside of marketing. 

Hits to the website, clicks, impressions, followers, downloads, MQLs, CTRs, open rates, shares, likes, page views, reach, bounce rates, form fills, time on page, hashtag engagement, video views, retweets, TikTok dances…Congrats, you’re drowning the CFO in vanity metrics he/she won’t care about.

“Be the CMO they can’t afford to lose”

If you’d like to discuss any of these issues or ones you’re currently struggling with, book a call with me, and I’ll help you overcome a hurdle you’re feeling stuck on.

https://lnkd.in/ehBYvA4s 

- Alan

Coming this Monday- January 12th at 11am ET:
Most fractional and Interim CMOs try to break into private equity the same way they win startup work.
That’s the problem.
PE firms don’t hire GTM leaders to “help.” They hire them to reduce risk.
They buy:
 • Confidence, not capacity
 • Speed, not experimentation
 • Operators they can reuse across the portfolio
That’s why most fractional CMOs never get shortlisted.
Not because they’re bad.
Because they’re unproven under pressure.

On January 12th at 11:00 AM ET, I’m hosting a live session on:
How to Break Into Private Equity as a Fractional or Interim CMO / GTM Leader
We’ll cover:
 • How PE firms actually think about GTM risk
 • Where fractionals and interim CMOs really get shortlisted
 • How to position yourself as board-ready
 • How one PE relationship can turn into many
This is not about cold outreach to PE firms.
It’s about credibility, trust transfer, and repeatable access.
If you’re seriously evaluating this path, join us.
👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eYxf97dC
This path is faster, harder, and not for everyone.
That’s exactly why it’s worth understanding.
Sangram Vajre Bryan Brown Sarah Allen-Short  Anjai "AJ" Gandhi Drew Neisser Margaret Molloy 🙋‍♀️Matt Heinz

#PrivateEquity GTM Partners #GTM #CMO CMO Huddles Virtual Advisory Board (VAB)

The Old GTM Playbook Is Dead

Most GTM teams are still running playbooks built for buyers that no longer exist. Those days are over.
Modern buyers enter buying cycles informed, skeptical, and focused on reducing risk.
Data shows that buyers begin with a 4-5 vendor shortlist and rarely deviate from it. (<5% of the time)
That changes the GTM job completely.
If your strategy relies on capturing demand after buyers raise their hand with incoming MQLs, you are often too late.
By the time pipeline appears, preference has already formed.
For PE-backed companies, this has real consequences.
Brand reputation investments are not discretionary.
Awareness and preference is not optional.
Neglecting the top of funnel shows up later as lower win rates and pricing pressure.
The 2026 GTM mandate is simple.
Be the obvious, low-risk choice before buyers engage sales.
That is not a marketing philosophy.
It is a revenue protection strategy.
I explain what this shift means for brand, demand, and predictability in my 2026 GTM Outlook blog here: https://lnkd.in/eCbztQhK 
If your GTM still assumes buyers discover you late, the GTM Assessment Audit may give you some valuable thoughts to consider.
GTM Free 10-minute Assessment Audit: https://lnkd.in/eWjPywM7 

Sangram Vajre Bryan Brown GTM Partners Drew Neisser CMO Huddles
#GTM #GTMAlignment #CMO

Is your portfolio paying a "Silo Tax"?
Most PE-backed companies buy into a growth thesis but fail on the execution because their Go-to-Market (GTM) functions are running in silos. Marketing is chasing leads, Sales is pushing deals at any cost, and Customer Success is fighting churn after the fact.

This misalignment isn't just an operational headache; it is a direct tax on your EBITDA and enterprise value.

Research from SiriusDecisions and Forrester reveals that companies with aligned GTM functions grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. In my latest newsletter, The Private Equity CMO Advisor, I break down how to eliminate this tax and position your portfolio for a high-multiple exit:

ICP Governance: Transitioning the Ideal Customer Profile from a marketing slide to a board-level strategic guardrail that prevents "leaky" growth and downstream churn.

