In September 2026 Kyle Poyar of Growth Unhinged and Maja Voje of GTM Strategist surveyed 300 B2B software and AI companies on what worked in GTM. Their report is the best set of GTM statistics I have seen this year.
I read it for one thing. What changed for teams that run outbound?
Two thirds of respondents are under $10M ARR and half sell deals of $5k to $50k a year. That is the core outbound market.
Yes. Outbound gained more ground this year than almost any other GTM motion while account-based and product-led growth both lost share.
Founder-led sales still tops the overall list at 26%. That number comes almost entirely from companies under $1M ARR.
My takeaway is simple. Founder-led sales gets you to $1M and a repeatable motion has to carry you after that.
Respondents listed what failed for them this year and cold outreach came up more than any other channel. The report's scorecard agrees and places it in the over-saturated quadrant.
Read the complaints closely and a pattern shows up.
Plain cold outreach sent without signals or real personalization is what stopped working. The channel itself is still core for nearly half of B2B companies.
That is why I protect sender reputation before I scale. Warmup through Warmforge and separate sending domains from Mailforge keep one bad campaign away from the main domain.
Signals show who is likely to buy now. When you reach someone during a hiring push or a leadership change the timing is already on your side.
Signal-based outbound is the second biggest bet for 2027 across all 16 channels. Only AI search ranks higher.
The channel does not change. The list gets smaller and the reason to reach out gets clearer, which is the whole idea behind signal-based outreach.
First-party signals still do most of the work. People signals like champion moves become more important as deals get bigger.
I mix both when I build a list. Leadsforge covers ICP search and buying signals for new accounts while content and website activity show me who already knows Salesforge.
AI is now part of most GTM teams. 43% report a big impact from AI in 2026, up from 24% a year earlier.
Agents are moving into GTM plans too. Sumble found that 33% of GTM project descriptions at AI-native companies name agents compared with 8% at other B2B companies.
Those same companies still hire people. They staff 39 SDRs per 100 AEs against 23 at other B2B companies.
That is the model I run. An AI SDR handles research and first touches while reps spend their time in live conversations.
Setup order matters most. I give Agent Frank an ICP and a knowledge base first and then two weeks of warmup before the first email goes out.
LinkedIn posting is now core for 50% of B2B companies. Under $1M ARR it is also the top channel bet for 2027.
My own poll on GTM channels put LinkedIn DMs and social selling first too. Posting earns familiarity and signal-based LinkedIn outreach turns it into conversations.
Outbound is becoming more signal-based and more personal. Here is how I would act on that in 2027.
The Forge stack is built to run outbound this way. The full report has much more detail and is worth reading on Growth Unhinged.
Outbound rose from 19% to 24% as a primary GTM motion and cold outreach is core for 46% of B2B companies. 48% plan to increase investment in signal-based outbound in 2027.
Yes. Outbound gained five points as a primary motion between 2025 and 2026. It is also the top motion for deals above $50k ACV when founder-led sales is set aside.
Founder-led sales leads only among companies under $1M ARR, where 44% rely on it. Above that inbound and outbound become the main motions.
Cold outreach is still a core channel for 46% of B2B companies. The report calls it over-saturated, and the failures it lists come from unfiltered lists and thin personalization. Signal-based outbound rated very good on ROI above $5k ACV.
Signal-based outbound means reaching out when an account shows a reason to buy, such as a hiring push or a leadership change. Content engagement is the signal B2B teams act on most.
Content engagement, website visits and product usage are the most used signals. Champion movements and leadership changes matter more as deal size grows.
Kyle Poyar of Growth Unhinged and Maja Voje of GTM Strategist published it in October 2026. It is based on a September 2026 survey of 300 B2B software and AI companies.
