This blog is a summary of Kyle Norton’s episode on The New GTM Playbook podcast. Head to The New GTM Playbook page to watch the latest episodes.
In just two years, Kyle Norton, Chief Revenue Officer at Owner.com, has led the company to an extraordinary 10X revenue growth. With a focus on strategic enablement, team alignment, and leveraging AI for operational efficiency, Kyle has helped position Owner.com as a standout in SaaS.
Here’s how Kyle has built success by staying intentional about what drives customer and business outcomes.
Scaling Smart: Invest in Enablement and RevOps Early
Kyle emphasized the importance of investing in foundational roles like enablement and RevOps earlier than most companies tend to. “If you wait until conversion rates drop or reps are underperforming, it’s already too late,” he said.
When he joined Owner.com, the sales team was just five people. Over two years, that team has grown to over 100 across functions, including demand generation, enablement, RevOps, and onboarding. Early investments in enablement ensured the team was trained and equipped to deliver results, while RevOps provided the systems and processes needed to scale effectively.
For Kyle, enablement isn’t about checking a box—it’s about empowering reps to succeed. “If reps are just checking boxes during training, then enablement has gone wrong. They need to walk out excited and equipped to apply what they’ve learned,” he shared.
Aligning Teams for Seamless Customer Experiences
Kyle has reshaped the way Owner.com approaches team alignment by ensuring that onboarding, sales, and customer success work closely together. He believes that customer-facing roles should always be accountable for the outcomes they influence, creating a culture of shared responsibility.
“It’s not just about closing deals; it’s about setting the customer up for success post-sale,” Kyle noted. At Owner.com, this philosophy has led to tighter integration between sales and onboarding teams, reducing friction and ensuring a smoother customer journey.
Embracing a Culture of Learning
For Kyle, learning is a central pillar of how he operates and how he builds teams. When discussing hiring, he said, “We have an interview scorecard, and depending on the role, 50–65% of that scorecard is just traits—things that are difficult to teach, like drive and curiosity. Are you a lifelong learner?” To uncover this, Kyle includes prompts like asking candidates to reflect on mock call feedback to gauge their openness to improvement.
This focus on learning extends to his personal approach. Kyle is intentional about pulling insights from a wide variety of disciplines, like product management, to apply them in unique ways to go-to-market strategies. “I’ve spent a lot of the last few years learning about product and product management and how products get built. It’s incredibly applicable to go-to-market,” he said.
Kyle also has a pragmatic view on the concept of best practices. “I now try to call best practices ‘high probability practices.’ What I do in my SMB business isn’t the same as what you’d do in a mid-market or enterprise-oriented business,” he explained. For Kyle, success lies in adapting these practices to the specific context of the business, rather than blindly applying general rules.
Using AI to Streamline and Boost Efficiency
Kyle is a strong proponent of using AI to enhance operational efficiency rather than replacing human effort. At Owner.com, AI tools are integrated into several key workflows, including:
- Capturing and structuring data from sales calls to improve CRM accuracy.
- Automating lead scoring and enrichment to prioritize the best-fit opportunities.
- Generating website copy during onboarding to speed up customer activation.
Efficiency also comes from reducing friction in the sales process. At Owner.com, BDRs don’t spend time on lead research. Instead, a centralized team handles this task, ensuring reps can focus their energy on high-value activities like customer conversations.
Personally, Kyle uses AI daily, whether it’s preparing speaking notes with ChatGPT or revisiting ideas from books through AI-powered searches. “AI is everywhere, and its value comes from streamlining workflows and saving time, not cutting corners,” he said.
While AI can’t replace the human touch, Kyle believes it’s an invaluable tool for freeing up teams to focus on what they do best—building relationships and delivering results.
Kyle Norton’s journey at Owner.com is a masterclass in intentional scaling. By focusing on early investments in enablement and RevOps, aligning teams for customer success, embracing a culture of learning, and leveraging AI thoughtfully, he has built a foundation for sustainable growth.
As Kyle put it, “It all starts with having a great product and a great team. From there, it’s about staying focused on what drives results.”
Are You Ready to Rewrite the GTM Playbook?
The game is changing, and the leaders who embrace these shifts will set the pace for the future. Stay ahead with actionable insights, proven strategies, and fresh ideas to power your success. Subscribe to my newsletter and start transforming the way you go to market.
