If you're still bragging about MQLs, SQLs, and pipelines, Sangram Vajre thinks you should be fired.
If you're still running 20-step nurture campaigns, he thinks you're stuck in 2012.
And if you're still clinging to a SaaS business model? He says you're the next Blockbuster.
According to Sangram, the sacred cows of marketing are getting slaughtered, and it's about damn time.
In this episode of Playbook Broken, Sangram Vajre (co-founder of Terminus, GTM Partners, and author of MOVE) didn't just challenge the status quo, he torched it. What emerged from the ashes is a blueprint for what comes after the funnel, after pipeline worship, and after SaaS itself.
Spoiler alert: Most of us are still fighting yesterday's war with tomorrow's buyers.
The Funnel Fantasy is Over
Remember when drip campaigns worked? When buyers politely followed your 12-step nurture sequence like good little prospects? When organic reach on social media was a thing?
Today's buyers don't drip. They binge. They see something interesting, research everything available, and often make decisions within 24 hours. They leverage SEO, GEO, Reddit, and their own networks of contacts.
Sangram told me a story that should terrify every marketer still obsessing over pipeline volume:
A CMO proudly posted on LinkedIn about generating $20M in pipeline. The comments were full of fire emojis and "crushing it" reactions. A week later? She was fired.
Why? Because pipeline volume divorced from business outcomes is just expensive theater. If it's not tied to customer retention, net revenue retention, or profitable unit economics, it's vanity wearing a business suit.
"Pipeline without profit is just activity," Sangram explains. "And activity without outcomes is what gets you replaced."
Stop celebrating how much pipeline you've "generated." Start asking whether it's the right pipeline.
GTM Doesn't Belong to Marketing
Here's where things get uncomfortable for everyone involved with and responsible for driving revenue.
Sangram and his team interviewed dozens of C-level leaders. The pattern was brutal:
Every CEO said: "I own go-to-market."
Every CMO and CRO said: "I'm not sure who owns it."
That disconnect is killing companies.
Go-to-market isn't just campaigns or product launches. It's the entire business strategy. Where to expand geographically. What products to build next. Which companies to acquire. That's CEO-level decision making, not departmental execution.
In my own experiences, this rings incredibly true. Third Door Media has run hundreds of lead generation, brand, and activation campaigns for companies large and small
We consistently get the sense that internal silos are creating challenges for how our customers are executing their GTM efforts. In the past few months, I’ve spoken to multiple executives about disconnects between marketing automation platforms and sales-owned CRMs, between departments, and in messaging disparities that confused and confuddle prospects and customers.
Teams may mean well, but too many of them are operating in silos, using vanity metrics and not focusing on the business, as Sangram points out.
SaaS is the New Blockbuster
If that wasn’t enough fire, here’s where Sangram went nuclear.
The SaaS model, with $100K annual contracts, multi-year lock-ins, and armies of SDRs cold-calling, is cracking under its own weight. Why would any CEO sign a 3-year deal for software they might not use, then hire staff just to operate it?
Instead, smart leaders will pay $10K/month for services that deliver guaranteed outcomes. Software becomes the invisible backend. Services become the customer-facing front.
"The future isn't Software-as-a-Service," Sangram predicts. "It's Services-as-Software."
And most SaaS companies are about to get Netflixed.
Breaking Your Own Playbook
If your marketing teams are still worshiping the funnel and bragging about MQLS, it’s time to wake up. To some (and believe me, I get it), it still feels safe because it once worked.
But safe is what gets you disrupted.
Sangram's challenge to every leader reading this:
Kill the funnel. Stop bragging about pipeline. Think like a business owner, not a marketer. Admit when ego is driving your decisions.
Because in the end, the only playbook that matters is the one that works for the buyers you have today, not the ones you had five years ago.
Want more conversations that challenge everything you think you know about marketing? Subscribe here on Substack and watch the full episode where we torch the playbooks that no longer work.
Around the town, notes and musings:
I’m reading Salt: A World History by Kurlansky, and it’s honestly fascinating. Many of the lessons apply to modern-day GTM. For example, distribution beats product. Just like SaaS founders today obsess over features, while Sangram reminds us that GTM is the business itself.
What do you call a “Swifty” that gets 3 out of 15 in Name That Tune? My daughters would have gone 15/15 and will be shamed forevermore (see what I did there?) Who’s ready for T12? Anyone buying her limited edition cassettes? Talk about a unique GTM approach. She’s a master.
I’m thinking a lot about adaptive reluctance as I plan a workshop I’m doing at Inbound Sept 3-5 in San Francisco. If you're going, look me up, let’s get coffee. Better yet, attend one of my 4 “colabs!”
Thanks for reading and watching Playbook Broken.
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