The GTM stack we run for Series A and B companies
35 tools, where each one breaks, and the stack we'd build at your stage.
We build GTM systems for a living, so these aren't tools we tried once for a review. They're the platforms we run in paid client work at companies from $2M to $50M ARR, which is also why we know where each one falls apart.
Affiliate disclosure: some vendor links on this page earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. We only list tools we run in paid client work, and every listing includes where the tool breaks. If a commission ever conflicted with the right recommendation, we'd lose far more in client trust than we'd make on the referral.
Clay Artisan Partner
2026
HeyReach Platform Expert
Certified
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The stack we'd build at Series A, and what changes at Series B
Most stack advice ignores stage, which is why teams buy tools they can't staff. Here's what we'd put in place, what it takes to operate, and what we'd refuse to buy yet.
Series A
$2M to $10M ARR
Manual work is capping growth. This is the stage where enrichment, scoring, and routing have to become systems instead of habits held together by one person who knows where everything is.
ClayCore data layer: waterfalls, scoring, signals
HeyReachLinkedIn at multi-seat volume
SmartleadEmail infrastructure once volume justifies rotation
HubSpotCRM when reporting and handoffs get formal
n8nOrchestration between data, CRM, and sending
ZeroBounceVerification layer protecting domain reputation
ViktorAI employee for the reporting and ops work nobody owns
Typical tooling budget
$1,500 to $4,000 per month in tooling
What it takes to operate
Half an FTE, usually a RevOps generalist
What to skip
Skip Salesforce, skip annual-contract intent platforms, and skip anything that needs an ops hire before it returns value.
Series B
$10M to $50M ARR
The tool list stops changing here. What changes is how each system is owned, operated, and monitored, which is why this column isn't another shopping list.
- Enrichment becomes a pipeline, not campaign prep
Clay moves from lists built per campaign to scheduled jobs feeding the CRM and warehouse, with someone watching match rates.
- Automation needs error handling before features
In n8n, retries, alerting, and a dedicated error workflow matter more than new automations. A silent failure at this size costs pipeline before anyone notices.
- The CRM turns into the system of record
Field governance, dedupe rules, and permissions start mattering more than flexibility. This is the point where teams consolidate onto HubSpot, or stay on Salesforce because it's already embedded.
- Deliverability becomes a standing gate
Verification and domain health move from a pre-send check to a monitored pipeline step with named owners and thresholds.
Typical tooling budget
$4,000 to $15,000 per month in tooling
What it takes to operate
One to two FTEs, with a named owner per system
What to skip
Don't add tools. At this size the wins come from consolidating what you already pay for and fixing the handoffs between systems.
The full stack
Every tool we run, by category
Nobody needs all of these. They exist because different clients need different layers, and because a waterfall is cheaper than one expensive database.
Enrichment and orchestration1
The layer that decides who gets contacted and what we know about them.
ClayData Enrichment & WorkflowsThe data layer everything else depends on, and the easiest tool in the stack to waste money on.
Plan fee plus usage credits
CRM3
Where pipeline lives, and the decision you'll be living with in two years.
ZeroCRMThe CRM that updates itself. Built for teams who want enrichment and outreach in the same place as the pipeline.
Custom, demo-based
AttioCRMFlexible enough to shape around your motion, thinner if you need native marketing automation.
Per seat
HubSpotCRMThe CRM your board already knows how to read. Cost escalates through tier gates, not seats.
Per seat, features gated by tier
Sequencers3
The sending layer. Channel choice matters more than the tool.
HeyReachLinkedIn OutreachThe only LinkedIn tool we've seen hold up at multi-seat volume without accounts getting restricted.
Per sender seat
SmartleadCold EmailEmail infrastructure for when volume outgrows a single domain.
Plan tier by sending volume
InstantlyCold EmailFaster to stand up than Smartlead, with less control once you scale.
Plan tier by contacts and volume
Automation1
What moves data between everything else when nobody is watching.
n8nWorkflow AutomationWhere the stack gets wired together. Budget your time for error handling, not for features.
