Making The Grade

What happens when the investor everyone expects to say ‘yes’ tears your Go-To-Market plan apart in front of 15 people? For Alex Olley , Co-Founder and CRO of Reachdesk , that moment at his Series B in 2021 became the inflexion point of his career as a Revenue Leader. In this episode, Alex tells us the full story from that shocking investor meeting to the coaching relationship that changed his career and Reachdesk forever. We also touch on how Alex is deploying AI today - from surfacing high-intent accounts to using outbound and business cases and why he believes efficiency without accuracy is a trap. It's a conversation about the line between the art and the science of selling, and what it actually takes to go from good to great as a CRO. 📚 Episode Chapters 04:00 - The Series B wake-up call 13:00 - Lessons on Sales Rigour 23:30 - Art vs Science in Sales 25:00 - Applying AI without losing creativity 29:00 - The importance of unit economics for CROs 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to Season 2 with Sam Jacobs on building for efficient growth Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Every CRO has had this moment: the deal that should've closed and didn't, the board meeting where the numbers didn't add up the way you'd hoped, the realisation that what got you here won't get you to the next stage. This season of Making The Grade is built around that moment, and what the best Revenue Leaders do differently once they've had it. This season, we sat down with CROs and Revenue Leaders across enterprise SaaS and early-stage scale-ups to find out what's actually changing in Go-To-Market. Alex Olley shares the wake-up call that reshaped how he runs revenue today. Tom Castley makes the case that the questions your prospects ask reveal more than the answers they give you. And Laura Moniz de Aragão argues that in enterprise sales, AI is making the best human sellers more valuable, not less. And those are just a few of the brilliant CROs we're sitting down with to really look under the hood of some of the fastest scaling businesses and the challenges they face, ready for you to learn from and apply to your day to day as a Revenue Leader. Don't forget to hit subscribe to be the first to listen to fresh episodes every Thursday morning, wherever you get your favourite podcasts. Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What does it actually take to build a world-class sales culture? Amelia Scott knows better than most. She spent nearly seven years at Culture Amp , joining as a senior AE when the business was at $15M ARR and leaving as VP of Global Sales at $170M. During her tenure, she took the EMEA business from $1.5M to $40M, and learned some hard, invaluable lessons along the way about talent, culture, regional expansion and what revenue leadership actually requires. Now working as a fractional CRO, Amelia is right at the sharp end of how AI is reshaping the GTM function. In today’s Making The Grade episode, she shares what she's learned across both sides of that journey, how to build sales teams without a commission structure and where AI is genuinely delivering ROI right now. 📚 Episode Chapters 02:10 - Culture Amp’s scaling journey 08:50 - Scaling without sales commission 11:30 - How to expand into multiple regions 21:00 - The evolving role of the CRO 28:45 - Where AI is adding value & where the gaps are Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What does it actually take to build a $45M ARR SaaS business without raising a penny of VC money? Guillaume Moubeche , Founder of Lemlist , knows better than most. Starting with just €1,000 and rejections from 30 VCs, Guillaume built one of the most recognised outbound sales tools in the world, bootstrapped, community-led, and stubbornly focused on doing fewer things better. In this Making The Grade episode, Guillaume unpacks the full journey from building in public before it was fashionable, why the constraint of having no money forced the creativity that capital never could have bought, and his refreshingly honest reflections on what didn’t work along the journey. Plus, we look ahead and discuss what the future of outbound and the SDR realistically looks like in an AI-native world. 📚 Episode Chapters 04:10 - Bootstrapping in a crowded market 06:20 - Repeatability, Community and Content 13:00 - Bootstrapping advantages VC money can’t buy 25:00 - GTM & Hiring lessons from scaling to $45M ARR 37:00 - The future of GTM in an AI-native world Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What does an investor actually see when they look under the hood of a 1 to 10 Million journey? And what really separates the companies that break through from those that quietly stall? We’re joined by Hillel Zidel, Managing Director at Kennet Partners, to find out. Kennet Partners invests in founder-led, capital-efficient B2B SaaS companies at precisely the stage where growth either compounds or gets stuck, making Hillel one of the most informed voices on what this journey actually takes. In this episode, Tom and Hillel dig into the predictors he uses to assess whether a company will scale, the hidden dangers of moving from inbound to outbound too aggressively, and why the "shiny shoe" CRO hire so often ends in disappointment. This episode is essential listening for any founder or revenue leader navigating the 1 to 10 Million journey. 