Match Go-To-Market to Buyer-User Alignment
Pick developer-led, PLG, or direct sales by asking one thing: are the buyer and the user the same person?
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
A selection framework for the three proven go-to-market motions. The deciding variable is whether the buyer and the user of your software are the same person, plus who has the latitude to adopt. Founders stumble by choosing a motion without reasoning through how the software is actually purchased and evaluated — and many AI companies should use direct sales more than they do.
Origin
Bret Taylor's synthesis of proven GTM motions, citing Stripe/Twilio (developer-led), Shopify (PLG), and Oracle/SAP/Salesforce/ServiceNow (direct sales).
Core principles
- 01There is a small handful of proven GTM motions — choose, don't improvise
- 02The buyer-equals-user question determines which motion fits
- 03Reason from first principles about how the software is purchased and evaluated
- 04Direct sales fell out of fashion but fits many AI opportunities where buyer ≠ user
How to run it
- 1
Consider developer-led
Appeal to an individual engineer (often within the CTO's org) who has accountability and latitude to choose a solution. Works for platform products, and especially well when selling to startups whose engineers have wide latitude.
Pro tip Stripe and Twilio are the canonical developer-led winners.
Watch out Doesn't work when selling to a line of business, which typically lacks dedicated engineers or the latitude to adopt a new library or service.
- 2
Consider product-led growth
Let users sign up from the website, start a trial, buy a few seats on a credit card. Works when the user and the buyer are the same person — e.g., small-business software where sole proprietors do everything (Shopify's early days).
Watch out Breaks when buyer and user differ — e.g., expense-reporting software used by employees but bought by finance; self-serve credit-card signup makes no sense.
- 3
Consider direct sales
A traditional sales motion into large lines of business (the Oracle/SAP/ServiceNow/Salesforce lineage). Fits when the buyer and user are not the same person and the purchase requires engaging the actual buyer.
Pro tip Direct sales is coming back into fashion for AI because so many AI opportunities have a buyer-≠-user structure.
Watch out If PLG means you never engage the buyer of your software, you won't grow.
- 4
Reason from the purchase process, not from preference
Choose by working through how this specific software is purchased and how its value is evaluated — not by defaulting to the fashionable motion or the one you're comfortable with.
Pro tip Many founders (especially non-business backgrounds) avoid direct sales because sales 'turns them off' — but it may be exactly the skill to master.
Watch out Choosing a motion without mapping the buying process is where entrepreneurs most often stumble.
In the wild
Taylor uses expense software as the canonical buyer-≠-user case: the user is an individual employee but the buyer is the finance department. Self-serve credit-card PLG signup fails because the person using it isn't the person paying.
→ Illustrates that the motion must be selected by the buyer-user relationship; the wrong motion structurally can't convert or scale.
Common mistakes
Defaulting to PLG because it's fashionable
PLG became popular and produces great products, but if it means you never engage the actual buyer of enterprise software, the company won't grow.
Choosing a motion before mapping the purchase process
Entrepreneurs pick a GTM motion without thinking through how the software is bought and how its value is evaluated, then fail to reach or convince the real decision-maker.
Is it for you?
Best for
AI and B2B founders selecting or correcting their primary go-to-market motion
Not ideal for
Pure consumer products where the individual buyer and user are trivially the same and motion choice is obvious
From the transcript
“there's a small handful of gotom market models that have been proven to work and I think it's important to choose the right one for…”
“productled growth more specifically means users can sign up from the website um often get put on a trial”
“it doesn't work well when you're buyer and the user of the software are different. So I always use the example of something like expense…”
“if PLG means that you aren't actually engaging with the buyer of your software like you're not going to grow”
From the episode
He saved OpenAI, invented the “Like” button, and built Google Maps: Bret Taylor on the future of careers, coding, agents, and more