Go-To-Market for GeeksHow to fake it ‘til you make it

October 16, 2009

What is Go-To-Market?

• The B-School Answer:

The Problem for Startups

• You may not have the right Product

• You have no idea how to Price it

• You don’t know where to Place it

• You have no money to Promote it

Fight One Battle At A Time

Product: Ship Early, Ship Often

• Get your product in front of people as quickly and as often as possible– Friends & Family– Early adopters

• If you’re charging money, start right away– eBay– Craigslist

For More Detail: Eric Ries

• “The minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”– http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

Price: Necessary, Not Sufficient

• Pricing can hurt the business, but rarely helps (at least for startups)– Price based on value, not cost– Price based on how the market likes to buy

• Purchase vs. License vs. Subscription• Unit pricing vs. Flat rate

– It’s always easier to reduce prices– For self-service products, always test

• eBay, Craigslist, AdWords

Place: Don’t Be Afraid To Sell

You Can’t Avoid Sales

• Distribution Catch-22– The channel only sells what’s already selling

• The Underpants Gnomes Principle– Salesmen can’t tell you what to sell

• (and they can’t sell what they can’t understand)

• Talking To Customers Is A Good Thing– Sale/No Sale doesn’t provide enough info– Customer contact is too valuable to abdicate

Founders Must Learn To Sell

• Talk to real potential customers

• Understand their need *before* you try to solve it– “What problem are you trying to solve?”– “What are you doing about it right now?”– “What would you like to happen?”

• Demonstrate the product and listen to their feedback (instead of arguing)

• Ask for the order!

The Three Types of Sales

• Field Sales (“The Bag Man”)– 6-figure deals, 6-month sales cycles– In-person wining & dining– On-site pilots & sales engineers

• Telesales (“The Boiler Room”)– 4- or 5-figure deals, 0-3 month sales cycles– WebEx demos & time-based trials

• Direct Marketing

Promotion:TechCrunch is Not a Strategy

Money Is Not The Answer

• If you tell a VC, “We need the money for marketing,” you won’t get the money.– Exception: 1999

• You have to prove the model before you ask for money– Exception: Mark Andreesen

Promotion On A Budget

• The old way:– $15K/month for a PR firm– Brief analysts, brief press, wire release– It’s all about relationships & unwritten rules

• The new way:– Do your own PR– Friend/Retweet prominent bloggers, speak at

conferences– It’s all about relationships & unwritten rules

Turn Weakness Into Strength

• You’re unknown– Give folks the chance to “discover” you and

take credit

• You’re playing David & Goliath– Use “retail politics” to reinforce the friendly,

accessible nature of your company• Blogs, Twitter, Facebook are your friends

• You don’t know what you’re doing– Ask for advice and get people to buy in

Last Thoughts

• Don’t strategize, iterate!

• There is no magic formula and every business is different.

• Product alone isn’t enough

• You can more of this than you think…

• …But don’t get too cocky—the market is smarter than all of us.

How To Reach Chris

• Chris Yeh– chris.yeh@pbworks.com– http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com– http://www.asktheharvardmba.com– http://twitter.com/chrisyeh