We’re trying something new on Startup Riders: short, tactical interviews with founders and investors building and investing in the next wave startups.
This week, I sat down with Clint Burgess, co-founder of CharacterQuilt and former PMM leader at Bloomreach (where we met!).
After running 500+ buyer interviews a year and watching insights die in decks, Clint built a GTM engine powered by AI agents trained on raw voice-of-customer data.
This isn’t a “copy faster” tool. It’s a full-stack marketing engine for founders — research, ICP match, messaging, campaign generation — all in minutes.
What you’ll learn
* Why most GTM research never makes it to the final campaign
* The difference between a copy bot and an infused buyer agent
* How a single marketer can now run full campaigns end-to-end
* Where “10x marketers” are already using this to win deals, prep fundraises, and revive warm leads
6 key takeaways
* Campaigns die in committee: Even with great research, insights often get diluted before anything ships.
* Founders should act as PMMs first: Talk to customers. Understand the buyer. Translate that into your narrative and GTM strategy.
* AI ≠copy monkey: CharacterQuilt trains agents on real interviews, so campaigns are based on actual pain — not GPT guessing.
* From docs to campaign in 30 minutes: Upload positioning materials. CQ scores ICP fit, predicts pain points, and suggests campaign angles + leads.
* One person can run full GTM loops: Research, creative, segmentation, execution — without a 20-person team.
* Used beyond marketing: Clint uses CQ for fundraising, event prep, and reviving 500+ warm leads stuck in Gong/Notion.
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