The GTMnow Podcast

GTMnow
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The GTMnow Podcast interviews well-known tech executive, VC, and founders - the expert operators in the trenches who have ‘been there, done that’ to build some of the fastest-growing software companies. Every week, a guest joins Sophie Buonassisi to dissect their stories, revealing expert insights around what worked, what didn’t, and how things actually went down. This podcast is produced by GTMnow, the media brand of GTMfund - sharing insight on go-to-market from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by over 350 of the best go-to-market executives. GTMfund is an early-stage VC fund focused on investing in the most exciting, up-and-coming B2B SaaS companies across the world. The LP network consists of VP and C-level Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success leaders from companies like DocuSign, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Snowflake, Okta, Zoom, and many more. Visit gtmnow.com for more details and to sign up for our newsletter and other content resources.

  1. Okta's CRO: From $850M in Losses to $760M Profit (The AI Agent Bet) | Jon Addison

    19H AGO

    Okta's CRO: From $850M in Losses to $760M Profit (The AI Agent Bet) | Jon Addison

    Okta's CRO Jon Addison joins GTMnow host Sophie to break down the full story behind Okta's remarkable revenue turnaround, the launch of Okta for AI Agents, and the go-to-market playbook that's carrying them from $3B toward a $5B ARR target. From nearly $850M in operating losses to over $760M in operating income, Okta's transformation is one of the most significant turnaround stories in enterprise SaaS. In this episode, Jon pulls back the curtain on exactly how it happened. In this episode: - Why 91% of enterprises are already deploying AI agents but only 10% have a security strategy for them - How Okta's "AI governance gap" insight became the foundation for their biggest product launch in years: Okta for AI Agents - The GTM restructure around specialization that unlocked productivity and drove 40% higher average contract value on new product deals - How Okta became a partner-first company: 95% of their top 100 deals in the last fiscal year were partner-led, and what operationally made that possible - Why the first discovery call no longer exists, and how sellers need to show up differently in the AI era - Jon's new internal sales methodology, APEX, built on Command of the Message for the AI era - How Okta is using AI internally to transform their own go-to-market motion, from conversational intelligence to pre-sales assistants - What the path to $5B ARR actually looks like: enterprise expansion, international growth, public sector, and the massive new TAM unlocked by non-human identity - Jon's leadership philosophy: why human-centric selling is becoming more critical as AI takes over the repetitive work Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi Guest: Jon Addison, CRO at Okta https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-addison-3399175 Timestamp: 0:00 - Cold open 1:19 - Welcome + Jon's background: from London to Silicon Valley 1:52 - How Jon got into software and identity management 4:08 - Okta for AI Agents launch announcement 5:04 - 90% of customers live with agents, only 10% confident in securing them 6:31 - What's driving the governance gap in the market 7:53 - Speed of agent innovation must be matched by security and governance 8:36 - 40% higher ACV on deals that include new products 9:43 - Why consolidation around a single identity platform is resonating 11:45 - How AI agents unlock a massive new TAM for Okta 13:05 - Okta's turnaround: from $850M operating losses to $760M operating income 13:36 - Key decision 1: GTM specialization drove productivity 15:02 - Key decision 2: becoming a partner-first company 16:14 - What cracking the partner-led model actually looks like 19:08 - How long it takes to see ROI from a partner-led pivot 20:12 - The path from $3B to $5B: enterprise, international, public sector 21:49 - Using AI internally: launching "Apex," the AI-era sales methodology 23:04 - What the Apex sales methodology entails 24:25 - Buyers now show up with strong opinions before the first call 25:44 - How discovery is changing: human-centric selling in the AI era 27:33 - Headcount and AI: what skills matter in the future 29:31 - Why relationships are Okta's core competitive advantage 30:36 - The role of experiences: F1, events, and the 7-touchpoint rule 31:47 - Broad GTM surface area: ABM, ecosys 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.

    40 min
  2. VC: Inside a16z's $1.7B Infrastructure Bet | Jennifer Li, General Partner

