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Business Wire
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Cello and Lightspeed Announce the Winners of the GTM10 Awards — Honoring the World's Best GTM Leader in Software
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cello and Lightspeed Venture Partners today proudly unveiled the 50 winners of the GTM10 Awards 2025, the first global program recognizing the best Go-To-Market (GTM) leaders across Marketing, Sales, Growth, Customer Success, and Partnerships in software. The winners were selected by an esteemed jury of GTM legends, including Kyle Poyar (Growth Unhinged and Operating Partner, Tremont), Mark Roberge (Founding CRO, HubSpot), and Heidrun Luyt (CGO, Qonto) - each bringing decades of experience in scaling high-growth software companies. 'The best GTM leaders today aren't just delivering results—they're building repeatable, scalable frameworks that others follow,' said Kyle Poyar, GTM10 jury member and operating partner at Tremont. 'This cohort represents the future of our craft.' Share After reviewing 806 nominations from 24 countries, the jury selected a diverse cohort of leaders redefining what it means to bring technology to market in 2025. Explore the full list of winners: The Five Functions Driving Modern GTM Each category had its competitive dynamics, with Marketing being the most contested. Below are some standout winners from all categories: Marketing: Ren Lee (SVP Marketing, Dataiku) transformed Dataiku's GTM strategy through demand generation-focused programs, from a high-converting Exec Connect series for senior leaders to a revamped webinar engine to engage business and builder personas alike. Her KPI-driven approach to pipeline and intent enablement set a new standard for enterprise marketing in the competitive AI space. Sales: Nick Feeney (VP Revenue, Loom) transformed Loom's enterprise motion by implementing a lean, AI-enabled sales model and a data-driven outbound engine. His focus on simplicity, automation, and high-talent density drove significant ARR growth and established a repeatable, scalable GTM framework. Growth: Alexander Berger (Chief of Staff, led a high-stakes company pivot, transforming StackBlitz into an AI-powered website builder that reached $20M ARR in just two months. His first-principles approach to GTM and unique 'Influencer Board of Advisors' concept helped scale the product into a category leader in the AI tools space, setting a new standard for capital-efficient growth in SaaS. Customer Success: Cait Keohane (Chief Customer Officer, Airtable), led a customer journey redesign to tackle experience fragmentation amid rapid growth. Anchored in data-driven feedback loops, her approach led to significant improvements in retention and satisfaction, raising the bar for scalable, customer-centric success in SaaS. Partnerships: Alexis Zhu (Head of Global Partnerships, Stripe) transformed how Stripe partners with major payment providers by launching a new distribution model that doubled merchant adoption. Her scalable framework, leveraging strategic alliances and cross-functional 'Tiger Teams,' is now a playbook for partnership-led growth in fintech. 'The best GTM leaders today aren't just delivering results—they're building repeatable, scalable frameworks that others follow,' said Kyle Poyar, GTM10 jury member and operating partner at Tremont. 'This cohort represents the future of our craft.' The Shared GTM Challenges of 2025 Across all categories, this year's nominees consistently tackled a shared set of challenges: Scaling with Constraints: Many operated with limited resources, yet delivered exceptional pipeline and revenue growth. Breaking Through Noise: Honorees redefined GTM storytelling to stand out in saturated markets. Driving Efficiency at Scale: From PLG to AI-driven enablement, leaders implemented systems that multiplied impact without bloated headcount. Orchestrating Global Expansion: Several winners unlocked new markets while maintaining operational precision and cultural relevance. Integrating AI and Automation: Nearly all winners innovated with AI, reimagining onboarding, lead scoring, and customer engagement in real-time. 'Being recognized by peers and industry leaders for the work my incredible team at Gusto delivered is truly an honor,' said Jason Ing, GTM10 award winner and CMO at (formerly CMO at Gusto). 