GTM By Design AI · for B2B founders hiring their first salesperson

Your first sales hire,
booking meetings in week one.

Before your first non-founder AE or SDR starts, we migrate and clean your CRM, build your ICP target list, and deploy AI agents that research, personalize, and sequence outbound. They start selling on day one, not spending their first 90 days cleaning up data.

For seed-stage and bootstrapped B2B companies (edtech or otherwise), and Series A teams building out RevOps.

Your new AE's first weekWith GTM By Design
Day 1Logs into a clean, migrated CRMOne source of truth, no duplicates, stages that fit your sales motion
Day 2Gets a prioritized ICP account listAccounts and contacts enriched, scored, and ready to work
Day 3Agents draft personalized sequencesAccount research plus a 2–3 touch sequence for each contact
Day 5First ICP meetings on the calendarWhat happened at Chestnut, an a16z-backed insurtech

No ramp-up quarter. No CRM graveyard.

Week 1
Chestnut: new AE booked ICP meetings by the end of his first week
~5x
Willow: on track for 5x revenue next year after the rebuild
$1M+
100 School: pipeline built, $150K closed with BCG, Vanta, Ocado Retail
$100K+
XtraMath: funding unlocked from NewSchools Venture Fund
GTM engines we've built
Willow Education Chestnut Edstruments 100 School XtraMath
Our GTM clients are backed by
a16z Charter School Growth Fund Transcend Network NewSchools Venture Fund
Why first sales hires stall

Your first salesperson usually doesn't fail on talent. They fail on setup.

You've found early PMF through founder-led sales. Now you're hiring someone to scale it, but everything they'd need to do that still lives in your head and your inbox.

The CRM is a graveyard.

Deals sit in spreadsheets, DMs, and three half-set-up tools. Nobody trusts the data, so nobody uses it.

The cost: your new hire's first month goes to data entry.

There's no real target list.

You know your ICP when you see it, but it's never been turned into a list of accounts and contacts someone else can work.

The cost: generic outreach to the wrong people.

Outbound doesn't scale past you.

Your best emails are personal because you wrote them. Mass sequences get ~25% opens and zero replies.

The cost: a salary with no pipeline behind it.
What we build

The AI-native revenue engine your first hire plugs into.

We come in for a specific GTM problem, build the system with your team, then hand you the keys.

01 · CRM & RevOps

A clean CRM before the rep's first login.

We migrate you onto the right CRM (or rescue the one you have), dedupe and restructure your accounts and deals, and set up pipeline stages, fields, and hygiene rules that match how you actually sell.

"We're mid-switch between tools." That's usually why we get called. Migrations are where we start.
02 · Target list

Your ICP, turned into a list someone else can work.

We take what you know about who buys and why, and turn it into signals, then into enriched, prioritized accounts and contacts. For Willow that meant 2,000+ ICP contacts and 500+ targeted accounts.

"Our market is niche." Niche is good. Districts, charter networks, and foundations are well-documented if you know where to look.
03 · AI outbound agents

Agents that research, personalize, and sequence. Humans that send.

We build an agent that takes in your ICPs, keeps records current, researches each account and contact, and drafts 2–3 touch sequences in your voice. Your rep reviews, edits, and sends. It's personal outreach at a volume one person can't reach alone.

"AI outreach reads like spam." Only when AI does the sending. Ours drafts from real research, and your rep decides what goes out.
04 · The hire itself

Help hiring the right rep, including an AI-native SDR.

We help define the role, scorecard, and targets, and we join the final interviews. For some teams the best move is an offshore, AI-native SDR working inside the system we built. That's how Willow scaled outbound without a big local hire.

"We haven't decided on AE vs. SDR yet." Good. We'll help you pick based on your deal size and sales cycle.
05 · Your team owns it

You own the stack, the agents, and the playbook.

Everything runs in your accounts: your CRM, your list, your agents, your skills library. We train your team and hand it off, so it keeps compounding after we step back.

"Will we be dependent on you?" No. The goal is a system your team runs. Some clients keep us on for RevOps as they grow.

Map your engine with us

Where you are

Built for the moment founder-led sales becomes a team.

🌱 Seed or bootstrapped

Your first non-founder salesperson

Usually ~$250–300K in revenue or a fresh seed round, with early PMF and a clear enough ICP.

  • CRM migration and clean-up
  • ICP accounts and contacts list
  • AI-native outbound engine: research, personalization, sequences
  • Hiring support for your first AE or SDR
Outcome: your new hire books meetings in week one.
🌳 Series A

From a few reps to a real sales team

You have traction and a pile of tools and experiments. Now it has to work as one system.

