Three principles to build a scalable SaaS go-to-market strategy

Executive overview

Most SaaS founders jump straight into tactics — emails, ads, content — without knowing what to say or who to say it to. The result: high effort, low conversion.

Three principles, applied in reverse order of how founders typically think about them, fix this. Start with who, then craft the message, then run repeatable activities.

The more specific your ICP, the more effective every downstream go-to-market action becomes.

The three principles

• ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): Define a narrow, specific group with an urgent problem — sized to get you to your next growth stage, not to fill a TAM slide.
• Manifesto: Build your value proposition, messaging, positioning, and narrative on top of the ICP. This is the strategy layer most founders skip.
• Broadway show: A consistent set of activities on specific channels, bringing the manifesto to the ICP every week — then iterating.

Why most founders start in the wrong place

• Activities (emails, ads, SEO, social, product virality) feel actionable, so that's where people begin.
• Every activity eventually forces the same question: what do we say to this person?
• Without a manifesto, activities produce clicks without conversions and emails without replies.
• Jumping to execution without strategy makes everything ten times harder.

Building the manifesto

• Encompasses value proposition, messaging, positioning, and narrative.
• A differentiated manifesto lets you stand out in a noisy market.
• Drives urgency in deals and speaks directly to the right buyer.
• Strategy (manifesto) feeds execution (activities) — not the other way around.

Running the Broadway show

• A Broadway show is not random activity — it is a consistent, repeatable set of actions on chosen channels.
• Run it weekly; keep iterating based on what converts.
• Channel mastery, sequencing, and tracking metrics come after the ICP and manifesto are defined.