Field Guide
The Human + AI GTM Field Guide
Plain-English definitions, practical examples, and candid perspectives on entrepreneurship, SaaS, AI, brand, and building go-to-market systems that actually work.
Business has never been short on jargon. AI is creating more of it by the day.
This Field Guide is my attempt to make the language of building and growing companies more useful. Some entries explain established ideas. Others explore concepts that are still taking shape. Every one is written to answer a real question, show how the idea works in practice, and offer a point of view—not just another definition.
Start with a topic, follow your curiosity, and disagree with me whenever the mood strikes.
How humans and AI work together
The working language of human–AI teams: collaboration, oversight, agents, workflows, orchestration, context, and the systems underneath them.
- Human–AI collaborationHuman–AI collaboration means designing the work around the best contribution of each partner.
- Human-in-the-loopLet machines handle scale and repetition while people own judgment and consequence.
- AI agentA chatbot answers; an agent acts.
- Agentic workflowAn agentic workflow can reason about what should happen next instead of following only a fixed script.
- AI orchestrationOrchestration turns a collection of AI capabilities into a working team.
- Context engineeringBetter AI work usually comes from better context, not simply a better command.
- AI-native teamAn AI-enabled team uses tools; an AI-native team redesigns the work.
- System of intelligenceA system of record remembers; a system of intelligence helps decide.
The modern GTM system
How go-to-market actually works as a system: strategy, operating cadence, ideal customers, buying signals, and coordinated revenue motions.
- Go-to-market strategyGTM strategy is the coordinated answer to who, why, what, where, and how a company grows.
- GTM operating systemGTM strategy defines the choices; the GTM operating system makes those choices show up in the work.
- Ideal customer profileYour ICP is not everyone who could buy—it is the customer for whom the whole relationship is most likely to work.
- Signal-based marketingReplace “What should we send this week?” with “What changed, and what should we do about it?”
- Revenue orchestrationRevenue orchestration turns scattered customer activity into coordinated commercial action.
Brand in the age of abundant content
What brand and positioning are for when anyone can produce infinite content: clarity, category, compounding demand, and staying recognizably human.
- PositioningPositioning gives buyers the right mental frame—and a reason to choose you within it.
- Category designPositioning helps you win a comparison; category design can change what the comparison is about.
- Brand as a growth leverBrand is a growth lever when it makes every demand, sales, product, and customer interaction work harder.
- Brand strategyBrand strategy decides what you want to be known for and how you will make that belief true.
- Brand humanityBrand humanity is what makes a company feel chosen by people, not merely generated for them.
The new shape of marketing teams
How marketing roles are changing as AI absorbs execution: full-stack marketers, generalists, and where broad range becomes an advantage.
- Full-stack marketerA full-stack marketer can see—and often move—the whole marketing system.
- Marketing generalistA marketing generalist knows enough across the system to find the real problem before choosing the tactic.
- The Generalist’s AdvantageOne capable generalist can increasingly access a full team’s capability—without carrying the full team tax.
Building and growing a SaaS company
The durable fundamentals: founder-led growth, product-market fit, and the difference between shipping output and producing outcomes.
- Founder-led growthFounder-led growth turns the founder’s proximity, conviction, and learning speed into an early company advantage.
- Product-market fitProduct-market fit exists when a well-defined market repeatedly chooses and receives value from the product without extraordinary persuasion or rescue.
- Outputs vs. outcomesAn output is what got made; an outcome is what changed because it was made.
- Agentic workflowAn agentic workflow can reason about what should happen next instead of following only a fixed script.
- AI agentA chatbot answers; an agent acts.
- AI orchestrationOrchestration turns a collection of AI capabilities into a working team.
- AI-native teamAn AI-enabled team uses tools; an AI-native team redesigns the work.
- Brand as a growth leverBrand is a growth lever when it makes every demand, sales, product, and customer interaction work harder.
- Brand humanityBrand humanity is what makes a company feel chosen by people, not merely generated for them.
- Brand strategyBrand strategy decides what you want to be known for and how you will make that belief true.
- Category designPositioning helps you win a comparison; category design can change what the comparison is about.
- Context engineeringBetter AI work usually comes from better context, not simply a better command.
- Founder-led growthFounder-led growth turns the founder’s proximity, conviction, and learning speed into an early company advantage.
- Full-stack marketerA full-stack marketer can see—and often move—the whole marketing system.
- Go-to-market strategyGTM strategy is the coordinated answer to who, why, what, where, and how a company grows.
- GTM operating systemGTM strategy defines the choices; the GTM operating system makes those choices show up in the work.
- Human-in-the-loopLet machines handle scale and repetition while people own judgment and consequence.
- Human–AI collaborationHuman–AI collaboration means designing the work around the best contribution of each partner.
- Ideal customer profile (ICP)Your ICP is not everyone who could buy—it is the customer for whom the whole relationship is most likely to work.
- Marketing generalistA marketing generalist knows enough across the system to find the real problem before choosing the tactic.
- Outputs vs. outcomesAn output is what got made; an outcome is what changed because it was made.
- PositioningPositioning gives buyers the right mental frame—and a reason to choose you within it.
- Product-market fitProduct-market fit exists when a well-defined market repeatedly chooses and receives value from the product without extraordinary persuasion or rescue.
- Revenue orchestrationRevenue orchestration turns scattered customer activity into coordinated commercial action.
- Signal-based marketingReplace “What should we send this week?” with “What changed, and what should we do about it?”
- System of intelligenceA system of record remembers; a system of intelligence helps decide.
- The Generalist’s AdvantageOne capable generalist can increasingly access a full team’s capability—without carrying the full team tax.
Written and maintained by Scott Salkin. Established ideas are sourced; emerging language and original points of view are labeled as such. AI and agent entries are reviewed quarterly, and durable business terms at least annually.