How Startups are Optimizing GTM Strategy With AI

Introduction

In the past year, early-stage startups have been increasingly focusing on creating sustainable revenue streams and operating hyper-efficiently. Why? Institutional funding has slowed down — dramatically. As funding sources dry up or get more selective, startups are turning their attention to reducing overhead and driving profitability with smarter go-to-market (GTM) strategies.

How are startups using AI as part of their go-to-market (GTM) strategy?

With the emergence of AI tools, startups have shifted how they think about GTM strategy and execution. Now that AI is accessible in both front-end operations and backend development, companies are scaling faster and seeing stronger results by using tools like AI customer service chatbots, intelligent prospecting and outreach platforms, and AI-assisted content generators. In a recent analysis, McKinsey found that high-performing companies using AI are most likely to have a goal of using AI to “create entirely new businesses or sources of revenue” and to add more value to their products or services with AI features.

“In this AI-infused GTM landscape, the potential winners are going to be those companies that not only adopt AI but also build a culture of data-driven decision-making. Early adopters will benefit from improved efficiency, better decision-making, increased conversions, and customer loyalty,” Neej Parikh, 2X Unicorn founder, shared on LinkedIn. 

What goes into an AI-powered GTM strategy for startups?

To grow ethically and sustainably as a fast-moving, AI-driven startup, you’ll need a few guidelines in place to stay compliant.

Here’s how startups are effectively accelerating GTM workflows with AI:

• Creating AI policies for employee AI use
• Being transparent about data privacy
• Investing in skilled employees 
• Setting up the right tech stack and integrations

How is startup GTM strategy changing because of AI?

Recent McKinsey research found that 75% of current generative AI use cases fall within customer operations, marketing and sales, software development, and R&D. For high-tech companies, McKinsey estimates that generative AI could bring in upwards of $240B in revenue and have a particularly strong impact in software development, marketing, and sales.

Leaders feel that the most impactful areas for adding AI to GTM will be 1) real-time lead identification, 2) marketing optimization, and 3) personalized outreach.

Here are some of the biggest areas that we’re seeing changes to startup go-to-market strategies with AI:

• Sales teams are pre-qualifying prospects and reducing their outreach to a more targeted list.
• Sales reps are spending less time researching and more time building relationships.
• Sales teams are automating the coaching and performance analysis process with AI tools.
• Consumers are conducting their own research and submitting questions via conversational bots.
• Customer service teams have sped up their response times and reduced manual responses, leaving them more time to help customers troubleshoot more complex issues, consult with their clients, and upsell or cross-sell.
• Marketing teams are scaling hyper-personalized messaging and campaigns to niche audiences within their database.

Let’s get into the details of how actual startups are using AI to rewrite the GTM playbook.

Examples of Startups Using AI in GTM

About 80% of startup founders say they’ve brought AI into their workflows. They’re looking at parts of the GTM process that are slow, ineffective, or using up significant resources and budget, and seeing where they can automate or augment with AI.

For example, sales development representatives (SDRs) typically see a 2.8% success rate when reaching out via phone or email, leading to long days of wasted time trying to connect with the wrong prospects at the wrong time. But with AI, the Kickfurther team increased reply rates by 25%, click rates by 17%, and sales rep productivity by 10X.

Here are more ways startups are successfully using AI in GTM.

SDRs at EasyDMARC are saving 15 hours on lead management per week with sales AI and automation

The SDR team at EasyDMARC, a digital security company, went from manually processing dozens of leads from their website daily and missing 40% of leads due to outdated systems, to using Bardeen and HubSpot to automate the entire lead management process. They now have better data, can reach out with personalized messages at scale, and have eliminated manual work, freeing up sales team time. 

Zola is eliminating operational bottlenecks and slashing response times with AI customer sentiment analysis

When Zola saw a sustained surge in inquiries, but didn’t have the team to support the new demand for customer support, they brought on Lang.ai to eliminate gaps in understanding customer needs. This opened up agents’ time and improved the user experience, and resulted in a 75% reduction in reply time, a savings of 400 hours per month of management time, fewer customer escalations, and more product releases.

Top AI Tools for Startups to Use in GTM Strategy

As a startup, you need to consider cost, usability, and integration into your current tech stack when looking to bring on new AI tools. One of the most important considerations as a growing business is also security — do you trust this company to protect your proprietary data and private customer information? 

Here are a few examples of the AI GTM tools on the market, along with user reviews.

AI Tools for Startup Marketing

In startup marketing and content strategy, think of AI as an assistant, not a junior creative. 

HubSpot Content Assistant

“If you're seeking a solution to streamline your processes, generate exceptional content, and boost your search engine optimization and conversion rates, the content assistant is an excellent choice.” Hmanshu Rauthan, Co-founder at MakeWebBetter

Claude

"It helps me write marketing emails, draft up market research questions, draft up webinar copy, write personal emails... it takes me a lot less time each day and buys me time.” Dakota P., 5-star review on G2

Crayon

“Crayon is a great tool to capture and report on competitive intelligence. Crayon scrapes competitor information daily and sends automated emails with timely and relevant information. Saved searches allow users to narrow in on specific topics of interest.” Carolyn K., 5-star review on G2

AI Tools for Startup Sales

To use AI for sales at a startup, experiment with smart prospecting, AI pricing strategy, and AI sales forecasting and performance coaching.

HubSpot AI Email Writer

“AI Content Writer adapts seamlessly to various platforms, ensuring that your content resonates with audiences across channels. This versatility eliminates the need for specialized writers for different formats.” Digismarties on LinkedIn

Gong

“Gong allows me to stay engaged in the conversation, knowing that I don't have to frantically jot down notes through a customer call. I can easily utilize one of Gong's features to see the highlights and the action items from our discussion…[and] easily ask Gong questions and have it generate my first draft follow-up email.” Cinco C., 5-star review on G2

Dialpad

“Dialpad has increased my time throughout the workday that would traditionally be lost to picking up the phone. The AI recap of my transcript works well, and I love the extended VM where I can pick up after screening the call. Dialpad makes calling out and tracking very easy as it takes away a few steps in our process.” J. Colby W., 5-star review on G2

AI Tools for Startup Customer Service

For customer service, think of ways you can use AI to make your knowledge base more self-serve and streamline the time it takes to get a response.

HubSpot Chatbot Builder

“The [HubSpot] Chatbot can instantly handle common queries by accessing your knowledge base. This eliminates the need for visitors to navigate your website extensively, leading to quicker issue resolution and a smoother user journey.” CloudSource on LinkedIn

Lang.ai

“Lang.ai provides major support and accuracy in ticket routing (and many other features) within our CRM platform. This saves hours of work for our leadership team and puts tickets in front of the right agent in the right queue with little error. It's become a crucial part of our day-to-day ticket management to rely on Lang for routing and automations - we'd be lost without it!” Kim S., 5-star review on G2

Twilio

“Since we have been using Twilio, customer service has improved 100%, because customers are attended to quickly and we follow up on each of their requests.” Ariel L. 4.5-star review on G2

Building out a lean startup growth plan? Add AI tools to the team.

In a time where startups are tasked with doing more with less, they’ll need to work smarter not harder. Smart founders will pull themselves up with AI bootstraps and fly ahead of the competition. (How many more adages can we fit in this closing?) As you dip your toes into the pool of AI-powered startup growth, check out our business plan template to track your progress and HubSpot’s AI tools to get started.