I just came back from San Francisco, where the first Sculpt conference took place. Walking through the city, you could feel something I haven’t felt in years.
The streets were buzzing again. AI billboards everywhere, and for once they didn’t feel out of place, because everyone around you actually knew what they meant. For a while people said San Francisco had lost its spark. This week, it felt like it got its energy back.
And in the middle of that energy was Sculpt. Clay brought together operators, founders, and GTM peers in a way that felt different.
Clay showed us what a new GTM medium looks like
When Clay took the stage you could feel the room tilt. It was one of those moments that felt like an Apple keynote, not a product demo.
People cheered. Everyone was hyping them up. Standing there I was next to VCs, founders, and the Smartlead folks.
But the launch was not just hype. Clay framed the conference like an art show. Walls painted, robes you could buy, a magician on stage turning folded notes into a sculpt. It was playful, but there was a purpose. And they had a very clear message for all the attendees.
Every artist needs a medium. Your GTM work needs a medium too.
Think about an operating layer where signals live, where enrichment happens, and where actions follow automatically. Clay is positioning itself as that layer. Because it is trying to be the place where data, triggers, and execution meet.
What the sharpest operators kept saying
In the roundtables the same problem kept surfacing: how do you stand out in outbound today? Everyone had a different angle on it.
Enso Karaso pushed on differentiation. His point was that most agencies hold value back until later, hoping the client will sign before they see the best work. He argued the opposite. If you want to stand out, you need to give value before you ask for anything. Show results early, even if it feels uncomfortable. That is what creates separation right away.
Jordan Crawford took it further. He said bluntly that we build lists the way we want to sell, not the way people buy. That hit the room hard. What he meant was clear: static ICPs and big lists ignore how buying decisions actually happen. Real triggers are dynamic, like a pricing change, a new hire, or a stack swap. The conversation shifted quickly toward smaller cohorts, sharper signals, and better timing.
Then Eric framed the same issue with a metaphor. Jordan paints the Mona Lisa. Eric makes faster copies. Precision versus speed. Both have a place. Around the table you could see people mentally placing themselves.
Different answers, same question. Everyone was wrestling with how much depth to build into systems, and where to trade it off for speed.
The bigger rhythm: platforms open, then they close
One of the last talks I caught was from a Brian Balfour. He described a pattern that explains a lot about the moment we are in. Platforms open up, they let people in, they create winners, then they tighten and start to monetize.
It is history on repeat.
LinkedIn was an example. For a while posting gave you real leverage. You could grow reach and build an audience without paying. Now impressions are dropping and ads are rising. The rules have shifted. Organic reach is no longer the same currency it was a few years ago.
Hearing it laid out that way made me think about where you can still build durable systems. If the big platforms are going to close their gates more quickly, then the safe ground is in signals you own and workflows you control.
Here’s to an amazing weekend
After a week in San Francisco, one thing became clear to me. Outbound is not about who can send the most messages or stack the most tools anymore. The leverage is moving toward who can work with the right signals at the right time, and who can turn those signals into systems that deliver value early.
At Sculpt you could see the pieces of this coming together. Clay positioning itself as the medium for GTM was the obvious signal.
And the comparison someone made kept echoing in my mind: Clay today feels like the early days of HubSpot.
Not just another tool, but a system that could define how an entire generation of GTM teams work.
That is what agencies will be judged on next. What will matter is how well you connect data, triggers, and actions into one flow that works.
See you next Wednesday!
—David
If you ever need help planning your GTM motion and want to chat through ideas, feel free to book a call with me. Happy to help out :)
