GTM 155: How to Build a GTM Motion from Scratch — Using AI, Community, and Data as a Moat | Erica Anderman

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Jul 23, 2025

In this conversation, Erica Anderman, Co-founder and COO of Foodini, shares her journey from a CRO to a founder in the foodtech space. She emphasizes the importance of community and data in building a successful go-to-market strategy. Erica discusses how AI transforms GTM roles beyond just productivity boosts and gives tactical advice on finding product-market fit. She also equates fundraising to a sales funnel, highlighting relationship-building as key. Additionally, she explores innovative tools transforming B2B marketing in the food sector.

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ANECDOTE

Erica's Sales Start and Growth

Erica started in sales doing door-to-door restaurant sales and quickly expanded to inside sales and post-sale experience.
She became the only persuader stabilizer on her team, focusing on understanding the customer journey beyond sales.

ADVICE

Overcome Limiting Beliefs

Stop questioning yourself and embrace roles where you may not know everything.
Growth happens by moving into areas of fear and uncertainty, especially with AI changing fast.

ANECDOTE

Fundraising as Sales Analogy

Erica finds fundraising similar to sales; both require pitching and selling a vision.
She highlights fundraising as a sale with bigger stakes and money but similar skills.

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Erica Anderman is the co-founder and COO of Foodini, an AI-powered platform solving food allergy and dietary transparency through data infrastructure. With over 15 years of go-to-market experience across foodtech and vertical SaaS, Erica has led revenue at companies like Slice, Seated, and Odeko, and held roles across sales, customer success, partnerships, and RevOps. She began her career in door-to-door restaurant sales and now builds GTM from the ground up, helping 50% of the population with dietary needs find safe, personalized dining experiences.

Discussed in this Episode:

Transitioning from CRO to founder (and why it’s so humbling)
Tactical frameworks for finding product-market fit (especially in early pivots)
Building a GTM motion from zero using community and customer obsession
What AI actually changes in GTM (hint: it’s not just about productivity)
How to treat fundraising like a sales motion (including identifying your ICP)
Practical tools Erica is using to build GTM motions faster with fewer resources

Highlights:
00:45 From Sales to CRO: The Unconventional Path
02:47 Why Being a Generalist Can Make You a Better Leader
05:31 What AI Is Really Doing to GTM Roles
06:33 Scaling Yourself Before You Scale Your Team
08:00 From CRO to Founder: Sales Skills That Transfer to Fundraising
10:10 Fundraising Is Just Another Sales Funnel
14:12 Relationships Compound in GTM and Fundraising
22:33 Finding PMF by Listening Hard
26:04 When Your GTM Motion Becomes Compliance-Driven
27:41 Community as a GTM Lever (Not Just a Buzzword)
38:28 Pre-PMF vs. Post-PMF
42:53 Turning Messy Data into Valuable Content
56:12 Tools Over Headcount: Erica’s Favorite AI Stack

Guest Speaker Links (Erica Anderman):
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaanderman
Foodini: https://foodini.co/

Host Speaker Links (Sophie Buonassisi):
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/insophiebuonassisi
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@sophiebuonassisi

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

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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.

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