Article · ~15 min read

How to Build a Clear and Actionable GTM Strategy

Shekhar Kirani · SeedToScale (Accel India) Free Intermediate India

Kirani has backed Freshworks, Chargebee and BrowserStack, and his rule that the product stays horizontal while the GTM goes vertical is the most quoted line in Indian SaaS for good reason. Covers push versus pull markets, channel focus, first pricing and first hires in one piece.

  • Keep the product horizontal but make the go-to-market vertical, and aim to get the first 100 customers fast.
  • Read search and keyword volume to tell a pull market from a push market: the pull model works well up to roughly 3 to 5 million dollars ARR.
  • CAC is the only real proof a channel works, so get one channel working before adding a second.
  • Per-user pricing beats a departmental licence early, and deep discounts for the first 100 customers are fine.

It answers 3 questions

  1. What does 'go to market' actually mean? People say GTM constantly and I still cannot define it.
  2. How do I decide which GTM roles to hire, and in what order?
  3. How do I turn the thing that worked when I did it into an engine someone else can run?

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