Go-to-market is a term that gets thrown around a lot—but rarely understood with clarity. Most teams see it as a sequence: brand builds, product ships, marketing promotes, sales closes. In reality, this linear approach creates silos and delays. In this post, we break down a new mental model: circular GTM. It's a system where all functions—brand, insights, product, marketing, sales, and operations—move together, not in isolation. If your team is stuck waiting on others to act, this shift could change everything.
Go-to-market (GTM) is one of the most commonly used—and most confusing—terms in business. Ask ten professionals what GTM means, and you’ll get ten different answers: a product launch strategy, a marketing playbook, or a sales roadmap. The truth is, GTM encompasses all of those, but none of them exclusively.
This confusion is more than semantics. It often leads to costly misalignment between internal teams. Brand and marketing obsess over storytelling, sales drives revenue, operations targets efficiency, and finance protects budgets. Product ends up caught in the middle, often pulled in opposing directions. As a result, GTM strategy breaks down before momentum even begins.
To fix this, we need to reframe GTM. Instead of a sequential checklist, we should see it as a circular, synchronized system. This shift eliminates handoffs, delays, and misunderstandings. It promotes a new kind of flow—one where different parts of the organization move in coordination, not competition.
In the traditional model, GTM often follows a linear path:
Brand defines identity
Market insights are gathered
Product is developed
Marketing builds awareness
Sales drives engagement
Operations ensures delivery
Sounds logical. But in practice, this linear ladder introduces friction: marketing waits on product, operations waits on sales, finance pulls budgets, and on it goes. Each team functions independently, and even when alignment meetings are in place, they often serve as status updates—not true collaboration.
A circular model flips this on its head. In a circular GTM system, any function can initiate value. Product might spot a market opening, brand might sense a cultural shift, or operations might uncover a more efficient delivery method. In this system, every function is empowered, responsive, and aware of how their work affects the whole.
Let’s consider the power of the brand + operations axis. Brand ensures message clarity, consistency, and positioning. Operations ensures quality, scalability, and margin protection. When those two work in tandem, they unlock both resonance and results. Too often, they’re at odds—brand pushing ambitious campaigns, ops trying to deliver with limited resources. But side by side, they can move faster and smarter.
The best analogy here? Murmurations—those mesmerizing flocks of starlings that shift direction in perfect harmony. There is no singular leader; the system self-adjusts based on real-time feedback. That’s what GTM should look like in high-functioning teams. It’s not chaos. It’s dynamic harmony.
Another benefit of this model: resilience. In a circular system, if one part slows down, others adapt. If your product timeline slips, marketing and ops can respond in stride. If sales feedback shifts mid-campaign, insights and brand can recalibrate quickly. It’s a living system.
Ultimately, GTM isn’t a department or a phase. It’s the connective tissue of your business. The more synchronized it becomes, the more momentum you gain.
Read More.
The Playbook for Go-to-Market Success: Insights, How-Tos, and Real-World Wins.
