He Created a Job Title 1,000+ People Now Have ft. Yash Tekriwal (Clay)

Most companies think of education as a support function, the real shift is treating it as a go-to-market engine.

In this episode of the UnChurned Podcast, Josh Schachter and Samantha Murray sit down with Yash Tekriwal, Head of Go-to-Market Engineering Ecosystem at Clay, to unpack how he became the company's first-ever GTM Engineer, why Clay rebranded its entire education team, and what it actually takes to build a learning ecosystem people don't just consume, but live inside of.

Yash shares the origin story of the GTM Engineer role, why he believes "education" has become a dirty word in tech, and how Clay is rethinking everything from LMS platforms to certification to attribution.

They also dive into: - The origin story behind the first-ever "GTM Engineer" title - Why Clay killed its education team and rebranded to a GTM engineering ecosystem - Why traditional LMS platforms get learning fundamentally wrong - The "control the environment, not the process" philosophy of learning - Why brand affinity and "vibes" matter more than marketing attribution - Rethinking certification and skill assessment in the age of AI

If you're building a GTM team, leading customer education, or trying to figure out how learning and community actually drive growth, this episode is a masterclass in building an ecosystem instead of a content library.

Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.

Chapters 00:00 – Intro & Backstory 01:03 – Yash's Pre-Clay Career and Failed Startups 05:30 – Why He's More Of A Founder Than When He Was One 06:32 – Becoming Clay's First-Ever GTM Engineer 09:41 – Category Creation and Market Sizing 13:42 – "We Killed The Education Team At Clay" 15:36 – Why Education Became A Dirty Word In Tech 21:08 – Yash's Path From Teacher To GTM Engineer 24:54 – The Build vs. Buy Problem With LMS Platforms 28:09 – Control The Environment, Not The Process 32:37 – Why Attribution Doesn't Matter — It's All Vibes 36:18 – Inside Clay's Six-Pod GTM Ecosystem 42:16 – Yash's One-Year Goal: Rebuilding Certification

Josh is writing a book on building customer relationships. Follow his journey and insights at www.joshschachter.com

Where to Find the Guest: Yash's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yashtekriwal

Where to Find the Hosts: Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/ Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/ Samantha's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-murray613/