The ‘full AI’ GTM dream is a lie. Here’s what works

This article summarizes an episode of TechCrunch’s video series featuring experts from GTMfund, OpenAI, and Google Cloud.

Max Altschuler, general partner and founder of GTMfund / photo credit: GTMfund

AI in marketing is often about efficiency and automating boring tasks that slow down teams. But the change is bigger. According to experts from GTMfund, OpenAI, and Google Cloud, AI is a planning tool that is changing how companies find customers, build relationships, and hire people.

AI has sped up research

A company’s sales plan relied on research to find what customers wanted. AI’s instant research revolutionizes how teams personalize outreach and find potential customers.

The old way of personalizing was hard
Before AI, finding a connection with an important customer was like searching online without a guide. Teams spent hours on searches for a personal detail to start a conversation.

Max Altschuler, general partner and founder of GTMfund, recalls one challenging project. “We couldn’t find a single personal thing about the key stakeholder… I’m sitting there scrolling through her Twitter back to 2016… we found one non-corporate tweet and it was: she was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan… that’s the type of thing that you could now find in the snap of a finger.”

Basic filters are becoming outdated
Sales teams can no longer rely on general information like company size or industry. To find the right customers, they need to find specific details that show a customer is a good match. Marc Manara, head of startups at OpenAI, explains how AI is making this kind of specific search possible.

“We’re seeing companies use tools like Clay… [It’s like they’re saying,] ‘I don’t just care about companies of a certain size, I actually care if they have a headquarters in New York and a second office in São Paulo, or I care if they’re a B2B company that has AI built into the core of their product.'”

Humans are still the center of strategy

This access to data encourages teams to automate their sales messages. The panel agrees that startups use AI to help people make better decisions instead of trying to replace people.

The idea of a fully automated sales team has not happened
The dream of a “set it and forget it” AI sales system has not happened, especially for big sales.

“I think largely we’ve seen that’s not how the most innovative startups are using AI,” Manara states. “They’re bringing it in and usually having a human in the loop… in the enterprise, still, people tend to want to buy from a human and have a really strong relationship.”

Technical skill alone is not enough
The best teams are strategists, not just tool operators. Alison Wagonfeld, VP of marketing at Google Cloud, argues this requires a new type of employee.

“The craft of marketing is still very much required. We think of it in our team as this bilingual type of workforce where you certainly need the AI knowledge… but also an understanding of what the core purposes of marketing are.”

The plan for the first 10 customers

Technical founders often want to hire a sales leader to hand off sales work. But early on, this is a mistake that separates the people building the product from the customer.

Per-user pricing punishes success

The necessary change to pricing based on results