Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

What actually works in GTM today? Not more AI tools. Not more “personalized” cold emails. In this episode, Patrick Spychalski shares how his hands-on work with Clay led to founding The Kiln - a team helping B2B sales and marketing teams cut through the noise and build GTM systems that actually scale.

We talk about what’s broken in outreach today, what most teams get wrong when using AI, and how the rise of the GTM engineer role is quietly changing how modern GTM teams operate. This one’s for anyone rethinking their stack, their workflows - or how to stay relevant in a landscape shifting fast.

🎧 Tune in now on Spotify or Apple and share your thoughts!

In the meantime: Follow the Gradient and stay tuned!

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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How to stand out in a saturated market with AI

What you will get out of this episode

In our conversation, Patrick shares:

• How to build modern outreach strategies that actually stand out

• Why AI-generated emails are failing — and what to do instead

• How to adopt the GTM engineer mindset and bridge tech with strategy

• How to identify the most valuable tools without falling into “AI tool paralysis”

• and much more!

Our main take away’s

1. Outreach needs reinvention, not repetition: Patrick makes it clear: what used to work in cold outreach no longer cuts it. Saturation, infrastructure complexity, and a flood of low-quality AI content have made generic approaches ineffective. Instead, go-to-market teams must think like creatives and deliver real value up front. Sometimes even building custom tools or dashboards for prospects.
   

2. AI should empower, not replace, your team: The hype around replacing sales roles with AI is misguided. Patrick’s view is sharp: AI is best used to reduce low-leverage work and amplify skilled people but not replace them. Whether through automating research or supporting semi-templated messaging, the key is strategy first, tools second.
   

3. The GTM engineer* is a game-changing role: As AI tools grow more complex, a new role has emerged to bridge strategic intent and technical execution. GTM engineers blend sales insight with tool fluency, serving as architects of automated workflows that actually work. Their product-like thinking brings structure and repeatability to modern outreach.

4. Start with value, then choose your tools: Don’t let tool obsession drive your strategy. Patrick urges teams to begin by mapping their current processes and envisioning an ideal, value-driven state. Only then should they explore automation. This approach prevents distraction and grounds experimentation in real outcomes, not hype.

* we will have a whole episode on that topic! Stay tuned!

Additional material on the topic

• Patrick’s newsletter: GTM Cookbook 

How to reach out to Patrick

• LinkedIn

• The Kiln | A Clay Agency

Now would follow some additional answers from today’s guest, Patrick. But let’s walk the talk and be real here too – we were too late sending him the questions. So, no answers (yet), but we’ll update them on the website once Patrick’s had time to reflect.

Melanie & Christian