The Three Biggest Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring Their First GTM Engineer
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GTM engineering is one of the fastest-growing roles in B2B sales right now.
But in many organisations, it’s being hired for the wrong reasons.
Leaders are under pressure from boards to “do something with AI”. Teams are buying tools before diagnosing the real issue. Sales reps are drowning in tech and still not selling more.
In this discussion, Richard Lane (durhamlane) is joined by Abbas Somji (InboxKit / The Playbook Agency) and James Donaldson (Stakki) to unpack the three biggest mistakes companies make when hiring their first GTM engineer and how to avoid turning a promising hire into an expensive distraction.
If you’re evaluating GTM engineering, outbound tooling, or automation-heavy solutions, this session will help you pause, assess and make a better decision
What we covered
Mistake #1
Hiring a GTM engineer before properly understanding your sales challenge, ICP and rep bottlenecks
Mistake #2
Confusing strategy with execution – expecting tools or engineers to define your commercial direction
Mistake #3
Getting ownership, accountability and incentives wrong across sales, marketing and RevOps
GTM engineering
How to decide whether you actually need GTM engineering and what to fix first if you don’t
Meet the Speakers
Richard Lane
Co-Founder, durhamlane
With over 20 years of commercial experience, Richard co-founded durhamlane to help B2B companies grow faster through high-performing outsourced sales development. He’s worked across sectors, geographies and GTM models, and knows exactly what’s required to drive consistent, measurable pipeline from SDRs – whether in-house or outsourced.
Abbas Somji
CRO, InboxKit | Co-Founder, The Playbook Agency (acquired by InboxKit)
Abbas built one of the fastest-growing GTM agencies in Europe and the UAE before its acquisition. Now CRO at InboxKit, he works with agencies and SaaS businesses to improve cold email infrastructure, outbound execution and top-of-funnel consistency. His experience spans fractional Head of Sales roles, SDR enablement and scaling outbound without damaging deliverability or domain reputation.
James Donaldson
Founder & Director, Stakki
James helps B2B teams reduce sales tech bloat and build tool stacks that support revenue predictability. Through Stakki and Sales Reader, he advises growing companies on outbound productivity, process optimisation and alignment between marketing, sales and RevOps.
Skip the guesswork and learn what works.
Book a meeting with Sam
Business Development Manager
Sam has years of experience working with financial service providers looking to fuel their growth and expand their market presence.
