Most GTM tools look good in slides. Getting reps to use them is another story. At Ramp, we built a system where sellers shape their own workflows, and the best ideas get pulled into our core stack.
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From outbound automation to a toolkit
Four or five years ago, we started with a small outbound automation team. We built tools to take grunt work off SDRs. That automated prospecting motion ended up driving a big chunk of new business pipeline. The result?
"Inadvertently built a database of Ramp's entire time."
The data set grew fast. We added technographics, firmographics, and more. It turned out this was useful for all sales motions, not just outbound.
So we built a CDP app. Anyone could pull an audience for whatever they needed. Then we launched Ramp Revenue.
"You log in here in the morning as an SDR, you see all the prospects that you should be focusing on, an explanation of why you should be focusing on every single one of those."
This gave reps one place to prep for meetings, track intent, and handle follow-ups.
The MCP: letting reps build their own tools
One team can't build every workflow a rep might want.
"It doesn't take advantage of the horsepower of 300-400 salespeople who are in this building every day."
So we built the growth MCP, an open standard for connecting AI tools to the systems where your data lives. It's a middle layer between clients and our GTM systems. Reps can build their own tools, use AI clients, or spin up web apps with Ramplify. These tools plug into our core data and follow permissions.
There are now 79 tools in the MCP. More show up every week. Reps self-serve things like intent enrichment, meeting briefs, prospect research, and more. The key part?
"Every time an agent is making a tool call to the MCP, the agent also has to write a rationale for why that tool is being called."
We cluster those rationales to spot patterns. The best ideas get built back into Ramp Revenue.
What works, what doesn't
This kind of company-wide building is what lets non-engineers ship their own tools at scale. We've learned that salespeople are rational. If a tool doesn't save them time or make them money, they won't use it. Everything gets tested in the field. We don't build for the sake of building.
"We will only build internally if it's going to give us some sort of competitive advantage. Otherwise there's no rationale for using internal resources on that."
Centralized tools are fine, but the best ideas come from the field. We keep the CRM as our source of truth. Most daily work happens in the MCP and web apps. It's a loop. Reps build, we learn, everyone benefits.
How to get involved
If you're building for GTM engineering, RevOps, or sales automation, this approach might help. We're hiring and always looking for feedback. Reach out or stop by.
Part of the GTM + AI NYC Lightning Talks - see all six talks. Hosted by Deepline at Ramp HQ.
Keyan Sarrafzadeh on LinkedIn · Ramp
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