The Co-Founder & CEO of Merge joins GTMnow to break down how she built a company that now powers integrations for OpenAI, Perplexity, Netflix, Uber, Mistral, and enterprise logos like Mastercard, JP Morgan, and Amex, backed by $75M from Accel and NEA. Shensi gets tactical on the GTM decisions behind that growth: why she went enterprise-first into greenfield, why she's now layering a self-serve motion back on top (20,000+ self-serve orgs, 400+ enterprise customers), how forward-deployed engineers turned a 1% edge case into 5 to 10x usage growth, and why she rebuilt marketing to run like an engineering team. She also gets candid on founder-led sales, the mercenaries-versus-missionaries hiring trap, the open-source model shift and the China question, and why every founder who started pre-AI should build one product 0-to-1 themselves. What you'll learn: - Why she reversed the standard GTM playbook (enterprise first, then PLG) and how to run both motions at once - How forward-deployed engineers close the 1% edge case that unlocks 5 to 10x enterprise usage - Why marketing now runs like an engineering function at Merge, and how it took her from 1 to 2 dinners a quarter to 3 to 5 a month - Why product got fast and go-to-market became the new bottleneck - How to know when to hire your first salesperson (hint: you should be "dying" first) - The mercenaries-vs-missionaries test, and the "anti-sell" she uses in hiring - The 2026 shift away from "token-maxing," and how model routing cuts AI spend - The truth about open-source (often Chinese) models: where they're built vs. where your data actually lives - Why founders who started pre-AI should build one product 0-to-1 to understand what's now possible Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:14 What Merge does: products, workforce, and three core offerings 02:05 Agent Handler, Gateway, and the new Embedded Routing Stack 04:52 The 2026 shift away from "token-maxing" 07:29 Open-source models, the China question, and where data really lives 10:14 How Merge works with open-source model providers 12:00 What she's learned as a first-time founder: get over your ego 13:22 Reversing the GTM playbook: enterprise-first, then PLG 15:50 Running both motions: 20,000+ self-serve, 400+ enterprise 17:31 Why buyer behavior moved to Twitter and brand 19:06 Founder-led sales, and what a real sales process taught her 22:27 When to hire your first salesperson 23:49 Forward-deployed engineers and 5 to 10x usage growth 27:00 Keeping go-to-market up to speed with product 28:33 Rebuilding marketing as an engineering function 30:45 The dinner agent: 1 to 2 a quarter to 3 to 5 a month 31:24 How AI buying reshaped the marketing org 33:54 Maintaining agents: prompts over legacy builders 35:02 Mercenaries vs. missionaries, and the "anti-sell" 40:25 The market view: from hostility to collaboration 42:06 Is a valuation reckoning coming? 43:07 Why she stayed hands-on building Agent Handler and Gateway 45:18 What's next: training your own models off open-source 46:52 Where to find Shensi and Merge Connect with Shensi Ding: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shensiding/ X: https://x.com/shensi Merge: https://merge.dev Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP at GTMnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ X: https://x.com/sophiebuona About the guest: Shensi Ding is the co-founder and CEO of Merge, a unified API platform that now spans product integrations, agent tooling, and LLM routing/governance. Merge powers companies including OpenAI, Perplexity, Netflix, Uber, and Mistral, and enterprise customers like Mastercard, JP Morgan, and Amex. The company has raised $75M from Accel and NEA. Thank you to our sponsor: Primer unlocks B2C ad channels for B2B marketers with precision targeting and next-gen measurement. GTMnow Network exclusive offer: Extended 45 day trial and 15% off with code GTM15 - just apply the code when you go to upgrade from the free trial. See who’s really in your funnel: sayprimer.com About GTMnow: GTMnow is the media arm of GTMfund, sharing the strategies, tactics, and stories from the operators and investors building the next generation of go-to-market. Visit us on: https://gtmnow.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow Follow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_ Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_now Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gtmnow_ Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtmnow_/ The GTMnow Podcast The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth. Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.
