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New Research: How Top Businesses Are Using AI to Drive GTM Performance in 2025
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This week’s research note includes:
GTM Research: New Research: How Top Businesses Are Using AI to Drive GTM Performance in 2025
GTM OS Certified Partner Spotlight: Heidi Hattendorf
Upcoming Events and Access
New Research: How Top Businesses Are Using AI to Drive GTM Performance in 2025
Every year, we sift through mountains of data to surface the research that matters most to GTM leaders.
We don’t cover everything. Just the signal.
The stuff you can’t afford to miss if you’re trying to grow faster and smarter.
This one made the cut.
The 2025 HubSpot for Startups + AI in GTM report is packed with insights from 500 founders, GTM leaders, and decision-makers on how businesses are using AI to scale efficiently—and what separates high performers from the pack.
Marketing is now personalization, at scale. AI tailors every message to every buyer, based on their behavior, intent, and timing.
Sales is now reach, at scale. AI listens, writes, prioritizes, and books meetings—so reps can spend more time selling.
Support is now proactivity, at scale. AI predicts issues, deflects tickets, and solves problems before they escalate.
If you're serious about building an AI-first GTM strategy, this is required reading.
Here are a few of the most important shifts:
1. The Best-Performing Companies Don’t Just Use AI—They’re Built Around It
According to the report, companies that dedicate over 50% of their GTM tech stack to AI are dramatically outperforming their peers. These companies report:
Lower CAC (37%)
Higher upsell and cross-sell rates (72%)
Faster growth across sales, marketing, and service
This isn’t about bolting AI onto old workflows. It’s about redesigning your systems—starting with structure, ownership, and investment strategy.
2. AI Is Driving GTM Outcomes, Not Just Operational Efficiency
Early in the AI hype cycle, much of the focus was on productivity. But this report confirms that AI’s real value comes from GTM impact:
Sales: Businesses using AI for lead scoring, prospecting, and CRM hygiene saw major gains in pipeline conversion and forecast accuracy.
Marketing: AI-enabled content personalization and targeting led to increased lead gen and campaign ROI.
Customer Service: AI tools like chatbots and support agents reduced service volume and improved customer satisfaction.
The takeaway? AI is not just making teams faster. It’s helping them sell more, close more, and keep customers longer.
3. Venture-Backed Are Betting Big on AI—and Investors Are Watching
Nearly half of all venture-backed compaines say over 25% of their GTM tech stack is powered by AI.
And they’re not shy about it: 93% plan to hire for AI-specific skills this year, and investor expectations are shifting accordingly.
“If startups aren’t using AI tools or agents, we’re less inclined to invest,” says Adina Tecklu at Khosla Ventures.
The message is clear: demonstrating an AI-first GTM approach is no longer a nice-to-have in your pitch deck. It’s table stakes.
4. Startups Are Scaling Revenue, Not Just Headcount
One of the most compelling case studies in the report comes from Fathom, an AI-powered meeting assistant and HubSpot App Marketplace leader.
They’re on track to scale to $100M ARR with under 150 employees.
How?
Their GTM strategy leans entirely on AI—automated note-taking, sales insights, CRM integration, even Slack alerts for at-risk deals or competitor mentions.
This is the kind of operational leverage every founder is chasing.
5. AI Strategy ≠ AI Tools
It’s easy to get caught up in what tools to buy. But the startups seeing the biggest returns are also investing in governance, talent, and culture:
Clear AI ownership and decision-making frameworks
Dedicated AI teams or leads (not just ad hoc responsibility)
Investment in internal AI education and experimentation
The most important shift is mindset: leaders who see AI not as a bolt-on automation tool, but as a strategic asset to design around.
Want More?
This report is 50+ pages of practical benchmarks, use cases, and strategy recommendations—from AI tech stack maturity assessments to region-specific trends. You’ll learn:
Which AI capabilities are most valuable by company stage
What VCs want to see in your AI roadmap
How to structure your GTM team for AI-first success
If you’re building in 2025, you need this on your desk.
The Next Frontier: Agentic Marketing
The HubSpot report makes one thing clear: AI is driving performance in every corner of GTM. But what’s next?
At GTM Partners, we’re watching a new shift emerge—one that’s bigger than automation and deeper than personalization. We call it Agentic Marketing.
