The Future of AI-Driven Sales with Kyle Coleman & Tomasz Tunguz

Tomasz Tunguz, an investor at Theory Ventures, has some pretty mind-blowing ideas about how AI can give companies a major leg up when it comes to selling their products. The main issue he sees is that the cost of getting new customers keeps going up, but the size of the deals isn't growing to match it.

That's a huge problem.

But here's the really exciting part: AI might just be the secret weapon to fix all that.

It can take over boring, repetitive tasks so your sales team can focus on the important stuff. It can also crunch a ton of data to figure out exactly who your best potential customers are. And get this - it could even help create a whole new breed of ultra-productive sellers who absolutely crush their quotas.

If you want to stay ahead of the game, you've gotta pay attention to how AI is about to shake things up in a big way.

The Rising Cost of Customer Acquisition

Over the last six years, the cost to acquire new customers has gone up by a whopping 60%. But the money companies make from each customer has stayed about the same. This is a big problem.

Any company that can figure out how to get customers for less has a huge leg up on the competition. But that's not the only challenge. Companies are also struggling with:

• Filling their sales pipeline with good leads
• Getting people to move smoothly through the sales process
• Figuring out the best way for customer success teams to keep customers happy

These issues are giving go-to-market teams a major headache. Something needs to change.

The Limits of Pre-AI Solutions

Before the rise of AI, go-to-market teams faced major challenges and inefficiencies. Analyzing sales funnels and benchmarking conversion rates was a manual, time-consuming process. Reps had to pull data from various sources and cobble together reports, taking valuable time away from actual selling.

Generating pipeline also relied heavily on expensive paid marketing channels like Facebook and Google ads.

But conversion rates were often low, and ROI was difficult to prove. Researching accounts and personalizing outreach was another area limited by the time individual SDRs and AEs could dedicate to it.

Reps spent hours scouring the web for info to tailor their pitches.

On top of this, reps were bogged down with repetitive administrative tasks like updating CRM records after every interaction. Logging activities, changing deal stages, and assigning tasks in tools like Salesforce devoured selling time.

All of these manual processes led to major GTM bloat, high customer acquisition costs, and missed revenue opportunities.

AI as a Robotic Intern for GTM Teams

AI is revolutionizing go-to-market teams by acting like a "robotic intern" that can automate many of the repetitive tasks that used to bog down sales reps, marketers, and customer success managers.

By synthesizing large amounts of data, AI can help identify the most relevant prospects to target. It can also draft personalized emails, generate compelling content, and enrich account profiles at scale.

This frees up GTM professionals to focus on higher-level strategy, approving AI-generated work, and managing more deals in parallel. Instead of spending hours researching accounts or crafting the perfect email, reps can rely on their AI assistant to handle those tasks.

They can then concentrate on building relationships, understanding customer needs, and closing deals.

In essence, AI is becoming a powerful ally for GTM teams - an intelligent, robotic intern that can work tirelessly in the background to streamline processes and boost productivity.

With these AI capabilities, forward-thinking companies can cure GTM bloat, reduce customer acquisition costs, and accelerate their go-to-market velocity.

Enabling a New Generation of 10X Sellers

AI has the potential to create a whole new class of "10X sellers" - reps who leverage the technology to absolutely crush their quotas. By acting as a tireless robotic assistant, AI can take on all the boring, repetitive tasks that usually bog sellers down.

Instead of wasting hours each day researching accounts, personalizing emails, and updating CRM records, sellers can offload that grunt work to AI. This frees them up to do what they do best - strategize, build relationships, and close deals.

With AI handling the busywork, top performers could manage way more opportunities in parallel and drastically increase their output. But if a seller is bringing in 10X the revenue, they're gonna expect to be paid accordingly.

Companies may need to completely rethink compensation models to reward their AI-augmented superstars. We could see top reps earning way more equity - think 0.5% or even single digit percentages, approaching what a VP might get.

Job descriptions will also look pretty different in the age of AI. Roles will be all about "selling the value of AI agents" that can get stuff done on a rep's behalf. The sellers who master the art of delegating to and managing AI assistants will be the ones who seriously clean up.

Reducing GTM Bloat and CAC with AI

Over the past decade, go-to-market teams have accumulated a lot of inefficiencies and extra costs. There are too many tools, too many specialists, and disjointed departments that slow things down.

This "GTM bloat" has caused customer acquisition costs (CAC) to skyrocket by 60% over the past 6 years.

But AI offers a solution. By automating repetitive tasks, synthesizing data to find the best prospects, and generating personalized content at scale, AI can significantly slim down the GTM process. It cuts through the bloat to make pipeline generation and sales outreach way more efficient.

