Velocity View is the monthly newsletter from Justin Panzer Consulting. Unpack GTM topics and unlock growth with insights from around the marketing landscape.
TODAY'S TAKE: Your GTM Isn't Broken, Your Assumptions Are
Hey there,
Most “marketing problems” aren’t marketing problems at all (or at least they're not ONLY marketing problems). They’re the result of outdated assumptions about how growth actually works.
Founders keep saying GTM is their biggest problem because they’re still asking marketing to “turn up the volume on what we've been doing” instead of fixing the system underneath.
This edition breaks down the four leadership decisions that change everything—starting with who you serve, what value you create, and how buyers move through your funnel. When those foundations are clear, the GTM engine becomes predictable, scalable, and far more effective than any tactic-led push.
GTM BRIEFING: MARKETING MOTIONS AND GROWTH SIGNALS
Founders Still Say GTM Is Their Biggest Problem
High Alpha's recently released 2025 SaaS Benchmarks Report shows that go-to-market execution still tops founders’ concerns, even as the market stabilizes and AI enables higher output. The companies that outperform aren’t running more tactics; they’re the ones with clear markets and buyers, defined lifecycle and qualification rules, and GTM systems wired into their tools and metrics.
To remove GTM from your list of challenges:
Define lifecycle stages everyone signs off on.
Align on “qualification” before investing in “lead generation.”
Replace vanity metrics with quality metrics.
Partner with marketing on outcomes, not instructions.
When founders say GTM is their biggest problem, “fix our SEO” is one of the most common reflexes—and one of the clearest signs that marketing is still misunderstood. Too many teams still treat SEO like a quick repair job instead of a signal of how well their whole system creates, captures, and converts demand. But the dynamics of search have changed.
Discoverability now depends on authority, context, and external validation, not just on-page optimization. That’s why, especially in niche or complex markets, AEO (being referenced and cited across the ecosystem, particularly in LLMs) can matter more than traditional SEO mechanics.
A recent Marketing Against The Grain episode (see link in TL;DR below) touched on this shift, but the bigger point is simpler: SEO isn’t a lever you pull. It’s an outcome of a broader system that aligns messaging, expertise, and market focus.
Actions:
Audit where your brand is cited or referenced. Not just where you rank.
Prioritize content that earns authority, not just keywords.
Align SEO efforts to lifecycle stages, not homepage traffic.
Stop asking to “fix our SEO” and start asking “what is really driving discoverability?”
In two in-flight client engagements, I've come in on a "prove it" basis because they've said that past marketing efforts haven't gotten results. With both companies, the root cause of marketing underperformance was lack of a real growth system. Their "marketing" was just ad-hoc content and campaigns that simply tried to do what they've always done but "better".
Their system rebuild has included:
Tightened positioning and a strong messaging platform design
Share lifecycle definitions across the org
Composite scoring models to replace qualification guesswork
Automated lead handoffs with SLAs and recycle/nurture flows
Dashboards reframing performance in terms of revenue, not volume.
Marketing being misunderstood isn’t surprising to anyone who has ever led a GTM function, but it still shows up as one of the biggest barriers to growth. The stories and resources in this month’s Velocity View highlight the same pattern: expectations that don’t match company stage, assumptions that don’t reflect how modern GTM works, and the myth that great marketers are following a tidy playbook. The recent reflections
Follow Suggestion: HubSpot's Marketing Against The Grain
HubSpot's Marketing Against The Grain podcast is an ongoing, useful look at modern GTM dynamics, concepts, tools, and people who are shaping them.
The recent episode with Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite is a great place to start if you're wrestling with how changes in search, SEO, and AEO impact growth.
Take a listen and follow the HubSpot team for more insightful content. And don't forget to click through to the SEO/AEO prompt primer in the podcast description.
