GTM Updates and an hour-long Clay Tutorial

Author

Patrick Spychalski
February 26, 2025

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Welcome back to the GTM Cookbook!

In this edition, I wanted to outline some of the more significant happenings in GTM as of recent, as well as give you an action-packed, hour-long Clay consulting call that I recorded specifically for this newsletter. First, the news:

1. Deep Research models are set to radically change the landscape of GTM

OpenAI, Anthropic, Grok, DeepSeek, and essentially every other GenAI company are currently waging battle to create the most effective deep research model on the market. While I wouldn’t necessarily call a clear winner right now, one thing does remain almost certainly true- it will drastically affect how we approach GTM.

In AI GTM tools like Clay, Default, and Unify, there was a somewhat limited depth of research possible when running automated outbound motions. To date, we’ve been able to automate somewhat basic tasks like scraping a 10k, but haven’t been able to perform full financial analyses or create loose mappings of a company’s perceived outreach methods. This is all set to change with deep research models.

Just like in any other industry, this will allow for the automation of incredibly high-level tasks, all the way up to performing entire GTM functions. As YC CEO Garry Tan says per this X post, “intelligence is on tap now”.

So, what does this mean for GTM operators? The short answer- it’s good and bad. It almost certainly means that the very best operators will win, while the bottom 95% will be working on something else. When I say the “best”, I mean those with the ability to guide these models in the right direction while gut checking their decisions before they’re made. Technical ability (or in this case, the ability to point the tech in the right direction) is likely the only individual moat that’s left. On the brighter side, GTM in particular always holds appreciation for the personal touch. While these models are almost certain to automate any part of sales that doesn’t involve talking to a real person, it will only increase the value of good personality when it comes time for a call.

2. Clay is raising a community round

The title explains most of it- Clay decided to let the community invest in the company. This is a somewhat rare move from a SaaS business, particularly one that has only just raised a Series B.

The round, to my understanding, is at its current valuation of $1.25B and has a relatively low max for investors. To apply, you simply fill out this application and let them know why you should be a part of it.

I’m personally always a fan of businesses giving back to their communities. In Clay’s case, their community served a particularly large role in their growth. A large chunk of the product’s surge in popularity can be attributed to the content created by early adopters like Eric Nowoslawski, Jesse Ouellette, and others. Their agency ecosystem has also allowed product adoption to go much more smoothly. Of course, the amount of LinkedIn posts put up by fans of the tool is nearly countless as well.

Overall, this seems like more of a nice gesture than a financial move by Clay, which is what makes it great. They don’t need the money (and some people might argue they didn’t even need the last round), so giving early adopters a chance to invest is a nice move. Go Clay.

3. AI Video is getting good

That’s pretty much the headline. I’d recommend checking out Captions, HeyGen, and Tavus as they all are natively integrated in Clay. It’s getting to the point where it may actually be usable soon.

The main question is, will it actually be effective from a GTM standpoint? I feel a bit hesitant to give that answer a resounding yes. Even if AI video gets to be convincing, everyone will know it’s at the point of being convincing and thus not believe anybody who sends them a video anymore. Its current state is almost better, where you can create convincing semi-generated videos using tools like Sendspark during a time when people don’t really think it’s possible to automate video sending.

Nonetheless, the AI video space has had pretty absurd development since the videos of Will Smith eating cereal from 2001. It’s getting pretty scary when you stop focusing on GTM and zoom out to its general impact on humanity. But hey, maybe it can help us sell things better.

Bonus: 1 hour of me talking about Clay

A couple notes on this video:

  1. This should not be viewed as a complete Clay tutorial. It’s more of an intro to the product, a description of core use cases, and some examples on how it can be used.

  2. I filmed it over two days, hence the outfit switch 👕