Last week, I reviewed a GTM plan for a startup gearing up to raise its Series A. The startup had a good product, a credible team, and solid revenue. But what stood out wasn't what they were doing. It was what they hadn't considered.
There is no mention of how AI would reshape their customer journey, no plan for how their team structure might evolve, and no visibility into how automation might impact what they need humans to do in their GTM motion. And this isn't rare—it's most teams I speak to.
Founders and early-stage teams still treat AI like a tool, not a system shift. Something to plug into outreach or summarise notes rather than a force that will fundamentally change who gets hired, how fast you go, and what makes your GTM engine valuable.
I get it.
There's excitement and unease in equal measure.
Most CEOs I speak with say the same thing:
"We're using it here and there."
It's time to go further. Here's how I think about AI and advise founders and investors to prepare.
Start with the workflow. Before you chase tools, map what's getting done inside your GTM engine. Step by step, human by human. Who's doing what, how often, and to what effect?
You'll find work that feels busy but adds no value, manual reports that don't change decisions, campaigns no one responds to, and meetings with no follow-up. AI exposes this faster. Eliminate anything that doesn't directly improve how you attract, convert, or retain customers.
Reduce the volume. Tighten the purpose. Then, ask what AI can replace, assist, or enhance.
Clarify what your people uniquely do. If a seller sends the same outbound daily, that's replaceable. If a marketer runs SEO research the same way every week, that's automatable.
AI can replace parts of insight work, analysis, pattern detection, and even draft messaging. But it still relies on strong inputs and clear judgment. If your team isn't shaping the questions, interpreting nuance, or validating direction through real conversations, the output won't help.
Codify what works. Document everything—not just tasks but principles. What makes a good lead? What are the cues that a deal is real? What messaging lands, and why?
The more you encode your judgment, the more leverage you'll get from AI. Feed it with your insights, not generic prompts. Build internal knowledge into your GTM motion. Your competitors can copy your tactics. They can't copy your reasoning—unless you never wrote it down.
Rethink what speed looks like. Speed isn't sending 10x more messages. Speed removes ambiguity, so decisions happen faster. That's the shift AI makes possible.
AI won't save you if your team is still stuck asking what to prioritize, what happened to that lead, or how to report last quarter's funnel. Alignment will.
Before your next board meeting, your GTM should show how AI is helping you operate smarter—not just faster:
- Can you track the entire buyer journey in real-time—with fewer manual inputs?
- Have you reduced noise in the funnel—or just added automation on top of the clutter?
- Are you using AI to improve decisions, not just speed up outputs?
- Is your team aligned on what’s worth human attention—and what isn’t?
Because AI is coming for us.
What does this mean practically?
Double down on the human edge.
Most teams are buried in internal work i.e. reporting, meetings, operational work, busy tactics. This is the moment to free up your best people to do what only they can do: connect.
Use judgment to qualify what matters. Spend human time understanding buyers, refining messaging, progressing real conversations. Make space to build context, trust, and momentum.
Let AI take the repetition. Let your team focus on the relationships.
And if you want to go further—start building smaller, tighter communities around your product. Not just users, but people who influence others. Relationships compound faster than ads, and insight travels faster when it’s shared directly.
That’s what I’d be doubling down on.
How to find your human edge in GTM
If you’re thinking about where judgment and connection still matter most, ask yourself:
- What parts of your GTM require experience—not just data—to get right?
- Where do relationships still influence pipeline velocity?
- What customer input has actually changed your GTM in the last 30 days?
- Where does context shape outcomes more than content?
The companies getting this right aren’t chasing volume. They’re sharpening their judgment, improving their inputs, and staying close to the customer.
And that’s where the real leverage is going
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Action for investors and CEOs:
If you're an investor or operating partner:
1. Ask how automation is affecting the cost of acquisition.
Push for specifics. How much of their CAC is tied to manual sales and marketing labor versus automated systems? If GTM efficiency isn't improving, neither is valuation.
2. Pressure-test the scalability of their GTM motion.
Can they grow without linearly adding headcount? If not, they're scaling effort—not impact. Ask how AI compresses time-to-value, shortens sales cycles, or improves conversion.
3. Demand visibility into GTM knowledge transfer.
What happens when someone leaves? If AI tools can't pick up part of the workflow or if new hires rely on tribal knowledge, the GTM system isn't durable—and that kills the value of diligence.
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If you're a CEO:
1. Build a current-state GTM map.
Outline every key step from demand generation to revenue. Identify which steps are manual, which are inconsistent, and which could be automated.
2. Decide what's worth human time.
Pick three parts of your GTM flow where human input is non-negotiable, and then protect that time. Everything else is a candidate for automation.
3. Review your internal documentation.
Look at your onboarding, your sales playbook, and your ICP definitions. If AI can't learn from them, neither can your new hires. Fix that now.
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You're exposed if your GTM still relies on human effort to hold it together. Use AI where it adds Speed. Use humans where it adds clarity and judgment. And get your system in shape before someone asks to see it.
