The Stack Index / Glossary
Glossary
The terms the index is placed against, each defined in the sentence an operator would use. The full argument behind each one lives in the linked essay on gtmvault.co.
- Revenue architecture
- What is revenue architecture?Revenue architecture is the structural design of a revenue system: positioning, pricing, motion, RevOps and AI workflows, and the order they are built in. It treats revenue as a system with layers that read from each other, so a failure in a lower layer surfaces as noise in every layer above it. Read: What Is Revenue Architecture?
- GTM architecture
- What is GTM architecture?GTM architecture is the structural design of a go-to-market system: identity, sequencing, pricing, functional coherence, motion, distribution, metrics and the AI layer, and the order in which they are built. It is the same discipline this index calls revenue architecture. The difference between the two terms is vocabulary, not substance: both describe designing the system that produces revenue, rather than running the plays that sit on top of it. Read: The GTM Architecture Laws
- AI-native GTM
- What is AI-native GTM?A revenue system is AI-native when the work happens behind a trigger the rep already touches, rather than inside a tool the rep has to open, learn and choose to use. AI-assisted GTM puts the model in front of the human and inherits every adoption problem software has ever had. AI-native puts it behind the system, where the architecture runs whether or not anyone changes their behaviour. Read: AI-Native GTM Is Not a Platform You Buy
- Revenue architect
- What is a revenue architect?The person with authority over the decisions every other revenue decision inherits: identity, sequencing, pricing, functional coherence and motion. The test is not job title or seniority, it is what happens when they conclude a layer is wrong. If the layer changes, they hold the role. If a recommendation gets scheduled for discussion, someone else does. Read: What Is a Revenue Architect?
- GTM engineer
- What is a GTM engineer?The person who builds and runs the revenue system: the workflows, pipelines, agents and integrations. The architect decides what the system should be and in what order it gets built; the GTM engineer builds it. One is a design function, the other an engineering function, and conflating them produces systems built precisely to the wrong specification. Read: What Is a GTM Engineer?
- The eight layers
- What are the layers of a modern revenue system?The eight layers of a modern revenue system, in build order, are Identity, Sequencing, Pricing, Functional Coherence, Motion, Distribution, Metrics and the AI Layer. Each layer reads everything beneath it, which is why the order of construction, not the list of tools, decides what the system produces. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- Identity
- What is the identity layer in revenue architecture?Identity is who the revenue system is for, defined tangibly enough to disqualify an account in real time, from data, without a call. It is the first layer because every layer above it inherits its precision or its vagueness. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- Sequencing
- What is sequencing in go-to-market?Sequencing is the decision about what gets built and scaled, and in what order. It is the one layer that takes no instrumentation, because no product performs that decision; a tool that claims to handle sequencing is describing workflow order inside itself, which is orchestration. Read: AI-Native GTM Is a Sequencing Problem
- Pricing
- What is the pricing layer in revenue architecture?Pricing, as a layer, is not a number. It is a structural decision that reshapes qualification, motion and margin, and it shows up two quarters later where nobody has a dashboard for it. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- Functional coherence
- What is functional coherence in GTM?Functional coherence is whether each function in the company optimises the whole revenue system or only its own metric. Orchestration tools and the system of record report to this layer, because they are where a documented process becomes one that happens. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- Motion
- What is the motion layer in revenue architecture?Motion is how the company sells, and whether the playbook matches the stage it is in now. Signal and action-surface tools report to this layer. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- Distribution
- What is the distribution layer in revenue architecture?Distribution is whether channels compose into a system or accumulate into a pile. Positioning that never ships at scale is a document, not a layer. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- Metrics
- What is the metrics layer in revenue architecture?Metrics, as a layer, is whether the numbers compound understanding or conceal decay. Forecast accuracy is structural, not a spreadsheet exercise, which is why Metrics is fixed after Identity and never before it. Read: The 8 Layers of a Modern Revenue System
- AI Layer
- Where does AI sit in revenue architecture?The AI Layer is the agents and models installed on top of the seven layers below. They inherit whatever state those layers are in, so an agent on a vague Identity layer produces confident noise at scale. Read: The Three Stages of AI-Native GTM
- Operator evidence
- What is operator evidence?Operator evidence is a citation where a named operator described running a tool in a working system on a GTM Vault episode, one citation per episode, in their own words. It is the only grade of evidence that counts a tool as operator verified, and it is never blended with essay evidence.
- Essay evidence
- What is essay evidence?Essay evidence is a tool recommended in a GTM Vault essay with no operator on the record describing it. It is opinion rather than reporting, shown in gold on the index, and never used to call a top pick.
- Consensus tool
- What is a consensus tool?A consensus tool is one named by two or more operators running it in working systems. Only consensus tools are called a top pick in Build Your Stack, because one operator is an anecdote and two is the start of a pattern.
- Displacement
- What is a displacement on the record?A displacement is recorded when an operator says on an episode that one tool replaced another in their stack. It goes on the record with the operator's name beside it and is never inferred from usage data or reviews.
- Budget posture
- What is budget posture?Budget posture is the tier a tool enters at: self-serve, mid-market or enterprise. The index records posture instead of price because public pricing in this category is unreliable, so no dollar figure appears anywhere.
- Guest vendor
- What is a guest vendor?A guest vendor is a product named on an episode because its founder was the guest. An appearance is not an endorsement, so guest vendors are excluded from every recommendation and listed separately on the method page.