The Three Hidden Layers Sabotaging Your GTM Strategy (And Why You Keep Missing Them)

I keep hearing the same complaints from revenue leaders at AI-native and SaaS companies generating anywhere from £5M to £80M ARR:

"We're generating leads, but they're not converting."

"Our sales team isn't hitting quota, but they're working their asses off."

"Marketing is busy, but we're not seeing pipeline."

"We've got a churn problem we can't seem to fix."

These sound like different problems. They're not.

They're symptoms of deeper, structural issues in your go-to-market engine. And the kicker: most revenue leaders are treating the symptoms instead of diagnosing the actual disease.

That's because GTM problems don't present themselves neatly. They're layered, interconnected, and often hidden beneath surface-level metrics that look "fine" until they're catastrophically not fine.

After working with dozens of B2B SaaS and AI-native companies, I've identified three distinct layers where GTM strategies break down. Understanding which layer (or layers) you're dealing with is the difference between spinning your wheels on tactical fixes and actually accelerating growth.

Let's dig in.

Layer 1: The Skills Mismatch (Or Why Your Team Can't Execute Your New Strategy)

This is the most overlooked problem in SaaS right now, particularly for AI-native companies and those transitioning their go-to-market motion.

The pattern goes like this:

You've built a successful product-led growth (PLG) motion. Users sign up, try the product, convert themselves. It's beautiful. It scales. But then you hit a ceiling—usually somewhere between £5M-£20M ARR.

The natural next step? Layer in a sales-led growth (SLG) motion to move upmarket, close enterprise deals, and accelerate revenue.

Sounds logical. Except there's a massive problem: the team that got you here isn't equipped to get you there.

The Symptoms of Skills Mismatch

You'll see this play out in specific, identifiable ways:

Low lead engagement despite volume. Marketing is generating leads. The numbers look good in your dashboard. But when sales reaches out, crickets. Or worse, responses that go nowhere. The leads aren't engaging because your team doesn't know how to engage them. They're waiting for interest signals instead of creating them.

Lack of proactive hunting. Your sales team is reactive. They respond to inbound. They take demos with people who've already raised their hand. But they're not prospecting. They're not building outbound pipelines. They're not comfortable with cold outreach because they've never had to be.

Vanilla marketing generating zero pipeline. Your content is... fine. Your campaigns are... running. But nothing's cutting through. Why? Because the marketers you hired for PLG excel at in-product messaging, onboarding flows, and conversion optimization. They're not experienced in market positioning, executive messaging, or demand generation that creates pipeline in a sales-led motion.

This isn't a performance issue. It's a skills issue.

The people who excel at PLG are fundamentally different from those who excel at SLG. PLG requires product marketing chops, conversion rate optimization, user psychology, and virality mechanics. SLG requires executive presence, consultative selling, account-based strategies, and the ability to navigate complex buying committees.

These are different skill sets. Different experiences. Different instincts.

Why This Happens

Most companies make the mistake of assuming their existing team can "learn" the new motion. And sure, some can. But most can't, or at least not fast enough to prevent a growth stall.

You hired people who were perfect for your PLG motion. They delivered exactly what you needed. But now you're asking them to play a completely different game with completely different rules.

It's like asking a sprinter to run a marathon. They're both running, sure. But the training, pacing, strategy, and physical demands are entirely different.

The hard truth? You probably need different people in key roles. Or at minimum, you need to bring in experienced SLG leaders who can mentor and upskill your existing team while also carrying quota themselves.

The Fix (And Why It's Uncomfortable)

Addressing a skills mismatch requires honest assessment and difficult decisions.

Start by auditing your team's actual experience: - Have they executed successful outbound motions before? - Do they know how to create demand, not just capture it? - Can they have executive-level conversations about business outcomes? - Do they understand enterprise sales cycles and buying committees?

If the answers are mostly "no," you've got work to do.

This might mean hiring seasoned enterprise sellers who've been there before. It might mean bringing in a VP of Sales with a track record of building outbound engines. It might mean hiring a demand generation leader who actually knows how to generate demand, not just optimize funnels.

And yes, it might mean moving people into different roles or, in some cases, moving them out entirely.

That's uncomfortable. But the alternative—watching your growth stall while your team struggles with a motion they're not equipped for—is far worse.

Layer 2: The Broken Engine Components (Or Why There's No Playbook for Your Business)

Let's say you've got the right people in place. Great. Now you're dealing with Layer 2: the actual mechanics of your GTM engine.

What makes this layer particularly nasty: there are so many components that can break, and they all interact with each other in complex ways.

Your GTM engine includes: - Market positioning - Value proposition and messaging - Ideal customer profile (ICP) definition - Channel mix and allocation - Content strategy and execution - Sales process and methodology - Customer journey mapping - Pricing and packaging - Competitive differentiation

Each of these is a potential failure point. And when one breaks, it creates downstream problems that look like completely different issues.

Why Standard Playbooks Don't Work

Every SaaS CEO wants the same thing: a proven playbook they can copy.

"Just tell me what works. What did [successful company X] do?"

I get it. But the problem is: there is no standard playbook because every company's DNA is unique.

