5 Critical GTM Lessons from Building Multiple B2B Companies

Building a successful B2B company isn’t just about having the right product—it’s about fundamentally understanding how modern B2B buying works. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Chris Golec, founder of Channel99 and previously Demandbase, shared hard-earned insights from decades of building B2B marketing technology companies. Here are five critical GTM lessons that challenge conventional wisdom and offer a new framework for B2B success.

1. Recognize the Inherent Inefficiency in B2B Marketing

Most B2B marketing discussions focus on optimization tactics, but Chris reveals a more fundamental truth: B2B marketing is inherently inefficient by design. “Most companies only sell to two or 3% of the companies out there because they’re targeting a certain industry, a certain size company, and they’re selling into tens of thousands of companies, not millions.”

This inefficiency manifests in web traffic patterns, where “only 15-20% of the companies on their website have a potential of buying anything.” Understanding this core inefficiency should reshape how we approach B2B marketing measurement and optimization.

2. Stop Obsessing Over MQLs

The industry’s reliance on Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) is fundamentally flawed. As Chris explains, “It has a different meaning at every company. And what’s even worse is that within a company, it often changes. So it’s hard to look at results over time.”

Instead of focusing on MQLs, companies should measure what directly impacts the business: “What people should be looking at is what do I spend to generate a pipeline opportunity and what’s my close rate? And then you can quickly figure out the variable marketing expense that goes into CAC.” This shift in focus becomes particularly important when considering that “in most companies, 50% of your customer acquisition cost goes into this variable marketing spend and it’s not controlled.”

3. Build for Different Growth Phases

One of the most overlooked aspects of GTM strategy is how team requirements evolve with company growth. Chris notes, “The team that you bring on kind of that one to 10 million is probably different than that 10 million to 100 million. Different passions, different skill sets.”

This insight requires careful consideration in early hiring and honest conversations about growth: “Some people absolutely scale from one kind of phase to the next, but a lot don’t and a lot prefer to be in that early stage.”

4. Challenge Traditional Sales Models

The conventional B2B sales model needs reimagining. Chris challenges the status quo: “The traditional two to one SDRs and huge sales and marketing overhead, it just feels really bloated and I think it can be a lot more efficient.”

His approach at Channel99 starts with immediate value through a free product: “People can come to our website, they can sign up for a service where they set up their total addressable market… within the next day they can start seeing their traffic, where it’s coming from and the quality of that traffic by channel and then how it compares to industry average.”

5. Don’t Force Category Creation

While creating a new category can be powerful, it’s not always necessary. Chris’s experience with Channel99 demonstrates a different approach: “I don’t know that it’s a new category… it’s really painful and hard to create a new category. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience and a lot of investment.”

Instead, focus on solving real problems in existing categories: “I can tell you from at least my early customer interactions, everybody gets what we’re doing. They know the problems we’re solving.” Sometimes transforming an existing category can be more effective than creating a new one.

The future of B2B go-to-market strategy requires rethinking traditional approaches while staying focused on real business outcomes. As marketing technology evolves and buyer behavior changes, the companies that adapt their GTM strategies accordingly—while maintaining clear focus on actual business impact—will be best positioned to succeed.

Success in B2B isn’t about following conventional wisdom or chasing the latest trends. It’s about understanding the fundamental mechanics of how B2B buying works today and building go-to-market strategies that align with these realities. The lessons from Chris’s journey provide a valuable framework for thinking about these challenges and building more effective GTM strategies.