Alexander Estner

I help early-stage SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU 👇
1️⃣ GTM Advisory - Work 1-on-1 with me in bi-weekly GTM sprints
2️⃣ GTM Audit - Get a 360° assessment of your current GTM status quo + custom action plan
3️⃣ GTM Content - Bi-weekly newsletter +  Daily LinkedIn posts + Free GTM Library

P.S. You will find the links to all 3 in the featured section.

Among other things, I help you with:
👉 Creating your early/ideal customer profile (ICP)
👉 Working on positioning, messaging & value proposition 
👉 Choosing the right pricing for your business (pricing model, value metric & packaging)
👉 Implementing the right sales strategy (sales-led vs. product-led)
👉 Mastering 2-3 growth channels to continuously generate new deals/trials
👉 Setting up the right tech stack in sales, marketing & customer success
👉 Building your commercial teams.

Send me a DM on LinkedIn or book a free 15-minute intro call to learn more about my offering.

Startup Consultant for B2B SaaS

As a freelance startup consultant, I help early-stage B2B SaaS Startups quickly grow their business with a powerful Growth Strategy 🚀


I work on both, strategic and operational, levels and help you with the following topics.

► For Founders (Launch to Seed Stage):
- Clarify, validate and stress test your business idea
- Win first paying customers and kickstart growth for your SaaS
- Develop and implement a powerful B2B SaaS Growth strategy
- Find product-market fit and close your first funding (business angels & seed)

► For Startups (Seed to Series A Stage):
- Accelerate your growth to 5M€+ ARR
- Review or implement a powerful B2B SaaS growth strategy
- Optimization of direct & indirect growth channels
- Create a growth team mentality, track the right KPIs, and set OKRs

► For more information:
- check out my website (www.alexestner.com)
- subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter for founders & early-stage startups (https://startupbusinesstips.substack.com/)

► Interested?
- Send me a DM on Linkedin

Fundraising still costs founders 15–20 hours every week.
I partnered with Notion to drop the AI Fundraising Kit - a free stack to help startup founders raise with clarity and confidence.

After working with 30+ founders over the last 3 years, I kept hearing the same questions:

→ Which investors should we actually talk to?
→ What does a “good” pitch deck really look like?
→ How do we structure a proper data room?
→ How do we track investor conversations without chaos?

All this is covered in the AI Fundraising Kit.

What's inside 👇

1️⃣ Investor Database (10k+ profiles)
--> including 2000+ early-stage VCs, incubators, and accelerators

2️⃣ 50 real pitch decks
--> From YC, a16z, and Sequoia-backed startups

3️⃣ AI agents for fundraising
--> Ready-to-use Notion agent prompts for:
- creating pitch docs
- logging investor emails
- building a data room

4️⃣ Notion Data room template
→ A clean, investor-ready setup you can use instantly

Plus a big Bonus 💰

$50K+ in free AI tools (Notion, v0, Supabase...):
▫️ 1 Year Framer
▫️ $60 in v0 by Vercel (frontend)
▫️ $300 from Supabase (backend)
▫️ Up to 6 months of Notion Business with AI (run your startup)

If you’re fundraising now, or planning to soon, this saves weeks of work.

👉 You can access your AI Fundraising Kit here: https://lnkd.in/e4zYDVCe

(It’s free — and yes, I’d grab it before that changes.)

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Newsletter

Join 4500+ SaaS Leaders and get actionable content in your inbox: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-gtm-foundation

GTM Foundation

Build your GTM foundation: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-gtm-foundation

Listen to Podcast

Listen to the podcast episode on the 3 stages to 1€ million ARR: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s6e18-the-3-step-gtm-playbook-to-grow-your-saas-from/id1670431932?i=1000713247114

Sales Deck

Build your sales deck with my free sales deck template: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/high-converting-sales-deck

Vetted Tools

Vetted Partners

SaaS GTM Guides

https://www.alexestner.com/#Best-SaaS-GTM-Guides

14 actionable CRM tactics

SaaS Homepage

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-homepage-copywriting-guide

Founder Brand on LinkedIn

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/founder-led-linkedin-guide

Customer Success into Referrals

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexander-estner_how-moritz-weiss-turned-customer-success-activity-7327573567070420992-DkSk?

GTM Audit

https://alexander-estner.webflow.io/services/gtm-advisory#Pricing-Table

ECP to ICP Guide

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/analyze-your-icp

SaaS Vetted Tools

👇GTM templates: https://www.alexestner.com/gtm-templates

360 GTM Audit

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/360-saas-gtm-audit

SaaS Pricing Page Guide

Ultimate SaaS Pricing Page Guide: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-pricing-page

Nocodefounders Newsletter

Read the full article on: https://nocodefounders.beehiiv.com/p/how-to-build-a-strong-gtm-foundation-0-to-1m-arr

6 founders sharing insights

Hear all 6 founders sharing their tips & mistakes: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/6-founders-insights

Experts Tips

📌 From 0 to €1M ARR: 17 Expert Tips Every Founder Should Know: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/17-experts-best-tips

MRRUnlocked Signup

Sign up on mrrunlocked.com to get all tips delivered in your inbox (+ 50+ GTM infographics for free).

