The Right GTM Strategy for Your Startup: 3 Experts Weigh in on Dos, Don’ts, & Decisions

A good Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy can make or break your early-stage company, but how do you know which strategy will yield the greatest results? Aileen Allen, Venture Partner at Mercury, meets with 3 experts— Lisa Roberts, CMO of Otto, Mike Miles, VP of RevOps at Cognite, and Sean Rohde, VP of Sales and Marketing at Kahuna— to break down GTM best practices, from hiring to design to pricing. This episode was recorded at Software Day at the Ion.

Key Insights & Timestamps:

[00:00] Podcast begins

[09:18] ICP vs Persona: Unpacking customer-focused strategy & sales

[18:29] Founder vs Sales Team Selling: When to transition & when to share sales responsibilities

[30:35] What Metrics Matter? Marketing, sales, & operations weigh in on data worth tracking

[40:34] Audience Q&A: AI costs, B2B vs B2C models, & usage vs product pricing

[46:19] 10 Pitches, 10 Founders, 10 Minutes: Learn more about potential up-and-comers

Key Takeaways:

Who’s Your Customer? When considering your GTM strategy, you need to know the difference between your ICP (or, Ideal Customer Profile) and your Persona. While your ICP is the ideal model for the businesses you’re trying to sell to, your persona is the individual (or, in the cases of enterprises, individuals) that is going to make the buying decision.

What’s Your Sales Strategy? Founder-led sales don’t just go away as your early-stage business grows and scales. Instead of focusing on taking your founder out of the sales strategy, think of them as a megaphone for your high-level messages, while your sales team can handle the day-to-day.

What Metrics Matter? Data matters, from the earliest marketing decisions to scalable operational strategies. When you’re evaluating the data from your GTM strategy, don’t be afraid to evaluate every stage of the operation and look for insights that lead to repeatability and lessons learned.