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That is Half II of a collection on Deconstructing GTM. You’ll find Half I right here, deconstructing ClickUp’s evolution from a PLG instrument to a $4B enterprise firm.
Within the early days and when Stevie Case joined Vanta as CRO, the corporate felt electrical, and maybe even somewhat unruly. Inbound leads poured in, founders begged for assist to shut revenue-blocked offers, and opponents have been already circling. However beneath the excitement there was no actual system to catch the surge. In her phrases: “it was the Wild West.” No CRM self-discipline, no forecasting rhythm, and a small crew flying blind.
Three and a half years later Vanta has crossed $100M ARR, raised a $150M Sequence D at a $4B valuation, and pulled away from greater than forty copycat opponents. Their progress proves a easy fact: execution is the one moat.
Behind this progress is the story of 5 eras: (i) capturing the inbound flood, (ii) from transactions to worth, and (iii) betting upmarket earlier than product stored up, (iv) turning post-sales right into a progress engine, and (v) platform growth and new frontiers.
Let’s deconstruct the machine.
There’s a VIP founder lunch at ApolloNEXT!
They’re internet hosting a non-public founder lunch at ApolloNEXT throughout SF Tech Week. 50 founders.
Image this: mini-chats with Apollo execs who scaled the corporate from $10M → $150M ARR. No stage, no panels. You sitting shut sufficient to them to ask the questions that truly matter, surrounded by founders who get it.
Right here’s find out how to get your spot:
- Step 1: Register for ApolloNEXT
- Step 2: Apply right here for the lunch
- Step 3: Control your inbox for updates
Development is messy and AI is transferring quick. This is a chance to commerce frameworks and techniques with individuals who have “been there, achieved that.”
Seats are restricted, register and apply now.
Period 1: Capturing the inbound flood
When Stevie arrived, the product virtually offered itself. Founders scrambling for SOC 2 compliance would shut in a single name. As she places it, the transaction was so simple as: “do you want a pen? I’ve a pen” she says. However the operation behind the scenes was unstructured and fully inbound.
Her first mandate was to catch the wave: rent sellers and scale income. However with out analytics infrastructure, she was flying on intuition. She employed a wave of junior SMB reps, solely to look at win charges slip as opponents surfaced and the sale proved extra advanced than it appeared.
“For almost a 12 months I couldn’t actually see what was occurring,” she admits. “That’s my greatest mistake.” The lesson landed exhausting: by no means compromise on measurement. With out visibility, even an skilled CRO can misallocate sources and erode crew confidence.
Period 2: From transactions to worth
By mid-2022, greater than 40 copycats (some with slick advertising and discount pricing) have been making an attempt to undercut Vanta. Typically, it felt like a few of them have been profitable.
The reply wasn’t louder advertising thought, it was a deeper sort of promoting. They rebuilt the movement round worth:
- Deep discovery: the gross sales crew was educated on MEDPICC and made second-level and third-level questions a core talent.
- Quantified ROI: Reps tied Vanta’s platform on to income blocked by compliance.
- Aggressive “CIA”: A devoted Aggressive Intelligence Company squad studied rivals, coached reps stay, and chased their buyer logos.
Premium pricing held as a result of Vanta proved quantitatively that it delivered extra worth for each greenback. Rivals might copy options, however they couldn’t match disciplined execution.
Period 3: Betting upmarket earlier than product caught up
Six months into her tenure, Stevie noticed one thing sudden: mid-market and enterprise leads have been quietly exhibiting up within the pipeline. As an alternative of ready for an ideal roadmap, she positioned a calculated wager: construct a small “tip-of-the-spear” gross sales crew to discover the phase and produce insights again to product.
“It was an experiment,” she says. “We handled any income as bonus.” Reps got forgiving quotas and lengthy ramps whereas they discovered the terrain.
For almost two years, the crew gathered proof factors. Solely after traction emerged did product and GTM collectively safe tens of millions to deepen enterprise options and formalize the phase.
Whereas it labored for Vanta, Stevie warns founders to not copy this transfer blindly: “Most ought to go product-first. When you chase enterprise too early, you may randomize your roadmap and lose the core market.” Her conviction got here from six years at Twilio, the place she had watched the corporate climb from a handful of big-tech clients to a $1B enterprise run-rate. She knew the early indicators and find out how to construct patiently.
Period 4: Turning post-sales right into a progress engine
With new-logo income buzzing, the subsequent problem was web retention. Promoting to startups naturally retains retention round 100%, however to maintain nine-figure ARR it needed to climb.
Within the early days of Vanta, the post-sales crew’s mandate was “every thing”: renewals, growth, training, adoption.