Free self-hosted, or cloud by execution
Contact and company data5
We don't buy one database. These are the sources we waterfall through, ordered by cost.
BlitzAPIB2B Data APISignal data as an API. Powerful inside a waterfall, pointless without one.
Flat monthly subscription, unlimited calls
DiscoLikeAccount DiscoveryFinds accounts that LinkedIn-derived databases miss entirely, because it reads their websites instead.
Monthly plan by search and enrichment volume
MoltSetsB2B Data APISite deanonymization and contact data without an intent-platform contract.
Flat monthly plan with rate limits
RapidAPIAPI MarketplaceWhere we test a signal before committing to a vendor contract.
Per endpoint subscription plus overage
Sales NavigatorProspectingStill the best filter set for defining a list. A bad place to store one.
Per seat, billed annually
Email finders4
Every finder has blind spots by geography and company size, so we run several in sequence.
ProspeoEmail FinderStrong accuracy on the first pass, which keeps the rest of the waterfall cheap.
Per credit, charged on found results
FindymailEmail FinderSecond step in the waterfall, and the one we trust most on verification.
Per credit by monthly plan
IcypeasEmail FinderThe cheap fallback that catches what the first two steps miss.
Per credit, volume tiers
LeadMagicContact EnrichmentWhere we go when the sequence needs a mobile number, not just an email.
Per credit by API call
Email verification1
The gate between a list and a sending domain.
ZeroBounceEmail VerificationThe last gate between your list and your sending domain.
Per verification credit
Scraping and web data3
For signals that only exist on a web page, in ascending order of cost.
FirecrawlWeb DataHow we turn a website into something a model can actually read.
Per page credit by plan
ApifyWeb DataRented scrapers for targets we'd rather not maintain ourselves.
Per compute unit plus actor rental
AnchorBrowser AutomationFor pages that only exist after a login, and nothing cheaper will do.
Plan fee plus metered browser time and AI steps
AI and voice4
Used for classification, extraction, and judgment. Not for writing your outbound.
OpenAIAI ModelsClassification and extraction inside workflows. Not your copywriter.
Per token, by model
ClaudeAI ModelsWhere the judgment call is harder than applying a label.
Per token, by model
VapiVoice AIVoice agents for inbound and qualification. Not for cold calling.
Per minute plus model and telephony costs- ViktorAI Employee
Does the work in Slack, not just drafts a plan. Useful when the bottleneck is execution, not ideas.
Usage credits, then monthly plan
Scheduling and call intelligence4
Getting the meeting booked, then getting what was said into the CRM.
CalendlySchedulingThe obvious choice, and usually the right one.
Per seat
Cal.comSchedulingScheduling you can shape and self-host. More setup than Calendly.
Free self-hosted, or per seat cloud
DefaultInbound RoutingInbound routing, once demo volume makes routing rules worth having.
Platform fee by volume
FirefliesCall IntelligenceHow call content reaches the CRM without relying on rep discipline.
Per seat, by transcription tier
Documents and signature2
The last mile of the deal, where enterprise buyers have expectations.
PandaDocProposalsProposals and signature together, when pricing varies deal to deal.
Per seat by tier
DocusignE-SignatureWhat enterprise buyers expect to receive, which is the whole argument for it.
Per seat plus envelope allowance
Payments1
Billing events are GTM signals, not just finance data.
StripePaymentsBilling events treated as GTM triggers instead of finance-only data.
Percentage per transaction
Internal ops3
How the system tells a human to act, and where we keep what the CRM shouldn't hold.
SlackAlertingWhere the system tells a human to act, and nothing more than that.
Per active seat
ClickUpProject ManagementHow we run the build. Not where pipeline lives.
Per seat by tier
SupabaseDatabaseThe store for data the CRM shouldn't be holding.
Free tier, then by compute and storage
What we avoid
Tools we deliberately don't use
A stack page that only tells you what to buy isn't worth much. These are the tools we get asked about most and recommend against at Series A and B, with what we run instead.
ZoomInfo
Annual contracts sized for enterprise, for data you can assemble from three cheaper sources that you can also cancel next month. The renewal conversation is worse than the product.
