Richard Lloyd’s Post

Startup go-to-market goes through 3 major phases. Robert Kaminski 🎯 breaks it down 👇 "Failure to recognize which phase you’re in will cause pain, frustration — and often, failure. 🔴 Phase 1 — Market Experimentation This phase is all about learning. But it’s not “research.” The fastest way to find a viable market is by selling. The keys to this phase are speed and volume — you’re trying to get in front of as many potential customers as you can. You’ll start with your network, but should also be creating content, cold DMing prospects, attending meetups, etc. The goal isn’t to hit $1M ARR. It’s to figure out who cares most about the problem you’re solving. Once you know that, you can focus your efforts. 💢 A word of caution: This phase is messy. You’ll face rejection. A lot. But keep going and remember, this is temporary. You’ll know you’re ready for the next phase when you have a gut feeling that you could sell a lot of your product to a specific market. 🔵 Phase 2 — Beachhead Growth This phase is about building systems. The name of the game here is “repeatability.” 👉 To create effective systems, you MUST narrow your focus. You need to solve one use case for one specific group of people. This focus is your competitive advantage for breaking into the market. Without it, you’ll feel like you’re boiling the ocean, and your GTM efforts won’t be effective. Tactically, this phase is about setting up the “plumbing” for how prospects find, evaluate, buy, and use your product. This often involves: - Building marketing and sales assets (homepages, sales decks, email campaigns, etc.) - Developing top-of-funnel content (blogs, social posts, webinars) - Setting up tools to track leads and prospects (CRM) - Creating onboarding materials The goal? Dominate this segment. This should get you to at least $1M ARR. 🟢 Phase 3 — Expansion Growth By this point, you should have a repeatable GTM program that’s generating revenue and earning you some name recognition as a rising player. Now, it’s time to reinvest that revenue and grow. You have 2 main options to consider: - Enter adjacent markets with the same use case (horizontal) - Solve new use cases for your current market (vertical) Which route you take depends on the type of business you want to build, who you want to serve, and your market’s appetite. 💢 But don’t make the classic mistake of going after multiple markets all at once. Expansion is like restarting phase 2—new segments require new systems. The smartest move? Take it one segment at a time. (Sequencing) ——— Remember: Building GTM programs is just like building a product. Mindset is key. There’s a time for learning. There’s a time for building something small (but viable). And there’s a time to scale. Know what phase you’re in, and you’ll have a much smoother time growing your startup." -- P.S. Make sure you give Robert a follow!

Startup go-to-market goes through 3 major phases. Failure to recognize which phase you’re in will cause pain, frustration — and often, failure. 🔴 Phase 1 — Market Experimentation This phase is all about learning. But it’s not “research.” The fastest way to find a viable market is by selling. The keys to this phase are speed and volume — you’re trying to get in front of as many potential customers as you can. You’ll start with your network, but should also be creating content, cold DMing prospects, attending meetups, etc. The goal isn’t to hit $1M ARR. It’s to figure out who cares most about the problem you’re solving. Once you know that, you can focus your efforts. 💢 A word of caution: This phase is messy. You’ll face rejection. A lot. But keep going and remember, this is temporary. You’ll know you’re ready for the next phase when you have a gut feeling that you could sell a lot of your product to a specific market. 🔵 Phase 2 — Beachhead Growth This phase is about building systems. The name of the game here is “repeatability.” 👉 To create effective systems, you MUST narrow your focus. You need to solve one use case for one specific group of people. This focus is your competitive advantage for breaking into the market. Without it, you’ll feel like you’re boiling the ocean, and your GTM efforts won’t be effective. Tactically, this phase is about setting up the “plumbing” for how prospects find, evaluate, buy, and use your product. This often involves: - Building marketing and sales assets (homepages, sales decks, email campaigns, etc.) - Developing top-of-funnel content (blogs, social posts, webinars) - Setting up tools to track leads and prospects (CRM) - Creating onboarding materials The goal? Dominate this segment. This should get you to at least $1M ARR. 🟢 Phase 3 — Expansion Growth By this point, you should have a repeatable GTM program that’s generating revenue and earning you some name recognition as a rising player. Now, it’s time to reinvest that revenue and grow. You have 2 main options to consider: - Enter adjacent markets with the same use case (horizontal) - Solve new use cases for your current market (vertical) Which route you take depends on the type of business you want to build, who you want to serve, and your market’s appetite. 💢 But don’t make the classic mistake of going after multiple markets all at once. Expansion is like restarting phase 2—new segments require new systems. The smartest move? Take it one segment at a time. (Sequencing) ——— Remember: Building GTM programs is just like building a product. Mindset is key. There’s a time for learning. There’s a time for building something small (but viable). And there’s a time to scale. Know what phase you’re in, and you’ll have a much smoother time growing your startup. #startups #gotomarketstrategy #growth

Which phase of start-up marketing are you in? Be honest. I often see companies try and market ahead with the "big companies" when they haven't completed steps one or two. Take your focus off where you want to be and focus on where you are right now. Then take it one step at a time. #startupmarketing