Your market is different. Your product is different. Your customers are different. Your competitive landscape is different. Your team is different. Your funding situation is different.

What worked for Salesforce won't work for you. What worked for HubSpot won't work for you. What worked for that AI-native company that just raised a Series B won't work for you.

Sure, there are principles that apply universally. But the specific tactics, channels, messaging, and motions that will work for your business? Those have to be discovered, tested, and refined based on your unique context.

The Symptoms of Broken Engine Components

This layer manifests in frustratingly vague ways:

Positioning that doesn't resonate. You've got a clear position in your mind, but when prospects hear it, they don't get it. Or worse, they think you're just like everyone else. Your differentiation isn't differentiating.

Messaging that falls flat. Your website copy is professional. Your sales deck is polished. But nothing lands. Prospects aren't leaning in. They're not saying "tell me more." They're saying "interesting, let me think about it" and then ghosting.

Channel mix that's misallocated. You're investing heavily in channels that worked for other companies, but they're not working for you. Maybe you're pouring budget into paid search when your buyers don't search for solutions—they need to be educated that a problem exists first. Maybe you're doing content marketing when your ICP doesn't consume content—they take calls from trusted advisors.

Customer journey that's misaligned. The path you've designed from awareness to purchase doesn't match how your customers actually buy. You're optimizing for a funnel that doesn't reflect reality, which means you're fixing problems that don't matter while ignoring the ones that do.

The Diagnostic Challenge

The tricky part about Layer 2 problems is diagnosis.

When a component is broken, it doesn't announce itself. You don't get an error message saying "Your positioning is off" or "Your channel mix is suboptimal."

Instead, you get symptoms that could have multiple causes: - Low conversion rates (Is it messaging? Pricing? ICP definition? Sales process?) - Long sales cycles (Is it positioning? Value prop? Buying committee complexity?) - High CAC (Is it channel mix? Creative? Offer? Targeting?)

This is where most companies get stuck. They start treating symptoms with tactical fixes instead of diagnosing the root cause.

They'll run more ads to fix low pipeline, when the real problem is that their messaging doesn't resonate with their ICP.

They'll hire more SDRs to fix low meeting rates, when the real problem is that they're targeting the wrong accounts.

They'll redesign their website to fix low conversion, when the real problem is that their positioning doesn't differentiate them from competitors.

The Fix (And Why It Requires Systematic Thinking)

Fixing broken engine components requires a diagnostic framework.

You need to isolate variables and test hypotheses systematically. This means:

Start with positioning. If your market doesn't understand what you do and why it matters, nothing downstream will work. You could have the best sales team, the best content, the best product—none of it matters if your positioning is unclear or undifferentiated.

Audit your messaging hierarchy. Does your value proposition actually articulate value? Not features, not capabilities—actual business outcomes that your ICP cares about? And does that value prop cascade consistently through all your messaging touchpoints?

Validate your ICP. Are you targeting the right companies and the right buyers within those companies? This sounds basic, but most companies have a fuzzy ICP that's too broad, which means their marketing and sales efforts are diluted across accounts that will never close or will churn quickly if they do.

Map the actual customer journey. Not the one you wish existed, but the one that actually exists. Talk to recent customers. Understand how they actually discovered you, evaluated you, and decided to buy. Then build your GTM motion around that reality.

Test channel hypotheses. Don't assume channels that work for other companies will work for you. Test small, measure rigorously, and double down on what's actually driving pipeline and revenue for your specific business.

This is methodical, unglamorous work. It's not about growth hacks or viral tactics. It's about understanding your unique GTM DNA and building an engine that works for your specific context.

Layer 3: The Leaky Bucket (Or Why Revenue Isn't Just About Acquisition)

You can have the right team. You can have a well-tuned engine. And you can still stall.

Why? Because you're losing customers as fast as you're acquiring them.

This is Layer 3: the leaky bucket problem.

And what surprises most people: this isn't just a problem for early-stage companies still figuring out product-market fit. I've seen companies at £80M ARR with significant churn issues.

The Symptoms of a Leaky Bucket

Churn manifests in different ways depending on your stage and market:

Gross logo churn. Customers are leaving entirely. They're not renewing. They're not downgrading—they're gone. This is the most obvious form of leakage, and it's often the one that finally gets leadership attention.

Net revenue churn. Even if logo retention is decent, revenue might be declining. Customers are downgrading, reducing seats, or failing to expand. Your gross retention might look okay, but net retention is telling a different story.

Expansion stalls. You're keeping customers, but they're not growing with you. No upsells, no cross-sells, no expansion. This is particularly problematic for companies whose models depend on land-and-expand.

Why Leaky Buckets Are Particularly Dangerous Now

The technology landscape is shifting faster than ever, particularly with the advent of LLMs and AI-native products.

Industries are being disrupted in real-time. Products that were essential two years ago are being replaced by AI-powered alternatives. Workflows that required specialized software are now handled by ChatGPT or Claude.

This creates a specific type of churn risk that's hard to combat: your customers aren't leaving because you failed them—they're leaving because their needs have fundamentally changed or because a dramatically better alternative has emerged.