“You may’t succeed when your job is 100 various things,” Stevie explains.
She and one other chief cut up the group into Buyer Success (proudly owning adoption and gross retention) and Account Administration (proudly owning renewals and growth). They constructed a real gross sales engine in post-sales and lifted web retention by double digits – a quiet however essential driver of ARR at scale.
Period 5: Platform growth and new frontiers
As we speak Vanta is excess of its authentic compliance wedge. The following chapters will probably be outlined by:
- Standalone merchandise: Vendor threat, buyer belief, and entry evaluate every get their very own funnel and devoted groups.
- Public sector: After incomes FedRAMP authorization, Vanta is constructing a authorities enterprise and serving to different firms obtain FedRAMP compliance.
- Fortune-100 enterprises: The enterprise movement, as soon as of venture, is now a core income engine.
To maintain these bets alive, they intentionally create “area for rising merchandise,” making certain groups don’t default again to the core product that sells itself.
Playbooks and psychological fashions
Measure earlier than you scale.
Construct analytics first. With out it, even seasoned leaders rent the unsuitable profiles.
Discovery over demo.
Deep, quantified discovery powers premium pricing and defensible gross sales.
Experiment, then make investments.
Deal with new segments as checks. Forecast conservatively and provides groups lengthy runways.
Publish-sales is progress.
Break up duties early and construct an growth movement. Internet retention compounds quietly however powerfully.
Forty opponents tried to repeat the product. None might match the self-discipline (and persistence) of Vanta’s go-to-market machine. Execution, in spite of everything, grew to become the moat.
Tag @GTMnow so we will see your takeaways and assist amplify them.
Extra on your eyeballs
OpenAI launched Sora 2, a significant step ahead in video and audio technology that’s extra life like, controllable, and bodily correct. Alongside it comes a brand new iOS app the place customers can create, remix, and even drop themselves into scenes with cameos.
Constructing pipeline is hard, however 10 GTM performs are working for early-stage groups in 2025. From founder-led content material to utilization indicators, new rent waves, and group, these methods are driving actual conversions.
Extra on your eardrums
GTM 165: Vibe prompting, AI fluency, and the brand new guidelines of go-to-market | Kieran Flanagan
Get a sneak preview right here. For the complete factor, hear on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts by looking “The GTMnow Podcast.”
LeanScale GTM Podcast: Keep away from These Founder Purple Flags: A VC’s Sincere Perspective
Sophie Buonassisi (SVP of GTMfund/GTMnow) on what enterprise capitalists actually search for when investing in startups.
Startups to look at
Something – Raised an extra $11M, now holds a $100M valuation, and launched Something Max. Something Max is an autonomous software program engineer that may debug, ship options, and QA by itself. Something is shortly rising. The corporate’s preliminary traction was explosive, reaching $2 million annualized run fee in simply two weeks.
Paid – the AI “results-based billing” startup from Outreach founder Manny Medina, raised a $21.6M Seed led by Lightspeed, bringing whole funding to $33.3M. Valued at over $100M, Paid offers agent makers a approach to cost clients primarily based on worth delivered — a substitute for the per-user and credit-based fashions that don’t match the AI period.
Hottest GTM jobs of the week
- Development Affiliate (M/F/X) at Crossbeam (Paris, France)
- Director, GTM Enablement at Atlan (Distant – US)
- Supervisor, Business Gross sales at Gorgias (Hybrid – Toronto)
- Sr. Folks Enterprise Accomplice, GTM at Vanta (Distant – US)
- Strategic Buyer Success Supervisor, CPG at Author (Hybrid – San Francisco)
See extra high GTM jobs on the GTMfund Job Board.
GTM business occasions
Upcoming occasions you gained’t wish to miss:
- ApolloNEXT throughout Tech Week: October 9, 2025 (San Francisco, CA)
- Momentum x Minoa throughout Tech Week: October 12, 2025 (San Francisco, CA)
- Dreamforce: October 14-16, 2025 (San Francisco, CA)
- GTMfund Dinner (personal registration): October 22, 2025 (Austin, TX)
- GTMfund Dinner (personal registration): November 18, 2025 (Toronto, ON)
- GTMfund Dinner (personal registration): November 19, 2025 (New York, NY)
- GTM x Founder Occasion (personal registration): November 20, 2025 (New York, NY) – if you happen to’re an AI-focused founder in NYC, hit reply to get the main points.
- Above the Fold (for entrepreneurs): February Sep 11, 2025 (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
- Spryng (for entrepreneurs): March 24-26, 2025 (Austin, TX)
GTMnow group love
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