Disrupting Silicon Valley Bias: Hila Lauterbach Backs Women and Immigrant Founders

Hila Lauterbach, Founder of 10x GTM, joins Karla Jo Helms on Disruption Interruption to discuss how AI-driven investment models are reshaping the SaaS industry and how immigrant-led and women-led startups can leverage scalable go-to-market strategies to achieve sustainable revenue growth.

TAMPA BAY, Fla., Aug. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly half of Fortune 500 companies have one surprising commonality: they were founded by immigrants or their children. ⁽¹⁾ Yet barriers remain in the tech industry, where bias impacts who gets funded and why. Hila Lauterbach, a Silicon Valley-based go-to-market strategist, founder of 10x GTM, is challenging investment norms. She is empowering underrepresented groups—including immigrant and women-led startups—to scale SaaS businesses with proven, repeatable strategies.

On the Disruption Interruption podcast with Karla Jo Helms (KJ), Lauterbach explores how AI is reshaping investment models and warns why data-driven decision-making isn't enough on its own. "It's not about making noise to disrupt systems," Lauterbach shares. "It's about creating meaningful change that delivers results."

The Broken Investment Model

The traditional investment model is overdue for a reset. Silicon Valley investors often stick to pattern matching, favoring serial entrepreneurs who fit a preconceived mold. "Who are we investing in? It's no secret," Lauterbach explains. "Elite institutions, white males, and familiar networks dominate these decisions, and that leaves out incredible talent."

While data-driven investment models like SignalFire and Zeta Ventures are emerging, prioritizing market signals and hiring patterns to predict success, Lauterbach insists on complementing data with human-driven strategies. "No system is perfect. AI tools offer objectivity but underestimate the complexity of building relationships and scaling businesses," she says.

Many startups also fall into strategic pitfalls. "Lack of alignment within teams, unclear target audiences, and no foundational go-to-market strategy are common issues," Lauterbach adds. "We need to stop running without a strong foundation. That's a recipe for failure."

A Better Path to Growth with 10x GTM

Despite industry hurdles, Lauterbach built her career by "creating new doors whenever one closed." Her company, 10x GTM, has revolutionized SaaS scaling by delivering battle-tested frameworks for revenue growth. Her 5 A's Go-to-Market (GTM) framework outlines practical steps to align teams, define audiences, and set revenue-driven engines in motion.

"Our buyer-first strategies combine growth plays, retention models, and partnership ecosystems," Lauterbach explains. "We focus on scalable, repeatable frameworks that teams can implement fast."

Through 10x GTM, Lauterbach has helped companies scale past $20M ARR to $400M ARR, with a proven track record of driving triple-digit million-dollar revenues and 12x ROI. "Supporting women and immigrant founders is more than ethical; it's also good business," Lauterbach shares. "We're building high-value, high-impact companies that deserve a seat at the table."

Links

Disrupting Silicon Valley Bias: Backing Immigrant and Women-Led Startups, with Hila Lauterbach of 10x GTM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilalauterbachmarketing

Company Website: https://10xgtm.com/

Disruption Interruption is the podcast where you will hear from today's biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about innovation and how they overcame opposition to adoption.

Disruption Interruption can be listened to in Apple's App Store and Spotify.

About Disruption Interruption™

Disruption is happening on an unprecedented scale, impacting all manner of industries— MedTech, Finance, IT, eCommerce, shipping, logistics, and more—and COVID has moved their timelines up a full decade or more. But WHO are these disruptors and when did they say, "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT!"? Time to Disrupt and Interrupt with host Karla Jo "KJ" Helms, veteran communications disruptor. KJ interviews badasses who are disrupting their industries and altering economic networks that have become antiquated with an establishment resistant to progress. She delves into uncovering secrets from industry rebels and quiet revolutionaries that uncover common traits—and not-so-common—that are changing our economic markets… and lives. Visit the world's key pioneers that persist to success, despite arrows in their backs at www.disruption-interruption.com.

About Hila Lauterbach

Hila Lauterbach is a Silicon Valley-based go-to-market strategist, tech advisor, and the founder of 10X GTM, where she partners with high-growth B2B SaaS companies to accelerate revenue through strategic GTM and product marketing excellence. As an advisor to StageOne Ventures and Klue, she helps both portfolio companies and industry leaders refine their competitive edge.

A 3X Top 100 Product Marketing Influencer and best-selling featured author of Product Marketing Wisdom, Hila has spent over 15 years leading high-performing teams across global tech startups and enterprises, from early-stage ventures scaling past $20M ARR to public companies reinventing product strategy. Her work has driven measurable impact, including 12x ROI for AI Martech and Fintech products, triple-digit million-dollar revenues, and lasting increases in customer lifetime value.

As Ecosystem Development Lead at Femigrants, she connects immigrant women founders with VCs committed to backing women-led tech. Known for building win-win partnerships with industry giants like AWS, Salesforce, Google, and Microsoft, she thrives in fast-paced environments where disruption is not just a strategy, but a necessity.

About Karla Jo Helms

Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR® Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors™. Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the line — and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumnus of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators, and the media to help restore companies of goodwill into the good graces of public opinion — Karla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way, and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception.

References

1. American Inmigration Council. "New American Fortune 500 in 2024." American Immigration Council, 17 June 2025, americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/new-american-fortune-500-2024/.

Media Inquiries:
Karla Jo Helms
JOTO PR™
727-777-4629

SOURCE Disruption Interruption