How Splunk Scaled to a $10B IPO: Tom Schodorf’s GTM Playbook for Founders

How Splunk Scaled to a $10B IPO: Tom Schodorf’s GTM Playbook for Founders

Author: Venture Guides June 30, 2026 Duration: 31:39
What if the sales strategies that built a $10B IPO could transform your go-to-market engine? In this episode of Built Not Born, host Sage Nye sits down with Tom Schodorf, the sales leader who helped scale Splunk from startup to a $10B IPO, to unpack what actually builds a high-performing go-to-market engine. Tom explains why defining your ICP and aligning company-wide messaging matter far more than aggressive hiring, and how documenting a repeatable sales process creates sustainable growth. He also shares hard-earned lessons about hiring the right support structure around sales teams, avoiding short-term thinking, and building a culture rooted in discipline, coaching, and accountability. From the “unit of one” hiring framework to adapting sales strategies in the AI era, this conversation offers founders and revenue leaders a practical blueprint for scaling without losing focus, clarity, or long-term momentum in increasingly competitive markets today.

Sage Nye, Managing Partner at Venture Guides, hosts Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast, a series built on the premise that lasting companies are engineered, not discovered by chance. This podcast moves beyond theoretical advice to focus on the tangible mechanics of launching and scaling a business, specifically for founders and leaders in the early, precarious stages. Each episode features frank discussions with a range of voices crucial to the journey-technical founders who have navigated product-market fit, investors who scrutinize traction, and go-to-market experts who specialize in building repeatable sales engines. The conversations are candid by design, stripping away the glossy narratives to examine what actually worked, what failed, and why. Listeners will find a resource devoid of fluff, where proven playbooks and operational realities take center stage. It’s for those who understand that strategy is meaningless without execution, and that a bulletproof go-to-market plan is the foundation upon which everything else is built. Tune in for the real talk needed to translate vision into viable, growing revenue.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 21

Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Beyond Capital: How Venture Guides is Redefining the Venture Playbook [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:37
Welcome to Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast, the podcast for early-stage founders and startup leaders who know that great companies aren’t lucky… they’re built through smart execution and a bulletproof go…
Trailer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:31
Welcome to Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast—the podcast for early-stage founders and startup leaders who know that great companies aren’t lucky… they’re built through smart execution and a bulletproof go-…