Podcast Episode Details

GTM 162: From PLG to Enterprise: How to Layer Sales Without Breaking What Works | Ghazi Masood

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Season 1 Episode 162

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Ghazi Masood is the Chief Revenue Officer at Retool, where he leads the go-to-market engine for the low-code developer platform. Previously he served as SVP & GM, Americas at Auth0 after leadership roles at Microsoft, Oracle, Polycom, and Nintex K2, and he advises several high-growth startups on GTM. A field-first operator, Ghazi specializes in layering sales onto product-led motions and building enterprise upgrade paths without breaking self-serve growth.

Discussed in this episode

• The moment inbound stops being enough—and how to size the outbound gap
• Why to bifurcate SDRs (inbound vs. outbound) and how to define lead sources
• Profiling inbound (more technical, SE-adjacent) vs. outbound (AE-track) talent
• Structuring self-serve as a permanent home vs. a stepping stone to enterprise
• “Ungate to upgrade”: using sustained overage/feature use as a right-sizing trigger
• Pricing & packaging that pulls larger accounts to annual, committed plans
• The “GTM engineer” model for AI-native, high-velocity companies
• Hiring pace, capacity planning, and the leadership principles that scale

Episode highlights

00:00 — Inbound eventually caps out; annual planning exposes the pipeline gap that outbound must fill.

00:45 — What it really takes to add sales to a product-led motion—without breaking PLG.

03:23 — First move: bifurcate SDR into dedicated inbound and outbound to drive focus and outcomes.

04:18 — Nail definitions with Marketing: what counts as inbound vs. outbound (e.g., events ≠ inbound).

06:37 — Decide the role of self-serve: permanent home for some segments vs. stepping stone to enterprise.

09:41 — Ungated features as signals: after ~3 months of sustained overage/premium use, “right-size” the plan.

12:09 — Why frictionless adoption beats hard gates—and how clear web docs make the convo non-adversarial.

15:10 — When to move from pay-as-you-go to annual: sophistication and committed usage, not arbitrary timing.

18:51 — Enter the “GTM engineer”: one person spans SDR → SE → AE → AM to capture massive inbound demand.

25:36 — Frameworks that still work: MEDD(P)ICC and Solution Selling 2.0 for complex, multi-product deals.

Sponsor – Pursuit

The best talent isn’t actively job hunting. Pursuit helps companies hire elite go-to-market talent on a non-retainer basis. As a key GTMfund partner, they equip sales and marketing teams with top performers.

If you’re hiring for sales or marketing roles, reach out to Pursuit at pursuitsalessolutions.com/gtm or message a GTMfund team member.

Guest links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghazi-masood-09195a2
• Company: https://retool.com

Host links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi
• X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona
• Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com

The GTMnow Podcast
The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.

Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago