The machine, being built.
Spice GTM installs state-of-the-art GTM systems inside companies. No agency. The client owns the machine. This page is the current state of our own build.
Next actions
- Confirm ICP test order with Sofia (proposal: C, A, D, B)
- Schedule the pricing session
- Finish partnership setup conversation
- Review ICP v1 (03) and challenge the filters
- Inventory existing Clay flows into System (04)
- List warm accounts that fit any ICP
- Build pilot lists for ICP C and D on command
- Keep this HQ in sync after every session
- Prepare wave 1 tracking in Overview
What we tell anyone. Including ourselves.
The canonical story, plus copy-paste blocks so neither of us ever improvises positioning at 11pm in a DM thread.
We install a state-of-the-art GTM system inside your company. As a provider, not an agency. You own the machine.
The wedge
Agencies rent you meetings and keep the machine: the data, the domains, the playbook. We build the machine in your house, in your accounts, and hand you the keys. When we leave, everything stays.
A real GTM engineer costs $13-18k per month fully loaded in the US, seniors are scarce, ramp is four months, and hiring is a lottery. We install in six weeks for a fraction, and your team runs it.
What we are not
- Not meetings-as-a-service. Anyone asking us to "just send leads" is asking for the agency trap we position against.
- Not enterprise. Procurement kills a two-person provider. We sell where the founder or VP Sales can say yes.
- Not a tool. We do not compete with Clay or Apollo. We are the people who make them produce revenue.
- Not guaranteed-meetings theatre. We promise the machine and the pipeline it produces, sold honestly: system plus process plus numbers, never rented promises.
Copy-paste blocks
Spice GTM installs signal-based GTM systems inside B2B companies: the right leads, connected to what happens on your calls. No agency. You own the machine.
Spice GTM is a two-person team that installs complete GTM systems inside B2B companies. Signal-based lead sourcing, outreach wired to what actually happens on your sales calls, call intelligence that coaches your reps, and the automations around them: meeting prep, follow-ups, CRM hygiene. Everything is built in your accounts, on your domains, with your data. Agencies rent you meetings and keep the machine; we build the machine in your house and hand you the keys.
Most B2B companies buy pipeline one of two ways: rent it from an agency that keeps all the infrastructure, or try to hire a GTM engineer, which in the US costs fifteen grand a month if you can even find one. We do the third thing. We come in as a provider and install the whole system inside your company: signal-based lead engine, outreach connected to your calls, call review and rep coaching, meeting prep automation. Six weeks to a running machine. It lives in your accounts, your team operates it, and it keeps learning from every touch. One of us built exactly this as a CCO for his own sales team; the other has shipped these systems for B2B SaaS across Europe. We install it, you own it.
First lines, per ICP
You raised for growth, and pipeline is still hand-made. We install the machine before you hire around the gap.
You hired closers and gave them a blank spreadsheet. We install the system that feeds them, so they close.
That req has been open seven weeks. We install what the hire was supposed to build, in six weeks, in your accounts, and your team owns it.
Ten closers, one BDR: your pipeline is starving. Instead of hiring five BDRs, install the engine; the one you have operates it.
Four ICPs. All findable by filters.
Ground rule: an ICP only counts if the list is buildable from public filters. Each one is a hypothesis: 100-200 accounts, 2-3 weeks, meeting rate decides kill or scale.
- Who
- B2B SaaS or tech-enabled services. 5-40 employees. US, UK, EU. Seed or Series A closed within 90 days. No SDR, BDR, or RevOps titles.
- Pain
- The board now expects pipeline. Prospecting is manual and founder-dependent. A wrong sales hire burns six months of runway.
- List build
- Crunchbase or Dealroom funding feed into Clay. Title scan excludes anyone who already has sales ops.
- Filter spec
- Crunchbase/Dealroom: round = Seed or A · announced <= 90 days · raised $1M-15M · HQ US/UK/EU/IL. LinkedIn enrich: headcount 5-40. Clay arithmetic: BDR_SET = 0, OPS_SET = 0, AE_SET <= 1. PLG check on the pricing page. Boosts: first sales vacancy on careers page, second-time founder. Drop when funding is older than 120 days.