'We started with a clear vision of what we wanted our customers to understand and feel — and we're proud of how powerfully it landed and the impact it had on the business. This award isn't just a milestone — it's a reflection of the high standards, creativity, and relentless effort required to win in today's GTM landscape.' The Selection Process Winners were chosen by a panel of world-class judges, including GTM veterans from HubSpot, Shopify, Asana, and Databricks, alongside investors from Sequoia, a16z, Balderton, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Judges assessed candidates based on: Impact – tangible revenue growth or strategic outcomes Innovation – breakthroughs in motion, channel, or structure Visibility – community contribution and industry leadership Recognition and What Comes Next Winners received: Nasdaq Times Square recognition Featured profiles across industry media and Exclusive membership in the GTM10 Leaders Circle – a prestigious community of top Go-To-Market professional, including invitations to regular invite-only events happening globally About Cello Cello is the all-in-one referral platform that helps SaaS companies launch user and partner referral programs with no-code simplicity. Trusted by category leaders like Miro, Typeform, and VEED, Cello is redefining how viral growth scales in SaaS. Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm with $30B in AUM. It backs category-defining companies in enterprise, consumer, and fintech, such as Snap, Anthropic, and Rubrik.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cello and Lightspeed Announce the GTM10 Awards — Nominations Now Open to Find the Best Go-To-Market Operators in Software
SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The GTM10 Awards, powered by Cello and Lightspeed Venture Partners, is the world's first annual program dedicated to recognizing the top Go-To-Market (GTM) operators across Customer Success, Growth, Marketing, Sales, and Partnerships in the Software industry. For too long, startup success has been measured by products and funding. But behind every high-growth software company are GTM leaders driving the strategies that turn vision into reality. The GTM10 Awards now give these operators the recognition they deserve. "I've seen firsthand how the right GTM strategy can make or break a company," says Mark Roberge, Founding CRO of HubSpot and jury member. "The GTM10 Awards are about honoring operators who don't just talk about growth - they deliver it." Nominations are now open at: A Prestigious Selection Process Winners will be selected by a distinguished jury of GTM veterans and leading venture capitalists from companies like Asana, HubSpot, Databricks, Shopify, and investors at Sequoia, a16z, Balderton, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, based on business impact, innovation, and industry influence. Categories and Selection Each year, 50 winners will be selected across five categories: Customer Success Growth Marketing Sales Partnerships In each category, winners will be drawn from three groups: 4 GTM operators from startups and scale-ups 4 GTM operators from enterprise and Big Tech 2 GTM thought leaders or industry influencers Unparalleled Industry Recognition Winners will receive global recognition, including a feature on the Nasdaq billboard in Times Square and significant media exposure. More than an award, the GTM10 distinction establishes them as leaders among the world's best GTM professionals. Key Dates Nominations Open: March 11, 2025 Nominations Close: April 24, 2025 Winners Announced: May 21, 2025 onwards Nominations are open to any GTM leader who has driven measurable business impact. Candidates may nominate themselves or be nominated by peers, founders, or investors who have worked with them directly. About Cello Cello is the only all-in-one referral platform trusted by companies like Typeform, Miro, and VEED to automate and scale Partner and User Referral programs. About Lightspeed Venture Partners Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global VC firm with $30B AUM, backing over 500 companies, including Snap, Anthropic, and Rubrik. For more information or to submit a nomination, visit the GTM10 Awards. View source version on Contacts Media Contact:Stefan Baderstefan@ + Rachel Manson Grillrachel@
Boston Globe
31-01-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
One of Boston's most influential techies is working on a next big thing: AI ‘agents'
If you've tried using the Copilot AI feature inside of a Microsoft application, 'that is an AI helping the human,' says Mark Roberge, a former HubSpot executive who now teaches at Harvard Business School. (Copilot can do things like help you summarize or condense lengthy content, or generate images for a slide presentation.) 