Building Brand Gravity: Winning the 95% of the market not yet in-cycle so you own the "Day Zero" shortlist and increase win/loss ratios.

Operationalizing NPS 3.0: Moving beyond vanity scores to trifurcate your customer base into advocates, opportunities, and risks to drive Net Revenue Retention (NRR).


If you want to transform marketing from a cost center into a predictable value creation machine, this edition is for you.

The legacy Private Equity playbook for marketing is officially obsolete. For too long, the industry has viewed marketing as a discretionary cost cente

Open article: The Silo Tax: How GTM Misalignment Devalues PE Portfolios by Alan Gonsenhauser • 4 min read

The Silo Tax: How GTM Misalignment Devalues PE Portfolios

Great discussion with Elio Narciso, CEO of Scalestack on the role of #Marketing and #Sales, and the importance of building strong strong #Brand reputation early and the salient #Financial benefits.

Co-Founder & CEO @ Scalestack | Autonomous Revenue Engine. Zero Duct Tape.

New year, new podcast episode! On our Revenue Engine Masters by Scalestack, I had a really cool conversation with Alan Gonsenhauser, Founder & CEO of Demand Revenue. He is an 11-time CMO, and a trusted fractional/interim CMO and advisor who has coached 150+ CMOs and helped private equity and growth-stage B2B companies build customer-led, brand-driven revenue engines. 

I love this episode. I was in SF at the time of recording and slightly jet-lagged, but the insights Alan shared were so strategic, and yet very actionable and practical insights that they woke me up to life :). 

For anyone building B2B growth today: please listen up!

Three big takeaways that really stuck with me:

1️⃣ Only 5% of prospects are truly “in-market.”
 At any given time, 95% of buyers aren’t ready to buy — which means marketing’s real job isn’t lead gen, it’s building brand preference early.
 If buyers don’t know you when they start researching, you don’t get an at-bat.
 Brand equity = future pipeline.

2️⃣ FOMO is dead. FOMU runs deals now.
 Sales used to sell on fear of missing out: “Don’t miss this.”
 Today buyers are driven by Fear of Messing Up: “If I choose wrong, my career is on the line.”
 Sellers win today not with louder feature pitches — it’s all about de-risking the decision. Help your buyers feel more confident and help them understand the market. 

3️⃣ AI is great at convergent thinking — and terrible at divergent thinking.
 The biggest enterprise ROI isn’t in flashy creative strategy. It’s in fixing the back office:
 cleaning dirty data, unifying systems, accelerating follow-up.
 When you reframe data cleanup as a growth marketing initiative (not hygiene! Note to self, and my cofounder 🙂), budgets unlock:
 • better enrichment
 • higher conversion
 • stronger insights
 • better campaigns

Thank you Alan, and thank you Karthiga for connecting the dots! 

🎧 Links to the episode in comments.

“Can marketing deliver more leads?” 

CMOs often treat this as only a surface-level question, when they could go deeper and help sales even more.

When a sales leader asks, “Can marketing deliver more leads?” I tend to ask more questions. Because it often points to one of a few underlying pressures, for example, issues such as:

Revenue timing is slipping late in the quarter

Deals are entering the pipeline but stalling after early calls

Lead volume needs to increase because win rates are quietly declining

But sometimes Sales asks for leads because it is executing, and conversion rates are strong. The sales team can absorb more demand, and marketing needs to step up.
The mistake is treating the question as a volume problem before determining the situation.

Pushing more leads when sales are constrained creates waste, and failing to scale demand when sales are performing creates missed revenue.

This is where marketing credibility is earned, not by reacting fast, but by diagnosing why the leads are needed correctly.

The objective as the CMO isn’t to defend marketing or reflexively say yes; it’s to make sure demand and conversion are scaling together and to help sales with the right campaign for the right leads, for the right reasons.

AI won’t just make your company average… it’ll make you predictable.

