AI-Led Growth in 2025: Transforming GTM for Efficiency and Competitive Edge

In 2025, AI won’t just support our team - it will completely augment key GTM Functions, creating a major growth and profitability opportunity if we act early. Kiwi companies exporting globally that embrace this shift will gain first mover advantage, and be able to compete more effectively in international markets. This is especially true if you are targeting the US. 

Experimental, forward thinking CEOs, COOs, and GTM Operators started embracing AI in earnest a few years ago. The tools available augmented human workflows to a certain extent, mainly assisting with content creation or generation of bad outbound sequences. I believe this is going to change. 2025 will be the year of AI in GTM - it will revolutionise GTM strategies, creating an accelerated shift in a team’s ability to deliver more target, more efficient (read, profitable) growth. 

On a recent trip to the US, I had an opportunity to demo a handful of emerging technologies at the Pavilion GTM Summit. What I saw completely blew my mind. As someone who worked in the AI industry prior to moving to NZ, I understand how quickly this segment is moving. In 2019, self-driving car technology was just transitioning from experimental projects to real world testing. A mere 4 years later I rode in the back of a driverless Waymo. Generative AI tech started to go mainstream with the launch of Chat GPT in November, 2022. Today, I use this technology regularly as a thought partner, to augment my own writing, and to help me when I get stuck on pesky Excel formulas. I believe GTM tech is moving even more quickly. The demos I saw 6 months ago are already obsolete. This technology is now able to fully replace a full time hire, not just augment an employee. This is big. 

So, how do you think about AI in GTM and move to embrace the technology without breaking your current set up? Let’s dig in. 

1. Move Beyond Linear Growth
   Current GTM models rely on adding people to grow, which just doesn’t scale quickly or efficiently enough in today’s environment. AI can handle more without hiring more, creating the exponential growth we need. If you double your headcount, you’ll see 1.7, maybe 1.8x increase in output. (Data Source: Winning by Design) By replacing manual processes with AI-driven systems, companies can increase growth without proportional human resource expansion. This shift allows businesses to handle a much larger pipeline of prospects, rapidly scale interactions, and enhance customer engagement with significantly lower costs. It’s about meeting demand in real time and scaling customer engagement at a fraction of the cost. 

2. Knowledge Asymmetry and Buyer Control
   80% of today’s buyers want to do their own research. They often arrive more prepared than sales reps, thanks to accessible info and insights, flipping the traditional selling model to a buyer led motion. AI helps us stay relevant by making sure our responses are immediate and personalized. This isn’t just about keeping up; it’s about delivering value from the first interaction. Additionally, new GTM tech can be trained on sales methodologies like SPICED or MEDDIC and employs deep sentiment analysis, ensuring key details, buyer pain points, and opportunities are quickly uncovered. 

3. AI Superhumans to Handle Routine Work - High Impact, Low Cost GTM
   AI-powered agents will take on tasks typically handled by entry-level BDRs, sales reps and customer support, like prospect qualification and technical support, allowing for instantaneous responses and consistent quality. This also enables teams to reallocate resources from routine tasks to high-stakes, high-impact areas where human oversight adds value. From what I’m seeing, the technology is best suited for inbound qualification and buyer education, sales engineering support, and engaging the PLG longtail. 

4. Scalability and Cost-Efficiency
   AI systems drive both scalability (rapid, large-scale deployment) and sustainability (reduced operating costs). An AI-based approach bypasses the lengthy, costly training cycles required for human employees, offering faster, more cost-effective solutions without sacrificing quality. The latest GTM Superhumans can be trained and deployed in 4-6 weeks, adding immediate efficiency and scalability to your team. 

5. Securing First-Mover Advantage
   Starting in 2025, early adopters will seize a "zero-day exploit" advantage, setting the market standard in AI-enabled growth. With AI systems that continuously learn and optimize, early movers will lock in a widening competitive gap that later adopters will struggle to close. According to Alexander Group - 69% of US based GTM organizations have a budget set aside for AI in 2025. Don’t fall behind. 

If you want to take advantage of this wave and ensure you don’t get left behind, start with an area where AI will make the most difference - think scalability, cost-efficiency, and quality improvements across customer touch points. For example, I’m currently reviewing two technologies that could benefit the companies I work with (if you’d like a review, let me know). The first is a platform that has the potential to replace a junior product marketing and content hire. To my delight, it also integrates robust GTM data tracking and management, enabling pipeline optimization. This tech has the potential to cut 2 FTEs out of a 2025 hiring plan. I’m also looking at a platform to augment buyer education, which would greatly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of both inbound and outbound motions. If it works as intended, I believe we’re entering a world in which MDR/SDR/BDR teams can be dramatically smaller. 

To wrap, I’ll leave you with a quote from Jacco J van der Kooij, founder of Winning by Design. In his latest research paper, he states: 

"Starting in 2025, AI will revolutionize GTM strategies, allowing market leaders to replace up to 70% of their GTM efforts. This accelerated shift is a game-changer, giving first movers an advantage so significant that competitors may struggle to catch up. GTM teams that embrace AI in 2025 will set themselves up to become dominant leaders by 2026. Don’t get left behind—now’s the time to prepare."