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An Integrated Go-To-Market System

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Episode Summary

Sid Kumar, Head of Global GTM Strategy & Planning at Databricks, joins host Mudassar Malik on Behind the Growth to unpack what it really takes to design and run a connected go-to-market engine—one that aligns across marketing, sales, customer success, and operations, from first touch to renewal.

Sid shares hard-earned lessons from leading GTM functions at CA Technologies, Amazon, HubSpot, and now Databricks. He walks through what it means to think of go-to-market as a closed-loop system instead of a linear process, and why shared language, unified metrics, and functional accountability across the full customer lifecycle are non-negotiables at scale. Along the way, he explains how concepts like HubSpot’s “flywheel” and Amazon’s input-output discipline shaped how he approaches alignment, planning, and operating rhythm.

The conversation also tackles the balance between centralization and regional autonomy—particularly in planning and compensation design—and how Sid works to ensure standardization never disconnects from field realities. He talks about the role of regional GTM COOs and the importance of feedback loops from country-level teams back into global processes.

Finally, Sid dives deep into how AI is reshaping GTM workflows—from prospecting and rep productivity to strategic operations and RevOps. He shares clear use cases, practical advice, and a firm reminder to start with the workflows, not the tech. For enterprise leaders looking to modernize how their organizations go to market, this is a conversation worth pausing for.

Featured Guest

  • Name: Sid Kumar
  • What he does: Head of Global GTM Strategy & Planning
  • Company: Databricks
  • Noteworthy: Sid Kumar is a GTM executive with 20+ years of experience building and scaling high-performing revenue organizations at companies like Databricks, HubSpot, and Amazon Web Services. He currently leads GTM Strategy & Planning at Databricks, where he drives global strategy, operational planning, and compensation design to enable scalable growth. At HubSpot, he served as SVP of Revenue Operations, leading the company’s end-to-end RevOps transformation across Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success. Prior to that, he was Head of Field Sales Operations at AWS, where he served as COO of Sales for the Americas and launched AWS’s worldwide Cloud Sales Centers. He holds a BA in Economics from Yale and an MBA in Strategic Management from The Wharton School.

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Key Insights

GTM Alignment Requires a Shared Language and Closed-Loop Thinking
Go-to-market success depends on breaking down silos and creating a unified operational system across functions. As Sid Kumar emphasises, it is critical to connect the full customer journey as a closed loop rather than a linear progression. Later maturing this idea into a “flywheel” approach centered on the principles of attract, grow, and delight, Sid explains that the key is building alignment not just through process but by “creating a common language,” consistent definitions, and shared metrics across the GTM organization. When functions use different measurements and speak different operational languages, scale suffers. A shared vocabulary is not a nice-to-have—it’s foundational.

Start with Workflows, Not Technology
GTM leaders must be cautious not to fall into the trap of chasing tools without first understanding how time is actually spent across their teams. Sid’s recommendation: conduct time and motion studies to map how RevOps and strategy teams spend their time week to week. Identify how much is strategic vs. reactive, and where work feels repetitive, inefficient, or simply energy-draining. Then—only then—ask where AI or automation can reduce friction and reallocate focus. Start small and experiment. For senior tech leaders under pressure to modernize GTM operations, this is a reminder that transformation isn’t about software–it’s about shifting time toward value-creating word and using technology as a lever, not the starting point.

Centralize Planning, But Stay Connected to the Field
Sid outlines a pragmatic approach to centralization: standardize what drives consistency at scale, but make sure regional teams still shape how those plans are executed. “There’s an element of go-to-market planning which I find valuable to be centralized,” he says, “but make sure you have the spokes into the different geographies.” He highlights the role of regional GTM COOs who serve as embedded partners to business unit or country leaders—helping HQ stay connected to real customer and market conditions. Without this, even the best centralized strategy can break down at the point of execution. CIOs, CTOs, and operations leaders managing global systems or cross-functional platforms must realise the need for feedback architecture—not just control structures. It’s not enough to plan from the centre. Execution depends on trusted, informed push-pull between global and local teams.

How do you learn from your existing customers to feedback into what it takes to attract customers?

Episode Highlights

GTM Is a System, Not a Sequence

Sid recalls his early GTM experience at CA Technologies, where he realized the importance of treating the customer journey as a system rather than a step-by-step sequence. Rather than viewing marketing, sales, and post-sales as separate phases, he began seeing them as parts of a closed-loop engine that must work in sync.

“How do you think about the customer journey as a closed loop? That was a really big aha moment.”

Inputs, Outputs, and GTM Discipline

Reflecting on his time at Amazon, Sid discusses how their culture of mechanisms and measurement shaped his thinking around GTM execution. What stood out most was the rigor behind defining inputs and outputs—and holding teams accountable not just for results, but for how those results are achieved.

“Amazon really excelled in mechanisms and getting extreme clarity around what are the inputs and outputs… in a very data-driven manner.”

It’s Not a Company Journey

At HubSpot, Sid helped define a customer-centric operating model that shifted the focus from internal metrics to external value. He challenged the default tendency to look at GTM through departmental KPIs and reframed the question to ask what the customer is trying to accomplish—at each stage.

“It’s a customer’s journey. It’s not a, you know, company journey, right?”

There Is No Universal Playbook

After holding GTM leadership roles at AWS, HubSpot, and Databricks, Sid cautions against copy-pasting successful models from one company to another. What works in one operating environment might fail in another—and trying to apply the same motions blindly is a recipe for friction.

“You can’t just take a playbook from one place and say this is going to be how I apply it here.”

AI in RevOps Starts Small

Sid offers a grounded take on how to approach AI adoption in go-to-market strategy. He doesn’t lead with tools or hype—instead, he advocates for small, focused experiments rooted in real work and measurable friction.

“Start with what is the work that you do. And then where could it be either enhanced, materially improved, or altogether replaced?”

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