📚 Episode Chapters: 01:50 - What changes at the 1 to 10 Million stage 05:00 - Predictors of early-stage growth 09:50 - The inbound to outbound danger zone 15:30 - US Expansion: When it actually makes sense 29:30 - What ‘marketable’ looks like today 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to From Chaos to Predictability: Pete Crosby's Honest Lessons on the One to Ten Million Journey Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

If you're building a venture-backed software startup and trying to navigate the messy, exhilarating, often brutal stretch from $1M to $10M ARR, this episode is essential listening. In this Making The Grade episode, we’re joined by Pete Crosby , Founder of Revelesco and one of the most experienced revenue coaches in the UK startup ecosystem. Pete has helped countless founders and CROs find clarity, fix alignment, and scale with real commercial rigour. In this conversation, Pete shares the patterns he sees repeatedly across the companies he works with, and the frameworks he uses to help them break through. Pete also shares the human side of scaling - why team alignment is the silent killer of otherwise great businesses, what makes a true builder in the one to ten phase, and how the best GTM leaders think about culture, hiring, and diversity. Whether you're a founder, a CRO, or a revenue leader trying to level up, Pete's insight is the kind of hard-won wisdom you'd normally only access through years of experience. 📚 Episode Chapters 01:40 - The root cause of stalled growth 05:30 - Finding your ICP with discipline 10:30 - The four phases of scaling internationally 18:00 - Defining true predictability 21:30 - Team alignment & hiring diverse teams 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to Reshaping GTM in the AI Era - Harrison Rose on repeatable GTM and scaling beyond Founder-Led Sales Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Harrison Rose has lived the journey most founders only see from the outside. As Co-Founder of Paddle, he helped scale from zero to $100M+ revenue - without the “overnight success” story everyone loves to tell. Now he’s doing it again with GoodFit , turning the market-mapping and ICP systems Paddle built internally into a product built for modern GTM teams. In this episode, Harrison breaks down the real inflexion points that unlocked Paddle’s growth, why founder-led sales is often misunderstood, and how teams get trapped at $2–3M ARR when “founder privilege” masks the lack of a scalable playbook. You’ll also hear Harrison’s clear-eyed take on bootstrapping vs VC, and how AI is moving from “more output” to actually making GTM decisions, including the coming tension over who owns the top of funnel: CRO or CMO. 📚 Episode Chapters 05:15 - When to hire experienced Sales Leaders 08:45 - A focus on cold outbound 11:25 - Seeing ICP as a spectrum 19:30 - Building true repeatability 25:15 - Funding & the future of AI 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to From Inception to Acquisition: Natasha Ratanshi-Stein on scaling Surfboard, stage-fit hiring and the importance of founder-led sales Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Natasha Ratanshi-Stein has seen startups from almost every angle, as a VC, Operator, and Founder. After scaling customer service operations at Bulb, she saw firsthand how broken legacy workforce management tooling really was. That pain became Surfboard, and in today’s Making The Grade episode, Natasha is refreshingly honest about what founders underestimate in the £1 to £10M ARR journey, and her own journey from inception to an acquisition by Dialpad , which was all sparked by an SDR’s mis-targeted outbound message. 📚 Episode Chapters: 02:00 - Building Surfboard from idea to acquisition 14:40 - Lessons from selling before a finished product 30:15 - Transitioning out of being a Founder 38:00 - Hiring the right Sales Leaders for growth 44:15 - Navigating funding challenges 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to Ego, Cash & GTM Discipline: Paul Fifield’s unfiltered lessons from building scalable businesses Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What actually breaks a startup between £1m and £10m ARR isn’t usually the thing founders are obsessing over. In this Making the Grade episode, we’re joined by Paul Fifield - one of the UK’s most experienced go-to-market leaders, and someone who’s lived the full spectrum from predictable revenue playbooks, to rocketship growth, brutal crashes, and the rebuild that follows. Paul unpacks two defining failures in his career, and the patterns he now sees repeatedly in early-stage SaaS: messy data, woolly ICPs, uncontrolled SDR targeting, false confidence from renewals, and leadership decisions driven by ego rather than fundamentals. Paul also shares why the GTM playbook is changing fast, what modern CRO capability looks like in 2026, and why AI won’t save teams that haven’t done the foundational work first. If you’re a founder, CRO, VP Sales, or an Operator trying to help a business graduate from Series A to Series B - this one is a masterclass in what to do, what to avoid, and what to take seriously before the market forces you to. 