The GTM Trends We Got Right in 2024 (Plus, the Ones to Watch for in 2025)

In 2024, PartnerStack placed our bets on the GTM trends that would dominate B2B SaaS over the coming months. While we didn’t have a crystal ball when making these predictions, we did  have the insight of PartnerStack’s executive leadership team. CEO, Bryn Jones, and CMO, Tyler Calder shared their hot takes on a multitude of topics ranging from the adoption of AI to shifts in original content strategies. 

In this article, we’re:

• Looking back at those predictions to see which we nailed and which didn’t quite come to fruition. 
• Plus, we’re taking all those learnings and packing them into our expert prediction for 2025.

These are the 2024 GTM trends we got right

Adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning in marketing automation

Calder and Jones were spot on in their predictions of this trend where they predicted AI will be adopted as a feature in every product — with the challenge becoming that companies would need to uncover where to lean in when spending B2B marketing dollars.

Calder adds his current take: “I view the rise of AI in business, almost to a certain degree, the way the iPhone hit the business. It's like a grounds up thing. You see companies not being able to keep pace with what their employees want to do with AI.  And it's sort of the same with the iPhone, right? It was like, employees are just like, ‘I want to use this. I don't want to use a Blackberry anymore. You keep telling me, we got to use BlackBerry because it's secure. It's enterprise grade, but I don't want to use it.’

And at some point that becomes a tipping point where the companies are forced to catch up and change the way that they operate. You see the employee base kind of driving the usage of this and companies are trying to figure out, like, how the hell do we catch up to this? 

I think everybody can point to what the obvious usages of it are — and you can get there pretty quickly — so it's not necessarily innovative and it's not necessarily helping you leapfrog anybody. Companies are trying to figure out — what's the true innovation? What's the true kind of level jump? And I think that's kind of where companies are struggling a little bit.”

Related: Expert strategies for leveraging AI in partnerships strategies.

The return of ARR

Both PartnerStack’s executive leaders agreed that growth in SaaS spending was back — and folks in the market are seeing the return of it too. According to Gartner, the industry saw a 20 per cent increase in spending in 2024 — largely driven by GenAI applications. 

Jones looks ahead to 2025: “What will be interesting through 2025 is if the churn rate is what I hear it is if those growth rates continue in AI specifically — because I think that there's a split in the market between growth rate of AI and growth rate of SaaS companies — than one of two things will happen in AI. One, turns out the market's so big that the growth rate would just continue and they'll kick the churn problem down. Or that [churn] comes back and bites you at some point.”

He continues, “If historically strong SaaS companies can actually implement AI solutions that are adopted, I do think that there will be some big winners in that space. AI is kind of a search for unique inputs and it's going to be a lot of those established players that are able to turn it on successfully — or not.”

See more: Proactive strategies to get ahead of customer churn.

B2B marketers will double down on content based on original research and data

Both Calder and Jones felt that this trend was bang on. Their 2024 prediction is supported by the new data point showing 48 per cent of B2B marketers say research reports perform the best. The PartnerStack content team can’t help but double down on this one too — our editors would like to add that expert-driven content will also be key going forward as credibility will be an important currency in the growing trust economy.

‘Growth at any cost’ is dead — 2024 is about balanced growth and profit

In 2024, Jones predicted that the next stage of growth would mean an evolution in jobs and productivity. He also said that balance suggests sustainability — and that in H2 2024, more cash flow would be unlocked. He was not wrong.

Today, he also reflects on how AI and B2B SaaS will approach this differently in 2025. He says, “I definitely believe there are two paths to market because B2B SaaS and Fintech is so different right now than AI. I suspect it will continue to be different, but I expect that the B2B SaaS side of the house in 2025 is going to catch that AI flow and figure out what that all looks like. The way it really accelerates is if one of those [historical] B2B SaaS companies actually adopt AI in a successful way — and deploy it. As soon as that happens, it's going to be off to the races for everyone.”

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You might also like: 10 AI affiliate programs to join in 2025 to maximize revenue.

Multiple GTM motions in the works at a time

Both leaders agreed that this was trending up in 2024 and that they wanted to see even more of it. Calder added that the next step would be seeing companies attaching partners to each motion.

Jones talks how this can be measured in 2025, stating, “Yes, there were more go-to-market motions in 2024 but I expect that there'll be more aligned in 2025. Maybe that's hope more than anything. I think it's going to be a very hard thing to measure. The way where I would look to measure this is the size of executive teams at companies, that's where you'll get alignment.”

These are the 2024 GTM trends that surprised us

Partnerships will drive more acquisitions than ever before

While the prediction didn't land exactly as expected in 2024, Jones forecasts that those who leaned into partnerships channels had a leg up on the competition. The data backs up his thought — showing that Cloud 100 companies lean into partner-led GTM strategies more than the SaaS average.

Jones: “One of the things that I didn't necessarily see was a risk aversion that would occur through 2023 and 2024 wherein people were scared to make investments that were different.

Now very much so the ones who did are now ahead of the curve, but now the rest and the market needs to catch up. I suspect this will change a lot through 2025. We're noticing it even in our buying cycle and behavior right now that CFOs came in with sledgehammers when they probably needed scalpels. Now they're coming in with demands from their boards and their investors on how to grow faster again.”

Calder adds his point of view: “Where I think the risk aversion comes in is that companies aren't necessarily investing in the right people to lead these things. They're pushing people into the function when they haven't necessarily succeeded in another area versus doing it justice and putting the right people there.

That CRO who's likely making those decisions on the org, they still very much have a bias towards direct sales. And I think that bias does come from risk aversion. Their perspective is, I don't own my partners. I own my salespeople — I've hired them and I pay them full time. They have to do exactly what I say. There's a level of predictability there. And hey, if it doesn't work out, I can just fire them which is a lot easier than the uncomfortableness that comes with firing a partner. 

I do think a lot of CROs have this fear that, well, what happens if a partner turns on us? I don't control them. What happens if my biggest partner changes their model and all of a sudden the impact isn't there? And so there's a lot of fear-based decision making happening and I think we need to cut through that.” 

Guide: Overcoming revenue pitfalls to solve your partnership problems.

Go-to-market predictions for 2025

Leaning into B2B influencers

Calder predicts that in 2025, companies will be testing the efficacy of B2B influencer — with some leaning into this strategy.

Jones: “I suspect people are going to lean into B2B influencer, but not measure B2B influencer the way they measure other go to market channels — intentionally, because they are going to be looking for reach and awareness. They're going to make a lot of the same mistakes that the B2C influencer groups did, and it will take them time to discover what's real and what's not.”

Looking to reliably scale up your B2B influencer program? Learn how PartnerStack empowers you to do so with solutions for B2B influencer programs.

Consolidation in B2B

Jones makes one final prediction for the year ahead — one that he believes will be beneficial for the entire ecosystem.

“The biggest change to the entire ecosystem is going to be the consolidation that's inevitably going to happen that people have been talking about for the last ten years. I think we'll start seeing that in 2025, near the back half. And I think consolidation is going to remove a lot of noise from the space and let partnership professionals get back to just growing.”

We’ll be keeping watch to see just which of these predictions will come true — and will report any pivots along the way. The future of B2B SaaS seems bright for 2025 — especially for those companies who are investing in indirect channels to drive smart revenue. Schedule a demo with PartnerStack today to learn how.