LinkedIn Playbook

📌 Get the Founder + Team LinkedIn Playbook for free: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/founder-linkedin-playbook

6 GTM problems

📌 Full breakdown of the 6 GTM problems that keep repeating: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/the-6-gtm-problems

Homepage Teardown

📌 Homepage Teardown of 6 Top SaaS/AI companies: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/homepage-teardowns-what-6-top-saas

Digital Nudging: User Experience positiv beeinflussen

Climate Change, Risks and Challenges

Digital Advertising

The Complete Digital Marketing Course

'Hands-on’ GTM Advisor || I help SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market and go from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial & error || Join 4000+ SaaS leaders & get my free SaaS GTM tactics in your inbox👇

I help early-stage SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market and quickly go from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU
1️⃣ GTM advisory - Work with me 1-on-1 in weekly or bi-weekly deep-dive working sessions to build and execute your powerful GTM strategy.
2️⃣ List of 90+ actionable SaaS Growth Tactics and Free SaaS Growth Strategy Worksheet (Links are in the Highlight section).
3️⃣ Free actionable SaaS growth tips: Daily on LinkedIn and bi-weekly in my newsletter (read by 2300+ SaaS leaders)

Bonus: Sponsor my newsletter & reach 2300+ early-stage SaaS founders/leaders/decision makers.

Among other things, I help you with:
- Creating your ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Working on positioning, messaging & value proposition 
- Choosing the right pricing for your business (pricing model, value metric & packaging)
- Implementing the right sales strategy (sales-led vs. product-led)
- Mastering 2-3 growth channels to continuously generate new deals or/and trials
- Setting up the right tech stack in sales, marketing & customer success
- Building your commercial teams.

Send me a DM on Linkedin or book a free 15min virtual coffee to learn more about my offering.

------------
ABOUT ME:

Hi, I'm Alexander Estner - but please just call me Alex.

I'm based in Munich, Germany 🇩🇪 and I've spent my whole career in the startup environment with now more than 10 years of experience in SaaS and marketplaces from being the first commercial employee of a fast-growing SaaS-enabled-marketplace to being a Co-founder of a SaaS startup and now supporting other early-stage founders on their journey from pre-revenue to the first €1 million ARR.

Over the last 2 years, I've helped 25+ SaaS companies grow their business faster with a powerful GTM strategy - as a growth advisor, consultant, or interim manager.

What I care about: 

- Brainstorming new business ideas 💡
- Sustainability, healthy food, and barista coffee ☕.
- Traveling, well-being, and all kinds of sports like skiing, beach volleyball, yoga, and fitness 🧘‍♂️
- Books & podcasts about startups, leadership, personal development, & positive mindset 📚

------------
💡 Currently getting inspired for a new startup

Go-to-market in 2024 is tough.

My best SaaS GTM Guides help you master GTM in 2024.

1️⃣ The Ultimate Ideal Customer Profile Framework
2️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Messaging Framework
3️⃣ High-converting SaaS Homepage template
4️⃣ The perfect Sales Deck template
5️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Pricing Guide
6️⃣ The Best Outbound Tech Stack for SaaS
7️⃣ The Ultimate Content Marketing Guide for SaaS

The 7 Best SaaS GTM Guides 2024

The free Workbook helped 3000+ SaaS leaders build their SaaS GTM Strategy.

The Ultimate SaaS GTM Strategy Workbook [Free]

Grow faster from 0€ to 3€ million ARR with 100+ actionable & proven SaaS Growth Tactics (helped 200+ SaaS leaders)

100+ actionable SaaS growth tactics

Get weekly 3 actionable SaaS GTM strategies and tactics to grow your B2B SaaS business from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀.

MRR Unlocked 🚀 | Alexander Estner | Substack

RevGenius is a group of revenue-generating sales and marketing professionals brought together to learn, share, support, and grow with each other. You can consider us your alt work family!

The Mentoring Club is a pro bono platform where mentors and mentees meet and can schedule mentoring sessions. You can schedule a free mentoring session with me here: https://www.mentoring-club.com/the-mentors/alexander-estner

Notion

Helping SaaS & AI founders build and execute their GTM foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial and error | ‘Hands-on’ GTM Advisor👇

Tactics are great, but only if you have a strong GTM foundation.

When I work with founders on their way to 1€ million ARR,

we usually start building the foundation.

This includes:

Clarity...

1️⃣ on who you target (ICP)

Focus is key here. You can't afford having 2+ ICPs.

Every segment requires a different motion.

2️⃣ on what your product is and how it's different

This is your positioning anchor.

You can lead with a product category (e.g. CRM tool) or a usecase (sending SMS to clients).

This helps prospets to understand for what they need your product.

Once this is clear, you can add your differentiator (against the dominant status quo).

This might be: niche, unique feature, lite, premium...

3️⃣ on how to communicate this

This is your messaging. Your words need to resonate with your buyer.

Your website, demos, emails, sales decks, case studies all need to be aligned.

They become your core GTM assets that align your ICP, positioning & messaging.

4️⃣ on your GTM motion

Are you self-service / product-led or grow via demos (sales led).

You can't run both in parallel (too early). 

So your market, ICP and pricing defines your GTM motion. 

5️⃣ Pricing

In this phase, pricing is less about 'profit hacking' and more about willigness to pay.

You should treat pricing iterative. Key is to find the right value metric.

Build your pricing tiers (packaging).

The more clarity you have on these, the easier becomes the execution.

This includes choosing the right GTM channels.

👉 Which part needs most of your attention?

📌 P.S. Send me a DM if you want the full GTM foundation guide.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as GTM Advisor!

I'm deeply impressed what Yanick Frehner Ingmar Feldhoff Ramon Vorich Otto Attila Jonathan V. and the team achieved within a few months.

In November, I did a GTM audit for them.

They were doing already quite good.

But I uncovered a few areas that need their attention.
Since then, they executed crazy fast 🔥 

And now we decided to work together for the next months.

