James Roth is the Chief Revenue Officer at ZoomInfo, where he oversees a global revenue engine supporting over 37,000 customers and more than $1 billion in ARR. With a background in scaling hypergrowth teams and building enterprise go-to-market machines, James has helped reposition ZoomInfo from a sales tool to the foundational data layer for modern GTM teams. Under his leadership, ZoomInfo launched Copilot, its flagship AI product, and executed a bold shift upmarket — transitioning from transactional selling to a data-first, enterprise-driven GTM strategy.

Discussed in This Episode

• How ZoomInfo transitioned from transactional selling to enterprise go-to-market
• The "Good Co, Bad Co" framework for segment-specific product retention
• Why ZoomInfo changed its ticker symbol to GTM
• Launching Copilot and driving $100M ACV in under 6 months
• How internal AI usage became the go-to-market motion
• Key shifts in comp design and team segmentation for scaling upmarket
• Using telemetry and real-time signal tracking to measure rep effectiveness
• Lessons in long-term execution vs. short-term growth pressure

Episode Highlights

00:00 — ZoomInfo's evolution from a sales tool to a data-first platform

17:06 — Why data as a service is ZoomInfo’s fastest-growing business

20:43 — How to build and apply the “Good Co, Bad Co” segmentation framework

26:26 — The hard part about going upmarket? Aligning the full funnel org

30:19 — Changing your ticker to GTM: A bold positioning play

34:31 — Copilot’s $100M launch: The power of internal usage

39:53 — Most AI tools show <5% revenue lift. Here's why

43:29 — How ZoomInfo is operationalizing AI across the org

48:29 — The signals > activity shift in modern sales measurement

52:18 — What James wants future CROs to steal: Think long-term, build patiently

Thanks to Our Sponsor – UserEvidence:

UserEvidence is the Customer Evidence Platform that helps you collect feedback, surface proof points, and turn customer wins into bite-sized assets your sales and marketing teams can actually use. Capture social proof at scale. Arm reps with credible stories. Close more deals with trust.

Learn more at: https://userevidence.com/gtmnow

Guest Links

•  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-roth-3a913b51/

Host Links

•  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/
• X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona
• Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/
• Website: https://gtmnow.com

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• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gtmnow/
• X (Twitter): https://x.com/GTMnow_
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GTM_now
• The GTM Podcast: https://gtmnow.com/tag/podcast/

The GTMnow Podcast
The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.

Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.