Your First Deal Defines Startup’s Long‑Term GTM
Data from 1,043 companies: 70% of them still target the same customer they started with -- 3+ years after their first $10k MRR. Your initial deal size doesn't just shape year one. It gets embedded in your company's DNA. Most startups begin hunting one of four animals (credit: Christoph Janz): 🐭 Hunting mice: ~$10/mo per customer 🐰 Hunting rabbits: ~$100/mo per customer (*most common*) 🦌 Hunting deer: ~$1,000/mo per customer 🐘 Hunting elephants: ~$10,000/mo per customer Once you hit $10k MRR, the GTM locks in: 1. You've built a GTM motion for this buyer (PLG for 🐭, high velocity inbound for 🐰, inside sales for 🦌, enterprise sales for 🐘) 2. You've found the channels that reach them (WoM for 🐭, content & SEO/AEO for 🐰, intent-based outbound for 🦌, events/field for 🐘) 3. You've built onboarding & CS motions to support them 4. You've hired team members with the experience to scale ^^ 5. You've designed the roadmap around them The ChartMogul data shows that you can *possibly* shift one animal upmarket. (🐰 > 🦌 is the most common migration.) But be careful: growth rates are almost always *higher* among companies that kept the same target vs. migrated (🐰 > 🦌 is the exception). You can't YOLO your first 100 customers. --- See the full report here: https://lnkd.in/edjYqqUZ
Scaling Revenue: From $1M to $5B with Strategic Shifts
I haven’t met many (any?) CROs who’ve stayed in their role for a decade, let alone scaled a revenue engine from <$1 million ARR to well north of $5 billion (🤯). Ron Gabrisko at Databricks might be an N of...
Rabbits Lead the Way to First $10k MRR
The initial decision about which customer to target (and how much to charge them) can feel almost arbitrary when you're just trying to hit your first $10k MRR. It's not. Back in 2014, Christoph Janz from Point Nine wrote what...
Precision ABM Wins in 2026: 7‑Step Guide
I’m extremely bullish on account-based GTM motions in 2026. As AI makes generic outreach cheap and ubiquitous, differentiation comes from precision, relevance, and deep context around a small set of high-value accounts. This sounds wonderful on paper until it’s time...
Transform Broken B2B Pricing with Hybrid, Usage Models
If you’re not happy about your pricing, you’re far from alone. Your pricing is probably broken, and here’s what you can do about it. The top B2B pricing challenges according to 230+ SaaS and AI companies: FLAT-FEE SUBSCRIPTION 😬 Challenge:...
AI Continuously Revives Closed‑lost B2B Deals with Signal‑driven Re‑engagement
My favorite AI-native GTM play via brendan short : Continuous closed-lost deal re-engagement. ~80% of B2B deals are closed-lost (source: me). Most of these are *no decision* deals, meaning they could still be in play within the next 12 months....
Marketing Fails when You Don’t Know Your Customer
Why we think we have a marketing problem: - Not enough leads - Not enough MQLs - Not enough pipeline - Not enough marketing activity (blogs, social posts, etc.) - Not enough marketing attribution on that activity - Not enough...
Microsoft Pivots to Hybrid Seat‑plus‑consumption Pricing Model
Microsoft's earnings call just summed up what's happening with seat-based pricing 👀 Satya Nadella said seat licenses are "just entitlement to some consumption" meant to give customers a sense of budget predictability. Said differently, seats aren't dead. But they’re now...
Make Pricing Pages AI‑Ready with Full Transparency
I regret to inform you that you need to change your pricing page (again). It was designed for humans. Now you need to rethink it for AI agents. Humans like simple, easy to understand pricing. We get overwhelmed by having...
Double Down on Top Channels, Stop Experiment Overload
2025 was a year of near-endless channel experimentation. The average software company had 5 core GTM channels & another 5.5 GTM channel experiments. It feels like the volume of work keeps piling up just to achieve the same (or worse)...
Claude Code Unlocks Previously Impossible Feats for 67% GTM Operators
New data: 67% of GTM operators say Claude Code enabled something previously impossible. Not "saved time." Impossible.
Non‑coders in GTM Embrace Claude, Achieving Impossible Results
NEW: GTM operators without formal coding skills are now among the most enthusiastic Claude Code users out there. Here's how they use it ⤵️ I set out to survey 200 GTM operators about how they're using Claude Code and Cowork...
Only 43% SaaS Startups Sustain Growth—Three Keys to Success
New data: Growth endurance in software is down to only 43%. This is a wake-up call for SaaS 👀 - Fewer than 1-in-5 startups maintained or improved their growth rate from 2024 to 2025. - A startup growing between 25-49%...
Figma Monetizes AI Credits, Boosting Stock Surge
Figma is a rare bright spot amidst the SaaSpocalypse. The driver: a new AI monetization strategy that sent the stock price surging. Let's get into it. 1. Figma introduced an AI credit model last December, but they didn't actually enforce...
Create an AI‑Powered CRM in Just 20 Minutes
How to vibecode your own AI CRM in only 20 minutes with Claude ⤵️ We all need a personal CRM, whether we're managing sales, vendors, candidates, customers, investors, or partners. Yet most of us don't want to deal with the...