GTM recruitment is the practice of hiring the people responsible for taking a product to market and turning demand into revenue. For SaaS companies, this includes roles across sales, marketing, customer success, revenue operations, and sometimes partnerships.
Unlike general hiring, GTM recruitment focuses on building revenue engines, not just filling roles.
At Strive, we see GTM hiring as one of the highest-leverage activities a SaaS company can invest in, because the right GTM team directly shapes growth, retention, and market positioning.
Let's Dive In!
What does GTM actually mean in SaaS?
GTM stands for Go-To-Market. In a SaaS context, it refers to the strategy and execution required to bring a product to customers and scale revenue.
This includes defining the ideal customer profile, messaging and positioning, pricing, distribution channels, and the teams responsible for execution.
GTM is not a single function. It is a system that connects product, sales, marketing, and customer success. GTM recruitment exists to build and align the people who operate that system.
What roles are included in GTM recruitment?
GTM recruitment typically covers sales roles such as SDRs, Account Executives, Sales Leaders, and RevOps, marketing roles such as Product Marketing, Demand Generation, and Growth, and post-sale roles including Customer Success Managers and Account Managers.
In early-stage SaaS companies, these roles are often blended. As companies scale, they become more specialised.
Effective GTM recruitment accounts for this evolution and hires people who fit the current stage rather than an idealised future state.
Why GTM recruitment is different from traditional recruitment
Traditional recruitment often focuses on skills in isolation. GTM recruitment focuses on outcomes. The goal is not simply to hire someone who can do a job, but to hire someone who can move a revenue metric.
This requires a deeper understanding of company stage, sales motion, deal size, buyer persona, and growth constraints.
A GTM recruiter must understand how these variables interact and how the wrong hire can slow or even reverse growth.
When should SaaS companies invest in GTM recruitment?
SaaS companies should invest in GTM recruitment once there is early validation that customers will buy the product for repeatable reasons. This does not mean product-market fit is perfect, but it does mean the company is ready to learn through structured selling and marketing.
Investing too early often leads to churn and frustration. Investing too late creates founder bottlenecks and missed growth opportunities.
GTM recruitment is most effective when it evolves alongside the business.
What great GTM candidates look like in SaaS
Great GTM candidates understand more than their own function. They understand how revenue is created end to end.
Sales candidates understand how marketing and product influence deals.
Marketers understand how pipeline converts and where friction appears.
Customer success leaders understand retention and expansion economics.
In SaaS, especially at early and growth stages, adaptability, learning speed, and commercial judgment often matter more than years of experience or brand-name logos.
Common mistakes SaaS companies make with GTM recruitment
One of the most common mistakes is hiring for scale before the foundations are in place.
Another is over-indexing on past company logos instead of relevant experience.
SaaS companies also frequently underestimate how much context GTM hires need to succeed.
Without clear ICPs, messaging, and expectations, even strong candidates will struggle.
Finally, many companies rely on generic recruitment processes that fail to assess real-world GTM ability.
How a specialist GTM recruitment firm helps
A specialist SaaS GTM recruitment firm like Strive brings context, pattern recognition, and calibration to the hiring process. This means helping founders define roles accurately, challenging assumptions about who they need to hire next, and assessing candidates against the realities of the business rather than generic benchmarks.
The result is faster ramp time, stronger retention, and more predictable revenue outcomes.
Final thoughts
GTM recruitment is not just about hiring people to sell or market a product.
It is about building the system that turns a SaaS product into a scalable business. When GTM hiring is intentional and aligned with company stage, growth becomes more predictable and less dependent on individual heroics.
For SaaS companies serious about scaling, GTM recruitment is not optional - it is foundational.
Choosing the right GTM recruitment agency is about fit, expertise, and trust. By asking the right questions and digging into their processes, you can find a partner who not only fills roles - but helps you build a sales team that fuels long-term SaaS growth.
Invest in a GTM Recruitment agency and accelerate your path to success.
Reach out to a member of the team here, or see more about how we can support your growth here.
Adam Richardson
Co-Founder and Director
