We’re gearing up for Season 5 but in the meantime, here’s the best of GTM season 3!If you're a CPG or retail brand, you know by default the importance of brand.It's what people buy into as much as the product itself.There's a reason why you choose to pay more for a Nike shirt when you could reasonably buy the same shirt without the logo.Brand is a promise.It's a value system. It's a marker of trust for your community and customers that signals an understanding and expectation of the product experience.In the software world, brand tends to get pushed to the side.It doesn't matter as long as the product is good.But if you want to worry less about competition, have more control over pricing, and get customers to move with you when you make pivots, your best served making brand-led decisions.Sarah Sitz knows exactly what this looks like, having spent time as employee #14 at Foxtrot helping grow the company from Series A to C and launching their private-label brand, and now as Cofounder of brand GTM agency The Squeeze.She steps to the mic in this week's episode to share how to invest wisely in your brand, position yourself for growth, and the difference between an influencer and influential strategy.Find Sarah online:LinkedInFind The Squeeze onlineWebsiteInstagramThis episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m

We’re gearing up for Season 5 but in the meantime, here’s the best of GTM season 3!Everyone wants to have a community.Everyone says they have a community.But just having a Slack or WhatsApp group doesn't actually mean you have community.Community is more about the interactions than the medium.And investing in community means playing the long game.Which is why so many brands don't think it's worth the effort.My friend Pablo Gonzalez has cracked the community code with a playbook that accrues short-term high-impact wins while waiting for the long game to play out.Through a process he calls Experiential Content Marketing, his company, Be The Stage, generated a $40M revenue channel from scratch for one of their customers.I've wanted to interview him for a while, and the stars finally aligned.He steps to the mic in this week's episode to share how you should reframe your community approach, how anyone can create community regardless of brand size, the metrics to track, and how losing his brother unexpectedly 9 years ago turned into an epiphany moment.Find Pablo online:LinkedInFind Be The Stage online:WebsiteThis episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m

We’re gearing up for Season 5 but in the meantime, here’s the best of GTM season 3!What does it take to turn an idea for a boutique 7-11 into a tech-driven consumer market, into a national brand that merged with one of the biggest names in grocery?Enjoy this special episode, a replay of my interview with Foxtrot CEO & Cofounder Mike LaVitola live from the Startup Grind Chicago 4th Annual Great Chicago Food Bash in January 2024.Mike shares overcoming rejection for his crazy idea in the early days, to raising nearly $200M and scaling up nationally.He talks about the importance of optimizing for brand experience, identifying adjacencies in customer behavior, and why data actually isn't everything.Original interview date: January 18, 2024Find Mike online:LinkedInFind Foxtrot online:WebsiteThis episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m

We’re gearing up for Season 5 but in the meantime, here’s the best of GTM season 3!I think we can all agree AI is seemingly everywhere.But what does that actually mean for a startup?Enjoy this special episode, a replay of my interview with Techstars Managing Director Tricia Martinez-Saab live from the Startup Grind Chicago AI Showcase in November 2023.Tricia leads the AI and deep-tech verticals at Techstars and shares her perspective on the good and bad of AI's permeation, how to approach integrating AI into your product, the ethics behind an AI-powered future, and how she makes investment decisions for AI startups at Techstars.Find Tricia online:LinkedInFind Techstars online:WebsiteThis episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m

We’re gearing up for Season 5 but in the meantime, here’s the best of GTM season 3!The 3-letter acronym every startup obsesses with is TAM.But what is your TAM comprised of, and specifically WHO makes up your TAM?When you go to market, you may think your target is one group, but then find it includes others you weren't previously considering.That was the case for Cardio Diagnostics, who built a solution with a clear end user but involved multiple ancillary decision makers and economic buyers, and alternative use cases.This forced them to expand their TAM in order to successfully penetrate the market and grow revenue.And with a team of just 10 they've managed to go public on the NASDAQ.Their Co-founder & CEO, Meesha Dogan, steps to the mic in this week's episode to share how they have strategically charted their market and TAM to win the big deals that take a long time to close, and the small deals that turn around quickly.Find Meesha online:LinkedInFind Cardio Diagnostic online:WebsiteThis episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m