- Buyer
- Founder / CEO
- Disqualify
- PLG-only motion, B2C, pre-revenue with no sales motion planned.
- Who
- B2B. 11-50 employees. Revenue exists. 1-3 AEs, all hired within 6 months. No GTM engineer, no RevOps, no SDRs.
- Pain
- The founder handed over quota but not the system. AEs self-source and underperform vs the founder's network.
- List build
- Sales Navigator / Clay: AE title count 1-3 plus start dates under 6 months, zero ops titles.
- Filter spec
- Sales Nav: headcount 11-50 · company age 2-10 yrs (revenue proxy) · headcount flat or growing. Clay arithmetic: AE_SET = 1-3 with every start date <= 6 months · BDR_SET = 0 · OPS_SET = 0. Alt trigger, same ICP: live AE posting at a company with zero existing sales titles ("about to hand off"). Boost: AEs hired out of bigger companies (they expect a system and loudly miss it).
- Buyer
- Founder, sometimes the new Head of Sales
- Disqualify
- AEs hired for inbound only; founder not in the decision.
- Who
- B2B. 20-200 employees. Live posting for GTM Engineer, RevOps, Growth Ops, or Outbound Ops. Stronger if open 45+ days or reposted.
- Pain
- $13-18k/mo fully loaded in the US, scarce seniors, four-month ramp. The req is budgeted, articulated pain.
- List build
- LinkedIn Jobs, Indeed, Ashby, Greenhouse, Lever: weekly scrape, dedupe by domain, enrich the hiring manager and posting age.
- Filter spec
- Title query: "GTM Engineer", "Go-to-Market Engineer", "Revenue Operations", "RevOps", "Sales Operations Manager", "Growth Operations", "Outbound Manager" · posting age >= 30 days (priority: >= 45 or reposted) · company 20-200 · US/UK/EU/IL or remote. JD boost words: Clay, Apollo, Outreach, Salesloft, Instantly, enrichment, sequences, signals. JD kill words: Salesforce Administrator, CPQ, commission, Deal Desk. Context check: current OPS_SET employees 0-1. Boost: salary range >= $120k (that number is our anchor).
- Buyer
- The req owner: VP Sales, COO, or founder
- Disqualify
- Pure CRM-admin or reporting reqs; enterprise procurement.
- Who
- B2B. Roughly 30-300 employees. 2-10 AEs, BDR count at most half the AE count, including zero. AE:BDR at 2:1 or worse is the qualifying line. Ten AEs and one BDR means outbound is broken by definition.
- Pain
- The company pays AE salaries for BDR work. Pipeline coverage below target. BDRs churn and there is no system to plug them into.
- List build
- Pure LinkedIn title arithmetic in Clay: count AE titles vs BDR titles, compute the ratio, sort by AE count descending. The 10-and-1 cases first.
- Filter spec
- Sales Nav: headcount 30-300. Clay arithmetic: AE_SET = 2-10 · BDR_SET <= AE_SET / 2 (incl. zero) · sort AE desc, then ratio desc. Always-on pool, refresh monthly. Boosts: recurring BDR postings over the last 12 months (hire-and-churn loop) · Outreach/Salesloft in postings but never Clay · AE postings saying "self-sourcing expected".
- Buyer
- VP Sales / Head of Sales, founder at the smaller end
- Disqualify
- Full-cycle-by-design orgs (verify on the call); channel-led revenue.
Wave plan
| Wave | ICP | Why this order | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C, then A | Cleanest triggers, lists buildable today. C carries budgeted pain: the unfilled req. | Awaiting Sofia |
| 2 | D | One Clay title-arithmetic run. Big always-on pool. | Planned |
| 3 | B | Biggest volume, softest trigger. Needs the job-change enrichment layer. | Planned |
Our own machine.
We sell installed GTM systems, so our own must be inspectable. Inventory of flows, tools, and messaging. Sofia owns this section's accuracy.
