In this episode, Kyle Norton, CRO of Owner.com, is interviewed by Sophie Buonassisi from the GTMnow Podcast. He shares the decisions and frameworks that helped take the company from $2M ARR to over $50M and a billion-dollar valuation. Kyle breaks down the bold early moves—like letting go of half the sales team in his first 45 days—alongside the pivotal role of setting a high talent bar, investing in RevOps early, and building scalable infrastructure. He also unpacks lessons on churn reduction, hiring for DNA over case study performance, and why strategic congruence across product, GTM, and fundraising is critical. Finally, Kyle offers his perspective on AI in go-to-market, balancing in-office vs remote work, and the leadership principles that drive long-term growth.

Episode Chapters:

(01:00) — Intro

(02:26) — Scaling to Unicorn

(03:21) — Bold Sales Reset

(05:33) — Early GTM Decisions

(13:22) — Fixing Churn

(16:31) — Hiring for DNA

(31:08) — Leadership Alignment

(33:23) — Data-First AI

(48:25) — Remote vs. In-Office

(55:26) — Leadership Principles

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#458 - Suddenly Susan Seidelman