What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It
Exploring the key go-to-market challenges that SaaS organisations face and how to overcome them to ensure success.
What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It
The Story So Far
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Episode 50: The Story So Far
Welcome to What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It with Louis Fernandes and Simon Daniels. Each week, together with occasional guests, we explore the challenges that face go-to-market leaders in SaaS scale-up businesses and suggest solutions to common issues.
Marking the 50th episode, we reflect on the podcast’s journey before diving into the detail. Louis outlines what he sees as three defining themes that have shaped their thinking across the series: first, methodologies — from the early influence of the 95/5 concept and the 2009 HBR article “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers” through to Challenger, MEDDPICC and ultimately SPICED; second, leadership, and the distinction between strategic leadership and day-to-day management; and third, revenue and growth architecture, which Louis credits with bringing all of the preceding ideas into sharp relief and providing a coherent operating model for SaaS businesses.
Here’s the TL;DL: Over 50 episodes, the biggest lesson is that revenue is not something you simply chase — it’s something you design, lead, govern, and systematically improve. Most SaaS companies default to more activity when things get difficult. But growth isn’t linear. It’s a system. And if that system is badly designed, adding more activity just scales the noise.
Other mentions in this episode:
A big thank you to the guests who have featured across the our Cognoscenti Series and other episodes, several of whom are heard in clips in this episode: Andy Champion (Atlassian), Mark Stouse (Proof Causal AI), Joel Harrison (B2B Marketing), Ian Truscott (Rockstar CMO), Nicky Briggs (Forrester), and Jon Clarke (6sense).
Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig
“In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers” — Harvard Business Review, March 2009
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