I’ve been thinking a lot about startup revenue models lately.

Here’s what I’ve realized: 99% of startups are focused on the wrong thing.

They’re obsessed with predictable revenue, but I believe the next wave of billion-dollar unicorns will prioritize sales velocity instead.

8 Reasons

Here are 8 reason velocity will define the future:

1. Revenue was never actually predictable. Everyone got it wrong – we all underestimated our numbers in 2021-2022 and overestimated them in 2023. Meanwhile, we kept making staffing decisions based on those year-end growth targets.
2. The way prospects research has changed completely. The best go-to-market strategies now focus on reaching prospects early and often with helpful content during their research phase. When you make it easy for non-ready buyers to access your content, you win more deals later.
3. Outbound channels are totally burned out. Response rates have dropped by half in the last 24 months because of automation overload. Email inboxes are a mess, LinkedIn is even worse, and AI tools are going to make this problem 100 times bigger. Yet most sales teams are responding by just doing more outreach!
4. Everything’s lined up for a new go-to-market model. As cold outreach gets harder, the future will focus on warming up prospects through founder branding, innovative marketing, user-generated content, small events, and partner/affiliate channels. We’re seeing close rates 2-3 times higher, sales cycles 60% shorter, and we’ll need smaller sales teams.
5. The power of influencers is growing. As AI-generated content takes over, the most authentic content from trusted voices will become even more valuable. Social media is becoming the main way to create awareness, even for software platforms.
6. High-velocity environments attract better talent. The best people want to work on fast-moving teams. Nobody wants to be part of a bloated go-to-market organization that’s just focused on headcount.
7. You can be profitable instead of predictable. Running a lean team that captures demand at the bottom of the funnel will improve capital efficiency. The key is resisting the urge to add outbound reps who just capture demand you’re creating elsewhere. This reduces dependence on external funding and creates a more stable ecosystem.
8. Getting massive user numbers sets you up for global success. My friend Santosh always says that having 100,000 users equals a $1 billion per year marketing budget. I haven’t pulled this off yet, but we’re going to try with our B2B person-level identity product.

Go-to-Market

It’s almost 2024, and the predictable revenue model is dead.

The next great startups will choose velocity and profitability over predictability.

This isn’t just what buyers want – it’ll create healthier companies with happier employees.

I’m calling this new approach “Inbound-Led Outbound,” and everything’s lining up for this to be the next big go-to-market strategy.