Instead of relying on SDRs to follow up on form fills or manual workflows to qualify leads, AI agents are taking over early-stage buyer engagement. These agents—trained on your brand voice, product data, and past conversion signals—don’t just respond quickly. They respond intelligently, guiding buyers through personalized journeys in real time.
One standout example? Qualified.
Qualified is pioneering agentic experiences for inbound conversion.
Their AI agents engage website visitors the moment intent is detected, qualifying them instantly and booking meetings without human delay. It’s not just better for pipeline velocity—it’s better for the buyer.
If you’re serious about the future of inbound, agentic marketing should be on your radar.
Want to Stay Ahead of the Curve?
AI is transforming the way startups and businesses go to market—but tech alone won’t fix a broken GTM strategy. That’s where GTM University comes in.
We don’t teach you how to prompt a chatbot. We teach you how to build a high-performing, cross-functional GTM engine that can use tools like AI—without losing sight of strategy, segmentation, and buyer experience.
If you're navigating new tech, new teams, or a shifting market, GTM University will help you bridge the gap between insight and execution.
Join GTM University and build the foundational skills every modern GTM leader needs—whatever tools you’re using.
👉 Learn more about GTM University
Certified Partner Spotlight: Heidi Hattendorf, Transformation Insights LLC
Fractional CMO & Business Advisor for Profitable Growth
Heidi Hattendorf is a seasoned GTM strategist and fractional CMO who helps B2B companies grow smarter—with clear strategy, strong execution, and measurable business results. Through her firm, Transformation Insights LLC, Heidi partners with CEOs, founders, and executive teams to build marketing and GTM plans that align with business goals and drive profitable pipeline.
With 25+ years of leadership experience in marketing and sales—including CMO and VP roles—Heidi brings executive-level guidance without the full-time overhead. She blends GTM Partners' proven frameworks with real-world expertise to bridge strategy and execution, increase company valuation, and unlock scalable growth.
Core Services Include:
Fractional CMO – Executive-level strategy to strengthen marketing and accelerate revenue
GTM Strategy & Execution – Actionable, data-driven plans aligned to business goals
Business Advisory – Certified coaching for leaders scaling toward profitability
If you need a strategic partner who delivers impact—not just input—Heidi’s ready to help.
Learn more: Heidi Hattendorf Partner Page →
If you’d like to be a certified GTM Partner like Heidi and many others, we’d love to talk to you about how to make that happen.
New Certified Partners
We’ll do a spotlight every week, but new certified partners are signing up so fast. we don’t want to wait to announce everyone.
Here are more GTM Certified Partners who you’ll be learning more about in the coming weeks on our LinkedIn page and here in GTMonday:
Jeff Ballard: Helping high-growth and emerging B2B technology companies accelerate revenue by transforming go-to-market (GTM) potential into real-world performance.
Swetha Sirupa: A GTM advisory and implementation partner that helps startups and scale-ups cut through chaos and achieve clarity, alignment, and traction.
Waseem Kawaf: Partnering with ambitious companies to drive smarter, more sustainable growth — by integrating brand, product, marketing, and sales into one high-performance system.
Shelli Ryan: Accelerating market leadership with on-demand expertise
Ricardo Vanegas: Strategic advisory for scalable revenue growth
Robert Culpepper: Driving scalable growth and profitability for startups to Fortune 50s
Sam Knight: Driving revenue growth for AI, SaaS & martech startups through scalable GTM systems
All these folks are getting certified in the GTM Operating System:
Upcoming Events: Where We’ll Be Speaking in 2025
(DM Sangram for a discount code to attend or to get slides after the talk)
Operationalizing Your GTM with Data (hosted by ScaleMatters), July 30
Hitchhiker’s Guide to Marketing Analytics (hosted by CaliberMind), August 20 at 1 p.m. (virtual)
INBOUND (hosted by Hubspot), September 3-5, San Francisco
DRIVE 2025 (hosted by Exit Five). September 10-11, Burlington, VT
Usage Economy Summit (hosted by LogiSense) Nov 5, San Francisco
Love,
Sangram and Bryan
p.s. Access GTM University | Hire GTM OS Certified Partners | Read Fractional Friday