Excited about what the next months will bring together.

Co-Founder & CEO @ Leto GmbH | AI-Powered Automation | Zukunft der Arbeit gestalten

Vertriebsleiter | Leto AI | KI-gestützte Automatisierung für mehr Produktivität & Wachstum

CMO @ Leto AI

AI driven - PHP & Laravel Developer | Fullstack

I believe every B2B SaaS company has its own 'sales process'
So it's not about copying THE one.

But what you need to do is define your 'sales process'.

If you don't know what your sales process looks like,
you can't guide your prospects from first touchpoint to closing.

No need to overengineer too early.

Define:

✅ What is your primary CTA

--> Do you want them to book a call? Or do a free trial?

✅ What happens in the first call?

--> Is is a short discovery call? or already a demo?

✅ What defines a qualified lead?

--> What are your criteria for a MQL and SQL.

✅ When do you open a deal in your CRM?

--> Clear entry criteria

✅ What are the next steps after the call?

--> Do you do a technical deep dive? or a trial phase?

✅ What happens after closed won?

--> How do you handle the onboarding?

✅ How do you work with existing customers?

--> Monitor churn alerts? Identify expansion potential? 

Write down the steps your ICP take. 

👇 How is your sales process?

I’ve done 15+ GTM audits across:

different markets
different ACVs
different stages (0€–1M ARR)

The problems repeat.

The 6 repeating GTM problems I see.

1️⃣ ICP is defined, but not enforced

2️⃣ Positioning lacks a clear anchor

3️⃣ Sales demos are product tours

4️⃣ No clearly defined sales process

5️⃣ GTM assets are too generic

6️⃣ Content without strategy

Not because founders don’t work hard.
But because GTM is treated as disconnected tasks.

Not as a system.

👇 Which GTM area feels most fragmented for you right now? 

--- 
📌 Full breakdown of The 6 GTM Problems That Keep Repeating in the latest MRR Unlocked newsletter (link in comments).

Over the last few months, I’ve done over 15 GTM audits across various B2B SaaS companies.

Different markets.
Different ACVs.
Different stages (all between 0€ and 1€ million ARR).

Yet the same GTM problems keep showing up.

Not because founders are sloppy.
Not because the product is bad.
Not because they don’t execute fast enough.

But because GTM is treated as a collection of independent activities, not a system.

Which is why many founders feel busy, ship constantly, and still struggle to create momentum.

Here are the 6 GTM mistakes I see over and over again.

👇 What GTM problem do you see?

---
📌 Yesterday, the first mrrunlocked.com newsletter episode went live, where we deep-dived into these 6 GTM problems. Link to the episode is in the comments.

One of those bittersweet solopreneur moments today.

After 12 months of working closely together, my content freelancer Himani Sheth decided to take a full-time role.

And honestly?
I’m very happy for her.
And also... a little sad.

Over the last year, she helped me with:

--> My LinkedIn content

--> The mrrunlocked newsletter episodes

--> Getting sponsors

--> And a lot of behind-the-scenes work that most people never see

What I loved most about our journey:

In September 2024, she just reached out.
No pitch deck. No fancy intro.

She said:

“I’ve learned a lot from your content and would love to work with you.”

I checked her grid.
It impressed me.

We jumped on a few calls, aligned on expectations, and decided it was a good fit.

The rest is history.

This is also a reminder:
👉 Sometimes the best collaborations don’t come from job posts
👉 They come from people who already care about your work

Now, I’m looking for someone who can replace her.

Which, of course, is not really possible 🙂

But if you:

--> Love writing (LinkedIn + long form guides)

--> Care deeply about quality

--> And enjoy working closely with a solopreneur

Feel free to reach out (or tag someone great).

And to Himani:
Thank you for everything and good luck in your next chapter. 
You’ve earned it ❤️

Content marketing for B2B founders and solopreneurs | Influencer Marketing | Ex- VC

If you're SaaS/AI founder planning to launch new product pages on your website, we have something for you 👇

Quick reminder.

Your homepage is

❌ NOT a detailed page about how your product works.

❌ NOT a page purely on 1 specific use case or 1 specific feature.

Instead,

✅ That’s the job of product pages

Compared to your homepage, they come with a few benefits:

1️⃣ Homepage visitors find information that matches their specific needs quickly

2️⃣ Sales and support teams share more information about a specific feature in a snackable format

3️⃣ Search engines and LLMs understand the core capabilities of your product and recommend your tool in their answers.

You can have 3 different types of product pages:

1️⃣ Feature pages

2️⃣ Use-case pages

3️⃣ Customer segment pages (Persona/Teams, Company type, Industry pages)

Each of these pages has a slightly different focus.

✅ Feature pages and Use-case pages focus on ‘how it works’.

✅ Persona/Teams, company type, and industry pages focus on ‘Who it’s for and how this type of audience benefits from using the product’.

What are the best product pages you know?

---
P.S. If you want the 'Perfect Product Pages Guide', send me DM.

Everyone says you can't run a sales-led motion with <10k€ ACV

Unless you...

If you're a founder on the way from 0€ to your first 1-3€ million ARR, it can be fine to be sales-led. 

Because ACV alone is not an indicator if your motion is healthy or not.

At the end, you need to look at:

1️⃣ CAC payback period (fully loaded)

How long does it take you to make money (and recover your CACs).

At the early stage, I would say
🟠 Everything below 12 months is acceptable
🟢 Below 6 months is great.

This might look a bit different if you're bootstrapped.