Clay flows
| Flow | Purpose | Feeds ICP | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pending inventory session with Sofia. | |||
Tool registry
| Tool | Role in the machine | Account owner | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clay | Enrichment, list building, title arithmetic, signal logic | TBC | Sofia, Pavel |
| Sequencer (SmartLead / Instantly, confirm) | Email delivery and sequencing | TBC | Sofia |
| Apollo | Contact data, secondary source | TBC | Sofia |
| n8n | Workflow glue, CRM sync | TBC | Sofia |
| CRM | Pipeline record | TBC | Both |
Deliverability
- Sending domains and mailboxes: to be set up fresh for Spice GTM, never from spicegtm.com root.
- Warm-up period before wave 1, no exceptions.
- Volume discipline: quality of the 200-account batch beats volume every time. That is the product we sell; we dogfood it.
Append-only. Newest first.
Every real decision lands here with its reasoning. If we argue about something twice, the first verdict is on this page.
This page: hq.spicegtm.com, password-gated, English, all sections except pipeline data for now. One source of truth for both partners. No client PII, contracts, or money terms until real auth.
Pavel rejected three v1 elements: the serif display font, the red-period logo, and the wave-like signal line (read as leftover Keenwaves). Now: Bricolage Grotesque display, wordmark = red unit square plus Spice in ink plus GTM in red, signature = a hairline grid with one red cell stepping through it. Waves are banned. Paper ramp and the 5% red dose stay.
Single long English landing. Promise hard: machine AND pipeline; the anti-agency difference is ownership, not a softer promise. Sofia public as co-founder. Nebius named as founder proof with the NBIS ticker, never as a client. CTA: free audit; price hidden, anchored against the $13-18k/mo GTM-engineer hire. MOTOR name never public.
A just-funded, B founder-led to first AEs, C open GTM-engineer req, D AE-heavy and BDR-starved (AE:BDR at 2:1 or worse, Pavel's addition). Every ICP must be list-buildable by filters. Test batches 100-200 accounts, meeting rate decides. Agency-burned and SDR-plateau demoted to content angles. Proposed order C, A, D, B awaits Sofia.
Domain spicegtm.com live. Keenwaves frozen. Nebius contract stays Pavel-personal and outside Spice GTM (not the ICP). Start on Pavel's Georgia IE, Sofia works through it, formal split discussed later. Her transition: land first client projects for her to run, so she can leave Sally; those become our first clients and revenue. Her Sally contract is non-exclusive, so she can appear publicly as co-founder now. Pricing gets its own session.
Headline story changes from the MOTOR method to installing in-house GTM systems, no agency, client owns the machine. MOTOR demoted to internal delivery framework. GTM naming adopted, retiring the old "AI Sales, not AI GTM" rule. Partner: Sofia Altman.
How the two of us run this.
Current setup, split of roles, and the open questions we still owe each other answers on.
Setup
- Legal vehicle: Pavel's Georgia Individual Entrepreneur, for the start. Sofia works through it. Formal partnership structure: open discussion.
- Sofia's transition: currently at Sally (non-exclusive contract, public co-founder role is fine). Exit condition: first client projects live under Spice GTM that she runs. Building that pipeline is priority one.
- Nebius: Pavel's personal engagement, fully outside Spice GTM. The name works as founder proof; the contract stays his.
- Keenwaves: frozen brand, site stays live, nothing new ships under it.
Who owns what
- System architecture and the method
- Call intelligence, review, enablement
- Brand, design, positioning
- Closing
- Top-of-funnel engineering: lists, signals, flows
- Clay, sequencers, deliverability
- Outbound execution and iteration
- Playbook documentation
Cadence
- Weekly sync: day and time TBC with Sofia. Agenda lives here the day before.
- Decision rule: anything decided in a call gets written to Decisions (05) same day, by Elio.
- This HQ: updated after every working session. If it is not here, it is not decided.
Open questions
- Partnership split and structure (waiting on the setup conversation).
- Pricing model (dedicated session, not yet held).
- ICP test order confirmation from Sofia.
- Which tool accounts move under the business umbrella first.