GGR summer ☀️ snapshot
Market’s moving…just not how you think!
Hi! Hope everyone is enjoying the start of the summer season…..I wish upon you all a little less work 💻 and a little more vacation 🛫 🏖️ !
Wild to think, but we’re already halfway through 2025! And the recruiting landscape is... a bit weird. More companies are hiring. More roles have opened up (yay!). But the hiring bar? Higher than ever.
From AI-native startups building with 10-person teams, to growth-stage companies navigating tariff uncertainty and GTM headaches, the same themes keep coming up during our calls: hyper-selective hiring and an increased emphasis on candidates’ proven experience vs. their potential.
It’s not a doom-and-gloom market by any means - in fact it’s been a busier 6 months than we’ve seen in years. That said, the dynamics look a bit different than past active cycles. More on that below!
As always, check out some of the new roles that we’re working on and don’t hesitate to drop us a line with anything you’re seeing in the market as well.
❤️ Phil and the Golden Gate team
Notes on the Market
GTM Roles Are (Still) Having a Moment 🗣️
We talked about this recently in a fall 2024 newsletter - but we’re continuing to see strong demand for GTM talent - especially in customer facing roles like Deployment or Customer Success. Across early-stage startups (particularly the many AI companies that have more recently built traction and raised capital), teams are lean, dev tools are plug-and-play, and the gap that remains is “how do we sell?”.
Founders want to hire candidates who aren’t just doing pie-in-the-sky strategy but can actually flex to GTM: can sit in front of customers and work on commercial engagements (or, at minimum, are excited to focus there). While internal facing bizops and chief of staff roles are still mission critical, the real traction lately is with candidates who “can” do bizops, but can also lead a GTM motion in a strategic and thoughtful way. Sometimes this is directly customer facing, sometimes this is supporting the customer facing org.
Yes, There Are More Jobs. No, It’s Not Easier to Get One 👀
With all of the macro market uncertainty and fluctuations over the last six months, we’ve had a lot more of “what’s the market like right now?” convos lately. The short answer from our perspective: Yes, there are more startups hiring, and more than we’ve seen in the past couple of years. But no, that doesn’t mean it’s easier to get offers or that hiring processes are moving quickly with those startups.
In fact, if anything, we’re seeing more hyper-specific asks from hiring managers. Think at the level of “has done B2B SaaS pricing at a Series A dev tools startup….Series C is too big and Seed is too small” or “has worked across both early stage and growth stage companies in a Chief of Staff capacity, and willing to do a tour of duty in that exact same role again.” It’s not uncommon to see roles taking longer to fill, not because there aren’t good candidates, but because there are increasingly more boxes to be checked.
Less focus on Potential? ⭐️
In a related vein, startups are still eager to hire up-and-coming, high-potential candidates, but we’ve been tracking a consistent theme over the last few months: teams are dialing down the emphasis on “trajectory” and putting more weight behind experience. Slope still very much matters, just not as much.
If you’re a candidate, your stories and examples can’t be one-size-fits-all anymore - and can’t just rely on “I can learn quickly and I’m smart.” Founders are listening for exactly how you’ve solved exactly the problem they’re facing - same stage, same business model, same function. It’s ever more important to tailor your talk track to their business needs.
Candidly, it’s not the hiring approach we typically advocate for. Hiring for stretch and trajectory often builds stronger teams long term. And, more importantly, provides high-slope candidates with opportunities that actually pull them in. Because top talent doesn’t just leave just for a paycheck, or to do the same thing over again — they leave for challenges and opportunities they can’t get already get today.
Open Roles
Check out a handful of roles working on below, but as always, you can review additional opportunities our Openings Page.
Prosper Health: Strategy and Operations, GTM [NYC]
Prosper Health is a Series A, telehealth provider for autistic and neurodivergent adults that offers virtual, insurance-covered diagnosis and affirming therapy. They’re looking to hire a strategic operator to build their growth engine: referrals, partnerships, and other non-paid GTM channels. You’ll help build new channels 0 to 1, prove the model, and build the playbook for scale. NYC-based, in-person working model. Ideal profile: Consulting/Finance and 2+ years of startup experience (ideally in growth, GTM, partnerships).
Plume: Director / Sr. Director of Special Projects [Palo Alto]
Plume serves the world’s largest internet service providers with a complex software suite that helps them manage their Wi-Fi deployments more effectively. Their recently-installed President and CEO is looking for a right hand to own key operational initiatives, help expand into new markets and verticals, and ensure exec team alignment. Palo Alto-based, hybrid working model (Tues-Thurs in office, some travel). Ideal profile: Consulting/Finance and 5+ years of operating experience and/or depth in ‘hard’ industries (telecom, semiconductors, hardware/software, IoT, etc).
Free stuff from friends of Golden Gate
Dan Mazour is a former McKinsey consultant and startup operator-leader who now works as a somatic and leadership coach. He's offering a limited number of complimentary sessions to support people in the GGR community. If you’re at a pivotal career or life moment, navigating a transition, facing a challenging situation, wanting to lead more authentically, or simply curious about deeper personal growth, you can schedule here. Learn more at danielmazourcoaching.com or email him at daniel@danielmazourcoaching.com.
We can’t leave out some of the other awesome coaches who we know, so check out these folks as well if you’re looking for help and think you’d jive!
This is helpful, thanks for sharing! Been seeing GTM come up a lot more on my end too!