The Future of GTM: Key Takeaways from the Pavilion CRO Summit 2025

On June 3, 2025, over 200 of the world’s most accomplished sales and revenue leaders gathered at the Denver Art Museum for the Pavilion CRO Summit—a focused, high-impact event aimed at unpacking the future of go-to-market (GTM) strategies. Against the backdrop of shifting buyer expectations, AI-driven enablement, and evolving pricing models, the day offered a masterclass in what GTM leadership will require in a transformed marketplace.

Hosted by Pavilion, the membership community built for high-growth operators, the summit wasn’t about theory. It was about action. In session after session, speakers challenged conventional wisdom, provided tactical frameworks, and offered insights for how today’s CROs must lead differently to succeed in 2025 and beyond.

A Digital-First Buyer Demands a Digital-First GTM

Perhaps the most urgent shift discussed at the summit was the rise of the digital-first buyer. In an opening keynote, Hootsuite CEO Irina Novoselsky delivered a striking stat: 71% of B2B buyers are now either Millennials or Gen Z. This generational shift is turning traditional sales tactics on their head.

These younger buyers are not just tech-savvy—they are tech-native. They research on social, avoid cold calls, and increasingly prefer self-service digital experiences over human interactions. The playbook that fueled B2B growth for the past 20 years is no longer enough.

Novoselsky argued that CROs must rewire their teams to become “social-first.” The modern revenue org must meet buyers where they are—not in inboxes, but on LinkedIn, Slack communities, YouTube, and even TikTok. Sales reps should no longer merely “sell”; they must become content creators, subject-matter influencers, and community contributors. In short, revenue generation is now about relevance, not reach.

This shift toward digital-first GTM isn’t just cosmetic. It requires new enablement, training, KPIs, and even org design. “Today’s buyers don’t need you to walk them through a demo,” Novoselsky quipped. “They’ve already seen five of them online. What they need is insight, not information.”

Product-Led Growth and Pricing Innovation: A New Value Exchange

The middle portion of the day featured a standout panel with Catie Ivey (CRO of Walnut), Andrew Johnston (Co-Founder of Second Rodeo), and Andrea Kayal (CRO of Help Scout), who tackled one of the most pressing topics in SaaS: how to better align product strategy with sales execution.

Product-led growth (PLG) has evolved from a startup buzzword into a mainstream GTM engine. But with more companies offering free tiers and product trials, the challenge isn’t just getting users in the door—it’s converting them into high-value customers. Ivey shared how Walnut aligns product and sales by treating product experience as part of the sales motion. “Your best seller,” she noted, “might be your UI.”

But the discussion didn’t stop at PLG. Kayal introduced a compelling idea: outcome-based pricing. The conventional wisdom around seat-based pricing, she argued, is outdated and often misaligned with customer success. Instead of charging based on user count, Help Scout is experimenting with pricing tied to specific results—be it conversions, response times, or CSAT scores.

This kind of value-driven pricing model better matches how customers perceive value and helps align GTM incentives across sales, product, and customer success. It’s also a more resilient model in uncertain economic climates, as customers are far more willing to pay when ROI is built into the deal structure.

Johnston chimed in with a tactical takeaway: “Your pricing model is a product in itself. Iterate on it like you would any other feature.”

AI Is the GTM Force Multiplier—But It Requires Human Strategy

No GTM conversation in 2025 would be complete without a serious examination of AI, and the summit didn’t disappoint. A highly anticipated talk by Hayes Davis, CEO of Gradient Works, explored the idea of the “10X Sales Rep”—a future where AI augments every phase of the sales process, from prospecting to forecasting.

Davis made a critical distinction: AI won’t replace salespeople, but it will replace salespeople who don’t know how to use AI. He highlighted examples of reps using AI to identify intent signals, auto-prioritize outreach, and generate hyper-personalized messaging in seconds. The result? More pipeline with fewer touches—and fewer humans.

But Davis warned against blindly automating for automation’s sake. “Efficiency is not effectiveness,” he cautioned. “AI that sends out a thousand irrelevant emails faster is still doing the wrong thing faster.”

This balance was echoed in a panel featuring Hannah Willson (CRO of Nooks), Katherine Andruha (formerly VP at FiveTran), and Mariah Donnelly (Sales Development Director at Greenhouse). They dissected how outbound sales has changed in the AI era. While tools can write emails, book meetings, and analyze sentiment, the onus is still on reps to bring context and care. “AI is the muscle,” said Willson. “Humanity is the heart.”

Their advice: arm reps with AI, but train them in storytelling, strategic discovery, and value articulation. Automation will open the door—but connection will close the deal.

Breaking Down Silos: The Rise of Full-Funnel GTM Leadership

A recurring theme throughout the summit was the increasing importance of cross-functional alignment. Joe McNeill (CRO of Influ2) and Mike Carlson (CRO of Hoxhunt) led a dynamic fireside on what they called “full-funnel revenue orchestration.”

The core idea: sales, marketing, and customer success can no longer operate in silos. In a world where customer journeys are nonlinear and AI makes touchpoints harder to track, success hinges on tightly aligned systems, shared KPIs, and a unified view of the customer.

For example, Influ2 is rethinking attribution models to account for both marketing-led and sales-led touches. “The first time a buyer talks to sales might be the tenth time they’ve encountered your brand,” McNeill said. “Your attribution model needs to reflect that reality.”

Carlson emphasized the importance of embedding revenue ops across functions, not just within sales. “You don’t need more tools—you need more connective tissue.”

One of the most popular tactical takeaways from their session: implement a shared revenue scorecard that combines pipeline health, lead quality, customer success metrics, and account engagement—all in one place. This encourages accountability, reduces finger-pointing, and helps teams focus on outcomes rather than functions.

Final Takeaway: CROs Must Lead the Reinvention

The Pavilion CRO Summit 2025 was more than just a conference—it was a roadmap for reinvention. In session after session, the message was loud and clear: the future of GTM leadership belongs to those willing to challenge assumptions, embrace change, and act with intention.

Digital-first buyers, product-led revenue models, AI-powered sales processes, and cross-functional alignment are not futuristic trends—they’re the new baseline. The CRO of the future is not just a revenue leader but a systems thinker, a technologist, a storyteller, and above all, a change agent.

For those who want to remain relevant and drive results in 2025 and beyond, the path forward is clear: get closer to your buyers, iterate faster, lead with value, and never stop evolving.

Because in this new era of GTM, evolution isn’t optional—it’s the only strategy that scales.