'Agentic AI moves the AI to the front, and the humans are architecting it. ... It's a different paradigm, and it gets closer to something that's truly disruptive,' he says. Advertisement While Shah and Cambridge-based HubSpot only began promoting the site last year, it has already attracted 230,000 users who've set up accounts. And 250,000 people have signed up for an email newsletter Shah oversees. The site is intended to serve as an agora for agents. Right now, everything on it is free, but Shah says there's the possibility of adding payments in the future. You can find agents that will design logos, write cover letters based on a job description, create transcripts of YouTube videos, or draft subject lines that are likely to increase the chance someone opens an email. There are more than 280 different agents listed on the site; Shah personally created 17 of them. Each one connects existing AI services on the internet like Lego bricks to make something new. Advertisement Shah says the most popular, so far, is one he created called Company Research Agent. You enter the name or web address of a company, and it compiles a dossier for you. Shah says that when you query it, it gathers info from a half-dozen different services, including Google, OpenAI, HubSpot, and Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine. The Company Research Agent on takes the name or web address of a company, and it compiles a dossier for you. SCREENSHOT OF 'That one was a case of scratching my own itch,' Shah says. When he'd assess potential partnerships for HubSpot, or startups that he might invest in, 'I used to do it manually, looking at website traffic, who are the founders, what are their backgrounds.' With the AI agent, he says, he has reduced a few hours of research to about 60 seconds. The reports produced by Company Research Agent are impressive at first glance, but like anything spit out by today's AI services, you need to do a fair amount of fact-checking. When I asked for a report on it confused Shah's site with an earlier startup company that once owned that web domain. It listed a Silicon Valley address, a founding year of 2016 (Shah started working on his version of in 2023), and described a product that used AI to provide customer support. Same with the Boston Globe: It described a newspaper still owned by the New York Times Company — which was accurate from 1993 to 2013 — and which has either 5,000 or 1,200 employees. (The correct number is 'nearly 1,000,' according to Globe spokesperson Carla Kath.) Advertisement Despite some accuracy challenges, it's very good — not to mention fast and free — at serving up information about a company's product, pricing, executives, media coverage, web traffic, and funding. I had decent luck using other agents to create logos and visual memes about next month's Super Bowl. But some of the agents, like the cover letter generator, just didn't work after multiple attempts. Paul Baier, cofounder of the Boston analyst firm GAI Insights, says he has been a user of the site, which he calls 'a very interesting experiment.' Agents, he says, will let people get access to a set of 'best-in-class' tools to do a particular job — he uses grammar and spell checking as an example — rather than just the tools built by one software company into their own application. 'Digital work will look radically different two years from now,' Baier says. If that prediction plays out, it could affect every software company — including HubSpot, which sells software to help companies communicate with and market to customers and prospective customers. The consulting firm CapGemini issued a report last summer that said 82 percent of companies expect to be using AI agents within three years. was initially created as a project of an LLC that Shah owns. He worked with freelancers to build it — not HubSpot employees — because Shah says that afforded him the ability to move fast, and not necessarily need to tie in to other HubSpot projects or product roadmaps. As an example, he quickly integrated the newest open source AI model from Advertisement A challenge with companies of HubSpot's size, he says, is: 'How do you experiment? How do you try things without distracting the core team?' (Shah started a similar side project to explore the potential of AI chatbots, called ChatSpot. HubSpot acquired that project for $1, and Shah says it could eventually do the same with He says he's not building the site for 'personal profit or gain.') But as of late January, Shah said it was possible that the company would take a more active role with and 'put a full HubSpot team on it later this year.' On you can find agents that will design logos, write cover letters based on a job description, create transcripts of YouTube videos, or draft subject lines that are likely to increase the chance someone opens an email. SCREENSHOT OF Roberge, a former top sales executive at HubSpot, calls Shah 'an awesome visionary. He's had free range to do these things that explore new technologies. And he's the most loyal HubSpotter in the history of the world.' Shah and Brian Halligan started the company in 2006. While there was Baier, the analyst at GAI Insights, calls AI agents 'a really hot space' and says he hasn't seen other sites like Shah's that are trying to collect or curate them. In January, ChatGPT introduced an agent of its own called Operator, in a 'preview' mode. Advertisement For his part, Shah says his goal with is simple: for 'the world to be able to use agents, and understand them better.' Scott Kirsner can be reached at