    2D AGO

    VC: Inside a16z's $1.7B Infrastructure Bet | Jennifer Li, General Partner

    Jennifer Li, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), breaks down why the firm allocated $1.7 billion of its latest $15 billion fund specifically toward AI infrastructure, and what she's betting on next. Jennifer has backed ElevenLabs from Series A all the way through Series D, watching it grow to an $11 billion valuation. In this episode, she explains what she saw in voice AI before anyone else did, what makes a founder worth backing regardless of the tech, and why the next wave of AI infrastructure is being rebuilt from the ground up. In this episode: - Why a16z bet $1.7B on AI infrastructure (and why now) - The shift from cloud to AI-native infrastructure: storage, compute, orchestration, memory - How ElevenLabs crossed the uncanny valley in synthetic voice - Voice agents as the first AI category to truly scale in the enterprise - What "king-making" in AI go-to-market actually looks like - The traits that made Jennifer write a check for ElevenLabs on founder conviction alone - Open source vs. frontier models: what 2027 looks like - Why world models and vision language models are the next unlock - AI and human creativity: why directors and authors won't be replaced - How a 1-2 person studio can now make a full movie Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi Guest: Jennifer Li, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferhli/ https://x.com/JenniferHli Connect with Max:  https://x.com/hackitmax https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler Connect with Paul: https://x.com/PaulGTM https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsirving Timestamps: 0:00 - Cold open 1:06 - Max & Paul intro: are we in a bubble? 1:46 - AI vs. dot-com era: the key differences 4:55 - B2B SaaS disruption and value destruction (Thoma Bravo / Medallia) 6:39 - Intercom / Finn: crossing the chasm from legacy to AI-native 8:08 - Introducing Jennifer Lee, a16z General Partner 8:31 - Paul's key takeaway: the distribution era 9:41 - Why speed to default brand has never mattered more 11:33 - The ElevenLabs story: a16z led Series A, B, and C 12:02 - Why the seed strategy still works 13:37 - What the best founders do differently with model capabilities 15:58 - Jennifer Lee joins: why a16z raised $1.7B for infrastructure 16:22 - What existing infrastructure is being rebuilt for AI 19:19 - Specific areas a16z is focused on: models, storage, dev tools, security 20:35 - 90%+ of code now written by agents 21:52 - What Jennifer saw early in the 11 Labs / voice AI space 25:19 - Go-to-market in AI infrastructure: what's working 27:29 - Becoming the default brand: the "Kleenex effect" in AI 28:37 - What makes a founder worth backing on conviction alone 30:48 - Predictions for 2026/2027: open source catching up fast 31:39 - Most exciting new modalities: world models and vision language models 32:07 - AI and human creativity: can they coexist? 34:42 - What's blocking the creative AI future 36:05 - "The best ideas live in the graveyard" 36:57 - Closing advice: make AI tools your friends 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 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.

    38 min
  3. How Figma Scaled From $2M to IPO | Kyle Parrish (First Sales Hire)

    APR 22

    How Figma Scaled From $2M to IPO | Kyle Parrish (First Sales Hire)

    Kyle Parrish joined Figma as the first-ever sales hire when the company was doing $2M in ARR and helped scale it to $950M ARR. Figma then went on to IPO (FIG).  But the path there was anything but smooth. In this episode, Kyle breaks down what it actually took to build Figma's enterprise sales motion from scratch, including the no-discount rule that made procurement teams furious, the 40-hour interview weeks when hiring felt impossible to keep up with, and what it was like to lead a 300-person team through a failed $20B Adobe acquisition, and then have their best year immediately after. We cover: - Why Figma refused to discount, even when Microsoft pushed back - How to hire the right first sales rep as a founder - The PLG to enterprise transition most companies get wrong - What the Adobe deal collapse actually felt like from the inside - How Figma went from 3 products to 8 overnight and launched into an IPO - What great sales look like in the AI era Timestamp: 0:00 – Intro  1:02 – Guest intro: Kyle Parrish  1:35 – Joining Figma at $2M ARR in 2018  5:01 – First meeting with Dylan (Figma CEO)  6:13 – How to find your first sales hire  9:05 – Stage alignment in early hiring  11:43 – Early-stage operators need "scar tissue"  13:19 – Northstar metric at Figma  14:13 – Obsessing over customer conversations  16:44 – Building Figma's brand through community  17:31 – Scaling the "unscalable"  20:08 – In-person GTM vs. digital  22:47 – Was there a moment Figma might not make it?  24:48 – Pivoting after the Adobe deal collapsed  28:10 – Figma's no-discount rule  31:05 – Enterprise ELAs replacing discounting  34:47 – What makes a great salesperson in the AI era  36:56 – Missionaries vs. mercenaries in AI-era GTM  39:47 – Spotting the next Dropbox or Figma  43:46 – Kyle's post-Figma investing focus  45:58 – Family, travel & what's next Guest: Kyle Parrish, former VP Sales at Figma  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kparrish8/ X: https://x.com/KyleHParrish Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ X: https://x.com/sophiebuona 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_/ Sponsors:  Nooks - the AI workspace for outbound teams: https://www.nooks.ai/gtmfund .Tech - Domains, where the next generation of builders is planting their flag. Secure your .tech domain today from any registrar of your choice.  Transcript available under the episode here: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/ Subscribe to GTMnow for the latest episodes! https://gtmnow.com For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email gtmnow@gtmfund.com GTMnow is a media brand brought to you by VC firm, GTMfund: https://gtmfund.com/ 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 intere 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.

