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Deepak Gupta markGTM Map

GTM Map by Deepak Gupta

How the best software companies actually went to market

Phase by phase: the motions each company ran, the role each one played, and the numbers behind them, from filings, the companies' own pages, and founders on the record. Then what still works in the AI era, and what to do now.

3 companies · 19 motions · 47 primary-first sources

See the GTM matrixGTM Now: what to do today

Companies

  • Product-led · draft

    Zoom

    How Zoom went to market: a free host plan, the meeting-invite loop, sales routed by deal size, then enterprise and AI. Sourced to its S-1 and 10-Ks.

    Product-ledViral loopSales-assistLand and expand
    Read the record

  • Classic SaaS · draft

    HubSpot

    How HubSpot went to market: inbound content, inside sales, an agency channel, then freemium and a move off search. Sourced to its filings.

    Category creationInbound contentSales-ledPartner channel
    Read the record

  • AI-native · draft

    Cursor

    How Cursor went to market: product-led word of mouth among developers, then consumption pricing and enterprise sales. Sourced to its blog and founders.

    Product-ledDeveloper-ledUsage pricingSales-assist
    Read the record

Myth checks

The version of the story that circulates, tested against the record.

  • Zoom

    “The pandemic made Zoom.”

    Partly trueSee the evidence

  • Zoom

    “Zoom grew on word of mouth alone, without sales or marketing spend.”

    Not supportedSee the evidence

  • Zoom

    “Zoom was a consumer app that businesses later adopted.”

    Not supportedSee the evidence

  • HubSpot

    “HubSpot grew purely on inbound marketing, with no real sales team.”

    Not supportedSee the evidence
All myth checks

Patterns

Cross-company patterns publish once at least five published companies back them, with counter-examples. None has cleared that bar yet.

How patterns work

How this is sourced

Every motion and myth verdict cites an SEC filing, the company's own pages, or a founder on the record. Trade press is used for numbers only, and labelled.

Methodology