2️⃣ ARR signed per AE

If you set healthy quotas (e.g. 4-6x on OTE), it can be fine to scale with 'more humans' - at least for the first 2-3 reps.

All this, of course, requires an efficient sales motion.

Win rates over 20%.
Sales cycles < 90 days
Mostly inbound-driven demos.

I'm not saying that PLG or sales-assisted PLG is wrong.

I just say that sales-led can still be okay if you're early.

What do you think?

If your GTM isn’t working, this might be why:

You never made a real positioning decision.

No clear:
• ICP
• category
• competitor set

And without that:
→ your content lacks edge
→ your LinkedIn profile is vague
→ your outreach doesn’t convert

Founders often say:
“I don’t want to be boxed in.”

Reality:
You’re already boxed in by indecision.

Positioning is a bet.
Execution is how you validate it.

Take the bet.
Then improve it.

P.S. I'm launching soon my new ICP & Positioning Framework. Want early access? Drop me a DM.

We all know competitor comparison pages, but CloudTalk is the only one I saw doing this on their homepage.

In crowded markets, Buyers evaluate different vendors.
You will NOT be the only one they check out.

So this is your chance to add your POV.

If you don't, someone else will do it.

And a very common way to do so is to have dedicated landing pages for competitor comparisons.

Either visible on the website footer.
Or completely hidden.

But I think if you know that buyers anyway compare you against your biggest competitors.

You can add them to your homepage.

I've seen Cloudtalk doing this.

And I think it's smart.

👇 What's your take?

P.S. If you want to learn how to position yourself against your competitors, send me a DM and I'll give you access to my new positioning&messaging framework.

CloudTalk

If you already know how to reach your first 1€ million ARR, these slides are NOT for you ⛔

GTM Foundation Infographics

Sometimes the best planning happens away from the laptop.
I unplugged for 2 weeks.
And it gave me absolute clarity on 2026.

I spent unplugged,
in nature, hiking, slowing down, and being fully present with my wife.

No notifications.
No endless tabs.
Just long walks and clear thoughts.

And while I disconnected from work...
I reconnected with direction.

I used that time to plan my 2026.

And one thing became very clear:

I don't want to add more.

But rather less. More focus.

👉 I’m doubling down on GTM Foundations for AI & SaaS founders.

Not hacks.
Not shiny growth tactics.
But the fundamentals that actually compound.

This means a stronger focus on:

--> Defining who your product is really for

--> Sharpening positioning & messaging that cuts through noise

--> Designing a GTM motion that fits your stage

A few things that are coming soon:

--> ICP Framework V2
--> Sales Demo Blueprint
--> Positioning Framework

More on this soon.

👇 What topics should I cover in 2026?

If you're doing product demos for your SaaS/AI, this one is for you.

Most B2B demos fail not because of the product,
but because the structure is weak.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been building something to fix exactly that:

👉 The B2B SaaS Sales Demo Toolbox

It includes:

1️⃣ Demo Structure (1-pager)
A clear, repeatable flow for strong demos:
Intro → Time Check → Agenda → Discovery → Buy-In Summary → Tailored Demo → Recap → Next Steps

2️⃣ Sales Demo Script
Ready-to-use blurbs for every step of the demo
(no more “uhm... so yeah” moments)

3️⃣ Demo Coaching Feedback Template
A simple way to give (or receive) structured, actionable feedback

4️⃣ 2-Minute Demo Video Script
Perfect if you want a short sales/demo video without overthinking it

I’ve already tested this with 10 SaaS & AI founders over the last weeks.

Right now, I’m opening early access:
✅ Free
🔒 In exchange for qualified feedback

Heads-up:
I plan to turn this into a €50+ product soon once it’s polished.

So this is likely the only time it’ll be available for free.

👉 Want early access?
Comment “Demo Toolbox” and I’ll send it over.
,

One of the biggest GTM mistakes I see founders make:

They wait for perfect data before positioning.

But positioning creates the data.

The moment you decide:
• “We help X”
• “With problem Y”
• “Instead of solution Z”

Suddenly:
→ lead lists get easier
→ your website writes itself
→ content ideas appear
→ competitor research makes sense

Yes, it’s a bet.
Yes, it might be wrong.

If your GTM feels stuck, ask yourself:
👉 “Where am I avoiding a clear bet?”

P.S. Drop me a DM if you want my new Positioning Framework.

I teamed up with web-design expert Maximilian Fleitmann for a teardown of  6 fast-growing SaaS and AI companies.

We reviewed Attio, Clay, Jimo, Fin AI, Sastrify, and introw.io.

We broke down
✅ what works
⛔ what doesn’t, 
🔥 and what we’d change immediately, 

turning all insights into a practical Figma file with concrete comments you can directly apply to your own homepage.

Comment 'teardown' to get the homepage teardown.

🎨 Design-as-a-Service @ magier | 🏰 Co-Founder @ Wizard Ventures ► Building an Internet Holding

Attio

Clay

Jimo

Sastrify

introw.io

Hot take: A bad positioning is better than no positioning.

Here’s why 👇

Positioning means deciding:
1️⃣ what your product is
--> Our product is X. E.g. Our product is a social listening tool. Or our product help founders build a personal brand...

2️⃣ who it’s for
--> You take a target market decision. 
We help founders. 
We support agencies. 
We focus on logistic companies.

3️⃣ why it’s different
-->Who you compete against

While doing so, it becomes clear what your competitive clusters are. The status quo and a few other ways that they consider.

That’s a bet.

