DiscoverGrowth Activated | The B2B Marketing Leadership PodcastThe Pipeline Black Box: Why Your GTM Factory Stalls (and How to Fix It)
The Pipeline Black Box: Why Your GTM Factory Stalls (and How to Fix It)

The Pipeline Black Box: Why Your GTM Factory Stalls (and How to Fix It)

Update: 2025-09-16
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#31 – What’s really happening inside your GTM engine before opportunities are created? That hidden stretch - what today’s guest calls the pipeline black box - may be the single biggest blind spot in B2B growth.

Four-time marketing leader Carolyn Dilks (ex–VP Marketing, now Co-Founder at Passetto and co-host of GTM Live) joins host Mandy Walker to unpack how revenue teams can finally see what’s working, what’s wasting resources, and how to engineer predictable pipeline.

You’ll learn:

  • The Pipeline Black Box: Why it matters and what most teams miss before opp creation.
  • Handraisers vs. MQLs: Why meetings - not MQLs - are the metric that actually matters.
  • Attribution Myths: Where attribution helps, where it misleads, and the better metrics to run your GTM factory.
  • Pipeline Ownership: How to align sales, marketing, and RevOps around system-level accountability.
  • Planning Implications: How to defend budget, stop vanity metrics, and prioritize what drives growth.

About our guest:
Carolyn Dilks is a four-time marketing executive and the Co-Founder/CEO of Passetto, an advisory + instrumentation platform helping B2B revenue teams unlock their pipeline black box. She also co-hosts GTM Live, where she and her co-founders share lessons from building modern go-to-market systems.

If this episode sparked an idea, share it with a fellow B2B marketing leader. And as always - keep activating growth for yourself and your company.

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Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
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The Pipeline Black Box: Why Your GTM Factory Stalls (and How to Fix It)

The Pipeline Black Box: Why Your GTM Factory Stalls (and How to Fix It)