Claude Code for GTM: Part 1 — Context Is the Bottleneck
Last year, the question was “when will models become smart enough?”
Then o3 happened.
Now it’s about context.
“2026 is about going from being intelligence-constrained to context-constrained.” — Mike Murchison
The #1 skill you need to make the most of Claude Code for GTM is context engineering.
Claude Code can handle any GTM task you throw at it. The bottleneck is whether it has the right context at the right time.
GTM Is Different From Software Engineering
If you’re using Claude Code for engineering, your context is mostly your codebase — it’s all local, well-structured, and version-controlled. GTM is different. Your context can come from several tools at once: your CRM, your sending platform, your enrichment data, your call transcripts, your campaign results.
It is NOT enough to just connect your entire CRM to ChatGPT like you may have tried last year.
What Actually Helps
Here’s what we’ve found works at Zevenue:
1. A Well-Written CLAUDE.md File
This is the foundation. Your CLAUDE.md is the persistent instruction set that Claude reads at the start of every session. It should contain your ICP, your positioning, your offer, your methodology, your tools, and the rules you want Claude to follow. Think of it as the onboarding doc you’d give a new GTM hire — except Claude reads it every time and never forgets.
2. Skills for Every Part of Your Process
Skills are reusable prompts that encode how you do specific tasks. We have skills for writing outbound emails, finding intent signals, scoring leads, launching campaigns. Each one references the context it needs and produces consistent output. Instead of re-explaining your process every session, you invoke a skill and it runs.
3. Not Stuffing Everything Into Your Context Window
More context is not always better context. If you dump your entire CRM into a session, Claude spends tokens processing irrelevant data. Be intentional. Pull the right slice of information for the task at hand. Your CLAUDE.md points Claude to where things live. Skills pull the specific context they need.
4. APIs Over MCP When You Can
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is great for connecting Claude to external tools. But when you have a direct API available, it’s usually faster and more reliable. We use APIs for our sending platform, enrichment tools, and data sources. MCP fills the gaps for tools that don’t have clean APIs.
The Shift This Creates
Two years ago, having an army of engineers building custom data pipelines for your GTM team was inaccessible for most. It was reserved for VC-backed orgs with massive budgets that could funnel engineering resources to work on sales. Or teams lucky enough to have sales leadership that understood GTM engineering early.
Now, a single GTM engineer with Claude Code can direct that same work in plain English.
But code alone isn’t the unlock. Context is too.
The teams that win with Claude Code won’t be the ones with the fanciest prompts. They’ll be the ones who build the best context layer — organized, accessible, and continuously improving.
That’s what Part 2 covers: how context compounds over time and why Claude Code operates in a completely different league than chat-based AI tools.