GTM > Account Executive: The GTM Rebrand

In the mid-20th century, everyone was a "sales rep." The title made sense for the transactional nature of selling. But it eventually started giving used car sales(person), particularly as it represented an era when reps held all the informational cards before the internet democratized knowledge.

The first big evolution came when software companies like IBM and Oracle, dealing with increasingly complex products, moved from "sales rep" to "account executive."

A deliberate rebrand away from the Willy Lohman / Glengarry Glen Ross stereotype toward a more Don Draper image.

The role needed someone who could navigate an account like an executive, not close a deal on a showroom floor.

The landscape shifted again in the mid-2010s with the rise of Product-Led Growth. A new breed of intellectual seller started entering the profession (probably because they were now down for sales when it was more on easy mode, aka PLG selling).

Dropbox became notorious for hiring from elite schools and poaching from finance and other non-traditional sectors. That "mafia" of highly educated sellers spread throughout the tech ecosystem.

Then came "GTM."

To my knowledge, the pioneer was Stripe in the mid-2010s, with marque hires like Meka (IC) and Jeanne (leadership). Known for hiring based on intellectual horsepower and academic pedigree, they started putting "GTM" in their LinkedIn profiles. Other orgs looking to cultivate a more cerebral selling environment followed.

The old Stripe mafia branched out into OpenAI, Anthropic, and the rest of the AI wave, and the title came with them.

Alex Cramer, CRO at Cresta, was the one who put the frustration into a LI post.

He posted about how "GTM" felt pretentious, and the comment section lit up with agreement from seasoned sellers (re-posting this again here):

He wasn't wrong. The title can absolutely come off as LARPing, especially when someone uses it to dress up a pure quota-carrying job at a late-stage company.

An AE at Salesforce working their territory and hitting a number is an AE. They shouldn't be putting GTM on their profile.

But at early-stage AI companies, the role looks genuinely different from traditional enterprise sales. And in the 18 months since that debate, the gap between the two archetypes has widened, not closed.

It’s a seller + builder role, and that allows for a title re-fresh.

It’s not that being in sales is a bad thing; it’s just a re-brand.

Below I’ll explain why.

The new thesis in one line: the pipeline of ambitious grads is rerouting, and AI-for-X companies need sellers who look like their buyers.

Two forces at play here.

The people who would have gone to Goldman or McKinsey (or stayed for longer in their career) three years ago are increasingly eyeing early-stage AI companies.

Part of it is AI compressing the entry-level work at banks and consultancies.

Part of it is that the comp math at a well-funded AI startup with equity upside is hard to ignore.

These hires don't grow up in software sales. They're ex-bankers, ex-consultants, ex-engineers.

Calling them "Account Executives" doesn't quite fit. There’s also a prestige gap you need to mask a bit to get them in the door.

GTM captures what they actually do and bring, which is an intellectual and work-ethic lift to the profession.

This is the part I didn't see as clearly the first time.

If you're selling to white-shoe law firms, your best closer is a former lawyer or someone who sat next to one. If you're selling to hedge funds, your champion is an ex-banker. If you're selling to consulting partners, you want someone who knows The McKinsey Way.

And with AI for professional services (and AI services more broadly, see map below) continuing to grow, this dynamic will only accelerate.

Traditional enterprise AEs from Oracle often can't replicate this. The cerebral seller archetype isn't pretentious anymore. In the right context, and it's a hiring advantage for some industries.

1) Sana Labs

Look at their GTM Manager job posting (which is similar to what an AE would be doing; held to a revenue number/quota). The role explicitly wants "3-5 years of experience in B2B GTM or sales, at a top tier management consultancy, or a stellar academic or industry track record."

The page literally name-drops BCG, McKinsey, Dropbox, and Slack as the places their current team came from.

Comp in NYC is $160k-$280k. They aren't filling a rep seat. They're building a team of people who could have gone to Bain and chose to build the GTM motion at an AI learning company instead.

(to note: things are probably way different now with the Workday acquisition, but I admired how they were doing this when they were a startup)

2) Rogo

Rogo is building Wall Street's first AI analyst, with customers like J.P. Morgan, Moelis, Lazard, and Nomura. They've quietly built out a GTM Associate program across NYC, London, and Singapore that looks a lot like a banker-to-sales on-ramp.

Why it makes sense: their buyer is an investment banker. Their best sellers are people who speak that language natively. A 23-year-old ex-Goldman analyst who is AI-curious is a way better fit than a 5-year enterprise AE from Salesforce. GTM Associate is the on-ramp.

I interviewed James White, their VP of Sales, a few weeks back and asked him how he was able to convince bankers to make the move into sales. He said:

3) Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC)

Another example - former Anthropic & McKinsey alum starting up once of the cooler new concepts - think SOC II but for agents.

1) Early career, thinking about sales: the bar shifted. Strong writing, comfort with technical concepts, domain fluency in the vertical, and willingness to do multi-role work (outbound, demo, close, content) are going to be table stakes.

The GTM Associate programs at places like Rogo are the new analyst program.

2) Founder or hiring manager: if your buyer is cerebral, your seller has to be cerebral + come off that way. The title signals the expectation. Embrace the re-brand and use it as a hiring advantage.

As someone who did strategy consulting before coming back to tech, I love where this is heading.

The best early-stage sales orgs today operate more like consulting firms than traditional software sales floors.

Alex Cramer wasn't wrong that the title can be pretentious in certain cultures.

But in others, it's just a more accurate description of the job.

I said "long live the GTM rebrand" in December 2024.

The only update I'd make: it's not just a rebrand anymore. It's going to be a hiring advantage moving forward for some of these sub-verticals selling to professional services.