    47 min
  4. How AI Killed the Discovery Call | Sam Senior, Founder & CEO of TestBox

    APR 16

    How AI Killed the Discovery Call | Sam Senior, Founder & CEO of TestBox

    AI isn't just changing how we sell. It's changing how buyers make decisions before they ever talk to you. Sam, Founder and CEO of TestBox, joins Sophie on GTMnow to break down exactly what's happening to the B2B software buying process right now, and what go-to-market leaders need to do about it immediately. If you're a founder, CRO, or AE wondering why your pipeline feels different, this conversation will give you a clear framework for what's happening and what to do next. What we cover: Why 70-80% of purchase decisions are already made before the first call (and it's accelerating)The shift from discovery calls to validation calls, and how to prepareCEO (AI-version of SEO): how LLMs are shaping what buyers believe about your productThe "day one shortlist" shrinking from 3-4 vendors to 1-2 vendorsAgent-to-agent procurement: Sam's timeline for when AI agents fully take over buyingWhy the mid-funnel is actually getting longer, not shorterThe "Fake Nothing, Prove Everything" campaign that went viral post-Series AHow TestBox runs 15 AI experiments per week across the entire companyUsing Google Vertex video analysis to read prospect body language on sales callsHow to build an AI-first culture without burning out your teamBooks: The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, No Ego, Courageous Marketing, Good to GreatTimestamps: 0:00 - Cold open 1:09 - What TestBox does 2:43 - How buying has changed 5:48 - What founders/CROs should do now 7:05 - GEO: AI version of SEO 9:02 - Why mid-funnel is expanding 21:17 - Agent-to-agent procurement 26:02 - All procurement by agents in 3-5 years 29:09 - How vendors differentiate beyond product 33:30 - The croissant campaign breakdown 45:50 - 15 AI experiments per week 47:10 - Analyzing prospects via video AI 48:29 - Building AI culture in your team 52:39 - Book recommendations Guest: Sam Senior, Founder and CEO TestBox Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelsenior/⁠ TestBox:⁠ https://www.testbox.com ⁠ Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ Newsletter:⁠ https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com ⁠Visit us on:⁠ https://gtmnow.com ⁠Follow us on LinkedIn: / gtmnow Follow us on X (Twitter):⁠ https://x.com/GTMnow_⁠  Follow us on YouTube: / @gtm_now  Follow us on TikTok: / gtmnow_  Follow us on Instagram: / 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. 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.

    57 min
  5. VC: Your First VC Meeting Will Be Agent-to-Agent | Auren Hoffman (Flex Capital)

    APR 15

    VC: Your First VC Meeting Will Be Agent-to-Agent | Auren Hoffman (Flex Capital)

    Auren Hoffman (Flex Capital) joins the GTMnow podcast to share some of the most contrarian takes in tech today, from why AI moats are gone, to why your next VC meeting will be with a bot, to why AI is secretly going to trigger a baby boom. In this episode: - Why Auren runs 500+ AI agents to source deals, and what that means for founders raising capital - The "agent-to-agent" meeting prediction: by end of 2026, first VC conversations will be fully automated - Why every software moat has been "blown up" and what Salesforce, LinkedIn & DocuSign need to do to survive - The OpenAI x The Hustle acquisition breakdown: why it's the smartest (and cheapest) distribution play in AI - Why missing a great deal is 10x more painful than making a bad one, Auren's honest VC mistake framework - The baby boom thesis: why AI, IVF, self-driving cars & cheaper energy could reverse the fertility decline - Why companies won't sign yearly SaaS contracts anymore, and what that means for every B2B founder Auren Hoffman is the founder of Flex Capital, SafeGraph, and LiveRamp. He's an early backer of Replit, Perplexity, Rippling, Vercel, Coinbase, Chime, and AppLovin. Connect with Max:  https://x.com/hackitmax https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler Connect with Auren: https://x.com/auren https://www.linkedin.com/in/auren/ https://www.youtube.com/@summationpod GTMnow shares how the best in tech build, scale and invest. Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes, The GTMnow Newsletter editions, and other content. GTMnow is run by GTMfund - we are an early-stage venture firm made up of 350+ go-to-market executives from the fastest-growing companies. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - GTMfund Q1 recap  02:38 - OpenAI x The Hustle breakdown  06:18 - Redpoint's optimal VC deployment period  11:24 - Auren Hoffman intro  13:04 - Why am I seeing this deal?  26:26 - Sizing up founders at Replit, Perplexity & Rippling  28:49 - What separates great founders  32:10 - 500+ AI agents for deal sourcing  33:40 - Agent-to-agent VC meetings by 2026  45:13 - Every software moat is blown up  49:09 - Who kills Salesforce next?  51:30 - Why no one signs yearly SaaS contracts anymore  51:50 - AI will trigger a baby boom  56:22 - Thinking generationally #AI #VentureCapital #GTM #StartupFunding #AurenHoffman #FlexCapital #SaaS #ArtificialIntelligence #Founders #Sales 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.

