Six-step go-to-market plan for SaaS founders

Executive overview

Most SaaS founders jump straight to execution — running ads, posting on LinkedIn, hiring marketers — before they've defined where they compete or why customers should choose them. The result is wasted runway and stalled growth.

This framework builds a go-to-market strategy in six steps: define the market and competitive position first, then build messaging around it, then run consistent sales and marketing activities, then iterate on data.

Strategy before execution: getting these foundational decisions right determines whether every downstream activity works or wastes money.

Step 1: Define your target market

• Identify which segment you're going after: SMB, mid-market, or enterprise.
• The segment determines price ceiling, sales complexity, and competitive dynamics.
• Find the white space — where do competitors cluster, and where is the gap?
• Validate that the segment has an urgent, important problem you can solve.
• Start narrow (Amazon started with books); expand once the beachhead is proven.

Step 2: Understand the competitive dynamics

• Determine whether you're entering an existing category or creating a new one.
• Existing category: you must clearly articulate how you're different.
• New category: you must educate the market on the problem before selling the solution.
• Use segment and pricing position together to locate your differentiation (e.g., premium player in a mid-market with no premium option).
• Low-cost SMB players and premium enterprise players face entirely different competitive landscapes — don't conflate them.

Step 3: Define the sales process the market wants

• The market dictates how it wants to buy — don't impose a model based on preference.
• Enterprise buyers with complex needs typically want human contact: sales reps, solutions consultants, demos, services teams.
• SMB buyers paying $9/month expect self-serve; you can't afford salespeople at that price point anyway.
• Options: product-led growth, sales-led, or a hybrid with sales overlay.
• The right model is determined by segment, price point, and buyer behavior — not founder preference.

Step 4: Build the manifesto

• The manifesto is a central document that defines how you communicate value to the market.
• It captures: value proposition, messaging, strategic narrative, and positioning.
• All four elements must connect coherently — they inform everything downstream.
• Downstream uses: lead magnet (8–10 slides), homepage copy, sales deck, demo flow, pitch deck.
• Founders who constantly redo their website lack a manifesto — they have no stable core message to deploy.
• Build multiple iterations to get it right; a strong manifesto has eight interconnected components.

Step 5: Run the Broadway show

• The Broadway show is a consistent, repeatable set of sales and marketing activities run every week.
• The opposite of a Broadway show: randomly switching channels week to week (TikTok, then Facebook ads, then LinkedIn, then SEO) and making no progress.
• Choose channels deliberately based on three criteria:
  1. Speed — channels that give fast feedback (e.g., LinkedIn posts) so you can validate messaging quickly.
  2. Scale — channels that let you reach more of your ICP once messaging is proven.
  3. Mastery — double down on the channels that naturally fit your market; ignore the rest.
• The goal: bring your manifesto to your ICP on a consistent basis to build pipeline and drive revenue.

Step 6: Collect data and iterate

• Companies that track data and iterate consistently outperform those that set and forget.
• Most founders believe they already have an ICP and manifesto — usually they don't, or the versions they have are too shallow to work.
• An effective ICP has 29 specific data points; most founder-built ICPs have far fewer.
• Data flows back into strategy: better ICP → better manifesto → better Broadway show channel selection.
• As channels prove out, hire to take over execution so the founder can focus on scaling the machine.

Bonus step: revisit pricing strategy

• Pricing communicates value — it shapes how buyers perceive you and how you compete.
• Multiple companies in the program 5X'd their prices and saw win rates and growth increase, not decrease.
• Pricing is a lever on par with ICP, manifesto, and channel selection.
• Questions to pressure-test: Are we the low-cost or premium player? Do our plans reflect that? How do we drive upsells and downsells?
• Revamping pricing can reposition you in buyers' minds without changing the product.