Inside GTM Week in San Francisco: What Happens When the Best GTM Minds Get Together

When you work in go-to-market, you rarely get the chance to slow down — to step away from building systems, running campaigns, and chasing quotas — and just be in a room full of people who live and breathe GTM every single day.

That's exactly what GTM Week in San Francisco was.

Last September, my co-founder Louise and I flew to SF with one goal: learn from the best, connect with the builders shaping the future of GTM, and see firsthand what the sharpest minds in the space are working on.

Here's what went down.

Day 1: GTM Exclusive Dinner by HeyReach

Our first evening in San Francisco started with an exclusive dinner hosted by HeyReach — an invite-only event limited to the top 1% of GTM leaders.

It was the perfect way to kick things off. I finally got to meet Nick Velkovski, HeyReach's founder, face-to-face. We talked about how he scaled the platform, what's next for outbound automation, and a few things I'd been wanting to pick his brain on for months.

As the night went on, the conversations got deeper. I met Brandon Charleson, founder of Top of Funnel (the guy is basically an AI legend in the GTM world), along with several others who are quietly shaping what go-to-market will look like over the next few years.

There was this unspoken theme running through every conversation at every table: the next wave of GTM isn't about sending more messages — it's about building smarter systems and understanding people better than ever before.

Day 2: Laser Tag and GTM Networking

The next day, we swapped conference rooms for something way more fun — a laser tag event co-sponsored by HeyReach, OutboundSync, SmartLead, Aimfox, and Zapmail.

I'll be honest — I expected a structured program or maybe a panel discussion. Nope. It was pure, unfiltered fun. Just 50+ GTM professionals and startup founders running around, playing laser tag, laughing, and actually connecting beyond LinkedIn DMs and Slack threads.

It was such a refreshing break from the typical conference scene. I also finally met Vaibhav Namburi, the founder of SmartLead.ai, and got to chat with him about how they're pushing cold email automation even further.

And yes — Louise and I held it down for Team Lead Assassin. Both of us made it into the top 10 out of 30 players. Not bad for a couple of GTM nerds.

What I loved most about this event was that it wasn't about selling or pitching — it was about community. It was a real reminder that behind every great GTM system is just a bunch of smart, curious people trying to build something better.

Day 3: The Big Event — Sculpt Conference

This was the main reason we flew to San Francisco — the first-ever GTM conference, Sculpt.

Close to a thousand people gathered at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Mission Street, making it one of the most electrifying GTM events I've ever attended.

We met everyone — startup founders, agency owners, GTM leaders, the entire Clay team, and countless builders who are shaping how modern go-to-market systems work.

With Varun Anand and Kareem Amin, the co-founders of Clay:

With Mo Chahin, founder of Twain.ai:

With Benjamin Douablin, founder of FullEnrich:

With the GTM legend himself, Eric Nowoslawski:

With Patrick and Lele from the Clay team:

And so many more incredible people from the community:

Moments from Sculpt and GTM Week in San Francisco

What made Sculpt different was the energy. It wasn't about sitting through back-to-back presentations or watching panels from a distance — it was about connecting. Meeting new people. Learning how others use tools like Clay. Swapping ideas. Exploring ways to collaborate.

We spent the entire day deep in conversations — trading playbooks, sharing what's working, and discovering new perspectives we hadn't even considered before.

By the end of the event, we'd made real friendships. There's something surreal about meeting people you've only interacted with on LinkedIn, and suddenly you're face-to-face, geeking out about GTM automation like old friends.

Sculpt wasn't just a conference. It felt like a community coming to life.

Day 4: Exclusive Rooftop Dinner Hosted by SmartLead.ai

Of course, SmartLead had to host their own meetup — and they did it with style.

As one of the top-performing cold email platforms in the market, SmartLead has built not just a product, but a strong, engaged community. Their exclusive rooftop dinner brought that community to life in the best way possible.

This event had a different energy from the rest of the week. Most of the earlier meetups were filled with GTM and agency owners, but this one brought together a different mix — startup founders, operators, and people working closely with some of the fastest-growing startups in the world.

The quality of conversations was on another level. It wasn't just about campaigns or tools — it was about scale, strategy, and the future of outbound itself.

You could feel the energy of people who aren't just talking about growth — they're out there building it every single day.

Day 5: No GTM Meetups — Just Taking It All In

A trip to San Francisco wouldn't be complete without slowing down and actually experiencing the city.

After a packed week of meetups, conferences, and nonstop GTM conversations, Louise and I decided to take a breather and explore what SF has to offer.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, rode the Powell & Mason tram, wandered through Haight-Ashbury, and hit a few other local spots along the way.

I've always believed that traveling is learning — and part of that learning is knowing when to step away from work and simply take things in.

The city, the people, the culture — everything about San Francisco was inspiring in its own way.

Reflections: Why GTM Week Mattered

Looking back, GTM Week in San Francisco was more than just a series of events — it was a reminder of why we do what we do.

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of building systems, automating workflows, and helping startups scale. But being in a room (or a laser tag arena) full of founders, GTM leaders, and builders reminded me that go-to-market isn't just about process — it's about people.

Every conversation — from late-night dinners to quick hallway chats with operators and agency owners — carried the same underlying message: the future of GTM is being built by people who care deeply about growth, community, and experimentation.

What stood out to me most was how collaborative this ecosystem has become. Nobody's gatekeeping. Everyone's learning, iterating, and sharing what works — because the goal isn't just to build your own GTM motion, it's to help elevate how everyone goes to market.

For me and Louise, the trip reinforced what we believe at Lead Assassin: GTM is about understanding people, solving real problems, and building systems that scale sustainably.

Leaving San Francisco, I didn't just feel inspired — I felt recharged. Recharged to keep building, collaborating, and helping more founders and revenue teams automate smarter and grow faster.