  • RevOps: pipeline, forecasting, and data you can trust
  • Enablement: shared skills, playbooks, and onboarding
  • Custom agents for research, call insights, and follow-up
  • A champion on your team who owns the skills library
Outcome: every new rep ramps on the same engine.
Case studies

Attention into pipeline into closed revenue.

We owned strategy, AI prototyping, and execution. Here's what came of it.

Willow Education

K12 AI-powered college & career readiness · founder-led → AI-native

Backed by Transcend · CSGF
Problem

Founder-led sales with ~25% open rates and no replies. No CRM or list a team could run.

Action

CRM migration, ICP list building, a pivot to highly personalized outbound, and hiring an offshore, AI-native SDR.

Result
50+
meetings from 500+ targeted accounts
5+
high-value meetings a week
~5x
revenue trajectory for next year
"A new CRM, 150 personalized emails and 5+ high-value meetings a week. At ASU GSV, I did 2-3 months of work in 3 days."James Cryan · CEO, Willow Education

100 School

AI upskilling co · B2C → B2B pivot · 2025–present

Problem

Strong B2C brand and engagement, but no clear enterprise business model. Needed to turn attention into B2B revenue.

Action

Dual-audience research, a relaunched free B2C challenge, an AI-prototyped enterprise value dashboard, and the proposal, pipeline, and sales process.

Result
20,000+
B2C sign-ups since Sept '25
3 closed
from pilot (BCG · Vanta · Ocado Retail), and counting
$150K
closed; >$1M pipeline
"He didn't just advise, he showed up like a cofounder. The result: 7-figure pipeline created and 6-figures closed."Max Haining · CEO, 100 School

XtraMath

Math fluency nonprofit · funder & partner development

Funded by NewSchools Venture Fund
Problem

A nonprofit's "customers" include funders, foundations, and partners, and those relationships needed the same rigor as a sales pipeline.

Action

Mapped and prioritized funders, foundations, and partners, then built the relationships and outreach to open them up.

Result
$100K+
funding unlocked from NSVF
Funders
foundations and partners in active relationship
Same engine
pipeline rigor, applied to fundraising
Before you book

Questions founders ask us first.

We're not edtech. Is this still for us?

Yes. Edtech is where we have the deepest network, but the engine is the same for any B2B or enterprise seller. Chestnut, for example, is an a16z-backed insurtech company.

Should we hire the rep first or build the system first?

Ideally the system is ready before they start, so the ramp-up quarter disappears. If you've already hired, we build around them. At Chestnut the AE had just joined.

Which CRM and tools do you use?

Whatever fits your stage. Often HubSpot or a similar CRM, with Clay, Apollo, or Instantly for data and sequencing, and Claude-powered agents for research and drafting. We don't resell software.

Isn't cold email dead?

Generic cold email is. We pair targeted lists with research-backed, personal outreach, and blend it with warm intros, LinkedIn, and events. Willow went from no replies to 5+ high-value meetings a week.

How long does it take?

The core build (CRM, list, first agents) takes weeks, not quarters. We scope it on our first call based on your stack and hiring timeline.

Who actually does the work?

David leads GTM strategy and RevOps. Vedansh and our build team ship the agents and integrations. You work with the people doing the work, not an account manager.

Fit

Is this you?

You're a great fit if:

  • You sell B2B (or B2B2G) and have early PMF: paying customers, renewals, or high-intent pilots.
  • You understand your ICP and offer well enough to explain why people buy.
  • You're hiring, or about to hire, your first non-founder AE or SDR.
  • Or you're at Series A and your sales tools and data need to become one system.

Probably not yet if:

  • You're pre-revenue and still finding your first customers.
  • You already run a mature sales org with a fully staffed RevOps team.
Who you'll work with

GTM operators and AI builders, on one team.

David Fu

David Fu

Founder & CEO · GTM + RevOps lead

Co-founded Streetlight Schools, helped scale African Leadership Group 10x as Group PM, and teaches at Penn GSE. Built the GTM engines for Willow, 100 School, and Chestnut. Reach Capital scout.

Vedansh Garg

Vedansh Garg

Co-founder & CTO · AI build lead

Ships AI-native products end to end, from Fortune 500 to startups. Builds the agents, integrations, and data plumbing behind every GTM engine.

Hiring your first salesperson?

Make week one count.

Book 30 minutes with David. Bring your ICP, your current stack, and your hiring timeline. You'll leave with a plan for what your rep's first week should look like.

Plan your first sales hire Explore Learning By Design AI