Winning by Design

🚨 Between 2021 and 2025, something fundamental broke in software. Growth didn’t just slow—it collapsed. Valuations fell. Playbooks stopped working. What powered hypergrowth for a decade suddenly couldn’t sustain it. But beneath the chaos, a new pattern was forming. A new architecture for growth. 🚀 The Rise of AI-Native GTM After analyzing 50+ diagnostics and hundreds of companies, our latest Winning by Design Foundational Research Series uncovered a clear storyline: 1. The Collapse – SaaS stalls; the classic machine loses GTM fit. 2. The Reckoning – Efficiency becomes the survival metric. 3. The Inflection – AI enters the workflow—first as assistant, then operator. 4. The Rebuild – GTM systems get redesigned around data, loops, and automation.| 5. The Resurgence – AI-Natives scale 3–4× faster through compounding feedback loops. 6. The New Era – Growth comes from system intelligence, not manual push. This isn’t a tool story. It’s an operating model shift. AI isn’t upgrading the old GTM system. It’s replacing it. 🔧 Process First. AI Second. One of Jacco van der Kooij’s biggest findings: “Before companies can adopt AI at scale, they must repair the system it will operate within.” Teams chasing AI without fixing their processes are just automating inefficiency. Teams that standardize data, handoffs, and decision loops first? They unlock compounding growth the moment AI is layered in. 📈 The New GTM Equation AI-Native companies are rewriting the math: Human effort → System intelligence Playbooks → Feedback loops Funnels → Connected systems Activity → Impact The outcome? Faster cycles. Lower cost of growth. GTM engines that improve automatically as data compounds. 2026’s winners won’t be the teams working the hardest. They’ll be the teams whose systems learn the fastest. The GTM revolution isn’t about adopting new software—it’s about adopting a new structure. If you’re rethinking your 2025–2026 strategy, this research series might change how you see the road ahead. 👉 Access the research via the link in the comments. #GTMLeadership #RevenueGrowth #AIinGTM #CompoundingGrowth #GrowthArchitecture #RevOps #SalesLeadership #B2BSaaS #GoToMarket

If your GTM results aren’t where you want them to be, it’s rarely a pipeline problem — it’s a skills and systems problem. Training is the lever most teams overlook. 2026 demands something different: A shared language. A proven process. And a team that knows how to execute with consistency, not heroics. That’s why high-performing organizations invest in skills that compound: 📌 Managers who coach, not inspect 📌 Sellers who can diagnose impact, not just ask questions 📌 CS teams who drive measurable activation and expansion 📌 Revenue leaders who design systems, not just slides The organizations pulling ahead aren’t simply adding tools — they’re upleveling capability. As we approach year-end, many teams have L&D budget left unused — and this is the time to turn it into something that actually moves the needle: ➡️ Training that improves performance immediately ➡️ Frameworks your teams will use every day ➡️ Skills that strengthen your entire GTM system If your 2026 plan calls for better execution, stronger coaching, more consistent pipeline, and a unified GTM language… Then your L&D budget isn’t an expense — it’s the highest-ROI investment you can still make this year. Explore the Revenue Academy. Your team will feel the difference. Your results will show it. 👉 View courses open for registration via the link in the comments. #RevenueAcademy #WinningByDesign #SalesTraining #GTMLeadership #SalesEnablement #RevOps #CustomerSuccess #ManagerTraining #SPICED #RecurringRevenue #CompoundingGrowth

👇 MUST-READ from our Certified Partner Vasco for anyone working anywhere near revenue... "In 2026, the companies that win won't be the ones that predict the future most accurately — they'll be the ones that model it, monitor it, and redesign their engine in real time. The pace of change is faster than any planning cycle, and GTM systems can no longer be built as static processes that get refreshed once a year. Rebuilding means accepting a dynamic operating model: one where inputs shift constantly, feedback loops stay open, and teams adjust their motions as the environment moves." - Jacco van der Kooij

