GTM strategy is top of mind for every growth-focused company, but few actually nail it.

The problem? No one really owns it.

And when GTM falls apart, CMOs often take the fall – sometimes even losing their jobs. It’s nearly impossible to succeed in marketing without a strong go-to-market motion behind you.

That’s the issue we explored in our latest Mavuus Coffee Chat: Who really owns GTM? And what role should the CMO play in shaping it?

We brought together four seasoned voices across marketing and executive leadership: Greg Wong, CEO at RIWI, Christine Royston, CMO at Wrike, Vinay Nair, Fractional CMO & Executive Coach and Martin Pietrzak, CEO at Pinch Marketing.

Over 60 minutes, they tackled the murky ownership dynamics of GTM, what success actually looks like, and how CMOs can lead, even when they don’t have formal authority.

Tables of Contents:

1. Defining GTM: Start With Shared Language
2. Who Owns the GTM Strategy?
3. What Does GTM Success Look Like?
4. Interview Questions for CMOs to Vet a Company’s GTM Strategy
5. GTM Resources Recommended by the Panel

1. Defining GTM: Start With Shared Language

Before a company can decide who owns GTM, they need to agree on what GTM even means. As Greg Wong pointed out, this is one of the most common breakdowns in executive alignment: different teams operating from different definitions of GTM.

For some, it’s a sales motion. For others, it’s a launch plan or marketing campaign. 

In reality, GTM is the holistic strategy that brings a product to market, connects it with the right customers, and drives growth over time. It touches everything – from ICP definition to pricing, packaging, sales enablement, demand gen, and customer success.

Without a shared understanding across product, marketing, sales, and finance, GTM becomes fragmented from day one. And once it’s fragmented, it’s nearly impossible to scale.

2. Who Owns the GTM Strategy?

Here’s where things get fuzzy. While everyone agrees GTM is essential, no single executive role clearly owns it in most organizations. That ambiguity creates misalignment.

In theory, the CEO should lead GTM. They have the business-wide view, board access, and the authority to align functions. 

But in practice? CEOs are stretched thin – juggling investors, enterprise customers, and internal fire drills. They rarely have the capacity to drive the day-to-day GTM motion.

So who steps in? 

The baton often passes to the COO, CRO, or CMO – but each comes with trade-offs. CROs may focus too narrowly on short-term revenue. COOs may lack customer insight. And CMOs, while often the most holistic thinkers, can create a vacuum if their GTM leadership isn’t formalized or supported at the top.

Some companies try to solve this with cross-functional GTM committees (CMO, CRO, CPO, CSO, RevOps, Enablement). But without clear accountability, these groups often get stuck in consensus mode. 

The result? Slower execution, siloed teams, and GTM strategies that fail to stick.

As Christine put it, “GTM efforts break down when everyone’s consulted, but no one is accountable.”

Stewardship vs. Accountability: The CMO’s Role

While the CEO is typically the right person to be accountable for GTM (especially in front of the board), the CMO often plays the role of steward.

That means orchestrating alignment across functions, facilitating cross-functional planning, and ensuring the GTM strategy stays grounded in customer insight, not just internal goals. The CMO becomes the connective tissue between product, sales, brand, and operations.

Vinay summed it up well: “The CMO may not officially ‘own’ GTM, but in practice, they’re often the only one thinking about it holistically.”

That duality – accountability at the top, stewardship across functions, is essential to building GTM strategies that actually work.

In other words: ownership may start at the top, but stewardship is where the work happens. The CMO is often the glue.

Clear Models Based on Company Size

How GTM is structured also depends heavily on company size and stage, and as Greg Wong clearly pointed out during the session, that structure can shift dramatically as companies scale.

• Early-stage startups typically have GTM led by the CEO or founder. There’s often one product, one ICP, and quick iteration.
• Mid-market companies (especially in B2B SaaS) may assign GTM leadership to the CMO or CRO, depending on whether the business is more marketing-led or sales-led.
• Large enterprises often decentralize GTM ownership to GMs or product leaders. These orgs operate multiple GTMs across segments, with marketing supporting execution rather than leading strategy.

