Pavilion, the world’s leading private community for go-to-market leaders, today unveiled a series of moves to help GTM operators at the fastest-growing tech companies survive and thrive in today’s volatile environment—where tenures are shorter, stakes are higher, and margins for error are thinner than ever. The announcements include the launch of Pavilion Gold, a proprietary AI GTM copilot called Pathfinder, and the appointment of Rich Gardner as President of Pavilion.
The New Reality
Average tenure for Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) has dropped below two years, even as board expectations rise and budgets shrink. Operators are being asked to deliver outcomes in the middle of macroeconomic whiplash, constant market volatility, and an AI wave rewriting the rules in real time. There’s no reliable playbook anymore. Pavilion is leaning harder into its mission: making sure GTM leaders aren’t guessing in the dark, but armed with peers, insights, and tools that keep them sharp — and keep them standing.
Pavilion Gold: Raising the Bar for Executives
Pavilion Gold is the new, invitation-only network for elite commercial operators leading the largest companies in the world. Built for C-level executives leading $100M to $3B in ARR businesses, Gold delivers what these business leaders want: access to a group of peers who are making high-stakes decisions every day.
Members join curated circles, attend off-the-record briefings with category-defining leaders, and connect at gatherings in New York, London, and San Francisco. Gold also provides targeted connections to help leaders address time-sensitive GTM challenges.
“Gold is where leaders stop guessing what great looks like,” said Sam Jacobs, Founder and CEO of Pavilion. “It is where you test your thinking against the very best, build career-defining relationships, and make the moves that change companies.”
Founding operators include leaders from Zendesk, Alphasense, Xero, TriNet, and Clio.
Pathfinder: Clarity in the Flow of Work
Pathfinder is Pavilion’s AI GTM copilot, ensuring every Pavilion operator — from aspiring managers to executives — can instantly tap into the community’s collective knowledge.
Trained on 10 years of Pavilion programs, events, and operator-contributed insights, Pathfinder puts compensation benchmarks, GTM frameworks, peer referrals, and course recommendations at members’ fingertips — exactly when they need them.
Pathfinder learns from each member’s journey and delivers faster, more relevant answers grounded in what is working right now.
Strengthening Leadership with Rich Gardner as President
To drive this expanded vision forward, Pavilion has named Rich Gardner as President.
Gardner, a founding member and Chapter Head of Pavilion Boston, was most recently SVP of Partnerships at Klaviyo. At Klaviyo, Gardner built and led the global ecosystem strategy and team, a key driver of Klaviyo’s ARR growth from $60M to $700M and the Company’s IPO during his time there. Gardner brings more than two decades of experience as an operating executive, advisor and board member. He will partner with Jacobs to bring Pavilion into its next era.
“Pavilion sits at the intersection of authentic peer connection, professional resilience, and lifetime learning — the exact traits shaping today’s most successful commercial executives ,” said Rich Gardner, President of Pavilion. “I’m thrilled to help build the community operators will rely on for the next decade.”
Pavilion is the world’s leading private community for go-to-market leaders. With more than 10,000 members worldwide, Pavilion combines peer proximity, operator-led learning, and practical tools so leaders can make better decisions faster. Learn more at joinpavilion.com.
