Last week, I spoke with a CEO who'd just crossed $2.5M in ARR.
Product-market fit was precise. Customers were getting value. She had a solid product team and a capable head of marketing and was in the process of hiring a product marketer to support growth.
The question she was wrestling with wasn't how to grow faster but how to make growth more consistent.
Her team was busy, and many things were in motion, but the motion didn't feel connected. Without structure, good people were starting to run in slightly different directions.
I'd seen this before with another company I was advising. Same stage. Same problem.
They didn't need a new playbook. They needed a simple system to bring focus, rhythm, and repeatability to their go-to-market.
Here's what I advised them to install:
Step 1 — Launch something every 30 days
Most companies launch once and then disappear. I suggested they create a predictable launch rhythm. Every 30 days, something ships and gets shared—a new feature, a small integration, a customer milestone, or even just a sharpened workflow.
It didn't need to be big. The goal was to create consistent reasons to engage the market, especially for prospects not ready to buy. It also gave current customers reasons to re-engage, expand, or refer.
The key was building it into the operating rhythm—not treating launches as special events but as part of their routine.
Step 2 — Demo the product in public
Instead of building decks or overworking messaging, I recommended they show the product.
Every couple of weeks, someone on the team recorded a short walkthrough—60 to 90 seconds. There was no editing or scripting—just a screen share explaining how something worked and why it mattered.
These were posted directly on LinkedIn. There was no CTA, lead form, or funnel—just useful context for the kinds of people they wanted to sell to.
Prospects who came through those videos already understood the product. They were warmer, more aligned, and moved faster.
Step 3 — Qualify before the call
The team had been taking every meeting. I advised them to reverse the order.
Instead of booking straight into calls, they sent a short demo video and pricing first. If someone didn't reply, that was the filter. If they did, the call was kept short — five to ten minutes — focused purely on whether there was a problem worth solving now.
This cleared the noise and gave the team time to focus on real deals.
Step 4 — Make the next step unavoidable
The biggest drag in their funnel wasn't loss — it was drift. Calls would go well, but deals would stall without a clear next step.
So we made it a rule: no call ends without a defined next step on the calendar. That could be onboarding, a second session, or a clear "not now." But it had to be a decision.
That shift alone created more momentum than any new tool or campaign.
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That's it. Four steps. No extra headcount. No additional spend.
But it gave the team structure — a way to create demand, qualify it, and convert it without over-relying on the founder or chasing every opportunity.
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Action, action, action — for investors and CEOs:
If you’re an investor or operating partner, here are three quick things to check this week:
1. Ask to see the actual GTM rhythm.
Not the slide. The real system. What’s the team shipping, posting, or sharing this month? What happens when someone raises their hand? If the CEO can’t walk you through it in 5 minutes, the system doesn’t exist.
2. Is the team prioritizing the right type of demand — or confusing activity for pipeline?
Dig into how the team evaluates inbound interest. Are they actively qualifying for urgency, fit, and budget — or simply taking every meeting? Ask for the conversion rate from first meeting to revenue. If it’s low, it’s not just a sales problem — it signals lack of clarity on who the solution is truly for. That has implications for positioning, segmentation, and team efficiency.
3. Does the team know how to build momentum inside deals — or are they just collecting conversations?
Even with good demand, poor conversion often comes down to a missing skill: progressing a deal. Ask how the team is trained to drive next steps. Are they consistently securing decisions, dates, and follow-ups — or leaving calls open-ended? This one behavior is often the difference between a strong GTM strategy that scales and one that quietly stalls.
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And if you’re a CEO:
1. Write out your GTM system in plain language.
Who are you targeting? How are you reaching them? What happens when they engage? Share it with your team. If their answers don’t match yours, you’ve found the gap.
2. List your top GTM priorities and assign names.
Three to five key objectives. One name each. Then check with those people — are they clear on what they own?
3. Review your leadership rhythm.
What’s the cadence for checking progress and clearing blockers? If your team meetings are mostly updates, you’re leaving leverage on the table.
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If GTM still depends on you driving every deal forward — it’s not broken, but it’s not scalable.
Build the system. That’s what creates leverage. That’s what scales.