We’re gearing up for Season 5 but in the meantime, here’s the best of GTM season 3!In a down economy, runway is everything.But it should also be everything in a boom economy.Great companies figure out how to spend less, and make more.Jordan Tepper cofounded the cocktail brand Apologue in 2017, and in the 7 years since he's achieved over $1M annual revenue, while raising just $2.5M in that time, and as of this writing still carrying $1M of that raise in the bank.For a CPG brand with significant fixed expenses, Apologue's story is a clinic on meaningful growth and spend.Jordan steps to the mic in our season premiere to share the specific hacks his team has employed to make the most of every dollar since day one.Find Jordan online:LinkedInFind HostesCocktails online:InstagramFind Apologue online:InstagramThis episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m

Part 2 of my conversation with Devin rolls on! After a 2-week break we regroup and picked up as if we never stopped. We found ourselves talking about how we handle managing time, playing the comparison game, not getting too caught up in outcomes while still pursuing them, and much more.Find Devin online:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinreed/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereederco/This episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was supposed to be about content creation (because Devin is a master at it — 2x Head of Content at unicorn startups Gong and Clari, 95k+ Linkedin followers, best B2B podcast in the game). But what I've always liked about the way this show runs is we don't fight momentum. Since Devin and I are so close personally, it's easy to gain momentum in unexpected places. And shortly after we began, we started going deeper into our respective journeys, our mindset, and how we've changed and grown as individuals through our businesses. As we started going in that direction, I found myself not wanting to pull away from it because I was learning a lot, and I realized you will too. So, in an unexpected twist, Devin steps to the mic this week for a conversation about figuring out WHO you are, and how that shapes WHAT you build (despite me saying during his introduction that we're talking about the future of content creation). Devin opens up about how a significant personal loss became the catalyst for taking a big swing, we talk finding time to be present for both business and family, and detaching our personal identity from our business. Our time was cut short so enjoy part 1 this week, and we'll have part 2 of the conversation ready for you in our next episode.Find Devin online:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinreed/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereederco/This episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most startups chase the next automation hack. Gabe Lullo built his by betting on people instead. As CEO of Alleyoop and host of the Do Hard Things podcast, he’s helped over 1,600 founders scale by focusing on one thing that never goes out of style—real human connection. From 11 million cold calls a year to rebuilding how companies hire, train, and lead SDRs, Gabe’s rethinking what growth actually looks like in the age of AI. He steps to the mic this week to talk founder-led selling, why most sales hires fail, and how to build a team that never stops doing the hard things.Find Gabe online:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lullo/Gabe is also hopping into our member community, GOAT to Market Club, for an Ask Me Anything this week. Got Q's you want to ask Gabe personally? Join for free today!This episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

S4 BONUS! Creativity & Betting On Yourself - Reed Between The LinesWe've got a special bonus for you this week! It's a re-airing of my appearance as a guest on the Reed Between The Lines podcast with my friend Devin Reed. I've done a lot of interviews in my life, and this is hands down my favorite one ever. We peel back the curtain on the transformation from Rajiv Nathan to 'RajNATION' and get into the REAL stuff — setbacks, insecurities, relationships, and more. The stuff that really comes into play when you decide to bet on yourself. This interview was originally recorded in March 2024 and aired on Devin's show in May 2024. This one's long, but worth every song.Want to WATCH the show instead? We filmed on a basketball court overlooking the Chicago skyline. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/vXAQ3bf7q0c?si=n9p7tHXWs3ex9v29Subscribe to Devin's show:AppleSpotifyConnect with Devin:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinreed/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereederco/This episode is brought to you by our friends at CodeLaunch! CodeLaunch is the only equity-free AND fee-free accelerator + Venturetainment platform giving founders software development, a massive pitch stage, and an opportunity at investment all for FREE. Use our unique link to apply to CodeLaunch today and cut the line for fast-track application review! https://tinyurl.com/7k7rjt6m Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.