What we run instead: Clay running a waterfall across BlitzAPI, MoltSets, and the email finders.
Salesforce
Below Series B it buys administration rather than capability. Every field change becomes a ticket, and the admin you hire to unblock that costs more than the licenses did.
What we run instead: HubSpot when the board needs the reporting, Attio when you want to shape the model.
Apollo
Fine as one source inside a waterfall, weak as the whole system. Teams who run their entire motion on it hit a data quality ceiling and can't tell which layer is failing.
What we run instead: Clay for the data layer, with a dedicated sequencer doing the sending.
Zapier
Genuinely good for ten simple automations. Past that, task-based pricing and shallow error handling make it expensive and fragile at precisely the moment the workflows start carrying revenue.
What we run instead: n8n, with retries and a dedicated error workflow.
Outreach and Salesloft
Seat pricing and rigid sequence models assume a large SDR team executing one settled motion. At Series A and B the motion is still changing every quarter, and you pay for that rigidity twice.
What we run instead: Smartlead or Instantly for email, HeyReach for LinkedIn, logic in n8n.
AI SDR platforms
The category sells a replacement for the thinking, which is the only part that determines whether outbound works. What they actually automate is the cheap part, and they do it in a voice your buyers have already learned to ignore.
What we run instead: A written ICP, one owner, and the stack above.
Proof
What we've built with this stack
€1M+ revenue closed via outbound
Enrichment, scoring, multi-channel sequencing, and CRM automation built to support the move from Seed to Series B.
Read case study
3x meeting bookings, +45% response rates
Clay enrichment tables, multi-source waterfalls, and automated CRM workflows built for the HeyReach team themselves.
Read case study
+13% win rate lift in target segments
A full migration to Clay across marketing, sales, and post-sales, including an early churn warning system.
Read case studyWe were stuck. The learning curve was huge, and the timing was short. Macklin single-handedly built the full sales enablement infrastructure and connected it across our CRM, marketing, and success systems. The impact on revenue was massive.
Ilija Stojkovski
Chief Revenue Officer, HeyReach
These outcomes came from full engagements, not from the tools alone. Results reflect specific client situations and are not a guarantee of future performance. Outcomes depend on the offer, market, data quality, sales process, and execution environment of each company.
FAQ
Questions about choosing a GTM stack
How do you decide what goes in a client's stack?
We start from the motion, not the tool list. What channel do your buyers actually respond on, what does your team have capacity to operate, and what does your reporting need to prove. Then we pick the smallest stack that satisfies all three. Most Series A teams need six tools and own eleven, and the ones they don't use are usually the ones bought before the motion was clear.
Which CRM should we use, HubSpot, Attio, or Zero?
Zero if you want an AI-native system of record that keeps itself updated and you hate spending time on data entry. Attio if you want to shape the data model around your own motion and don't want to hire an admin. HubSpot if you need marketing, sales, and service in one system with reporting your board already understands. The migration cost between them is real, so the more useful question is which one fits where you'll be in two years, not where you are now.
Do we need Clay if we already have a data provider?
Not necessarily. A single database plus a sending tool is enough for many Series A teams. Clay earns its cost when you need several sources reconciled, custom scoring, and orchestration into your CRM. Plenty of teams keep their existing provider as one source inside a Clay waterfall rather than choosing between them.
How much should a Series A or B company spend on GTM tooling?
At Series A, tooling in the low thousands per month typically pays for itself in hours saved, and the binding constraint is usually who operates it rather than what it costs. At Series B, spend rises with volume but the wins shift from adding tools to consolidating them and fixing the handoffs between systems. If your tooling bill is growing faster than your pipeline, the problem is rarely the pricing.
Can you set these tools up for us?
Yes, that's our core business. We're a certified Clay Artisan Partner and HeyReach Platform Expert, and we build these platforms into complete GTM systems including CRM automation, enrichment, sequencing, and reporting. Engagements run on a three-month minimum.
Not sure what your stack is missing?
Book an intro call and we'll walk through what you're paying for, what you're not using, and what would move pipeline.
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