The Great Sales Title Evolution: From Sales Rep To "GTM"

A few months back, I saw Alex Cramer, the CRO @ Cresta, post something interesting about the growing trend of sales professionals adopting "GTM" in their titles instead of "AE" or "Sales."

I'll admit it - I am a victim of it. It feels pretentious because it stems from a much-needed intellectual re-branding, which can certainly come off negatively to the old-school seller.

It made me wonder why more salespeople, especially in early/growth-stage tech companies, are making this title switch.

This isn't the first time our industry's seen such a title transformation. Each shift has reflected a deeper change in how we sell.

In the mid-20th century, we started with "sales rep" - a title that made perfect sense for the transactional nature of selling.

However, it eventually started giving off used car vibes, particularly as it represented an era when sales reps held all the informational cards before the internet democratized knowledge.

The first major evolution came when software companies like IBM and Oracle, dealing with increasingly complex products, moved from "sales rep" to "account executive."

It was a deliberate rebrand from the Willy Lohman/Glen Garry Glen Ross stereotype to a more Don Draper-esque image. They needed someone who could navigate an account like an executive, representing a fundamentally different approach to selling.

The landscape shifted again in the mid-2010s with the rise of Product-Led Growth (PLG).

We saw a new breed of intellectual sellers entering the profession. Dropbox became notorious for hiring from elite schools and poaching talent from finance and other non-traditional sectors. This "mafia" of highly educated sellers spread throughout the tech ecosystem.

But where did this latest evolution to "GTM" come from?

To my knowledge, the pioneer was Stripe in the late 2010s. Known for hiring based on intellectual horsepower and academic pedigree, they began putting "GTM" into their LinkedIn profiles. Other organizations looking to cultivate a more cerebral selling environment followed suit.

The shift makes particular sense in early-stage companies, where the role demands much more than traditional selling. With the emergence of AI tools and the shift toward GTM engineering, modern reps need to be increasingly versatile. As my friend Alex points out (he commented on the Alex post from above with this comment below):

While only some rep are calling APIs or self-configuring their sales tech stack, the best ones are growing comfortable with these technical concepts.

Today's GTM role means being a Swiss army knife—someone who can handle everything from top-of-funnel activities to closing deals, driving new revenue, influencing product roadmaps, and upselling.

In the modern selling environment, focusing on staying lean, the top performers can sell while flexing into traditional growth marketing territories.

They're sophisticated users of tools like Clay and Common Room, leveraging generative AI to expand their efforts.

This evolution is growing as the old Stripe mafia branches out. Look at OpenAI and Anthropic's teams (many coming from Stripe) - they're cerebral sellers representing a new archetype in the AI movement. It's more consultative than traditional software sales, focused on genuine problem-solving rather than just pushing products.

While Alex sees the shift to GTM as potentially pretentious, I see it as a necessary rebranding that reflects the increasing sophistication of our profession.

It’s important to note that this is only sometimes applicable. An AE at Salesforce, for instance, still focuses primarily on working their territory and hitting numbers. They shouldn’t be putting GTM. But for those in the startup trenches, this evolution represents an exciting new direction from seed through Series D.

As someone who worked as a strategy consultant before returning to tech, I recognize these parallels. Today, the best sales organizations operate more like consulting firms, and I'm excited about where we're heading.

Long live the GTM re-brand.