📚 Episode Chapters 03:04 - Lessons from Failures and Successes 24:04 - The impact of ego in leadership 28:13 - Scaling strategies from $1M to $10M 35:05 - The evolving role of the CRO 41:06 - Leaning into fractional talent as a startup 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to Designing an AI-first Business - Bethany Ayers on hiring stage-fit leaders & the GTM playbooks that actually work in the AI era Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Bethany Ayers isn’t experimenting with AI at the edges of Metomic; she’s using it to redesign how the company operates, with an ambitious goal of becoming an AI-first company. In this episode of Making the Grade, Bethany Ayers, CEO of Metomic , joins us to unpack what it really means to build an AI-first organisation, and how it impacts hiring decisions, GTM design, and leadership accountability. Beth shares why her default is now AI before headcount, how Metomic is using AI coworkers to strip out busy work across SDRs, engineering, marketing, and leadership, and why one SDR can now deliver the output of two to three. But this isn’t an AI hype conversation. Beth is equally candid about the fundamentals that don’t change: why stage-fit exec hiring still breaks scale-ups, why founders step away from sales too early (or not at all), and why clarity on ICP, pipeline targets, and operating rhythm matters more than ever. If you’re rethinking how to scale with fewer people, higher leverage, and sharper focus, this episode offers a clear, practical blueprint, without pretending the trade-offs don’t exist. 📚 Episode Chapters: 01:50 - Hiring the right Sales Leadership 03:22 - Evolving GTM Strategies 16:45 - The intersection of Product and Sales 22:04 - Leveraging AI in your Sales Team 30:35 - Future of Work: Balancing AI and People 36:10 - Diversity in Leadership ⛳ Mentioned in today’s episode: Metomic: https://www.metomic.io/ 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to Building for efficient growth - Pavilion’s honest growth journey & the real problem behind the short CRO tenure with Sam Jacobs Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Most growth stories celebrate momentum, but very few actually share the behind-the-scenes of what happens when momentum stalls. In this Making The Grade episode, we’re joined by Sam Jacobs , Founder & CEO of Pavilion - the community built to give in-seat GTM leaders the peers, frameworks, and rooms they need to operate under real pressure. Sam takes us on a journey from the early days of Revenue Collective dinners to Pavilion’s Covid-era surge. But there’s no skipping the hard bits in this episode. Sam shares the painful consequences of growing too fast, loosening ICP, and chasing scale for growth’s sake. This is a rare, unfiltered conversation about what happens when your biggest strength gets diluted, and how you rebuild when churn becomes the signal you can’t ignore. No matter whether you’re a Founder currently building or a GTM Leader facing the various challenges the market throws at you, there’s endless practical advice in this episode, ready for you to apply straight away. 📚 Episode Chapters 01:15 - Pavilion’s origin story 09:23 - Scaling mistakes & lost focus 19:08 - The short CRO tenure 22:20 - Building P&L Fluency for Revenue Leaders 29:00 - Sustainable GTM Strategies 39:34 - Planning for a successful exit ⛳ Mentioned in today’s episode: Pavilion: https://www.joinpavilion.com/ Intro to P&L Fluency: https://www.joinpavilion.com/pavilion-university/intro-to-pl-fluency 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to What it really takes to win in the US - Honest lessons from Natalie Johnson Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