And once you’re predictable, you stop leading and start following.

AI is exceptional at convergent thinking, analyzing patterns, synthesizing data, and producing the most probable answer.

But it struggles with divergent thinking, the non-obvious leaps, fresh angles, and unconventional, disruptive innovations and ideas that will set you apart in the future.
Rely on it too heavily for both, and your strategy becomes easy to anticipate…and even easier to beat.

Here’s what you’ll discover in my latest co-authored article, “The Generative AI Trap: Not Just Average… Predictable”:

- The sneaky “glass playbook” effect that lets competitors and customers anticipate your next moves

- Why the real danger isn’t sameness, it’s letting your strategy become see-through

- How “safe” AI-generated plans quietly erode your originality and edge

- The Centaur Strategy, a way to make AI do the heavy lifting, convergent work, while you drive the divergent ideas without sanding off your originality

- The one type of thinker most companies accidentally filter out…even though they’re about to become your last unfair advantage

By the time most leaders notice they’ve become predictable, their relevance and their customers will already be slipping away.

Don’t get blindsided…Here’s the detailed article:

👉 https://lnkd.in/duM-Wn9C 

@Dean

One of the most important life lessons I learned in my 25+ year career, largely as a CMO, did not come from success.

It came from redefining what progress actually looks like inside the organizations I worked for and with, and later, with the CMOs and marketing leaders I coach.
For a long time, I thought progress meant momentum. Here are some examples that look like progress and momentum:

More projects.
More initiatives.
More activity across the marketing org.

Depending on the circumstances, of course, these can be important and necessary, but now I see progress can have a different side, too.

It can often look quieter.

It looks like saying no to work that creates motion but not outcomes (e.g., busywork to justify time and/or budget).

Fewer priorities, but deeper ownership, meaning fewer initiatives running in parallel, clearer executive accountability, and teams that know exactly who owns the result when something succeeds or fails.

And not needing to justify every decision with volume, meaning fewer slides, fewer activities, and fewer tactical distractions used to defend strategic calls.

That shift changed how I operated as a CMO.
And it changed how I show up today in coaching, interim, and fractional roles.

One of the biggest turning points in my career happened when I stopped trying to grow outward and started refining inward.

Not in a motivational sense.
In a practical, operational one.

Because growth, in leadership, is rarely about adding more.
It is usually about removing what no longer serves the organization.

I learned that maturity in leadership is not only about confidence.

Over time, I learned that influence in executive boardrooms is often tied to restraint as well.

Not every thought needs to be expressed.
Not every insight needs immediate framing

Earlier in my career, I wanted to be seen as someone with answers.

Today, whether I am coaching a CMO or stepping into an interim or fractional role, I aim to be someone leaders feel safe thinking out loud with.

That single change has led to better conversations, better decisions, and better outcomes.

Not because I talk more.
But because I listen more carefully.

This life lesson shows up in every engagement I take on.

Progress did not come from doing more.
It came from being more intentional about how I show up in the room.

As a CMO.
As a coach.
As a partner to the business.

If you had to name one belief you outgrew in your own CMO or leadership journey, what would it be?

Lead volume is not a marketing success metric; the sales team's acceptance of the types of leads is the real measuring stick of success.

Most companies talk about “lead quality” as if it were a filtering problem; they act as if the issue starts after the lead already exists. 

Marketing can help ensure the lead is high quality by focusing on how the company positions itself, how it explains its value, and whether marketing and sales actually agree on who they are trying to attract as customers or clients.

The market is not misunderstanding your marketing message by accident. It is responding to exactly what you are putting in front of it.

Lead quality is created long before the form. It shows up in how the company explains itself, what it chooses to emphasize, what it leaves vague, and whether sales even recognize the buyer when that buyer finally shows up.

The volume of leads only helps once those pieces are already right. Until then, more leads simply means more misalignment at scale.

Marketing’s real job is not to generate interest. It is to generate the right interest.
Everything else is just reporting activity dressed up as progress.

