Why old GTM playbooks stop working after 10 years
I’m working with three different larger companies, all of which have one thing in common: they’re over ten years old, and their business growth speed is slowing down. Not because the products are worse or because competitors have suddenly invented something groundbreaking. It's more like what worked before doesn’t work anymore.
The reason is clear once you look closely. The people who used to make purchase decisions ten years ago aren’t the same people making them today.
The shift in who decides and where
Ten years ago, decision makers were hanging out on Facebook, searching on Google, or attending expos. A marketing plan optimized for those channels was enough. The companies that mastered Facebook Ads or dominated Google search built strong positions.
Now, those same companies are still running the same playbooks. But the new generation of decision makers isn’t there anymore.
Instead:
- They’re on Reddit or Discord, not Facebook.
- They’re influenced by what they see being built in public, not glossy ads.
- In some cases, they don’t even use Google the way the previous generation did as they ask LLMs.
The channels have shifted. The expectations have shifted. The buyer profile has shifted.
Why the old winners are losing
The companies that won ten years ago are still optimized for the channels that worked back then. They’ve built processes, budgets, and internal expertise around the old system. That used to be their advantage. Now it’s their weakness.
Meanwhile, newer competitors don’t carry the same baggage. They start where the audience already is, which is communities, content built for credibility, direct engagement in modern channels. They win attention because they’re actually visible to the people making decisions now.
It’s not about better products, but updated reach.
The same pattern across companies
What’s interesting is how consistent the pattern is. I’m seeing the exact same problem in three different companies, all in different industries. The context doesn’t matter as the outcome is the same.
Old GTM playbooks were built for yesterday’s buyers. Those buyers have moved on. The playbooks no longer match reality.
I’d bet many more companies from the “winners of the 2010s” are quietly facing the same decline right now.
How to adapt GTM in practice
- Audit reality, not history. Stop assuming buyers are still on the old channels. Look at where decision makers actually spend time in 2025.
- Rebuild GTM from zero. Don’t just tweak the old campaigns. Build from the ground up around the current buyer journey.
- Experiment fast. The biggest advantage new competitors have is iteration speed. If your GTM takes months to shift, you’ve already lost ground.
- Think like a challenger again. Winners of the past can’t afford to act like incumbents. The market doesn’t care about your history, only your relevance.
This isn’t just about a few companies I happen to work with. The same thing is happening everywhere: if you built your GTM a decade ago, it’s tuned for the wrong buyers today.
You either rebuild for the new generation of decision makers, or you slowly lose ground to the ones who already have.