GTM 159: Scaling ZoomInfo to over $1B ARR, the Upmarket Playbook, and Launching CoPilot to over $100M Revenue in 6 months | James Roth

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Aug 19, 2025

In this conversation, James Roth, Chief Revenue Officer at ZoomInfo, shares insights from his journey of scaling revenue to over $1 billion. He discusses the company's bold transformation from transactional sales to an enterprise-focused data platform. The innovative launch of Copilot, which generated $220 million in just six months, showcases the power of AI in driving sales strategies. Roth also emphasizes the importance of aligning long-term vision with sustainable growth, while using data-driven approaches to enhance team effectiveness.

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INSIGHT

Data Foundation Wins In The Enterprise

ZoomInfo's upmarket shift focused on supplying enterprises with data feeds rather than just sales licenses.
Data-as-a-service became their highest net retention and fastest-growing business segment.

ADVICE

Use Retention To Decide Product Focus

Run quarterly segment-by-segment retention analysis to decide where to focus products and resources.
Target new products only to the segments showing durable retention and upsell, not to every customer.

ADVICE

Go Narrow With New Data Assets

Stop selling every product to every account; map each product to the segments that actually value it.
Use first-party signals to precisely target the subset of customers who will adopt a new data asset.

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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 revenue 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

Where to Find GTMnow

• Website: https://gtmnow.com
• 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.