US expansion is one of the fastest ways for a venture-backed SaaS company to accelerate growth…or blow up months of momentum, burn a painful chunk of cash, and leave a trail of “scar tissue” behind. In this Making the Grade episode, Tom Glason sits down with Natalie Johnson , a seasoned revenue leader who’s lived the 1 to 10 million ARR journey multiple times - across the UK and the US - and now leads revenue at one of Europe’s fastest-scaling AI companies, AutogenAI . In this episode, Natalie unpacks what actually works when expanding into the US, why outbound still works and why AI is not an IT rollout but an organisational transformation that rewires how modern revenue teams operate. If you’re scaling through the messy middle and considering the US leap, this one’s packed with battle-tested guidance you can apply immediately. 📚 Episode Chapters 01:15 - Lessons from two scaling journeys 03:12 - US expansion mistakes 16:26 - Navigating the messy middle 26:08 - Autogen AI’s Growth Engine 30:46 - Outbound strategies that actually work 35:34 - Hiring Revenue Leaders in 2026 ⛳ Mentioned in today’s episode: AutogenAI: https://autogenai.com/uk/ Glyphic: https://www.glyphic.ai/ 🎧 Continue listening… Make sure you listen to Season 1 Sean Williams - From $60m exit to building an er-defining AI company Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Welcome back to Season 2 of Making The Grade. This season, we’re digging into what it really takes to scale beyond early traction… the ups and downs of the journey from £1 million to £10 million in ARR… and why so many startups are struggling to make that leap. Each week, we're joined by experienced Founders, Investors, and senior Go-To-Market leaders to unpack the lessons, trade-offs, and decisions that define the £1m to £10m stage. We’ll explore how to build effective GTM functions and hire truly stage-fit talent, how AI is reshaping go-to-market, what changes we can expect to see in 2026, and what capital-efficient scaling actually looks like in practice. All with one core question in mind: How do you build an enduring B2B SaaS business that scales sustainably, stays capital-efficient, and creates real exit optionality? Expect honest conversations, hard-won insights, and practical advice you can apply straight away, because scaling can be done differently. Our first episode of the new season will be dropping on Thursday, February 5th , so make sure you hit subscribe to be notified of when it's ready! Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What does it really take to make the leap from CMO to CRO and to build a revenue function that actually scales? In the final episode of Season 1, Tom is joined by Florence Broderick , CRO at General Index , to unpack what it actually takes to make the transition to CRO and what founders should know before hiring their first CRO. Florence shares candid insights from her transition to CRO, why she believes marketing leaders can make exceptional CROs, and how she’s balancing growth with capital efficiency in 2025 and beyond. If you’re a founder or GTM leader navigating growth right now, you won’t want to miss this episode. Episode Chapters 02:30 - Flo’s career journey from dreams of big corporates to CRO 08:30 - Managing imposter syndrome in a new role 14:30 - Building her CRO playbook 22:10 - What every CRO should nail in their first 90 days 27:30 - Why ‘rockstar CVs’ often fail 31:45 - The CRO skills that matter most in 2025 38:10 - AI that uses the needle & metrics that matter 46:50 - Getting more women into sales Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What do you think of when you hear ‘exited Founder’? Someone travelling the world or sitting on a remote island sipping cocktails? Today’s Making The Grade guest may change your perspective… We’re joined by Sean Williams , Co-Founder & CEO of AutogenAI , the AI bid writing software. Before AutogenAI, Sean co-founded Corndell Ltd, which he grew from scratch to 350 people and sold to THI Holdings for $60m. In this episode, Sean discusses how to build with an exit in mind, why you need to keep control while fundraising and why US expansion isn’t as easy as some Founders might think. Episode Chapters 02:18 - From bid writer to CEO - Sean’s career journey 08:40 - Post-exit reality & why Sean decided to jump back in the Founder seat 14:36 - Selling a business during Covid 18:57 - More about AutogenAI and the opportunity 23:12 - Fundraising without losing control 27:26 - US expansion do’s & don’ts 29:33 - GTM in the AI-era - what actually works 33:43 - Hiring GTM leaders Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

In the start-up ecosystem, there are a few truths that never change - scaling is harder than it looks, over-hiring can kill momentum, and knowing when to hand over the CEO reins might be the hardest call of all. In this episode, Ed Barltett , Founder & CEO of Hicomply , unpacks how to successfully scale with a lean team and build a GTM engine that actually produces an intent-led pipeline. Ed breaks down why stage-fit leadership beats vanity headcount and how to plan a smooth CEO transition when the time is right. If you’re a founder starting to think about what might be next for you, then this is the perfect episode to listen to. Episode Chapters 02:02 - Ed’s path into Tech 10:40 - Finding your niche in a $500B market 12:44 - Comparing the UK and US markets 17:02 - Staying lean & focusing on speed of execution 19:10 - Building a realistic GTM stack in an AI-driven world 31:58 - Founder transition & handing over the CEO reins 36:47 - Exit prep 101 in 2025 and beyond Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

