Leading a GTM team

When should we start talking to Gartner and Forrester, and what do we actually say?

The short answer

Start earlier than you think, but start for the intelligence rather than for the quadrant. In the first stage you simply answer inbound analyst inquiries, then move to one way educational briefings where you explain what you see in the market, and only later does a two way commercial relationship make sense. Inclusion in a Magic Quadrant has published thresholds on revenue and customer count, so it is often a one to three year game and your first outcome is usually Niche Player. Treat every briefing as free buyer research, and never pitch, because analysts talk to your prospects far more often than you do.

Go deeper, your way

3 hand-picked resources, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Advanced

Why we picked it A four stage model for analyst relations from inbound only to a dedicated team, written for founders rather than AR professionals. It is honest that the value is market intelligence long before it is a quadrant placement.

Why You Should Engage With Analysts, and How to Do It Right

From a16z by Michael King and Stacy D'Amico 14 min read

Open a16z.com →

The same ground, at another level

How category design reads from a different seat.

What does category actually mean in go-to-market, and why does everyone keep telling me to pick one? A category is the mental shelf a buyer puts you on before they judge anything else about you. The moment someone hears what you do, they reach for ... Breaking into GTM 3 resources → How do I test whether a category name lands before we commit the whole website to it? Put the words in front of real buyers before you put them in a headline. Run the line past twenty people who match your ICP and ask them what they ... Doing the work 4 resources → How did Gong actually create revenue intelligence, step by step? Gong started life as conversation intelligence and found that senior revenue leaders heard that phrase and mentally filed it under sales enablement... How the best do it 3 resources →

People also ask

What does category actually mean in go-to-market, and why does everyone keep telling me to pick one? A category is the mental shelf a buyer puts you on before they judge anything else about you. The moment someone hears what you do, they reach for ... Breaking into GTM 3 resources → Should we create a new category or just say we are a better version of something that already exists? For almost everyone at the start, the answer is the existing category. April Dunford's own count is that around 90 percent of recently public tech ... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → How do I write the one line that says what category we are in? Write it as a comparison, not a description. The formula that works is simple: who it is for, what kind of thing it is, and why it beats the altern... Breaking into GTM 5 resources → Buyers keep comparing us to a big incumbent. How do I even respond in a first call? Do not dodge it and do not claim you beat them everywhere, because the buyer knows you do not and you lose credibility instantly. Name the incumben... Breaking into GTM 3 resources → How do I test whether a category name lands before we commit the whole website to it? Put the words in front of real buyers before you put them in a headline. Run the line past twenty people who match your ICP and ask them what they ... Doing the work 4 resources → We named the problem instead of the product. Is that a positioning mistake? It is usually the right instinct, badly executed. Naming the problem is what makes a category feel inevitable, because the buyer recognises the pai... Doing the work 4 resources →

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