    57 min
  6. How One Hackathon Took Zapier’s AI Usage From 10% to 97% | CEO of Zapier

    APR 8

    How One Hackathon Took Zapier’s AI Usage From 10% to 97% | CEO of Zapier

    Wade Foster is the CEO of Zapier, a company that sits between 7,000+ apps and runs millions of automations every single day. That gives him a front-row seat to how companies are actually adopting AI, not just talking about it. In this episode, Wade breaks down the exact decisions he made at Zapier to go from 10% AI usage to 97% company-wide, why agents and workflows are not the same thing, and what most leaders are getting completely wrong about AI fluency. What you'll learn: The difference between agents and workflows (and when to use which)What triggered Zapier's internal "Code Red" after GPT-4 launchedThe one-week hackathon that took AI adoption from 10% to 50% overnightThe AI fluency rubric Zapier built: Unacceptable, Acceptable, Adaptive, TransformativeWhy leaders who aren't using AI are the biggest bottleneck in their companiesHow to measure AI ROI: floor raisers vs ceiling raisersHow AI now handles 50% of Zapier's customer support ticketsWade's personal "advisory council" of AI sub-agents he uses for every major decisionWhy building a company today is 10x cheaper but distribution is 10x harderThe truth about fundraising: you're selling your company, not raising moneyHow Zapier stayed profitable by only hiring when it hurt Guest: Wade Foster, CEO of Zapier LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster/ Company - Zapier: https://zapier.com Host: Sophie Buonassisi, SVP Marketing at GTMnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com Episode highlights 0:00 - Intro 1:13 - The Seinfeld Quote & Kanye Text story 3:16 - Workflows vs. Agents: What's the difference? 6:09 - Zapier's Code Red moment 8:55 - The hackathon that moved AI adoption from 10% to 50% 12:06 - Making AI fluency a hiring requirement 13:47 - Building the AI fluency rubric 16:40 - Why leaders are the biggest AI bottleneck 18:12 - Revenue impact of going AI-first 22:09 - Would Wade build Zapier differently today? 23:20 - Is Zapier's moat at risk from agents? 24:59 - Staying profitable with minimal capital 28:37 - The riskiest contrarian bet that paid off 31:52 - Wade's 3 personal AI workflows 36:53 - Favorite books for founders GTMnow is the media brand of GTMfund, sharing go-to-market insights from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by 350+ of the best GTM executives.  Subscribe for weekly episodes with the operators, founders, and investors behind the fastest-growing software companies. 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.

    39 min
  7. VC: Investing at Inception in the Age of AI Agents | Ed Sim (Founder & GP, Boldstart)

    APR 1

    VC: Investing at Inception in the Age of AI Agents | Ed Sim (Founder & GP, Boldstart)