Think about it like this - instead of paying for a bunch of expensive tools and people to do grunt work, AI can handle a lot of that behind the scenes. This frees up GTM teams to focus on strategy, building relationships, and closing deals. The result? A much lower CAC.

The companies that embrace AI for their GTM efforts will have a serious advantage. They'll be able to acquire customers faster and cheaper than their competitors still bogged down by bloat. It's like they'll have a "robotic intern" powering their growth.

And in today's market, that kind of competitive edge is necessary.

Evolving GTM Roles in an AI-Powered World

As AI takes over more of the grunt work, go-to-market roles will start to look pretty different. Instead of spending hours researching accounts, writing emails, and updating the CRM, salespeople, marketers and customer success managers will focus on more strategic tasks.

One of the biggest changes? Selling the value of AI agents that can get work done for users. Imagine an AI assistant that can write a blog post or troubleshoot a technical issue on your behalf.

GTM teams will need to get really good at showing customers how these AI sidekicks can make their lives easier.

Now, you might be thinking, "Wait, won't AI put a bunch of GTM folks out of a job?" And sure, that's a valid concern.

But the reality is, demand for AI-powered sales, marketing and customer experience roles is probably going to skyrocket. Companies will need people who can work alongside AI to get the best results.

So while some jobs may get displaced, new ones will pop up in their place. It's all about evolving skill sets to keep up with the tech. The most successful GTM pros will be the ones who can leverage AI to work smarter, not harder. They'll use AI to automate the boring stuff and free up time for high-impact activities that drive revenue.

Accelerating GTM Velocity with Platforms Like Copy.ai

As the first GTM AI platform, Copy.ai is pioneering a new approach to curing GTM bloat and accelerating go-to-market velocity. By leveraging AI to build workflows that automate entire GTM processes, Copy.ai enables companies to eliminate the inefficiencies that have built up over the past decade.

GTM teams today are often bogged down by too many disjointed tools, misaligned departments, and an overabundance of specialists. This leads to slower execution, higher costs, and reduced agility.

Copy.ai solves this by unifying GTM workflows into a single AI-powered platform.

With Copy.ai, tasks like content generation, lead enrichment, email outreach, and more can all be automated and orchestrated together. AI assistants can handle the repetitive, time-consuming work, while GTM professionals focus on higher-level strategy and managing relationships.

The result is a step-change improvement in GTM velocity. Bottlenecks are removed, manual work is reduced, and teams can launch and iterate on campaigns faster than ever before. Copy.ai customers have reported reducing their time-to-market by up to 10X.

As an end-to-end GTM AI platform, Copy.ai is helping define the future of go-to-market in an AI-first world. By enabling leaner, more agile GTM teams, it's setting a new standard for what's possible in sales, marketing and customer success.

Forward-thinking companies are already seeing the benefits, and those who don't embrace platforms like this risk being left behind.

Future Implications for GTM Teams

AI could be a real game changer for go-to-market teams. For one, it might make generating pipeline and doing sales outreach way more efficient. This would seriously cut down on customer acquisition costs.

But get this - companies may need to totally rethink how they pay their top sellers. The ones who are really killing it by using AI might deserve way more equity comp. Like we're talking VP-level stock grants!

Also, GTM roles are probably going to change a lot.

It'll be less about doing tasks yourself and more about pitching the value of AI sidekicks that can get work done for you. Some folks might be scared that AI will take their jobs. But really, there will probably be even higher demand for GTM pros who know how to use AI to crush their quotas.

So here's the bottom line. Companies that are ahead of the curve in using AI for GTM are going to have a major leg up on the competition. They'll be able to get way more efficient and effective. And they'll attract the most in-demand GTM talent who know how to leverage AI.

The GTM world is about to get flipped upside down by AI. Is your company ready?

Final Thoughts

AI presents a huge opportunity for go-to-market teams to cut customer acquisition costs, supercharge their top sellers, and move faster than ever before. But taking advantage of it isn't as simple as just buying some new software. Companies need to be willing to rethink old processes, job descriptions, and even how they pay their best people.

In this new world, platforms like Copy.ai will be essential for giving teams the workflows and automation they need to fully leverage AI. The companies that move quickly to adopt these tools and mindsets will build a powerful competitive edge. Those that drag their feet risk falling behind and struggling to catch up.

The future belongs to the forward-thinkers, the experimenters, and those willing to embrace change. AI is unleashing a new era of go-to-market velocity - it's time to put the pedal to the metal.