AI won’t fix a broken GTM system — it will amplify it. That’s the core insight from Walter Velazquez Taboada’s latest article on the state of AI in GTM. Across hundreds of companies, one pattern is undeniable: → Winners design their GTM process first… then “hire” AI to perform specific jobs. → Laggards buy tools first and end up automating inefficiency. Here are the 3 takeaways every GTM leader should apply now: 1. Process first, AI second. Align data, handoffs, and decision loops before layering in automation. AI accelerates whatever system you already have — good or bad. 2. Quick wins > massive rebuilds. Teams that start with small, high-impact AI use cases (call summaries, risk alerts, handoff packets) gain momentum and internal confidence fast. 3. Define the job before the tool. Use Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) to decide: should this be handled by a human, assistive AI, or an autonomous agent? “Design first, then choose the agentic and assistive elements needed for the job.” — Walter Velazquez Taboada The next era of GTM won’t be won by who buys AI fastest — but by who architects systems that AI can actually run. 👉 You can read the full article by subscribing to our Growth Journal via the link in the comments. #AIinGTM #GoToMarket #RevenueLeadership #RevOps #AIGrowth #GTMStrategy #SalesLeadership #CustomerSuccess #B2BSaaS

🔍 Most GTM teams don’t have a “growth problem.” They have a data problem. The typical revenue team isn’t suffering from a lack of effort, strategy, or ambition. They’re suffering because data lives in silos, forecasts rely on “best guesses,” and decisions get made on lagging indicators instead of real-time signals. If you want to scale efficiently in 2025, here’s the uncomfortable truth: ➡️ You can’t run a recurring revenue business with spreadsheet-era tools. ➡️ You can’t course-correct if you can’t see where your bowtie is leaking. ➡️ And you can’t align GTM + Finance when each function is looking at a different version of reality. This is exactly the gap modern FP&A platforms must fill — and why the team at WbD recently put our certified partner Una Software through a full technical + GTM evaluation. Here are the practical takeaways every GTM professional should know from the findings: 💡 1. Modern FP&A must connect the entire customer lifecycle 💡 2. Forecast accuracy is now an AI problem — not a human one 💡 3. Cleaner data = better diagnostics = faster growth 💡 4. When GTM + Finance align, growth accelerates 💡 5. You need one connected system if you want to course-correct in real time So why does this matter for GTM leaders? Because the next generation of high-performing GTM teams won’t win on hustle. They’ll win on shared data, shared insight, shared reality, and the ability to adjust instantly when the market moves. In our mind, Una isn’t “just another FP&A tool.” It’s the connective tissue between strategy, execution, and financial impact. And that’s exactly the gap most revenue organizations urgently need to close. Full review is linked in the comments. #RevenueOperations #GTMLeadership #SalesLeadership #RevOps #FPandA #Forecasting #RevenueArchitecture #BowtieModel #AIinRevenue #DataDrivenGTM #GrowthLeadership #OperationalExcellence #B2BSaaS

What if the biggest blocker to your 2026 growth isn’t effort… but system design? Across thousands of conversations with CEOs, CROs, RevOps leaders, and GTM teams, one pattern is undeniable: Companies aren’t struggling because they lack talent. They’re struggling because their GTM systems weren’t built to compound. That’s exactly why we built the Winning by Design Growth Institute—a new category of ongoing executive education dedicated to helping revenue leaders architect growth machines, not just chase short-term results. Inside the Institute, members get: → Monthly executive briefings on the latest GTM research → Quarterly case study deep dives → Access to advanced courses, complete with frameworks & blueprints you can immediately deploy → Working groups to define and solve real challenges → A peer community operating from the same scientific principles It’s the first program built specifically for leaders who know the next era of GTM will belong to companies that scale through systems, data, and compounding loops—not heroic effort. And right now, Founding Member seats are still open. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. If you want to be part of the group shaping the standards, language, and operating models for the next decade of GTM—this is it. The future of growth will be built, not guessed. Join the leaders building it. #GTMLeadership #RevenueGrowth #GrowthInstitute #GTMStrategy #RevOps #SalesLeadership #MarketingLeadership #AIinGTM #RevenueArchitecture #CompoundingGrowth #B2BGrowth cc: 🎼 Aaron Hill Sara Swart Ayman El-Hattab