Culture in organizations is so very important. To me, picking the right customers in your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and deciding who should NOT be your customer is so central to intelligent growth and building leading cultures! I so enjoyed participating in the Elements of Culture Podcast with Taryn Tatarinowicz and Julie Thomas!

View company: Elements of Culture Podcast

Companies with strong alignment across marketing, sales, product, and customer success grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable than their peers.

Yet most organizations are still chasing growth by:
 - Adding more tactics
 - Expanding to “any customer with a pulse”
 - Over-optimizing for the next quarter

In our latest Elements of Culture episode, we talk with Alan Gonsenhauser — 11-time CMO and founder of Demand Revenue, LLC — to break down what actually drives durable growth.

We cover:
 - Why “everyone is our customer” quietly destroys retention and margins
 - How a disciplined Ideal Customer Profile fuels get, keep, grow
 - What alignment really looks like beyond org charts
 - How to speak the CFO’s language on brand, ROI, and long-term value
 - Where AI helps leaders scale — and where it should never set strategy

If you’re a CEO, CMO, or operator focused on building growth that lasts beyond this quarter, this conversation is worth your time.

Thanks Alan Gonsenhauser for sharing your time and expertise with us!

#Leadership #BusinessGrowth #GoToMarket #ExecutiveLeadership #RevenueGrowth

https://lnkd.in/eAvB6P5w

Open video: Everyone Is NOT Your Customer on youtu.be

This is the second part of a short reflection on where future organizational pipeline is really built, and how CMOs can ensure successful future revenue for the organization.

Many CMOs unknowingly create friction in buyer understanding about their company’s products and services by optimizing marketing decisions and campaigns too narrowly around the near-term demand of the 5% in the market.

When pressure mounts from the CEO and/or the board to demonstrate marketing impact, it’s natural as a CMO to prioritize campaigns, channels, and messages aimed at the small percentage of buyers who are already in a buying mode. While it’s certainly defensible to put a larger chunk of money, time, and effort into that 5% in the buying market, the other 95% can not and should not be ignored by the CMO.

The unintended consequence of focusing solely on those in buying mode within the market is that the much larger group of future buyers receives inconsistent or incomplete education about what your company does, who it is best for, and what meaningfully differentiates it from your competition.

By the time those buyers enter the market, the sales team is often asked to do more than close; they are asked to explain positioning, reinforce value, and reduce perceived risk late in the process. Which is unnecessary friction created by the company and the CMO if no effort was put into them before they were in the market to buy.

When no conscious effort is put into the 95% by the company and the CMO, it is often manifested by sales deals frequently slowing down, not because buyers lack interest, but because the fear of making the wrong decision by the purchaser outweighs the urgency to move forward.

A strategic CMO understands that a portion of the marketing budget and resources must be invested in the 95% of buyers who are not yet in-market. That work by the organization and the CMO does not pay off immediately, and its impact is rarely cleanly attributable to a single quarter or marketing campaign. Because those outcomes are harder to measure in the short term, it becomes the CMO’s responsibility to advocate for why that investment matters and how it supports revenue performance over time.

CMOs today need to be more than just marketers. They need to be business managers.

To truly succeed, CMOs must understand finance, align with go-to-market strategies, and sometimes even act as chief customer officers. They need to view themselves as general managers, driving growth and profitability.