Awesome description! 🎩🤠 Easy to digest and identify your own status and set the most important goals! #startup #growthhacking #growthtips

🛍️ Building a 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁-𝘁𝗼-𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 (#D2C) startup? Here's what you should do before launching: In a recent Creative Syke convo with Mari Lahti (ex-Head of Community & Operations Kiuas), she pointed out a common misconception many startups have: Too often, startups think:  “𝘞𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘴” ❌ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆? Successful startups prioritize marketing & sales—even before the product exists. Here’s a strategy you can’t afford to skip: 🟪 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 → Set up a basic website as if your product already exists. → Include a “leave your email” button. → People love being first in line! Offer a discount or create FOMO by emphasizing limited availabiltiy when launching. 🟪 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 → Use your waitlist to prove traction to investors. → Example: “X signups in the first 24 hours!” 🟪 𝗗𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲-𝘁𝗼-𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 → Go where your target customers are irl and try to make people sign-up for your waitlist—or even place a pre-order. → This provides instant feedback from real conversations and helps refine your customer profile and messaging. 🟪 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 (if you’re feeling EXTRA bold!)  → Set a launch date and sell a certain number of products or lifetime subscriptions before starting development. → Worst case? If no one buys, you’ve saved resources. If development fails, you can return their money. Example: Brands like SUMMERSALT used a waitlist to generate 10,000 sign-ups for a single bathing suit during their first summer launch! 🏖️ ___ 𝗚𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁? ⬇️ Drop a comment with your ideas, and maybe you’ll be the next guest on Creative Syke!

A common mistake I see with <$1M startups is their ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) Specifically, it's too broad. Founders are often forced to pitch big on how their product will revolutionise HUGE markets off the back of industry data to lure early stage investment and fund runway. The problem is, you’re only at the beginning of your journey and still on the hunt for PMF (Product Market Fit).. Lofty TAM's are often tied to equally large growth and revenue expectations from your investors. Go figure?.. Time to hustle! 🚀 3 tips to craft your ICP and support early PMF & revenue traction 🚀 👉 Segment your ‘broader ICP’ into sub groups As an example, I work with tech based startups and scale ups seeking revenue growth. That is my ‘broader ICP’. While all in my wheelhouse, the challenges experienced by Founders moving from 0 to $500K are fundamentally different to those when moving from $500K to $1M, and different again from $1M - $5M. Revenue is a very ‘loose’ metric but you get the picture.. The more granular you are, the greater you can align/build your service or product specific to the pains they are experiencing. Would a startup in the 0-500K range likely have a sales team or be Founder Led? In the $1M - 5M range is PMF or GTM fit the likely priority for the team? Don’t be lazy with your ICP. Get detailed and document your sub groups properly. Your product/service is only as good as your knowledge of your customer (or prospective customer). 👉 Configure your CRM early It doesn’t need to be perfect but is a HUGE advantage if you spend a little bit of time on it. Qualitative feedback in early stage prospecting is great to shorten your product feedback loop but quantitative and searchable fields to the mix is like adding rocket fuel. Don’t waste good discovery / research by not having a basic set up in play to store your insights. While your product may not be aligned to certain prospects now (different sub groups), in 3-4 sprints when those new features are shipped, imagine having a list of qualified leads ready to circle back to. Basic fields like ‘ICP type’ with static drop down options or ‘Features of Interest’ will be a god send in 6 months and support your Product team (feedback loop) and Marketing team (tailored value added content). 👉 Prioritise ICP groups (short, mid, long term) based on product maturity Know your groupings, know your sweet spot. Be realistic about the direct (and indirect) competitive landscape, your current brand establishment as a start up, and your product maturity. Focus on one sub group really intently > what features or services are a must to start revenue conversion, and more importantly, early customer feedback? "With our current MVP, who can we service effectively NOW?" Prioritise your product roadmap by features that help establish early market validation while still aligning to mid and longer term product vision. Nail it, and expand to your next sub group. Rinse and repeat.

https://lnkd.in/dTGj4XCF Startup Fast Track: Confident Launch in 90 Days or Less Validate your startup idea, build a list of waiting customers, and get paid, even if you have nothing to sell yet! ----------------------------------------- 🚀 Define your startup business model in 20 min or less 🎯 6 main risk types and 4 simple strategies to handle them 📊 Estimate your target market size using top-down and bottom-up methods 📈 10 slides for your 3-min pitch deck to grab and hold attention of investors 🛠️ 2 in 1 system: learn and build your startup by doing practical tasks 🎨 Use value proposition design framework in practice 🌊 Analyze your competitors and use Blue Ocean strategy to make competition almost irrelevant 💰 Calculate fixed and variable costs, cash-burn rate, break-even point, and need for investment 💎 3 levels of value proposition and the formula of irresistible offer 🔍 Profit hacking formula and 18 traffic sources for long-term success 💡 5 essential steps to make your interviews with potential customers really valuable 🧲 16 lead magnet types to build a list of customers even if you don't have a product yet 🌐 Market research fundamentals to eliminate guesswork and be confident in your business decisions 🧪 5 main hypotheses every startup should check and 17 types of MVPs that could be used for that 🎯 Define your ideal customers and improve your business using customer journey map 💵 16 monetization models your startup could use to earn revenue 🔄 Build a combined MVP to check multiple hypotheses at the same time and in a cost-effective way 📝 Prepare your marketing plan on 1 page and build a viral loop to increase your startup chances for viral growth 📊 Avoid vanity metrics and measure what really matters (AARRR metrics) 🛠️ Design and actually build your lead or sales funnel 💼 14 sales weapons and sales plan framework to win B2B clients ❌ 7 main reasons why most startups fail in sales and how to avoid them ------------------- https://lnkd.in/dTGj4XCF