And while you take a bet, a few things are getting easier.
--> You can easily build lead lists 
--> Know what you write on your website 
--> Can come up with a content calendar 
--> Research unhappy customers of your competitors 
--> Can optimize your LinkedIn profile 
... you get the point.

And most founders avoid betting because they “don’t have enough data”.

But without a positioning bet:
→ your GTM is fuzzy
→ your website is generic
→ your content is random
→ your ICP doesn’t recognize themselves

Yes, your first positioning will probably be wrong.

That’s fine.

Your job isn’t to be right immediately.
Your job is to decide, validate, iterate.

Bad positioning > no positioning.

Agree or disagree?

I’ve asked GTM advisor Björn W. Schäfer what founders misunderstand about ICP. Let’s hear his advice 👇

ICP clarity is not a workshop. It’s a discipline.

Most founders think they know their ICP once they hit early traction. They don’t. They just have a few happy customers.

Segment by outcome:
Who gets the fastest and most measurable ROI?

Look where deals close fastest, with the lowest discount and fastest time-to-value. That’s your real ICP.

Build an Anti-ICP list. Knowing who not to sell to saves massive effort.

👉 Want to hear 15 more expert tips. Read the latest MRR Unlocked episode. Link is in the comments.

Hands-on Co-Pilot For B2B SaaS & AI Founders & Revenue Leaders Scaling From 1–10M ARR

Me: "We're working in 2-week GTM sprints"
Founder: "Okay, but what does that look like practically?"

Below you see a real example of a GTM sprint board with one of my clients (Thomas Moussafer  Andy M. ).

We usually use Notion for sprint planning.

And a very simple Kanban board.

To keep things organized, we use:
--> Backlog
--> Ideas for next sprint
--> This sprint planned
(here we add all the initiatives that we want to focus on in the next 2 weeks)
--> In progress
--> Done this sprint

Each Initiative comes with an owner, deadline and related topic cluster.

Within a card, we share:
- templates & best practices
- updates & drafts
- reviews

It's 100% not the most sophisticated project management ever.

But I am 100% convinced.
Keep things simple.
Clarity wins.

👇Let me know. Do you like more 'behind the scenes' content?

---
P.S. Want to improve your user onboarding? Check out Jimo

Co-Founder @Jimo.ai | the AI onboarding platform for fast-scaling B2B SaaS | Trusted by 1000+ companies

One sprint item last week:

Launching evergreen signal-based outbound for my client Jimo

In 2026, I want to share more content about the actual work I do with the founders in my GTM advisory.

The core concept:
--> 2 week GTM sprints
--> Each sprint comes with 3-5 initiatives 

So one sprint item last week was to launch signal-based outreach campaigns.

Step 1 was to decide on the relevant signals.

In our case, we decided on 4 key signals:

--> Negative reviews on competitor tools
(they operate in a highly crowded red ocean)

--> Lookalike of happy customers
(reaching out to companies very similar to their happy customers)

--> Champion getting hired
(We know if they are hiring 'the champion role' the topic the tool helps fix is hot)

--> Website visitors
(proactively reaching out to ICP contacts that are visiting their website)

Step 2

Setting up the tracking of these signals. And pushing relevant leads to the outreach tool (this time GetSales.io - most of the time I recommend lemlist)

--> Snitcher for website visitor

--> manual g2, capterra research for negative reviews (any good tips to track these signals?)

--> LinkedIn job search for hiring (and using Cargo 🧱 to automate this)

--> Ocean.io for lookalike

Step 3 

Building a LinkedIn DM campaign with (2-4 DM) for each signal.

---
Evergreen signal-based outbound is one of 4 key initiatives that we bet on in Q1. 

👇What are your best signal-based outreach campaigns?

GetSales.io

lemlist

Snitcher

Cargo 🧱

Ocean.io

Alper Yurder 🤝

Co-founder & CRO of Flowla, interactive deal rooms your buyers LOVE 👉 Follow our podcast #salestherapy by Flowla 🎙️ on spotify

Most B2B founders at $500K-5M ARR hit the same wall. Great product. Scaled with founder-led everything. Now you need to enter new markets, get the word out, and build a system that scales without you at every step.I’ve been there. 

As a founder & as a CRO/CMO.

At Flowla, I was the co-founder who became the sales team then marketing. Hired twice. Failed twice. £30K gone. 

The problem wasn't the people - I hadn't built the system.So I built it. Scaled to $1M ARR with zero paid ads. Just founder brand, content, and systems that compound. Flowla became a sales tool used by hundreds of sales teams, so I understand GTM from both sides: selling and enabling sellers.

Before that: Accenture &; Bain → MindGym (employee #20 → IPO entering new sectors) → General Assembly Expansion to UK &amp; Europe (acquired) → Witco GM for International Markets (seed to Series A, scaled UK & US from scratch).

Today I advise VC portfolio companies and teach GTM at leading European accelerators.

I run Forte Growth. We help B2B SaaS founders go from GTM chaos to predictable revenue in 120 days - system and strategy first, then inbound and outbound execution with my team.

How? Modular GTM engines - positioning, content, outbound, sales process - built with you in 12 weeks, then transferred so it runs without you. 

Or we stay on for ongoing execution. 

Check out our case studies &; testimonials from founders we worked with to date.

For founders who want a partner, not just a playbook, I offer fractional CMO / GTM leadership.

If you've built a great product but the market doesn't see it yet, DM me.

If you're entering a new market and don't want to burn £100Ks on failed hires and big-cheque CROs/ CMOs, DM me.

If you're a VC or Accelerator and need someone to guide your portfolio. Let's talk.