    Ed Sim has been a VC for 30 years. He's backed companies like Clay, Front, BigID, and Snyk. He writes What's Hot in Enterprise IT every single Saturday, 489 weeks in a row. And right now, he says this is the most exciting and terrifying moment he's ever seen in his career. In this episode, Max and Ed break down what's actually happening inside startups and boards right now, why the old playbooks are dead, and what separates the companies that will survive this AI shift from the ones quietly getting killed by it. Discussed in this episode Why engineering is no longer your bottleneck (and what is) The 5 P's Ed uses to evaluate every inception-stage investment The autonomous enterprise thesis and what it means for how companies are built Why AI-native leadership is now a survival reqxtuirement, not a nice to have The full Clay story: $600K to $100M ARR, how they stayed lean, and what actually unlocked growth The 3 CH's framework for being a great board partner to founders Why the best founders today are inside the AI jet stream, not chasing it What every board meeting sounds like right now Episode highlights0:00 Intro &  1:05 Episode Preview: Ed Sim & Key Takeaways 3:10 The Jet Stream Analogy: Two Types of Companies 5:43 How GTM Operators Should Evaluate Companies Like Angel Investors 7:20 The Collapsing of Moats & AI-Native Business Opportunities 10:00 Rebuilding Industries vs. Selling Software to Them 15:00 Why Old GTM Playbooks Are Dead 17:46 Ed Sim's Background: From Cutco to 30 Years in VC 21:43 The Five P's of Inception Investing 23:04 How to Evaluate Potential & TAM in a Fast-Changing Market 25:40 Staying Ahead of the Jet Stream as a Founder 26:32 The Autonomous Enterprise Thesis 28:44 Agent of the Week: How Companies Should Adopt AI Agents 29:10 How Agents Are Changing Engineering Bottlenecks 31:15 What Incumbents Must Do to Survive the AI Wave 32:53 Intercom, Snowflake & How Legacy Companies Are Adapting 36:43 The Clay Story: How They Found Their Footing 38:33 The Three C's of Working With Founders (Cheer, Challenge, Chill) 40:07 Clay's Growth Trajectory: $600K to $100M+ ARR 41:10 Clay's Agency GTM Model & Community Moat 43:50 Ed's Fund Model: $500K to $15M Checks at Inception 46:57 What's Hot in Enterprise IT & Venture Right Now 48:03 Closing Remarks Key takeaways1. Engineering is no longer your bottleneck. Your people are. Code is shipping faster than your sales, marketing, and customers can absorb it. The constraint has flipped completely and most companies haven't noticed yet. 2. Painkillers beat vitamins every time. The only startups worth backing at inception are solving a hair-on-fire problem someone desperately needs fixed, not a nice-to-have they can live without. 3. The 3 CH's of being a great board partner. Know when to Cheer (when founders are getting beaten up), when to Challenge (when they feel invincible), and when to Chill (when they just need breathing room to figure it out). Elliot used all three with Clay to perfection. 4. If your CEO came from sales, you are in trouble. Surviving this AI shift requires product-driven, agent-native leadership at the top. The companies that adapted 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.

    50 min
  8. How Sophos Scales Customer Success for 600,000 Customers in a 24/7 Cyber Threat Environment, with Teresa Anania, SVP of Customer Experience

    MAR 24

    How Sophos Scales Customer Success for 600,000 Customers in a 24/7 Cyber Threat Environment, with Teresa Anania, SVP of Customer Experience

    This episode was recorded prior to Teresa Anania’s move to Chief Customer Officer at Verint. At the time of recording, she was SVP of Customer Experience at Sophos. Teresa Anania (CCO at Verint, formerly CCO at Sophos) joins GTMnow to share how she's built customer success into a true revenue engine at a company serving 600,000 customers across over $1 billion in annual revenue, and why the old reactive, relationship-based CS model is no longer cutting it. At Sophos, the threat landscape is compounding fast. AI is accelerating the speed and sophistication of attacks, which means response times, customer journeys, and success motions all have to evolve in lockstep in order to keep up. Teresa has spent her career at companies like Zendesk, Autodesk, and ON24 building the operational frameworks that make that possible at scale.Mentioned Resources: Cleverbridge: Merchant of Record for Software & SaaS​Guest links: Teresa Anania - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-anania/ Sophos - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sophos/ Sophos - Website: https://www.sophos.com/ Host links: Sophie Buonassisi - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/ Sophie Buonassisi - X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com Sponsors: - HockeyStack - the AI platform that unifies GTM data to help teams convert, expand, and scale. Learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com/ - Nooks - the AI workspace for outbound teams, where AI agents handle prospecting, research, and sequencing so reps can focus on conversations. Learn more at 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.

    42 min
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4.6
out of 5
149 Ratings

About

The GTMnow Podcast interviews well-known tech executive, VC, and founders - the expert operators in the trenches who have ‘been there, done that’ to build some of the fastest-growing software companies. Every week, a guest joins Sophie Buonassisi to dissect their stories, revealing expert insights around what worked, what didn’t, and how things actually went down. This podcast is produced by GTMnow, the media brand of GTMfund - sharing insight on go-to-market from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by over 350 of the best go-to-market executives. GTMfund is an early-stage VC fund focused on investing in the most exciting, up-and-coming B2B SaaS companies across the world. The LP network consists of VP and C-level Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success leaders from companies like DocuSign, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Snowflake, Okta, Zoom, and many more. Visit gtmnow.com for more details and to sign up for our newsletter and other content resources.

Information

  • Creator
    GTMnow
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    630
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The GTMnow Podcast
  • Show Website
    The GTMnow Podcast

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