Sam Jacobs

The style is conversational, reflective, and emotionally grounded, while still clearly professional and targeted at senior GTM / revenue / SaaS operators.

It blends coaching, personal vulnerability, and thought leadership with occasional promotion (events, podcasts, sponsors, Pavilion).

The voice is confident but not pompous: a mix of “seasoned operator” and “peer/mentor who’s been through some shit.”

The tone is direct and plain-spoken. The author is willing to swear (“shit”, “SH*T”), call things “dumb” or “convoluted,” and name frustration, but never descends into ranting.

It is fundamentally empathetic: speaks to loneliness, exhaustion, fear, and uncertainty in GTM careers, and offers practical frameworks or reassurance.

Semi-formal conversational.

Grammar is mostly correct but intentionally relaxed. Frequent sentence fragments, starting sentences with “And”, “But”, “So”, and using ellipses and dashes.

Uses business and GTM jargon fluently (CRO, CMO, GTM, ARR, OTE, PE-backed, EOY, pipeline, buyer enablement) but keeps it accessible through examples and plain explanations.

Moderate energy with intentional rises and falls.

The posts often open with a sharp, high-impact hook, then slow down into reflective or explanatory mode, then ramp emotional intensity again near a key insight or closing.

Empathetic toward operators (lonely, exhausted, unsure).

Grounded optimism (“I’m more optimistic than I’ve been in a long time…”).

Firm pragmatism (“Time kills deals.”, “The team is everything.”).

Occasional righteous annoyance at bureaucracy, bad process, or unfair treatment of GTM leaders.

Frequent direct lessons and rules (“Rule 1: Time kills deals.”, “The team is everything.”).

Repetition of a short line for emphasis (“The team is everything. The team is just everything.”).

Simple metaphors, often extended as a through-line for the post (“Shit is fertilizer for great things to come.”).

Setting a scene (phone call, party, travel, personal day).

Extracting principles or rules.

Ending with encouragement or a grounded CTA.

Strong preference for concrete specificity (numbers, time frames, comp ranges, ARR, years in roles) rather than vague generalities.

Heavy use of second-person “you” to speak directly to the reader, especially when dispensing advice, naming feelings, or issuing subtle challenges.

First-person singular “I” for stories, vulnerability, and responsibility (“I was fired 4 out of my last 5 GTM roles.”, “I’ve been doing these calls for 15 years.”).

First-person plural “we” to create community (“we exist”, “we can all win together”, “we are not adding steps to make internal stakeholders happy”).

Hard commands in rules or frameworks (“SAY YES.”, “Work backwards from the customer!”).

Softer suggestions in other cases (“If you’re a Pavilion Member, feel free to schedule time with me…”, “Probably best to stay put.”).

Occasionally calls out the reader explicitly with “If you’re out there…” or “If this sounds like you, you’re not alone.” to create emotional connection.