What Is a GTM Advisor?
What Is a GTM Advisor?
I help individual leaders and go-to-market teams at startup companies hone their strategies and approaches to achieve better results.
In addition to executive coaching, I offer GTM advisory services.
I’ve worked for companies of all sizes, from pre-seed to Fortune 500. Startups (especially Series A and B) are my absolute favorites because of the room for creativity and innovation.
So much happens in the early stages of a company, and so many companies don’t make it.
According to VentureBeat, only four percent of SaaS companies reach $1 million in revenue, and only .04 percent make it to $10 million. These aren’t great odds!
In my experience working with dozens of startups over the last 25 years, the most significant factors that determine success are:
Leadership: Founders are often passionate and knowledgeable about their product or service and may be well suited to run a company for the first couple million in revenue. However, as the organization grows more complex, founders need help and support with leadership and culture.
Go-to-Market strategy: Do you have an integrated strategy across sales, marketing, and customer success to target the right customers with the right products and features, approach them with the right messaging that resonates, and then reach them using the go-to-market motions to create or harvest demand?
GTM Partners defines the 5 Valleys of Death:
You can create but can’t market: You’ve launched a product or service but can’t create enough demand for it.
You can market but can’t sell: You’re generating enough demand but can’t close enough deals.
You can sell but can’t deliver: You can close deals, but your customer success team is struggling to deliver on what sales promised or must constantly calibrate expectations.
You can deliver, but you can’t renew: Your customers love your product and your team, but when it comes to renewal time, they can’t quantify the ROI, and they churn.
You can renew but you can’t expand: Customers keep coming back, but you don’t have any way to upsell or cross-sell them.
Most companies will hit ALL the Valleys of Death, not necessarily in order, and sometimes more than one at a time.
Each of these 5 Valleys of Death is a go-to-market issue requiring a GTM solution.
GTM Advisory Services
I fell in love with GTM Partners years ago when I attended their first roadshow as VP of Marketing at a company that was struggling to get alignment across sales, marketing, customer success, and product.
I instantly understood the logic of their approach, and was excited to come on board to work with them as VP of Marketing and head of research. I am certified in the GTM Operating System and still work closely with GTM Partners on research and GTMonday.
Now what excites me is the idea of applying their GTM frameworks (developed after working with hundreds of mid-market and enterprise companies) to the startup environment.
Startups are under more pressure to scale faster with smaller teams and fewer resources. They can’t afford to take much time to step back and strategize, but they can’t afford to skip the strategy either.
Here’s the GTM Operating System, which is an elegant way to bridge strategy and execution across silos:
I have playbooks, frameworks, and research to guide leaders in answering the following questions.
Targeting: Where can you grow the most?
Products: Which products or services create the highest customer value?
Brand: How can you engage your target customer with a differentiated point-of-view and messaging?
GTM Motions: Which GTM motions (inbound, outbound, events, partners, PLG, and communities) get you to your goals the fastest?
ROI: How quickly are you getting customers to experience your ROI?
Expansion: How else can you expand and upsell your existing customer base?
Metrics: Which GTM metrics should you be tracking to drive the health of your business?
Leadership: How can you drive clarity, alignment, and trust with your team and your GTM counterparts in other departments?
How Can I Help?
I’d love to chat with you about whether I can help you or your company with your go-to-market strategy.