I'm seeing this play out across multiple categories: - Content creation tools being replaced by generative AI - Research and analysis platforms being replaced by AI assistants - Workflow automation tools being replaced by AI agents - Customer service software being replaced by AI-powered solutions

If your product is in the path of AI disruption, you've got a ticking clock. And the answer isn't just "add AI features." It's fundamentally rethinking what value you provide and how you deliver it.

The Execution Gap

The frustrating thing about Layer 3 problems: leadership usually knows they exist.

They see the churn numbers. They know retention is a problem. They talk about it in board meetings. They set initiatives to improve it.

But nothing changes.

Why? Because execution is where the work is.

Fixing churn requires: - Product improvements based on actual usage data and customer feedback - Customer success operations that proactively identify and address risk - Onboarding that drives time-to-value quickly - Regular engagement that reinforces value and identifies expansion opportunities - Pricing and packaging that aligns with how customers actually derive value

Each of these requires cross-functional coordination, sustained effort, and often uncomfortable organizational changes.

It's much easier to focus on acquisition. New logos are exciting. Closing deals feels like winning. Retention work is unglamorous, slow, and requires fixing things that are hard to fix.

But the math should terrify you: if you're growing at 50% year-over-year but churning 30% of your revenue annually, you're on a treadmill. You're working twice as hard to achieve half the growth you could have with better retention.

The Fix (And Why It Starts With Honest Assessment)

Addressing a leaky bucket starts with honest assessment of where and why you're losing customers.

Segment your churn. Not all churn is equal. Are you losing early-stage customers who never got value? Mid-size customers who outgrew you? Enterprise customers who got acquired? Each segment requires a different solution.

Identify leading indicators. Churn is a lagging indicator. By the time a customer churns, it's too late. What are the leading indicators that predict churn? Low usage? Lack of engagement? Failed onboarding? Support tickets? Identify these signals and intervene early.

Build a retention motion, not just a renewal motion. Most companies wait until 60-90 days before renewal to start worrying about retention. That's too late. Retention is built through continuous value delivery, regular engagement, and proactive success management throughout the entire customer lifecycle.

Align your organization around retention metrics. If your sales team is only compensated on new ARR, don't be surprised when they sell deals that churn. If your product team's roadmap is driven entirely by new feature requests from prospects, don't be surprised when existing customers feel neglected. Retention has to be a company-wide priority, not just a customer success problem.

And critically: if you're in a market being disrupted by AI or other technological shifts, you need to be honest about whether your current product has a viable future. Sometimes the answer isn't fixing churn—it's fundamentally reinventing what you build and who you serve.

The Interconnected Nature of GTM Problems

What makes diagnosing and fixing GTM problems so challenging: these layers don't exist in isolation.

You can have problems in multiple layers simultaneously, and they interact with each other in complex ways.

For example:

You might have a skills mismatch (Layer 1) that prevents your team from executing effective positioning and messaging (Layer 2), which leads to acquiring the wrong customers who churn quickly (Layer 3).

Or you might have broken engine components (Layer 2) that make it impossible to generate quality pipeline, which puts pressure on sales to close marginal deals, which leads to churn (Layer 3), which creates budget pressure that prevents you from hiring the right people (Layer 1).

The interconnections create feedback loops that accelerate problems or, if you address them correctly, accelerate solutions.

Why Revenue Leaders Miss This

Most revenue leaders are treating symptoms instead of root causes because they're operating under time pressure with incomplete information.

Your board wants to know why growth is slowing. Your CEO wants answers. Your team is executing tactics. Everyone's busy. Everyone's working hard.

But busy doesn't mean effective.

You're running experiments, launching campaigns, hiring people, trying new channels—all without a clear diagnosis of which layer (or layers) is actually broken.

It's like a doctor prescribing medication without running tests. Sometimes you get lucky and the medication works. Usually, you're just treating symptoms while the underlying condition gets worse.

The Diagnostic Framework

So how do you actually diagnose which layer is causing your growth to stall?

Start with data, but don't stop there. Look at your metrics: conversion rates by stage, sales cycle length, win rates, churn rates, expansion rates, CAC by channel, LTV by cohort. The data will point you toward problems, but it won't tell you root causes.

Talk to your team. Your sales reps know which deals are dying and why. Your customer success managers know which accounts are at risk. Your marketers know which campaigns feel forced. The people on the front lines often see problems long before they show up in dashboards.

Get external perspective. This is the uncomfortable truth: internal teams struggle to diagnose their own issues. You're too close to the problem. You've got politics, history, and assumptions clouding your view. Sometimes you need someone from outside who can see what you can't.

The Path Forward

Growth stalls don't happen overnight. They're the result of compounding issues across multiple layers that accumulate until they become impossible to ignore.

The good news? Once you understand which layers are broken, fixing them becomes a tractable problem. Not easy—tractable. You can build a plan, allocate resources, and make progress.

The bad news? Most revenue leaders never get to that point because they keep treating symptoms instead of diagnosing causes.

Which layer is holding you back?

That's the question worth answering. Because until you do, you're just spinning your wheels—working harder, spending more, and wondering why nothing's changing.