Gemini Beats ChatGPT?, OpenAI "Code Red", Ramp Ends Outbound & 4,000 Agency Job Cuts
Episode 8 of GTMN
We are thrilled to be back for Episode 8 of GTMN! Believe it or not, we’re almost to Episode 10, which we hear puts you in the top 1% of podcasts—it’s something ridiculous like that!
The Bizarre World of Ultra Runs and Cinnamon Dust
I (Austin) had to start the show by sharing the ridiculous journey that was the DC Taco Bell Ultra, a 30-mile run where you stop to eat tacos. I had quite a spread, including a chalupa, a cold burrito, and the worst decision of my life: a Crunch Wrap Supreme at mile 22 in an underground Taco Bell.
But the wildest moment came from another runner. We were at Taco Bell number four when a serious guy walked in, crushed a bag of cinnamon twists into dust, poured water into the bag, drank the whole mixture, and left. It was an incredible display of an “extreme strategy of drinking cinnamon twists”.
That whole ordeal sounded like a next-level endurance challenge to Pranav, who committed to making a bold goal for next year. He plans to “start training for it from from January” for a half marathon. I promised him that not only will we offer running guidance on the podcast, but I’m going to come and do a show together at his next half marathon.
The Truth Behind Holiday Growth
Turning to the market, Black Friday and Cyber Monday were in the books, and the initial numbers showed a consensus of 7% to 9% year-over-year growth. However, once we dug into the data, the picture became clearer: almost all of that growth came from price increases, not unit increases. Unit sales were actually “flat or down and prices were up”.
We also noted the growing disparity in spending. The rest of the metrics were quite flat if you removed upper-income households and luxury goods. The vast majority of growth in spending right now is being driven by the “upper 10 to 15% of household incomes”.
AI Reshapes Agency Land and Sales Strategy
The agency world continues to consolidate. IPG merged with Omnicom, making the combined entity the largest advertising holding company globally. They are shedding 4,000 jobs, explicitly driven by the need to compete with “AI-driven creative production data integration and global scale”.
Despite the big players struggling, I (Austin) argued that “there’s never been a better moment in history to build a marketing agency” for enterprising folks, as the technical sophistication required in marketing today means there is no universal playbook for every business.
This return to thoughtful, human-centric GTM is mirrored in the sales world. Ramp announced they are shutting down their automated outbounding team, declaring, “we think that the that game is done”. The shift is back to equipping humans to do a great job. At our own company, we’re implementing a GTM engineer role focused on thoughtful engagement, because “if everybody else is doing the same thing how are we going to stand out”.
Sky-High Marketing Bets
Marketers are trying increasingly wild things to break through the noise. We discussed Heli D, a company planning a 400 square-foot LED billboard suspended by helicopters, timed for the 2026 Super Bowl.
We also covered Swedka, a vodka brand that announced their Super Bowl commercial was being produced primarily using AI. We questioned the PR strategy behind revealing this. I (Pranav) believe that if you choose to use AI, you should own it, stating,
“I think there is zero value in telling people that you’re doing it with AI”.
OpenAI’s Code Red Moment
Perhaps the biggest news of the week was the report that Sam Altman told OpenAI employees that he was declaring a “code red” to improve ChatGPT and delay other initiatives, seemingly spooked by the competition from Gemini.
I (Pranav) confirmed that I’ve seen my own usage of Gemini go up 10x in the last two weeks. I was “an avid like chat GPT fanboy for like the last you know two years,” but I was hooked when I created a fully functioning React app inside the Gemini chat environment.
I (Austin) find the Google integration most compelling. As a consultant with eight years of data stored in Drive, Gemini makes it easy to add existing knowledge to your chat environment by simply clicking “add from drive”. Pranav agreed, noting he used Gemini to create a three-phased running preparation plan and “schedule this on my calendar for the next like 9 months”. I also highlighted how the AI formula inside Google Sheets could potentially replace tools like Clay for enrichment and data structuring. We concluded that Google is truly fighting for mind share by figuring out how to make their tools the default repository for your brain.