GTM Vault

Rick Koleta

Actionable GTM playbooks, AI-driven frameworks, and interviews with tech operators to help you scale SaaS with real-world strategy.

  1. 5D AGO

    Debt Is Not a Last Resort - Designing Capital Before Urgency with Michael Wallace (TIMIA Capital)

    Founders don’t think about debt when things are going well.They think about it when urgency forces the decision. In this episode of GTM Vault, Rick Koleta sits down with Michael Wallace, CEO of TIMIA Capital, to explain why debt fails when it is reactive and why disciplined operators design capital long before something breaks. Most founders assume debt is a last resort, something to reach for only when equity or growth stalls. In reality, debt fails because of timing, not because of risk. When capital decisions are made under pressure, optionality disappears, terms worsen, and control erodes. Predictability gives leverage. Urgency destroys it. This episode is for founders and operators navigating growth, dilution, or board control who want to understand how capital fits into a scalable GTM operating system. The solution is not better fundraising tactics. It is intentional capital design aligned to strategy, predictability, and execution. Build systems, not urgency.

    34 min

  2. FEB 1

    Why Revenue Breaks After Growth - Pricing, CPQ, and Billing Failures with Mark Walker (Nue)

    Revenue does not usually fail at the close. It fails quietly after growth has already happened. In this episode of GTM Vault, Rick Koleta sits down with Mark Walker, CEO of Nue, to explain why revenue breaks when pricing models outgrow the systems running them. Most teams assume stalled revenue means a sales problem or an execution gap. In reality, the failure is structural. Pricing uncertainty creeps into late-stage deals. Usage and committed spend models introduce complexity legacy billing cannot absorb. Revenue leakage begins long before dashboards reflect it. When data fragments across pricing, CPQ, billing, and rev rec, AI does not fix the problem - it amplifies it. This episode is for founders and revenue leaders whose pipeline looks healthy but whose margins, velocity, or finance workflows are quietly degrading. The solution is not more pipeline or harder execution. It is coherence across the revenue system. Build systems, not heroics.

    50 min

  3. JAN 25

    Pricing Is the GTM System - Why Revenue Breaks When Pricing Lives in Finance with Roee Hartuv

    Pricing is not a finance line item. It is a go-to-market system decision that determines who you can sell to, how sales sell, and whether revenue compounds or quietly leaks. In this episode of GTM Vault, Rick Koleta sits down with Roee Hartuv, Senior Pricing Advisor and Head of GTM Expertise at Willingness to Pay, to unpack why so many GTM transformations fail even when teams execute harder. The problem is rarely effort. It is design. They explore how pricing and packaging decisions shape sales velocity, customer lifetime value, and margin durability long before results show up in dashboards. When pricing is owned in isolation, friction appears across marketing, sales, and customer success, and growth stalls without a clear breaking point. The conversation also dives into why traditional SaaS pricing assumptions collapse in AI-driven products, how usage-based costs change monetization strategy, and why GTM engineers have emerged as system owners rather than tool admins. If your pipeline looks healthy but revenue is stalling, this episode explains where the GTM system is already broken and what to redesign before execution fails again.

    26 min

  4. JAN 4

    Enterprise Revenue Scales on Systems, Not Charisma with Rik Schrader

    What actually scales enterprise revenue when complexity exposes weak GTM systems? In this episode of GTM Vault, host Rick Koleta sits down with Rik Schrader, Chief Revenue Officer at GreyOrange, to break down what holds up when theory stops working and reality shows up. Rik brings more than three decades of experience building and rebuilding enterprise go to market systems across IBM, NCR, Honeywell, and Körber. He has led SaaS transitions, global sales organizations, and partner ecosystems where mistakes were expensive and visible. We dig into why enterprise revenue fails under complexity, how activity metrics quietly replace outcomes as companies scale, and where forecast accuracy actually breaks. Rik shares the execution patterns that stay constant across eras and categories, the hardest GTM transition most companies underestimate, and what great CROs deliberately do not change in their first 90 days. We also unpack why partner channels fail when they are performative instead of operational, how incentives and handoffs quietly destroy accountability, and why durable revenue growth is always a systems problem, not a data problem. This episode is for founders, CROs, RevOps leaders, and operators running enterprise GTM motions who care more about durability than noise.

