Avoid "Gear Acquisition Syndrome" (GAS)

The Signal

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Okay, enough of that, let’s get into today’s post.

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Avoid “Gear Acquisition Syndrome” (GAS)

Five months ago, I listened to Pieter Levels talk on Lex Fridman’s podcast. The entire conversation is worth checking out.

But, there was one tiny thing Pieter mentioned, that I keep coming back to.

I think it’s incredibly helpful to think about in the context of building a go-to-market tech stack, especially given all the options we have in 2025.

The concept is called “gear acquisition syndrome", or GAS, for short.

Watch the 30-second clip

Why this is so relevant now?

Never (in my 12-year career in B2B SaaS) have I seen GTM change as rapidly as right now. It's bonkers. Especially the tooling to run a modern GTM playbook.

BUT, I see too many people who think:

"if I had the right tech stack, all my problems would go away."

Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) describes the tendency to continually buy or upgrade equipment in pursuit of the “perfect” setup. Instead of focusing on the job itself. Here’s the full description given by ChatGPT (so impressive).

You probably know someone like this. They get into a new hobby, like running or fishing or whatever. And they buy all the fancy gear for their new hobby—much of it is unnecessary.

This "syndrome" shifts their focus from fishing - to the rod or line or lure.

I am seeing this a lot in B2B SaaS GTM right now.

• "I think we need a different sequencer"
• "Our data is not good enough"
• "Should we use Clay?"
• "Is Smartlead or Instantly better?"
• "Which signal-based selling platform is the best?"
• "Is Zoominfo dead?"

^ These are all legit questions I've gotten in the last ~month (albeit, paraphrased).

The reality?

9 out of 10 times, you just need to optimize your existing tech stack slightly, but mostly focus on the Plays/motions you're deploying + enablement for your reps.

This is the hard work. (Simple, but hard)

Buying a new tool feels like "the easy button."

But, it doesn't work.

My warning: avoid Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS).

It's a dangerous distraction to simply doing the hard work to ship great Plays in the modern GTM era.

I hope this helps you as you scale in 2025 and beyond.

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Thank you for your attention and trust. I do not take it for granted.

Have a great weekend!

See you next time,
Brendan 🫡