The best GTM leaders aren’t just optimizing steps in the customer journey — they’re designing systems built for clarity, consistency, and compounding growth. In a recent conversation between Lauren Shleifer Goldstein (Chief Growth Officer, Winning by Design) and Rob Giglio (Chief Customer Officer, Canva), Rob shared what he’s learned leading some of the most iconic transformations in software — from Adobe → DocuSign → HubSpot → Canva. Here are a few takeaways every GTM leader should steal: 1. Simplify until it works at scale. Rob shared that success rarely comes from adding more steps, more process, or more rules. The winning move is often removing complexity so teams can execute with confidence. 2. Obsess over customer understanding — not just usage. Canva’s teams go beyond “what customers do” to understand why they do it and what adjacent problems they’re trying to solve. This creates better segmentation, sharper messaging, and clearer prioritization. 3. Align your company around a common language. As Rob described, teams struggle when Marketing, Product, Sales, and CS each see a different customer reality. Shared frameworks (like the Bowtie and SPICED) give teams a universal way to diagnose, communicate, and act. 4. Design both sides of the Bowtie. Most organizations over-rotate on pre-sale motion. Canva invests equally in what happens after the purchase — adoption, success, and expansion — because that’s where durable revenue models are built. 5. A GTM system isn’t “human vs. AI.” It’s human and AI. Rob emphasized that the future is about using AI to remove friction, surface insights sooner, and enable teams to focus on higher-value human interactions. If you’re building a 2025–2026 GTM plan, this interview is a blueprint worth studying. The full interview can be found on page 27 of our Growth Journal. Subscribe via the link comments. #GTMLeadership #RevenueGrowth #CustomerExperience #SaaSLeadership #GoToMarket #SalesLeadership #CustomerSuccess #ProductLedGrowth #EnterpriseGTM

Everyone wants to grow faster in 2026. But here’s the part most teams overlook: You don’t need a radical transformation to create radical results. A 10% improvement in the right parts of the customer journey can unlock up to a 2x impact across the entire GTM system. So here’s a question for the operators, revenue leaders, and GTM architects in this community. Curious to see where this community believes the biggest opportunity lies today. 👇 Cast your vote and feel free to add context in the comments. #GTM #RevenueLeadership #GrowthArchitecture #CompoundingGrowth #RevOps #SPICED #CustomerJourney

Math is back — and honestly, it’s having a main-character moment. As 2026 targets start looming, one thing is crystal clear: hope is not a strategy. (We checked the math. It didn’t pencil out. 😅) Boards want confidence. Teams want clarity. And most folks are still scratching their heads wondering how to calculate a real path to growth. Enter Revenue Architecture. Enter systems thinking. Enter… actual math. And good news — you don’t have to go it alone. We now have 1,500+ certified Revenue Architects who’ve gone through our GTM training and are leveling up even further through our Growth Institute. This crew is designing growth with precision, not wishful thinking. Want in? → Grab your spot in our next Revenue Architecture cohort → Check out the list of certified Revenue Architecture Graduates → Join the Growth Institute 2026 is coming fast. Hope won’t get you there. Math might. And we’re here to help you love it again – key links in the comments. #MathIsBack #RevenueArchitecture #GrowthArchitecture #GrowthInstitute #GTM #CompoundGrowth

We just wrapped the BEST ATTENDED global event in Winning by Design history… and if you’re wondering why, you’re not alone. Do you want to know what everyone showed up for? Here’s the short version: Math is back. What does that mean for GTM? Well… that’s where it gets interesting. We shared the new models reshaping 2026 planning, why so many teams are misreading their growth signals, and what the data actually says about where momentum is hiding. And yes — there’s a lot more behind it. If you want the full story, the recording is now live. Watch the replay here via the link in the comments. #GTM #RevenueScience #CompoundingGrowth #GrowthArchitecture