If you’re a startup somewhere between Seed and Series B, chances are your martech stack looks like this:

• A CRM your sales team half-uses
• A marketing automation platform that’s still on its default settings
• Five overlapping point solutions for lead gen, enrichment, attribution, and reporting
• And a hefty monthly bill for tools you barely touch

You’re not alone. Early-stage companies often build their stack in response to immediate problems—“we need email automation,” “we need attribution,” “we need ABM”—without a long-term plan for scale or integration.

The result? A bloated martech stack that drains budget, creates silos, and slows down your GTM motion instead of speeding it up.

In this post, we’ll break down:

• How martech bloat happens (and how to spot it)
• Why more tools ≠ more growth
• A framework for auditing and optimizing your stack
• How contact-based marketing (CBM) changes what your stack should look like
• How Samesum helps startups fix their stack and get back to growth

How Martech Bloat Happens

Startups are built to move fast—and sometimes, that means solving problems with the first available tool.

But over time, these tools stack up:

• Your SDRs are using enrichment software that doesn’t sync with your CRM
• Marketing is running lifecycle campaigns in a platform that sales can’t see
• Attribution data lives in a third-party tool that doesn’t integrate with your reporting dashboard
• You’re paying for features you don’t use (or forgot you had)

Martech bloat creeps in because each team adds tools for their own workflows. The problem is, go-to-market is a team sport—and your stack should support that, not fracture it.

The Hidden Cost of a Bloated Stack

It’s not just the subscription fees that hurt (though those add up quickly). The real cost of bloat is operational drag.

• Slower GTM Motion: Campaigns take longer to launch because systems aren’t aligned.
• Wasted Time: Teams spend hours switching between tools, manually syncing data, or chasing down insights.
• Poor Attribution: Without unified tracking, you don’t know which channels or plays are actually driving revenue.
• Sales/Marketing Misalignment: Leads fall through the cracks, reporting doesn’t match, and feedback loops are broken.
• Tech Fatigue: Your team is frustrated. The stack feels more like a burden than a benefit.

The Martech Streamlining Framework for Startups

Before you start cutting tools, take a step back. Streamlining isn’t about using fewer tools—it’s about using the right ones, in the right way, to support the right motion.

Here’s a simple 4-step framework we use at Samesum:

1. Map Your Motion First

Start by mapping your GTM motion—not your tech stack.
Ask:

• What does a lead journey look like from awareness to closed-won?
• Where are the handoffs (marketing to sales, sales to CS)?
• What signals do we use to move people through stages?

Only once you understand your motion can you assess the tools needed to support it.

2. Audit What You Have

List every tool in your stack. For each one, ask:

• What specific function does this serve?
• Who actually uses it?
• Is it integrated with our core platforms (CRM, marketing automation)?
• What’s the ROI—measured in time saved or outcomes driven?

You’ll often find:

• Redundant tools
• Underused features
• Gaps in your workflow you thought were covered

3. Centralize Around Key Systems

Your CRM and automation platform should be the source of truth—everything else should plug into them or enhance them.
Kill tools that duplicate functionality, silo data, or slow collaboration.

Look for platforms that offer modular functionality or open integrations so you can build workflows without stacking vendor after vendor.

4. Rebuild for Contact-Based Marketing

Modern GTM teams are moving from account-based to contact-based marketing (CBM)—targeting real decision-makers with real signals.

That means your stack needs to support:

• Contact-level enrichment and scoring
• Behavioral segmentation and triggers
• Intent-based automation
• Unified reporting at the contact and deal level

If your tools can’t deliver that, it’s time to rethink the foundation.

Why CBM Changes What Your Stack Needs

Traditional ABM tools focus on accounts. But buying decisions are made by people.
CBM shifts the focus from company-level targeting to real-time, role-specific engagement—and that has big implications for your tech stack.

With CBM in place:

• You enrich contacts, not just domains
• You score leads based on signals, not assumptions
• You automate journeys tied to behavior, not job titles
• You align teams on who’s in-market and why—not just who downloaded the last ebook

Your stack doesn’t need to be bigger—it needs to be smarter and more connected to the contacts that matter.

How Samesum Helps You Fix It—Fast

At Samesum, we help startups go from martech mess to lean, effective, and scalable stacks built for contact-based GTM.

Here’s how we do it:

• Full Martech Stack Audit
  We analyze every tool you’re using—what overlaps, what’s underperforming, and what you can consolidate.
• GTM Mapping & Tech Alignment
  We map your growth motion and design a streamlined stack that supports your strategy, not the other way around.
• CBM Integration & Execution
  From CRM workflows to lifecycle campaigns, we embed CBM capabilities directly into your stack for smarter targeting and automation.
• Team Enablement
  We don’t just fix your tech—we train your team to use it well, so your new stack sticks.

Fewer tools. Faster motion. Smarter growth.
Let’s turn your martech stack into a GTM engine that works for you, not against you.