How Top SaaS Companies Structure Their GTM Teams
- Rebecca
- Mar 15
- 2 min read
Building a scalable Go-To-Market (GTM) organization is essential for SaaS companies looking to grow beyond $10M ARR. As companies expand, their GTM structure becomes more complex, incorporating specialized roles to improve efficiency and revenue generation. Understanding how top-performing SaaS businesses organize their GTM teams can help emerging companies scale strategically.
As organizations grow, they introduce additional roles to enhance operational efficiency. Initially, sales and marketing teams may be small and generalist, but as ARR increases, more specialized positions emerge:
Early-stage ($10M-$25M ARR): Companies rely heavily on Account Executives (AEs) and Business Development Representatives (BDRs) to drive sales. Marketing roles are often limited to demand generation.
Growth stage ($25M-$100M ARR): Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and specialized marketing functions such as content and product marketing begin to take shape.
Mature stage ($100M+ ARR): Dedicated roles for renewals, onboarding, and sales operations become standard. Customer success often transitions to a separate function reporting to the CEO.
Key Insights from SaaS Industry Leaders
Sales roles dominate early but plateau at scale.
BDRs and AEs make up 50% of total sales headcount in early stages but decline as companies introduce more support roles.
Marketing spend ranges from 15-25% of ARR.
Higher spend is common in early stages, while more mature companies optimize budgets for efficiency.
Customer Success gains prominence beyond $250M ARR.
In smaller companies, CS is often under sales leadership, but at scale, it reports directly to the CEO to drive retention and expansion.
A well-defined GTM team ensures smooth transitions between sales, marketing, and customer success, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value. Companies that strategically scale their GTM functions can optimize their customer acquisition cost (CAC) and drive sustainable growth.