What does it take to build a category-defining SaaS company when your biggest competitors have raised 40x more funding than you? In this episode, Tom Lavery , Founder & CEO of Jiminny , joins us to share how he bootstrapped for years before raising, why staying in control beats chasing hype, and how to layer AI into GTM without over-engineering your stack. Expect pragmatic tactics for capital-efficient growth, candid lessons from fundraising in a downturn, and a no-BS view on what’s truly changed in sales. Episode Chapters: 03:34 - Jiminny’s origin story 05:53 - Competing in a category with 40x more capital 09:21 - How to pick your investors & navigating the SaaS recession 17:20 - What’s changed in sales 21:18 - Successfully implementing AI 31:18 - The European ecosystem 33:18 - Slowing down and getting hiring right Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Start-up headlines are often dominated by fundraising announcements and the latest valuation. But the Venture Capital route isn’t the only option or the best to take. In this episode, we’re joined by Emeric Ernoult, Co-Founder & CEO of Agorapulse, one of Europe’s most successful bootstrapped SaaS Founders. Emeric is a serial entrepreneur and has seen Agorapulse through several pivots and international expansion, all while bootstrapping. This often painful journey has come with its fair share of lessons - some of which Emeric shares with us in today’s conversation. This is definitely not a highlights reel, so if you’re currently going through the trenches or facing a pivot, this episode is one you don’t want to miss. Episode Chapters 03:37 - Building Agorapulse from the ashes of a previous business 07:20 - The signs to know when it’s time to pivot 13:31 - Bootstrapping vs VC funding - the hard truths 17:44 - Understanding VCs beyond the money 23:25 - The Do’s & Don’ts of international expansion 27:28 - Growth metrics that actually matter 34:07 - How AI is transforming data-driven growth Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Every founder thinks they’re focused on growth. But too often, hidden mistakes in their go-to-market (GTM) strategy quietly erode their chances of success. In this Making The Grade episode, we’re joined by Keji Mustapha , CMO at Partech , to unpack the 5 Silent Killers of Go-To-Market. From undefined ICPs and premature scaling, to misaligned leadership and ignoring the voice of the customer, Keji shares practical advice founders can use today to avoid costly mistakes and scale more wisely. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor looking to understand why so many companies fail to “make the grade” and why their GTM strategy has a lot to answer for, then this episode will be the one for you. Episode Chapters 01:40 - Keji’s unconventional journey from law to tech and venture capital 05:10 - The day-to-day of a CMO in venture 07:30 - The biggest challenges founders face in 2025 09:15 - The 5 Silent Killers of GTM 15:40 - The misalignment trap 18:50 - Why hiring for shiny logos often backfires 23:45 - How to build customer obsession into your culture 28:00 - Keji’s predictions for GTM 32:40 - What really needs to change to improve startup graduation rates Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!

Too many startups hire ahead of demand, invest in the wrong leaders, or scale sales without a clear ICP - all mistakes that can cost millions and kill momentum. Today’s Making The Grade guest knows exactly how to avoid those pitfalls. We’re joined by James Bagan , Investor at Frog Capital , Chair and GTM advisor for investors. James has been on both sides of the scaling journey. He’s built world-class sales functions, turned around broken go-to-market engines, and led multiple exits. In this episode, James joins Tom to unpack what it really takes to build a GTM engine that lasts. From the shift to capital-efficient growth, to why RevOps is the unsung hero of scaling, to the leadership traits VCs should be hiring for, but so often overlook. Whether you’re a founder, CRO, or investor, you’ll walk away from this conversation with practical strategies to help you scale sustainably and avoid the most expensive mistakes. Episode Chapters: 01:30 - James’ unconventional path to multiple exits 05:30 - How GTM has changed: the shift from growth at all costs to sustainable growth 08:40 - The 3 biggest mistakes founders make when building GTM teams 14:30 - Why RevOps is the ultimate GTM alignment tool (and when to hire them) 19:40 - Finding the right fit: fractional vs full-time RevOps teams 22:30 - The underrated traits of top GTM leaders in 2025 29:30 - Leadership stage-fit: the danger of hiring for tomorrow’s problems instead of today’s 35:20 - The number 1 skill every commercial leader must have (hint: it’s not closing deals) Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com ✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube . See you again next week!