GTMfund urges founders to prioritize distribution over product in the AI era

Paul Irving, partner and COO at GTMfund, told TechCrunch’s Build Mode season finale that distribution—not product—is the “final moat” in the AI era and that startups should focus on distribution excellence. Irving said the traditional one-size-fits-all go-to-market playbook that worked for enterprise SaaS won’t cut it in the crowded, AI-driven startup era, where innovation cycles are much faster and what used to take years can now take months.

GTMfund advises portfolio companies to differentiate through distribution rather than product. The episode outlined several practical takeaways: AI can help small teams adopt data-driven approaches and find direct lines to customers; founders should not try to pursue every distribution channel at once; hiring needs to be more deliberate; and building a team of trusted advisers should be a priority.

Irving said early-stage investors at GTMfund aren’t looking for startups that have spent half their budget on paid ads or hired a full sales team, and he gave an example of a company growing customers by participating in targeted Facebook groups: “If you think about it in the framework of, okay, it’s a thousand people, but 700 of them are my actual ICP and buyer… It can become a really unique channel if you’re looking to bring on 40, 50, 60 new customers in a given year.” Irving also stressed the value of networks and said GTMfund provides portfolio companies with a broad operator network and bespoke pairings rather than a simple Rolodex.

Key Topics

Tech, Gtmfund, Paul Irving, Ai, Startups, Facebook Groups