GTM06 - Hiring GTM Leadership Talent, with Dan Hyde, CEO, Erevena
Dan Hyde, CEO of executive search firm Erevena, breaks down how different SaaS business models demand fundamentally different go-to-market leadership profiles. He argues that volume-driven businesses require operational excellence at the top of the funnel, while enterprise sales demands relationship-heavy executives who can navigate complex organizational dynamics.
Key takeaways
- •Volume SaaS businesses should prioritize segmentation and top-of-funnel intelligence over traditional sales skills, treating sales more as a fulfillment function.
- •Go-to-market strategies exist on a spectrum from transactional 'sell what's on the truck' models like MongoDB to relationship-heavy enterprise approaches like Palantir's ex-banker salespeople.
- •Hiring GTM leadership requires matching the executive's background to your specific business model rather than defaulting to generic sales leadership experience.
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Best moment
At one end of the spectrum, you'd have like a Mongo or DataRobot go to market motion - very much like sell what's on the truck, build coverage, execute. And at the other end, you've got Palantir with ex chief commercial officers of Deutsche Bank as their salespeople.
And I think at one end of the spectrum, I think you'd have, like, a Mongo or data robot go to market motion. So very much, like, sell what's on the truck, build coverage, execute, execute, execute. And at the other end, you've got Palantir. Palantir is fascinating because they have, like, ex chief commercial officers of Deutsche Bank and the ex MD of UBS in Europe as their salespeople.
“So the quandary on those people is always, yes, they haven't built a sales team.”
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