The Efficiency Curve

Repositioning Under Pressure: How nTop Rebuilt Its Go-To-Market Motion (with Andrew Hanno)

In this episode of The Efficiency Curve, Cyrus sits down with Andrew Hanno, VP of Marketing at nTop. Andrew has worked with Cyrus through Salar Digital as nTop reshaped its go-to-market motion over the past year. nTop is a design software company that made a bold bet - pivoting from the additive manufacturing space to serve aerospace engineers working on some of the most technically complex problems in the industry. Andrew walks through what it actually takes to reposition a company mid-flight: the customer discovery that surfaced a better market, the go-to-market changes that followed, and the operational work of rebuilding systems, signals, and team behaviors around a new ICP. They discuss: 1. What happens to your GTM motion when your ACV jumps from five figures to seven 2. How time invested in thoughtfully training AI amplifies the skill level of his team 3. Why leaning into an ICP means actively leaning out of other things 4. The Marketo <> HubSpot decision - and when simplifying your stack is the right call 5. How to balance executive ideas with disciplined company objectives 6. What it looks like when a company truly commits to serving a target audience

Scaling Cities, Not Just Companies: Lessons from Fast-Growing Nashville, TN (with Sabrina Sussman)

In the first episode of The Efficiency Curve, Cyrus sits down with transportation leader Sabrina Sussman, Chief Program Officer for Nashville’s $3B Choose How You Move initiative. Together, they explore what it really takes to scale complex systems - whether that’s a SaaS company or an entire city. They discuss: * Why scaling organizations is ultimately about scaling people * How government approaches transparency, stakeholders, and public trust * The balance between in-house expertise and outside partners during rapid growth * The underrated role of internal communication in operational success * Small process changes (like daily alignment rituals) that create outsized impact * What tech companies can learn from public sector leadership - and vice versa