For CMOs who lack a finance background, there are ways to learn the language and demonstrate the value of marketing investments to CFOs and the board. #CMO #MarketingLeadership #Finance #BusinessStrategy #GoToMarket

The #1 GTM Risk Inside PE Portfolios

The most common GTM risk I see in PE-backed companies is not churn.
It is leadership misalignment.
The CEO defines one ICP.
Marketing optimizes for another.
Sales chases what closes fastest.
Product builds for edge cases.
Everyone is working hard.
Very few are working on the same thing.
This is why GTM underperforms even when talent, spend, and intent look right.
Strong GTM organizations get three things right.
Clarity on the customer, the problem, and why they win.
Alignment across sales, marketing, product, customer success, and RevOps.
Teams and incentives designed to reinforce the ICP and GTM they say they want.
When those three click, performance changes fast.
Pipeline becomes more predictable.
Sales efficiency improves.
Marketing credibility rises.
Retention stabilizes.
If your leadership team cannot describe the ICP the same way in one meeting, the issue is not execution.
It is governance.
I cover how to spot and correct this early in my 2026 GTM Outlook.
GTM Blog: https://lnkd.in/eCbztQhK 

If alignment feels fuzzy, the GTM Assessment Audit will surface it quickly. Alignment Assessment: (10 minutes, should give you a couple of ideas for 2026) https://lnkd.in/eWjPywM7

#GTM #CMO #GTMAlignment @CEO @CFO 
Sangram Vajre

Open article: 2026 Go-To-Market Strategy Outlook for PE Firms & Portfolio Companies by demandrevenue.com

2026 Go-To-Market Strategy Outlook for PE Firms & Portfolio Companies

Most of the important lessons in my 25+ year career did not arrive during my wins.

Most of these important lessons arrived during moments such as:

When a deal didn’t close.
When a role didn’t extend.
When a board conversation went quieter than expected.
When someone I trusted suddenly stopped returning calls.

Early in my career, I treated situations like that as problems to solve.
Now I would see these kinds of situations as feedback on how I was perceived, not on how well I performed (with the understanding that performance is important too).

One big lesson that reshaped how I think about leadership in my CMO and coaching roles:
Being capable in your role doesn’t automatically translate to being trusted.

In your job as a CMO or marketing executive, you can be competent, experienced, even impressive, and still not be perceived as a “safe leader”, especially in Private Equity-backed firms.

That distinction between merely being a competent CMO or a competent and safe CMO quietly shapes who gets invited into the rooms that matter for their career. It also shapes who gets interim roles.

This determines who gets second conversations for projects and jobs.

Most importantly, it shows up as who becomes “our person” versus “a strong candidate” when trying to get budgets, projects, roles, or jobs as a CMO.

For a long time, I believed outcomes were driven mainly by skill and experience.

Though these are important, outcomes are not fully determined by experience and skill alone.

Along with your skill as a CMO, favorable outcomes are driven by how others interpret your decision-making, especially during or under uncertainty.

I also learned something else that surprised me:

People in your department and above you do not usually remember what specific problems you solved, but they will most often remember how steady and reliable you were while solving them.

If I could go back and speak to the younger Alan, I would not talk about ambition.
I would tell him this:

Focus less on proving your value to others and more on how the value you provide feels to them by showing them what you contribute.

I’m curious to hear from you, what lesson reshaped how you think about your own path?

Why GTM Failures Aren’t Sales Failures

When revenue misses the plan, sales execution is usually blamed first.
Most GTM diagnostics tell a different story.
Breakdowns happen well before the first discovery call.
Unclear or outdated ICPs.
Messaging focused on features instead of economic outcomes.
No repeatable GTM plays by segment.
Marketing and sales optimizing for different outcomes.
KPIs centered on activity instead of revenue quality.
Any one of these breaks predictability.
Together, they collapse it.
High-performing PE-backed companies treat GTM as an operating system, not a set of tactics.
They define where they win and where they walk away.
They operationalize that clarity across teams.
They measure what actually drives durable growth.
Fixing sales without fixing GTM only delays the problem.
I outline how to diagnose this early in my 2026 GTM Outlook.
Before adding pressure or headcount, run the GTM Assessment Audit to find the real constraint.

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Sangram Vajre

Alan Gonsenhauser

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Performance ScoreAlan Gonsenhauser's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Sangram Vajre

Alan Gonsenhauser

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sangram Vajre's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAlan Gonsenhauser's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSangram Vajre's LinkedIn Performance