How Early-Stage Startup Investors Evaluate Your Team When investing in early-stage startups (especially pre-product/pre-revenue), one of the most critical factors investors evaluate is the team. Beyond the idea or the product, investors are betting on the people behind the venture to drive success. Understanding how investors assess a startup team can significantly enhance your ability to attract funding. This evaluation often revolves around three key aspects, what I refer to as the "Three Cs": Credentials, Competence, and Commitment. Here's how these elements play a pivotal role in an investor's decision-making process. 1. Credentials: Qualifications Proving You're the Right Person for the Role Investors look at your educational qualifications and professional training to gauge your foundational knowledge and readiness for your role within the startup. Think what “paper proof” you have via certificates, degrees, etc. Accolades or recognition in your field can boost your credentials, providing external validation of your expertise and potential. Remainder of article available on skool: https://lnkd.in/ePUW9GxG

Are startups struggling to find Product-Market Fit? Here’s my 4-point breakdown and analysis: 1. Let’s define Product-Market Fit (PMF) opportunities In a business context, Product-Market Fit refers to the moment when your product successfully addresses a real market need. It involves understanding your target customers and ensuring your product solves their problems effectively. Startups that achieve PMF unlock business opportunities like: - Scaling through word-of-mouth and organic growth - Attracting investors and securing funding - Expanding product lines or services to meet customer demand (This post excludes generic product development and focuses solely on strategic growth opportunities.) 2. The level of market specificity impacts your PMF success Startups with a narrow, well-defined market focus tend to reach PMF faster than those going after broader audiences. Here's why: - A specific focus allows for more tailored product development (e.g., creating a CRM specifically for law firms vs. trying to build a CRM for *every* industry). - A targeted audience provides more actionable feedback, accelerating iteration and improvement. - It's harder to solve problems for a broad market—niche solutions create clearer paths to PMF. 3. Customer engagement and feedback loops impact PMF (obviously) The more engaged your target audience, the faster you’ll find PMF. That’s because consistent feedback loops help you refine your product and zero in on solving the right problem. But again, the level of specificity matters here. A smaller, highly engaged audience in a focused market can offer far more value than a large, disengaged one. For example, I’d rather have 500 active users giving specific feedback on a product for healthcare professionals than 10,000 users who don’t really know if the product is for them. 4. Not all startups are optimized for achieving PMF Achieving PMF is more than just launching a product. It depends heavily on how well the team executes. Factors like: - Does the team have a solid understanding of their target market? - Are they agile enough to pivot based on user feedback? - How well are they tracking key metrics like retention and engagement? That’s why some startups with fewer resources or a smaller customer base achieve PMF faster than others with bigger budgets but less focus. TL;DR: 1. Startups with PMF unlock significant growth opportunities by solving a real market need. 2. Niche markets make it easier to find PMF because solutions can be more focused. 3. Engaged users are critical to finding PMF, but quality of feedback often beats quantity. 4. Startups that iterate quickly and execute efficiently can find PMF faster, even with fewer resources. #productmarketfit #startups #founders

Go-to-Market Strategies for Startups by Dan Jenkins: Mastering a go-to-market (GTM) strategy is crucial for any startup aiming to make a successful market entry. Dan Jenkins, a seasoned technology executive and startup advisor, offers a treasure trove of knowledge in his presentation on GTM strategies, hosted by the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This guide is invaluable for startups looking to not only enter but also to thrive in competitive markets. Key Takeaways: Customer Identification: Understanding who your customer is and tailoring your marketing to meet their specific needs is foundational. Product Positioning: Clearly define what you are selling and why it matters to your target audience. Pricing Strategy: Develop a pricing model that reflects the value you provide while staying competitive in the market. Distribution Channels: Choose the most effective means to reach your customers, whether through direct sales, partnerships, or online platforms. Promotional Tactics: Craft messaging and marketing strategies that resonate with your target demographic to maximize engagement and conversion. Dan Jenkins uses practical examples and a methodical approach to break down each element of a successful GTM strategy, making it accessible and actionable for startup founders and marketers. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/eAQ49kif