Co-Founder

Hey there, I'm an ex-sales leader turned co-founder, and I spend all day sharing ideas, solving problems and having #salestherapy with sales professionals from every sector and level. If you're after sales and G2M advice, you've come to the right place! And believe me, I've been through it all - from building SDR teams to closing multi-million dollar deals and everything in between. So, let's have some fun and chat sales!

💪 French PropTech. Series A. Zero UK presence. 

8 months later: £1M pipeline in the UK.

Here's what happened.

5 years ago today, I was handed a first man on the ground job: expand a French proptech into the UK and US. 

The problem? Nobody there had ever heard of us.

Nobody knew who we were.

We tried everything: 
👉 PR agency at £5K/month 
👉 SDR outreach 
👉 Cold emails 
👉 LinkedIn ads

Nothing worked like we wanted.

Response rate: low, closing not yet.

THE BREAKTHROUGH:

I mapped the market. And realized our strategy was off.

My immediate addressable market was only around 1,000 commercial real estate buyers or so.

They all go to the same real estate events. They all read the same magazines. 

They all know each other.

Spray-and-pray wasn't going to work.

So I changed the approach:

👉 Be at those events in Leeds, Manchesyer 
👉 Be in those magazines they read 
👉 Build trust before selling 
👉 Let inbound warm the outbound

Every week, step-by-step, we built presence in THEIR world.

Not ours. Theirs.

AFTER:

8 months later: 
✅ £1M Pipeline in the UK 
✅ 20+ enterprise conversations 
✅ 6 channels operational 
✅ UK team hired and trained

First deals closed in 4 months then in 8 we went to + £200K ARR with a system built generating consistent pipeline. 

This is the real world. 

No non-sense to the moon numbers for a product where ACV is 20K and sales cycle was traditionally 12 months,

The lesson:

Before you scale your sales effort in a new market, map where your buyers actually are.

Go there. Be visible. Build presence.

👉 And more importantly. Keep doing the right things every week!

Every week iterate-improve- build further!

👉 What market are you trying to enter? Where do YOUR buyers hang out?

Alper Yurder

Founder @ Forte | Cofounder-level GTM for B2B founders scaling from $1M to $10M ARR | Former SaaS Co-Founder | 20 startups, $200M pipeline + $60M Revenue (1 IPO, 1 Exit)

🚀 8 months ago, Forte was a one-man show.
Me, a laptop, and a hypothesis that B2B founders needed GTM systems not more tactics. 

1️⃣ 12 clients 
2️⃣ 5 fractional engagements 
3️⃣ 7 founders in coaching
4️⃣ And dozens of founders I touched in some shape and form 

later, we're ready to rock 2026!

🚀 New products launching next week
🙏 Working with B2B founders across UK, EU, and US. 
🙏 Connected to some of the best VCs and accelerators in the ecosystem. 

Building something I'm genuinely proud of.

Still figuring a lot out. But the foundation is real now.

Which means... we need more people.

Alin, Fatih, Boris based out of London, Sofia, Istanbul and I - all over the place! are looking for our new colleagues to join us!

We're hiring for two roles:

Content Specialist - LinkedIn content, lead magnets, blogs, visuals, video. Master AI tools like Claude, Gemini, Napkin. Work directly with me and founder clients.

AI-Led SDR / GTM Engineer - Build prospecting workflows with Clay, Apollo, Sales Nav. Engineer outbound systems that actually work. Learn the AI sales stack before everyone else.

Both roles: Remote, part-time with potential to grow into full-time if you like.

You won't be watching from the sidelines. You'll be building this with me.

👉 DM me or email alper@fortegrowth.co

p.s. Grateful to every founder who trusted me early. You know who you are.

Cofounder-level GTM for B2B startups scaling from <​$1M to $10M+ | Former SaaS Co-Founder & CRO | 20 startups, $60M closed, 1 IPO, 1 Exit | First SQLs in 60 days, bespoke system that scales by month 4

Join us at Forte 

💡 There's an emerging pattern in VC right now.

I was at the HubSpot for Startups' GTM event last month with investors from early stage VCs 

Same priority from all of them:

Great product people. Strong technical founders. AI and deeptech expertise.

Sitar from Connect put it bluntly: "We're obsessed with product founders. Technical is ideal, but product is a must."

Luke added: "At Series A, at least one founder needs to deeply understand the customer. That's what creates defensibility."

Will made another point: "For GTM, it's much better if that experience comes from the sector. If you've sold to defense or chips before, you get it."

Their logic: GTM can be fixed. Product can't.

And they're not wrong.

Then Gamma's founder got on stage.

He shared the moment they had to choose: invest in marketing or double down on product.

They chose product.

His logic: "If people aren't talking about your product organically, marketing won't fix that."

It worked. Gamma is everywhere now.

So yes. Product comes first.

But here's where it gets tricky.

GTM can be fixed. But not with just any hire.

I've seen this play out too many times.

Technical founder builds something great.
Raises money.
Hires a "Head of Sales" or "Marketing Lead."
Expects them to figure it out.

6 months later: nothing.

Not because the hire was bad.
Because GTM at early stage needs co-founder level ownership.

Someone who's in the trenches.
Someone who can make decisions without asking permission.
Someone who treats GTM like product. Test. Iterate. Improve.

A hire runs a playbook.
A co-founder builds the playbook.

That's the gap most technical founders don't see until it's too late.

Product first. Always.

But when it's time to go to market, don't just hire for GTM.

Find someone who owns it like a founder.

Brilliant sessions from Sitar Teli, Luke Smith, Will Wells, Uthish Ranjan among others.

