Some titles are ceremonial. This one came with blueprints and bruises.

When I stepped into the Americas GTM role at Fudo Security, there wasn’t a playbook.

There was a machete and a mandate: build the path as you walk it.

This post is a field note from that build-part blueprint, part bruise and the start of a public series where I apprentice myself into Sales Engineering while architecting the GTM engine.

The Blueprint – Vision, Not Vanity

Early GTM tempts you to perform strategy-slides, dashboards, pretty funnels.

We did the opposite. We listened.

• CISOs who didn’t need another tool; they needed control.
• Engineers duct-taping privileged access with brittle workflows.
• Partners unsure how to position us while clients drowned in vendor access and compliance friction.

Our ICP came from pain proximity, not persona decks.

We focused where urgency met a clear buying path: regulated teams (SOX/HIPAA/NIST), third-party access chaos, and legacy-PAM fatigue.

GTM wasn’t a campaign. It was a conversation. The blueprint lived in the friction.

The Build – Execution Is Leadership

Strategy met mud fast. A partner-led deal went quiet. We didn’t stall; we created options-spinning a respectful direct path in parallel.

• First SDR: clarity over speed; learning loops, not vanity metrics.
• Data vendor: choose fit for our stage, not our ego.
• CRM cleanup: manual, again because dirty data breaks truth.

Dependency is risk. Optionality is power.

The Shift – From Manual to Repeatable

Momentum is easy. Letting go without losing quality is the art.

We cloned what landed: message → sequence → one-pager → battlecard.

We automated the right 30% and protected nuance.

We built a knowledge base for the team-to-be. We cleaned the CRM for clarity in handoffs.

GTM isn’t just outbound. It’s a memory system.

The Reflection – The Dual Role

Some days I lead like an architect. Others, like an operator.

Most days-both. There’s no clean handoff between vision and execution.

The duality is the job. The labyrinth isn’t a detour. It’s the design.

You can’t outsource clarity.

You can’t automate trust.

You earn both by showing up, iterating, and recommitting to what matters.

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What This Series Covers

• GTM Architect: maps, messaging, partner strategy, measurement.
• Operator: calls, sequences, demos, pipeline hygiene.
• Apprentice Sales Engineer: translating features into value, discovery, PoCs.

Start Here

• Crafting a GTM Strategy: My Journey as Architect and Operator (Anchor Post)
• Week 1: Learning the Product as a Sales Engineer
• Week 2: Discovery Mastery | GTM & SE Journey
• Week 3: Demo Storytelling That Proves Value (coming soon)