Each model works, but only if the internal roles and accountabilities are clearly defined and communicated.

🎥 Watch Greg break down how GTM leadership changes by company size in this snippet:

3. What Does GTM Success Look Like?

If GTM strategy is about clarity and alignment, measurement is how you keep everyone honest. But too often, GTM metrics are either overloaded with noise or overly focused on vanity stats that don’t serve the business.

During the Coffee Chat, Martin shared what actually works, across different stages of the GTM lifecycle. 

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Here’s a helpful breakdown:

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These metrics help ground GTM conversations in real business impact and they’re most effective when everyone aligns on which stage matters most for their current strategy. 

But even the smartest GTM dashboard can fall flat if it’s not speaking the language of the C-Suite.

Greg made it clear that most traditional marketing metrics, while helpful for guiding internal teams, simply don’t move the needle at the executive level. From his perspective, metrics like clicks and MQLs amount to noise in a C-Suite conversation. 

What really matters? Business outcomes.

He urged marketers to focus on the metrics that matter to leadership and investors: revenue growth, customer retention, profitability, and return on marketing spend. “If I put in $1, am I getting $2 back? $5?” That’s the level of clarity GTM leaders need, because that’s what investors most care about.

4. Interview Questions for CMOs to Vet a Company’s GTM Strategy

When evaluating a company’s GTM maturity, whether as a potential CMO, advisor, or partner, these questions can reveal a lot:

• Who owns GTM in this organization?
• How is success measured, and who defines it?
• How are product, marketing, and sales leaders aligned?
• How often are ICP, positioning, and messaging revisited?
• What happens when the GTM strategy misses the mark?
• Do you have experience with this type of GTM model (e.g., digital vs. sales-led)?
• What’s the GTM mindset across the C-Suite?

These aren’t just onboarding questions, they’re diagnostics. The answers signal whether GTM is treated as a strategic, company-wide function or a siloed marketing or sales initiative. 

If no one owns it, if success isn’t clearly defined, or if the exec team isn’t aligned, the GTM will likely struggle, no matter how strong the product or team.

For marketing leaders stepping into new roles or consulting engagements, asking these upfront can help avoid hidden misalignments. They also provide a clear path to steer the conversation toward shared ownership, clearer metrics, and better operational models. 

5. GTM Resources Recommended by the Panel

If you’re looking to sharpen your thinking around GTM ownership and strategy, here are some top picks from our speakers – books, blogs, and frameworks worth bookmarking:

📚 Books

1. The Brand-Driven CEO by David Kincaid – A guide to embedding a brand into the business strategy, showing how CEOs and CMOs can work together to drive growth.
2. The Gorilla Game by Geoffrey Moore – Essential reading for understanding tech adoption lifecycles and what it takes to scale in B2B markets.
3. Ecosystem-Led Growth by Bob Moore – A playbook for using partnerships and ecosystems as core GTM levers, especially in SaaS.
4. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries – A foundational book for early-stage GTM strategy: test, iterate, and scale with agility.
5. Connecting the Dots by John Chambers – Leadership lessons from Cisco’s former CEO, with insights on strategy, alignment, and navigating change.

👥 People to Follow

• Chris Walker – Known for challenging outdated B2B marketing practices and emphasizing demand creation over lead gen.
• Dave Gerhardt – A former CMO turned educator who shares tactical, no-fluff content on brand-building and GTM from the CMO seat.

🧠 Frameworks & Blogs

• The Bowtie Framework – A modern GTM model focused on the full customer lifecycle, not just acquisition.
• Kellblog by Dave Kellogg – Insightful, data-driven posts on SaaS strategy, marketing, and metrics from a seasoned tech exec.

Final Thoughts

GTM strategy isn’t just a marketing challenge, it’s a company-wide priority. But without clarity on ownership, it becomes a stalled initiative that no one leads and everyone complains about.

As this Coffee Chat made clear, the CMO doesn’t always own GTM, but they do play a critical stewardship role. They align the moving pieces, push for customer insight, and connect marketing efforts to broader business goals.

In a landscape where attention is scarce and expectations are high, the CMO’s ability to lead GTM, even informally, might be one of their most valuable contributions to the business.

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