Thanks to Anna Gordon and HubSpot for Startups for bringing this together. One of the best GTM events I've been to in London.

🤖 I've been running GTM workshops for VCs and accelerator portfolios for a year now. 👉 And I realize: While we are obsessed with AI tools, the "human" sales leaders I talk to are struggling with:

- How do I get my team to turn relations into business?

- How do I get them to follow up consistently?

- How do I build a sales process that actually works for my team, AI or not?

Last week I ran a workshop with the Tenity team on exactly this.

Tenity connects corporates with startups across Europe and MENA.

I work with their startups on B2B sales, growth and GTM.

👉 But like most teams, they wanted a framework to do it with more intention. A refresh of what sales means, why it's not a dirty word, how to do it better.

A nice change for me, from mentoring startups to mentoring the mentors :)

We covered sales essentials in 2 hours with 40 slides. Bit much, I accept!

Here's what we covered:

✅ The 30-second pitch: Problem. Solution. Proof. Ask. No jargon. Practice until it's natural.

✅ Matching your message to awareness: Most people give an Unaware prospect a Product Aware pitch. Then wonder why it doesn't land.

✅ Each channel has ONE job: LinkedIn posts build trust. Comments build reach. DMs book meetings. Email creates awareness at scale. Stop using every channel for "lead gen."

✅ The daily habit that compounds 5 new connections. 5 meaningful comments. 1 real conversation. That's 15 minutes. Do it for 30 days. Watch what happens.

✅ Consistency beats intensity: If your TAM is 1000 buyers. Don't run spam campaigns. Know your buyer exactly and show up every day!
 None of this requires fancy AI workflows.

👉 Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of AI. We use 5-10 AI tools weekly for all our workfows at Forte

🤖 We build AI workflows for our clients to do GTM better and faster.

But first thing first, sales requires clarity on fundamentals and the discipline to execute.

👉 If you want the workshop slides, drop a comment or DM me. Happy to share.

👉 If you're a VC or an accelerator and would like me to run a workshop for your portfolio, send a DM

As usual great pleasure being in the company of you Tenity and thanks for inviting me to run this workshop for your team Eda Kaan Paolo Elif Ilayda Sabina Hilal Aysude

❌ Your outbound isn't broken. Your inbound is.
👉 And until you fix it, every cold email is fighting uphill.

Here's what I see constantly:

Founder at £1-2M ARR. Pipeline is inconsistent. Solution: "Let's scale outbound."

Hire SDRs. Buy tools. Send emails.

Response rate: 1-2%.

Then they blame the SDRs. Or the messaging. Or the tools.

But here's the truth: It's not your SDR or your messaging that doesn't work.

It's that nobody knows who you are.

You send messages, nobody knows you. It's cringe.

When you have inbound working:

Your name shows up in their feed before your email hits their inbox

They've already seen you solve problems like theirs

The cold email isn't cold anymore

When you send a DM, it actually works

The math:

Cold outbound to strangers = 1-2% response rate

Warm outbound to people who've engaged with your content = 15-30%

Same effort. 10x the result.

This is how you do it: Build your inbound. Build your presence. Then when you send that DM, it lands.

I did the same at series-A proptech Witco: 200+ enterprise conversations. Not spray-and-pray. Content that warmed the market first.

Inbound is the best outbound. 

Same system.

LinkedIn is cringe. 
Founder brand is cringe. Posting is cringe!
Until it's not 👉 Until your buyers discover you and book meetings.

And you build a $1M pipeline from it.

My friends tell me this all the time.

I used to think the same thing.

Then we built businesses on it.

At Flowla: £1M ARR pipeline. Zero paid ads. Just LinkedIn.

At Witco: We were paying a PR agency £5K/month. I started writing myself with one content person. Built £2M in pipeline in 180 days.

Here's what nobody wants to admit: It works.

Not the performative nonsense. The actual system.

20 likes? 5 comments?

Sure. If they're your buyers!

LinkedIn is a trust-building machine. Every post is a conversation with hundreds of potential buyers. Every comment is a relationship starting. Every piece of value compounds.

But most founders get it backwards.

They post company updates nobody asked for. 

They share "we're hiring!" announcements. 

They treat it like a press release channel.

Then after 2 weeks of crickets, they decide LinkedIn is cringe.

That's not LinkedIn failing. That's running tactics without a system.

Simple formula to build a pipeline on linkedin:

✅ Record your sales calls and what your buyers ask you
✅ Write your thoughts into posts -> which then become your blog -> your SEO -> engine for your paid ads!
✅ Turn it into thought leadership and content you share from this channel and others 
✅ Pick 3-5 topics you can speak to from real experience 
✅ Treat every comment like a warm intro

The best outbound is inbound. And LinkedIn is where unknown B2B companies become known.

❌ You don't need 1000 leads.
✅ You need a system that finds, converts, and multiplies the 5 buyers you have.

👉 Launching from zero?
👉 Entering a new market?
👉 Expanding to a new country?

Same system.

STEP 1: Message-Market Fit

Talk to 30 people. Don't pitch.

"I'm building something for [ICP]. Trying to understand [problem]."

Listen. Take notes. Use their words.

The goal isn't leads.

It's learning how they describe the problem.

That language becomes your website. Your outreach. Your pitch.

STEP 2: Demand Generation

Now you know the words. Use them.

Post content that speaks their language.
Comment where your ICP hangs out.
Send outreach that sounds like them, not you.

You're not generating "awareness."

You're generating trust.