    45 min

  5. 11/30/2025

    Identity as Infrastructure: What AI-Native GTM Actually Requires with Vignesh Ravichandran

    In this episode of GTM Vault, host Rick Koleta speaks with Vignesh Ravichandran, founder of MyClone, about why AI-native GTM is fundamentally an infrastructure problem, not a tooling one. We dig into what breaks when teams layer AI on top of fragmented systems, and why identity, context, and data graphs matter more than prompts or point solutions. Vignesh shares how modern GTM systems should be designed so AI can actually reason, not just respond. The conversation covers what it means to treat identity as infrastructure, how knowledge compounds across workflows, and why most “AI GTM stacks” feel dumb despite powerful models underneath. We also explore the shift from task automation to system-level intelligence, what operators misunderstand about clones and agents, and how to build leverage without adding headcount. Clear mental models, infrastructure-first thinking, and practical insight for founders and GTM leaders building durable, AI-native revenue systems.

    34 min

  6. 11/23/2025

    How GEO Makes AI the New Gatekeeper with Jason Patel

    In this episode of GTM Vault, host Rick Koleta speaks with Jason Patel, co-founder and CEO of Open Forge AI, about why generative engines are becoming the new gatekeepers of discovery. We dig into how GEO, Generative Engine Optimization, reshapes brand visibility inside AI answers and how LLMs interpret companies through entities, knowledge graphs, and machine-readable content. Jason breaks down the three-part GEO system behind recall in generative engines, the role of structured data and third-party citations, and why visibility is shifting from ranking in blue links to being selected as the answer. We also explore how distribution and attribution change when chat replaces search, what it means to rent vs own AI traffic, and why AEO, Agentic Engine Optimization, will shape the next era of vendor evaluation. Clear playbooks, practical examples, and the early moves operators should run to stay visible in an AI-native discovery landscape.

    43 min

  7. 11/16/2025

    The Secret Pattern Behind Predictable Revenue Engines with Amber Brooner

    In this episode of GTM Vault, host Rick Koleta unpacks the hidden pattern behind companies that scale predictably. We break down why clarity, alignment and operating rhythm beat raw activity, and how elite CROs create systems where execution becomes consistent across Marketing, Sales and Customer Success. Amber reveals her AAA diagnostic for the first 30 to 60 days, how to remove friction from fast-moving GTM engines and why industry-focused selling creates repeatable outcomes at scale. Guest Amber Brooner of XTEL shares the frameworks she has used across SAP, Salesforce, PagerDuty and Informatica to lead global GTM teams through transformation. She shows how to build trust through uncertainty, why alignment eliminates revenue drag, and where AI is already making the biggest impact in forecasting, pricing and frontline execution. We also dig into the leadership traits that matter, the metrics that actually signal performance and the system cadence that turns a complex organization into a predictable revenue engine.

    15 min

  8. 11/09/2025

    Predictive Enablement = More Revenue with Christina Brady

    In this episode of GTM Vault, host Rick Koleta explores how predictive enablement becomes the hidden engine behind scalable revenue teams. We dig into frameworks that align marketing, sales, and customer success—covering the shift from reactive training to forward-looking skill-flows, how revenue ops becomes an intelligence layer, and why enabling your team predictively isn’t optional—it’s the lever for growth in 2025. Guest Christina Brady of Luster walks through how her GTM system transforms pipeline performance with real numbers, drills into the roles that matter (and the ones that cost), and shows how to convert enablement from a checkbox into measurable revenue. We also discuss the metrics that matter, the system cadence you’ll need, and how to unite your GTM stack so one engine drives growth — not three silos chasing their own goals.

    40 min
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About

Actionable GTM playbooks, AI-driven frameworks, and interviews with tech operators to help you scale SaaS with real-world strategy.

Information

  • Creator
    Rick Koleta
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Rick Koleta
  • Show Website
    GTM Vault

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