Nick Graham

The most efficient GTM motion in SaaS today? Still product-led growth. In a market where CAC efficiency matters more than ever, the companies thriving are the ones that let their product do the heavy lifting. As productled.org puts it, “Sales-led and marketing-led have had their time. The future is product-led growth.” Software buying has shifted—from being sold to being experienced. Product-led growth (PLG) is all about that shift. It’s an end-user focused model where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and expansion. It aligns every team—marketing, sales, product, and success—around one shared goal: delivering an experience users love. And it fits perfectly with a growth mindset. The best PLG teams are constantly experimenting, learning, and adapting to how real users behave. As Amplitude says, “Product-led is breaking down the silos between the business and the product.” Because in this new era, the business is the product. https://lnkd.in/gifm2wzF

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Clear shift in the market for revenue leadership (specifically in lmm pe-backed software) in the past year and I don't think enough sponsors/boards have picked up on it. The top percentile of gtm leaders that know the cadence/pace of play of PE environment AND have demonstrable track record of success in that enviroment are dilegencing your portco harder before entertaining offers. I'm seeing it in searches right now. They're asking about - product-market fit - board alignment on GTM strategy - what the last Sales Leader got wrong and why - the strength of the marketing program - NRR, etc To a degree this has always been the case.. In fact, the pattern recognition signals to me that they know the playing field. The candidates with the most relevant experience have watched enough of these movies to know how they end. The big difference now is that the risk profile of your $50M enterprise software portco has changed for the execs. Why? Because what used to be a 4-5 yr stint is now more likely to be a 6-7 yr battle. That changes how they weigh the risk:reward for your opportunity. The risk is 2 fold: 1) A failed CRO/CMO appointment is visible, it plays out in front of their entire network over 14 months and then the person is back in the market explaining what happened. (this is not new) 2) They do a decent job and still can't get a win after year 6. And even if they do get the win after 6 or 7 years, the payout spread across their years of service to the company is lower. So when a CEO says "our process is moving slow because we want to be thorough" that's fine. But the best candidate in your pipeline is running their own processes at the same time and they're scrutinizing your opportunity just as hard. So, how do you compete now? Well for starters, perhaps you need to revisit the good/bad leaver definitions. Furthermore, you've got to treat top GTM candidates the way you'd treat a perspective buyer. Yes.. you need to close them. This helps: - Clarity on the opportunity.  - Speed through the process.  - No surprises on scope, or what the first 90 days actually look like. - Get your story/numbers straight.. act like your selling the company (you are). - Lastly, if you want top percentile talent be prepare to remunerate appropriately. Your process is either earning the candidate or losing them. There's no neutral.

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Silence in deal sourcing is often misinterpreted. No reply No immediate interest No quick follow-up Most teams assume that means no opportunity. It usually just means wrong timing. In the lower mid-market, timing drives outcomes more than intent. Owners think in cycles: • After a large customer churns • After a refinancing window opens • After a management change • After a tough quarter • After a competitor exits The problem is most firms don’t track silence. They track responses. If someone doesn’t reply, the conversation dies. No structured revisit. No trigger-based follow-up. No memory of why the company was interesting in the first place. Six months later, that same business sells to someone else. Not because they were better. Because they were present at the right moment. At Farao, we think of silence as deferred signal. Our job isn’t to push harder. It’s to stay structured long enough for timing to change. The firms that win proprietary deals aren’t the most aggressive. They’re the most patient and the most organized. #PrivateEquity #PrivateCredit #DealSourcing #Origination #LowerMidMarket #MergersAndAcquisitions

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Cold outbound isn’t dead, but the way pipeline gets built has changed. We surveyed 1,305 GTM leaders to understand what’s actually driving revenue today, and where teams are getting stuck between pipeline and quota. These 5 stats explain the Warm Intro Gap, and why warm intros outperform cold, yet still aren’t operationalized. 📊 Full report drops January 22 🎙️ Live webinar breakdown on January 29 (https://hubs.la/Q03XYj-f0) If you’re trying to do more with less pipeline, this one’s for you.

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If your AE already ran discovery, your SE already built the demo, and your team already knows this account inside out. So why is someone rebuilding the deck from scratch at 10 PM? Every deal has context. Most collateral ignores it. Generic slides. Reused one-pagers. Copy-pasted case studies that almost fit. The customization gap isn't a talent problem. It's a workflow problem. SiftHub's Sales Collateral Builder pulls from what your team already knows - past deals, product details, winning narratives - and turns it into collateral that's actually built for this account. First draft in minutes. Strategy time back. 💡 Link in comments. #Presales #SalesEngineering #GTM #RevenueEnablement

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The best CFOs know segmentation is the soul of strategic decision making. Because without it, you’re allocating capital with all or nothing data. It was easy to tolerate complacency in a zero interest rate environment and you could afford to peanut butter spread R&D and GTM investments evenly across the board. In the current environment (higher interest, fiercer competition, reduced productivity), it could keep your company from growing profitably, reduce valuation, or, worse, keep you from existing (or raising capital) altogether. Segmentation is what allows you to throttle and accelerate allocations the way an investor would. Can you look at your data at these levels? → In sales: What regions, reps, and business lines perform best compared to the others? Which reps need a bit more coaching and which ones won’t work out? Are there roles we should reallocate to higher performing segments? → In marketing: Do you know which of your 5-7 key channels are driving the highest lifetime value (LTV) segments? Which channels are driving a lot of activity but few results? Where should you double down on success versus cutting back? → In R&D: Can you evaluate your unit economics by product line? How does the product roadmap tie into profitability goals for the business? Which new feature releases have had the biggest impact on retention? This is how great CFOs like Pam (Peterson) Martinez (who successfully exited SevenRooms to DoorDash) operate. They set themselves up with this level of data maturity from day one and make exit readiness a state of being. #PrivateEquity #StrategicFinance #FPandA #SegmentationStrategy #GoToMarket #ExitReadiness #FinanceLeadership #FinQore

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Revenue leakage compounds faster than most PE operators realise. A portfolio company losing 3-5% of potential revenue through pricing inconsistencies, untracked discounts, and pipeline blind spots in month one is losing 15-22% by month twelve. The curve is not linear - it accelerates. Claymore's Revenue Flow Diagnostic maps every revenue touchpoint from lead to cash. What we consistently find: the biggest leaks aren't in sales execution. They're in the handoffs - marketing to sales, sales to implementation, implementation to renewal. The companies that run this diagnostic in the first 90 days and act on the top three findings see measurable recovery within a single quarter. Revenue leakage is silent. But the P&L impact is loud. Where are your portfolio companies losing revenue they've already earned? #PrivateEquity #RevenueOperations #DigitalTransformation

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Kyle James makes a great observation about how GTM teams are approaching platforms like Gainsight today. What looks like hesitation is often discipline. Teams are taking time to pressure test workflows, data, and ownership before committing to a platform. That behavior does not diminish the value of Gainsight. In many cases, it increases it. When teams arrive with clearer intent and operational readiness, adoption improves and outcomes compound faster. The signal here is not about building instead of buying. It is about earning the right to scale with the platform once the foundation is actually in place. https://lnkd.in/emF9ZvCQ

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