Stefan Ross
7 Jan 20262026 Predictiions
Stefan Ross (CG Partners): Scaling B2B Go-to-Market
Ronan introduces his former Pigment colleague Stefan Ross, who built global partnership functions at Celonis and Pigment and now runs CG Partners, a GTM consultancy for B2B SaaS and AI companies from seed through Series C. Stefan explains that engagements begin with deep context downloads on the founder's ICP, product differentiation and current pipeline generation across outbound, partnerships, inbound and events, before designing measurable, repeatable revenue engines. He stresses that go-to-market foundations laid early determine whether companies have to rebuild them at Series B/C.
7 Jan 20262026 Predictions, META & Manus, IPO Bonanza
Stefan Ross Joins Live: Holiday Catch-Up & CG Partners Intro
Stefan Ross joins live and the hosts joke that their formal wear was a 'cocktail party' theme for his segment. They catch up on his holidays and back-to-back January before he introduces himself: co-founder of CG Partners, which helps B2B SaaS and AI companies design holistic, efficient go-to-markets from inception to pre-IPO, positioning himself as an executor-operator of 10+ years rather than a theorist.
How CG Partners Audits a Startup's GTM
Stefan walks through CG Partners' intake process: one to three deep-dive sessions, sometimes six-hour workshops, to download context on a founder's pain problem, vision, product differentiation and ICP before any formal engagement. He explains how they then break down every pipeline category — outbound, partnerships, inbound, events — and analyze conversion rates from channel to meeting to close, since scaling requires repeatability, which requires measurability.
AI & the BDR Role: Clay, Personalization & Leaner Teams
Responding to a question about Clay founder Varun reimagining the BDR role with AI, Stefan recalls prospecting via 'name +44' Google searches before ZoomInfo, then traces the rise of scrapers and AI-driven personalization. He calls claims that AI will replace BDRs entirely 'absolute nonsense' and a red herring; instead AI powers components of the workflow — summarization, signal extraction, consistency — so teams get leaner and individuals produce more. A host adds that the old 'two BDRs plus one AE equals X pipeline' headcount equation no longer holds.
Tailwinds, Outliers & 2026 GTM Predictions
Stefan argues companies must be judged by the market they operate in — headwind, tailwind or neutral — because outliers like Lovable soak up most media attention but aren't replicable templates, which he calls the paradox of VCs seeking 'repeatability for outliers.' On 2026 predictions, he expects AI's faster building to commoditize SaaS verticals, squeeze ACVs and drive consolidation, while outbound gets harder and the best conversions come from combining content, events and outbound into one multifaceted sequence.
Why Seed & Series A Startups Struggle with GTM
Stefan explains that early-stage teams land their first 5-10 customers through non-scalable hustle — network, favors, VC portfolios — then hit a chasm with no outbound, content or events engine and no defined ICP. He adds that young companies also lack commercial defensibility and reference points, making it hard to de-risk multi-year contracts, so the unlock is systems for repeatability plus commercial credibility.
VC Expectations: Narrative Over Reality & Operator Burnout
The hosts tee up how venture expectations — bigger ARR on shorter timelines, teams of five scaling to $5M ARR — are pressuring GTM teams. Stefan agrees it's an incredible AI tailwind where companies buy on promise, but argues VCs reward narrative over reality, every pitch deck must now say 'AI,' and operators face improbable expectations, recalling 100% quota increases during the COVID wave and the burnout and short-termism versus a roughly 10-year funding-to-IPO path. He cites Pigment's ~$500M raise to explain why its playbook isn't replicable without that capital, and the hosts recall Ronan joining Pigment at Series A when it already had around 100 people.
Why CG Partners Exists & the Bootstrapping Wave
Stefan says CG Partners was created to strip outlier stories down to the components that are genuinely replicable for other organizations. Asked about bootstrapping, he cites Fleet founder Alexander — one of Europe's top angel investors — who bootstrapped to roughly $35M over seven or eight years, noting bootstrapped founders can focus purely on the pain, problem, customer and solution instead of forcing AI into every third sentence.
Polymarket Ad & Show Sign-Off
The hosts thank Stefan for coming on and praise his 'spicy takes,' then read a Polymarket ad for the world's largest prediction market. They wrap the first show of 2026, tell viewers a big Thursday guest will be announced tomorrow, and ask the audience to tune back in Thursday at 11 a.m. GMT.