STEP 3: Sales-Market Fit

Some will say "let me know when it's ready."

Others will say "can I see it now?"

Focus on the second group.

Close 5 paying customers.

Not pilots. Not free trials. Paying.

Money is the only real validation.

STEP 4: Build the Playbook

Document what worked.

Which message converted?
Which channel performed?
Which objection kept coming up?

Your first 5 deals are your playbook.

Now you can multiply.

THE SYSTEM:

Message-Market Fit → Demand Gen → Sales-Market Fit → Playbook.

That's how you go from 0 to 5.

And from 5 to 50.

This is what we build with founders in 12 weeks.

Check out the slides for the first phase, and drop a comment if you find this content useful

First buyers in a new market

🔗 I ran a GTM webinar with Ekky and Rob from Scribe. Link in comments

50+ early-stage founders joined. One question came up 3 times:

👉 "I sent this to 200 people and only 2 replied." "Noone replied" "What's a good reply rate?" and so on.

While we do have industry standards for reply rates. that's not the main issue.

So I ask: do you know why?

Is it the product? Is it your messaging? Your positioning? Your targeting?

The answer is almost always the same: "Not sure."

Here's the thing:

"Nobody likes my product" is almost never true.

So there's a GTM issue somewhere. You just can't put your finger on it.

3 things I shared:

1. GTM is more than sending 1000 emails hoping for 1 meeting
👉 Outbound only works with inbound 
👉 Trust is the basis of sales 
👉 Authority & credibility are the bases of product marketing 
👉 Treat your GTM like your product. Test. Iterate. Improve.

2. There's a buyer for every product
The problem is rarely your product. It's usually messaging, positioning, or targeting.

3. Product-market fit isn't a moment. It's a moving target.

It evolves. It sharpens. It gets clearer over time.

GTM is the same. You iterate on it just like product & tech.

Treat go-to-market like a product problem, not just a sales problem.

Drop a 1, 2, or 3. Which one are you struggling with?

Full recording in comments.

💰 There's $500K+ pipeline hidden in your LinkedIn.

No ads. No massive following. No cold DMs to strangers.

Here's the system we've built for 5 startups in the last 6 months.

Every one of them generated new pipeline within 90 days.

Quick tactics, and a strategy that compounds over time.

STEP 1: Fix Your Profile (It's a Landing Page)

👉 Headline: Who you help + how (not your title) 
👉 Banner: Branded visual, crisp messaging 
👉 About: Speak to your ICP's pain 
👉 Featured: Pin 1-2 key posts or wins 
👉 CTA: "DM me X if you want Y"

STEP 2: Comment First, Post Second

👉 Identify 5-10 creators your ICP follows 
👉 Comment daily with real takes 
👉 Your comments = borrowed reach 
👉 Warm up the algorithm before you post

STEP 3: Connect Like a Human
👉 View their profile
👉 Like + comment on something real 
👉 Send connection with context 
👉 Follow up with value, not a pitch

STEP 4: The Conversion Loop
👉 Post high-trust content (POV, proof, playbooks) 
👉 Comment under ICP posts 
👉 DM warm engagers 
👉 Offer value. Book call. Close deal.

The best outbound is disguised as inbound.

I put the full playbook in a Notion doc. Profile templates. DM scripts. Content calendar. The whole system.

Comment "pipeline" and I'll send it over.

What's the one thing stopping you from doing this daily?

👉 Entering a new market? Trying to find new buyers?
❌ Don't scale. Test. 

Most leaders I work with want to skip this step. They go straight to: 
👉 Hiring SDRs 
👉 Running paid ads 
👉 Building SEO content 
👉 Signing BD partnerships

6 months later: "It's not working."

Here's what they missed:

LinkedIn isn't just a posting platform. It's a GTM testing lab.

5 things to validate before scaling anywhere else:

1) Message-market fit → before cold email
2) Content themes → before SEO or YouTube
3) Outbound hooks → before SDR scripts
4) Partnership signals → before formal BD
5) Distribution allies → before paid amplification

Why LinkedIn?

24-hour feedback. Real buyers. Free.

Test here. Scale everywhere.

I made a carousel breaking down each one. ↓ Save it. Share it.

linkedin testin to enter a new market

👉 A founder asked me last week:
"How many LinkedIn messages should I send? 10 a week? 100?"

My answer: "What's working right now?"

"I don't know."

That's the problem.

Most founders doing outbound have no idea what "good" looks like.
👉 What's a normal reply rate? 
👉 How long before you change the message? 
👉 When do you scale vs. iterate? 
👉 How many touches before giving up?

They're not missing tactics. They're missing benchmarks.

Here's what I tell founders:
Send 50 messages with one approach. Track replies. Track objections. If reply rate is under 5%, change the message. If objections repeat, your positioning is off.

That's it.

The metric isn't "more messages." The metric is "signal per message."

Quick reference:
👉 Under 5% reply rate = change your message 
👉 Same objection 10x = change your positioning 
👉 No responses after 100 = wrong ICP or wrong channel 
👉 Good responses but no meetings = weak CTA

Stop asking "how much?"

Start asking "what's the data telling me?"

—

P.S. If you've sent 200 messages and can't tell me what the patterns are, you don't have an outbound problem. You have a tracking problem.

🚀 Let's make 2026 the year you stop wasting 18 months on GTM. Build a revenue engine in weeks, not years!

Hi, it's Alper. Happy New Year. Let's make 2026 the year you move from tactical wins to a GTM system that scales without you burning time, cash and yo

Open article: GTM Journal- January 2026 by Alper Yurder • 5 min read

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