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GTM Motion Not Converting? Andre DeRussy Has Fixed It – Twice
When pipeline stalls and close rates drop, the GTM motion itself is usually the problem. Andre DeRussy diagnoses and rebuilds revenue motions for post-Series A
Get Matched in 48 Hours →A GTM motion that stops converting is not always a sales problem – it is often a motion design problem. The wrong ICP definition, a channel mismatch, a broken handoff between marketing and sales, or a pricing model that creates friction at the wrong stage can all produce a pipeline that looks healthy but closes poorly. Andre DeRussy diagnoses which problem is actually present and rebuilds the motion around what the data says.
Why GTM motions break after Series A
Post-Series A, companies typically shift from founder-led sales to a scaled motion – and that is where the break happens. The tactics that worked at seed (referral, warm intros, founder relationships) do not scale when headcount doubles. New reps inherit a playbook that was never written down, sell into ICPs that were never precisely defined, and operate without a consistent qualification framework. The result is a pipeline that fills but does not close.
How Andre diagnoses and rebuilds a broken motion
Andre starts with a two-week diagnostic – pulling close rate data by rep, by ICP segment, by channel, and by deal stage. He maps where deals are actually dying versus where the team believes they are dying. Those two answers are almost never the same. From the diagnostic, he builds a motion redesign: revised ICP definition, a new qualification scorecard, a tightened handoff protocol, and a rep coaching framework. He then runs with the team through one full sales cycle to validate the rebuild works in practice.
What a rebuilt GTM motion produces – and when you know it is working
The signal that a motion is working is not more pipeline – it is a higher close rate on existing pipeline and a shorter average sales cycle. Andre tracks both as the primary leading indicators. A rebuilt motion typically shows measurable close rate improvement within 60 days. Full cycle improvement – where the pipeline quality also increases because ICP targeting is sharper – takes one full quarter to validate. He stays through that validation before transitioning to a retained advisory role or a permanent hire.
A STAR case from the Forward Share Ventures network
Situation: A vertical SaaS company at $5M ARR had hired three enterprise reps after their Series A. Twelve months later, their close rate had dropped from 28% to 11% and average sales cycle had extended from 45 to 90 days. The board was questioning whether the product had hit a ceiling.
Result: Andre ran a two-week diagnostic and identified that two of three reps were selling into a segment where the product required six months of customization to deploy – a mismatch that only surfaced late in the sales cycle. He redefined the primary ICP to exclude that segment, rebuilt the qualification scorecard, and redeployed the reps into the corrected ICP. Close rate recovered to 24% within one quarter. Average sales cycle returned to 52 days within two quarters.
"Most broken GTM motions are not broken because the reps are weak or the product is wrong. They are broken because the motion was never designed – it evolved, and nobody noticed when it stopped working."
– Andre DeRussy, Sales & Revenue Expert Operator, Forward Share Ventures
Frequently asked questions
How do you know if your GTM motion is broken versus your product not fitting the market?
The cleanest signal is deal stage distribution. If deals are entering the pipeline and dying at a consistent stage – consistently late in the cycle, after demos, after trials – the motion is broken. If deals are not entering the pipeline at all, the ICP definition or channel may be the problem, which is still a motion problem. Product-market fit issues typically show up as churned customers and low NPS, not stalled pipeline. A motion diagnostic – mapping close rates by segment, rep, and channel – separates the two within two weeks. Andre runs this diagnostic as the first phase of every engagement.
What is the difference between a fractional VP Sales and a GTM consultant when you need to rebuild a motion?
A GTM consultant delivers analysis and recommendations. A fractional VP Sales operates inside the revenue function – coaching reps, attending deals, running pipeline reviews, and owning the outcome. Andre works as the latter. He does not submit a GTM redesign document and leave the implementation to the team. He runs the implementation himself, which means the rebuild actually gets executed and validated. This matters because most GTM rebuilds fail during implementation, not during design.
How long does it take to see results from a GTM motion rebuild?
The first measurable signal – close rate improvement on existing pipeline – typically appears within 45–60 days of the motion redesign going live. That is because the existing pipeline was already in progress; the redesign changes how reps handle the deals already in play. Full-cycle improvement, where the pipeline quality also increases because ICP targeting and sourcing are sharper, takes one complete sales cycle to validate – typically one quarter. Andre stays through the full-cycle validation before recommending a transition to a permanent hire or advisory relationship.
Should we hire a permanent VP Sales before or after rebuilding the GTM motion?
After. Hiring a VP Sales into a broken motion puts the new hire in an impossible position – they inherit a system that does not work, the board has low patience, and the hire typically fails within 12 months. The right sequence is to stabilize the motion with a fractional operator, prove what works, document the playbook, and then hire a VP Sales who can take a working system and scale it. That hire is also dramatically easier to make, because you have data to show candidates about how the motion performs.
What does Andre DeRussy look for first when diagnosing a GTM motion that is not converting?
He looks at close rate variance across three dimensions: by rep, by ICP segment, and by deal source. Variance tells you where the system is inconsistent – and inconsistency is always the diagnostic entry point. If one rep closes at 30% and another closes at 8%, the problem is the playbook or coaching, not the product. If one ICP segment closes at 35% and another closes at 5%, the ICP definition is wrong. If referral deals close at 40% and outbound deals close at 6%, the channel mix is wrong. Those three variance charts answer 80% of the diagnosis in the first week.
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