How to Become a GTM Engineer (8 Resources)

The Signal

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Hey, y’all 👋

I’m trying to lean into AI even more (I think we’re still very early). And, I believe, in part, AI is accelerating the importance of the GTM Engineering role - to help companies scale GTM with AI & automation, instead of headcount.

That said, I don’t plan to *only* talk about GTM Engineering from now on (the next two posts are on: the emerging landscape of GTM tech and a guest post on prospecting into enterprise accounts where AI cannot help).

But, I figured I’d share my two cents on these GTM Engineering topics more broadly while these ideas are fresh on my mind, and because many people have questions on this topic.

Last thing: I’m not an expert GTM Engineer, by any means. In fact, I would hardly say I am a GTME. But, I’ve been lucky to work closely with people (like Andreas Wernicke) who do great “GTM Engineering” work — so I know what world-class looks like, first-hand.

If you’re GTME-curious, this post is for you.
If you’re not - I’ll see you in the next post (no sweat!).

Alright, let’s jump in!

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How to Become a GTM Engineer (8 Resources)

But first, some context (skip, if you know these things already):

• What is a GTM Engineer?

• When Should You Hire a GTM Engineer?

• 8 reasons why GTM Engineer is not just RevOps rebranded

Below are 8 things you can do to become a GTM Engineer (or uplevel your skills).

1. Start building

This may seem like a cop-out, but I believe it’s the best way to become a GTM Engineer — or a better GTM Engineer.

Pick a small thing to hack on, on the nights and weekends that’s useful for your company. Examples: a data point you want enriched in your CRM, an updated inbound lead flow, an account tiering, a way to generate cold outbound messages with AI, enriching a list of tradeshow attendees.

Just start building. It’s the best way to learn.

2. Clay University

I have no affiliation with Clay (just a fan). But this resource is amazing. I also think Clay is an incredibly helpful tool in the tool stack of a GTME.

Check out their free courses here: Clay University.

3. Clay cohort

If you want to get a bit more hands-on help, this is for you. Though, it’s still pretty basic stuff, and only one week long. But, it’s free, so I recommend everyone learning Clay go through it.

Apply here (it’s free).

4. 🦾Eric Nowoslawski's YouTube

Eric is creative with the ways he’s building campaigns. He uses lots of tools, and shares openly with the things he’s doing. I respect his work a lot. His YouTube is a treasure trove of GTM Engineering hackery. He goes deep on AI workflows and shows you how he’s using a bunch of super helpful tools that you’ll want to get familiar with if you’re going down the GTM Engineering path.

Go binge it this weekend: Eric's YouTube channel/course (free).

5. Matt Redler 🎙️'s Cold Email Handbook

As email, in particular, gets more saturated, the best—most relevant—emails will bubble up, and the rest will get lost in spam folders, never to see the light of day. You have to be really good at outbound to make it work in today’s environment. GTM Engineering is not just cold outbound (though, that’s a good place to start, usually with lots of low-hanging fruit) so it’s good to know the fundamentals.

And Matt “gets it” - read his whole handbook here, totally free.

6. GTM Engineering Slack group

This is run by Cargo (I have no affiliation). But, their team is awesome. And, the people in this Slack group are some of the smartest GTMEs I know - many are OGs, doing GTM Engineering before that was a term. :) Lots of people hacking on AI products, using no-code tools, and building with other bleeding edge GTM technologies.

It’s free to join — apply today: GTM Engineering Slack group application.

7. GTM Engineer School

This one’s not for everyone, because it’s not cheap (but, maybe you can get your company to foot the bill?). That said, it is the smartest GTMEs I know running it/teaching it. Many are part of the GTM Engineering Slack group I mentioned above.

Sign up here. (Disclaimer: I do get a referral fee if you sign up using this link). The first 3 people to use my code get $700 off.

8. Build with AI

I can’t emphasize this enough. AI is going to change everything (I have talked about this extensively, including in this recent post). We are early. I am hoping to spend ~half a day a week hacking on AI projects, to learn. (Tips welcome!).

I genuinely think it’s the best thing any GTM Engineer can learn right now. It’s all about leverage, and AI is max leverage.

Speaking of leverage…

I was (re)reading Navalmanack this week, and thought both of these quotes from Naval were relevant to GTM Engineering; I’ll close this post with these wisdom bombs:

“The higher the creativity component of a profession, the more likely it is to have disconnected inputs and outputs.”

&

“Learn to sell, learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.”

PS - Join in on the conversation on LinkedIn!

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Event: PLGTM

I’m planning on attending PLGTM (the GTM event for product-led companies) next month.

There will be 600 leaders in Sales, Marketing, and Marketing Operations, on May 20-21 in San Francisco.

(I have no affiliation, just a fan of Dave and I know it’ll be a high-quality event for all you PLG nerds)

Let me know if you’ll be there! (The Signal meet-up? …jk, that’s my nightmare)

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My next post is one I’ve been ruminating on for a while - I’ll be talking about the tradeoffs in GTM technologies that are: easy to use vs. flexible/powerful.

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

See you next week,
Brendan 🫡