Go-to-market recommendations for tech start-ups

Start-Up
1

Recently I was asked on Reddit if I had any recommendations regarding sales GTM for tech sales.

Since in the two tech startups (B2B SaaS) that I have worked in (as an individual contributor) I have learned a lot of lessons (not everything has gone smoothly), especially in GTM, I have been thinking a lot about it and these are my key takeaways:

Before I join a company I would:

  1. Find out if the founders are qualified to build a technology company. Have they worked in the industry before? What is their background? Do they have a track record?

  2. Regarding sales: Do the founders understand sales? (Many tech founders think you just need to build a good product and it will sell itself)

  3. Does the product already have product market fit? If not, I would try to understand the plan to achieve product market fit as well as possible. If the product doesn’t have product market fit, how will that affect the sales quota? Learn from my mistake: I joined a startup that hasn’t reached product market fit yet, but this wasn’t taken into account in the sales quota. In a concrete example, this means that I lost deals for technical reasons, but my quota stayed the same.

  4. Find out how many use cases the company offers. Anything more than 1-2 use cases in pre-Series A or Series A may be too much. There is limited capacity and you cannot build 3 products at the same time. Of course there are always exceptions, e.g. for mega funding rounds with astronomical amounts.

  5. Also in combination with 3) - What is the quota? Startups in particular often have little or no idea what a fair quota should look like.

  6. What is the culture like? Things will not work and need to be built/rebuilt. In this phase it is important that everyone sticks together. I prefer onsite startups over remote ones in this area. I have worked both onsite and fully remote in the past.

  7. I would clarify what my career development path should look like. Some people make careers in startups, but when startups are successful, managers are often hired from outside rather than promoted internally.

  8. Is the company solving a real problem? Is the value that comes from the solution big enough? A lot of SaaS startups are nice to have solutions. That doesn’t mean they can’t be successful, but I would argue that they don’t necessarily need an expensive sales team. As a Tech Seller, I always try to be in the enterprise space with a complex sales process and a high average deal size, because that’s where sales has the biggest impact:

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Once I have decided on a company, I would proceed as follows in the GTM:

  1. Make as many cold calls as possible to quickly understand the ideal customer profile with all its facets: What is the current state and what is the target state? What is the challenge? How is the problem currently being solved?

  2. For outreach, I would focus on innovators and early adopters. Just search for “Innovation Adoption Lifecycle”. Especially if the startup I am joining is bringing a really novel solution to market, I would focus on those companies. My rule of thumb is that young companies in particular fall into this category (young doesn’t have to mean small). Startups, regardless of industry, are often trying to do things differently than before and, in my experience, are by nature more open to new technologies.

  3. When it comes to outreach, I would avoid really big customers in the beginning. Fortune 500 companies often have very specific needs in terms of customization, security, support, and often have extremely long sales cycles. Of course, a logo like this can be a door opener in the beginning, but I would take those customers on the side and focus on smaller customers depending on the product.

  4. Focus. So simple and yet so difficult. Especially in the beginning, there will be problems everywhere in the start-up. The presentations could be better, the processes in the CRM system could be improved, the contracts take too long, etc. - Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of getting things done. The most important thing is to acquire relevant new customers that fit the ICP.

  5. Marketing & PR: In my opinion, it’s worthwhile to establish yourself very early in a particular vertical, and it doesn’t have to cost much. Customer success stories with media impact were the best leads I got. Be careful with trade shows and booths. They’re often very expensive and don’t generate many leads or brand awareness. I think the better option (at least for really early stage startups) is to simply book tickets for the fair and hunt for prospects this way.

What are your top tips and tricks for the GTM in a Tech Start-Up? Do you see the points the same way?

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Incredibly useful tips here. It is important to consider your points mentioned for career decisions.

Before joining a company, I would also consider if you will work in the company’s home market or if you are joining a region they have not operated in before.

For example, I work for a European start-up that is now expanding to DACH. For such cases, I would add the following to consider because it greatly influences your success, learning, and mental state.

  • Do they have a clear understanding of the market and do they accept that conquering a new market can take time? Red flag if they just assume that the business grows in the same way as in their original market.
  • Do they put enough dedicated budgets into your market? Red flag if they don’t believe in localization of marketing, content, etc.
  • Do they actually have a strategy for your region in place? Red flag if they just hope 1 or 2 two sales guys are enough and leave them alone.
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