Growth · The Spark
Why every B2B growth playbook expires (and which one we are in)
From Rolodex to RevTech: every B2B growth era worked, then expired. A short tour of where we have been, and the playbook the winners are running now.
Every B2B growth playbook has had a window. It worked, until everyone did it, and then it broke. Five eras have already expired. Most teams are running one or two playbooks behind the curve without realising it.
Pre 2008. Rolodex.
Trust built face-to-face. Personal networks closed deals. Worked until it retired with the rainmaker. Did not scale past one or two people.
2008-2014. SEO and Inbound.
Funnels, gated content, email nurture. Marketing became a discipline. Worked until everyone did it. Gated content killed trust.
2014-2020. SalesTech.
Cold email at scale. Dramatic pipeline results, briefly. Killed by inbox saturation. The 99% who did not buy still remembered.
2020-2024. MarTech and Social.
Founder-led content, ABM, personal brand as moat. Authentic voices beat logos. Drowning in feed noise now.
2024 onwards. RevTech and AI-native.
Sales and marketing as one engine. AI inside the work, embedded. Relationships plus signal plus attribution. Where the winners are operating.
The 12 to 18 month window is the one to act in. After that this is table stakes.
How to know which era you're running
Open your last quarter's commercial review. Count how many of the touchpoints were cold email, how many were paid ads, how many were founder content, how many were LinkedIn engagement, and how many were intent-driven outbound on a named account list.
If cold email dominates, you are running 2014 SalesTech. If founder content and ABM dominate, you are running 2020 MarTech. If signal-driven plus AI-personalised plus multi-channel dominates, you are operating in 2024 RevTech. The numbers do not lie about the era you are in.
The mistake teams make at the transition
At every era boundary, teams make the same mistake. They treat the new era as an addition rather than a replacement. They add the new playbook on top of the expiring one. Volume goes up, signal goes down, the team gets confused, the leader gets nervous.
The right move is to turn the old playbook off as the new one comes online. That feels scary. The expiring playbook is generating some pipeline. Cutting it costs short-term volume. The teams that win the era are the ones who do it anyway.
What the next era will likely look like
Best guesses, not predictions. Agent-to-agent commerce: your buyer's procurement agent talks to your sales agent. Intent that includes interpretation, not just behaviour. Founder-led AI personas that can speak with the founder's voice in places the founder is not.
Whoever is running RevTech well in 2026-2027 will likely be the first to ship the next era. The window is open. After that it is table stakes, like every era before.
Most teams are still running playbooks two or three eras old. Naming the era is the cheapest insight you can buy.
Frequently asked
Questions buyers ask about this
What are the eras of B2B growth, and which are expired?
Five eras: Rolodex (pre-2008), SEO and Inbound (2008-14), SalesTech (2014-20), MarTech and Social (2020-24), RevTech and AI-native (2024 onwards). The first four have expired. Most teams still run a playbook two or three eras old without realising it.
How do I know which era my team is currently running?
Open the last quarter's commercial review. Count how many touches were cold email vs founder content vs intent-driven outbound on a named account list. If cold email dominates you are running 2014. If founder content dominates you are running 2020. If signal plus AI plus multi-channel dominates you are in 2024.
What is the RevTech and AI-native era playbook?
Sales and marketing as one engine. AI inside the work, not on the side. Signal-driven outbound on named accounts. Full-funnel attribution. Founder-led content amplified by automation. Embedded fractional leadership rather than agency arm's length.
What mistake do teams make at era transitions?
They treat the new era as an addition rather than a replacement. Volume goes up, signal goes down, the team gets confused. The right move is to turn the old playbook off as the new one comes online, even though it costs short-term volume.
Working on a real engine? Start with a conversation.
Tell us where you are. We will tell you what we see and where we would start.