Alexander Estner

Alex Estner

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 1-on-1 with me in bi-weekly GTM sprints to build and execute your GTM.
2️⃣ GTM Workbooks - 100+ actionable SaaS Growth Tactics + Ultimate SaaS GTM Strategy Workbook 
3️⃣ GTM Content - Free bi-weekly newsletter (read by 4500+ SaaS leaders) + Daily LinkedIn posts

Bonus: Sponsor my newsletter & reach 4500+ early-stage SaaS founders/leaders/decision makers.

P.S. You will find the links to the GTM Workbooks and newsletter in the Highlight section.

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

► Interested?
- Send me a DM on Linkedin

Founder | GTM advisor for B2B SaaS startups

MRR Unlocked 🚀

MRR Unlocked is a bi-weekly newsletter for early-stage B2B SaaS founders and leaders.
Get bi-weekly actionable SaaS GTM strategies and tactics to grow your B2B SaaS business from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀.
Read by 4500+ SaaS founders, leaders & VCs.

Author & Content Creator

Uncovered — Competitive Intelligence

GTM Advisor

Innkeepr

eleni.finance

asora

cobby • PIM in Excel

Locaboo

Chief Revenue Officer (Interim)

Coana

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 1-on-1 with me in bi-weekly GTM sprints to build and execute your GTM.
2️⃣ GTM Workbooks - 100+ actionable SaaS Growth Tactics + Ultimate SaaS GTM Strategy Workbook 
3️⃣ GTM Content - Free bi-weekly newsletter (read by 4500+ SaaS leaders) +  Daily LinkedIn posts

Bonus: Sponsor my newsletter & reach 4500+ early-stage SaaS founders/leaders/decision makers.

P.S. You will find the links to the GTM Workbooks and newsletter in the Highlight 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.

------------
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 📚

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

A lot of times, you read about the 0 to 1 stage.

I rather believe the 0-1 stage consists of at least 3 (sub) stages.

1️⃣ Stage 1: Hustle mode

Your goal is to find the first 10 / 100 customers (depending on your ACV). 

You will run different tests. You want to validate your hypothesis, so you do any and everything to land that first set of customers. 

I call this GTM Experimentation.

2️⃣ Stage 2: Focus mode

The goal is to go beyond 10 / 100 customers.

But you can’t do this while serving multiple segments and multiple channels because each of them requires different strategies and resources to work. 

So, how do you do this? 

Analyze your early customers (Early Customer Profile) to find your best-fit customers (Ideal Customer Profile) and focus on them till you scale to €1 million ARR. 

I call this GTM Playbook V1.

3️⃣ Stage 3: Expansion mode

Here, your goal is to go beyond 1 million ARR. 

You can do this in three ways - 
👉 Vertically - Same target audience (aka. ICP), but new use cases

👉 Horizontally - Same use case, but new target audiences

👉 Simply continue what you already do if there is a big enough market. Double-down/scale.

To get there, you need to build your GTM foundations.

The GTM foundation spread over: GTM Experimentation + GTM Playbook V1

---
P.S. After the 'focus mode' you achieved Product Market Fit.

Thanks Anthony Pierri 🎸 for the great definition of PMF.

---
On Sunday we will cover how to build your GTM foundation in the mrrunlocked newsletter.

'Hands-on’ GTM Advisor - I help SaaS founders build and execute their GTM foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial and error👇

When I work with SaaS founders, I see 3 common mistakes with their ideal customer profile.

❌ Being too broad & unspecific

--> Our ICP are ‘companies with 1-100€ million revenue’ - so everyone

Skip the FOMO. Start with early customers. 

In the early days, you usually don’t have the resources to serve everyone. 

Start with initial customers (beachhead segment) and then scale from there.

❌ Your ICP changes over time

--> You will have multiple different ICPs over time.

The 'ideal' customers in the 0 to 100k € is different than your 'ideal' customers from 1€ million to 5€ million etc.

So create a mindset that your 'ideal customer' is ideal until you reach the next milestone.

❌ TAM vs. ICP

And also remember, your TAM is not your ideal customer profile. 

Especially if you’re VC-funded and talk a lot about the HUGE market, it’s a common mistake. 

Your TAM is something you will (eventually) win in 5+ years, but not today.

So live with the fact that your ICPs will change over time.

Think about it this way: Your ICP today brings you to your next milestone.

Once you hit the next milestone, you can revisit your ICP.

👇 How do you think about your ideal customers?

No alternative text description for this image

Stop believing these 10 MYTHS if you're a founder on your way to 1€ million ARR.

(Based on advising 25+ founders in their €0-1mil ARR journey)

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟭: We just hired a sales agency to fix sales

It’s the founders’ job to win first clients, find patterns, iterate, and build the first version of GTM playbook, not an agency's.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟮: Our ICP are companies with 1-100€ million revenue’ - so everyone

Skip the FOMO. Start with initial customers (beachhead segment) and scale from there.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟯: Our product is all-in-one

It’s tempting to build everything for everyone but it is better to figure what is most needed for your ICP and focus on that.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟰: My prospects want to see all features, that’s why I demo all features

-> It’s a demo. Not a product training. 

 -> Focus only on top 3-4 features that matter to your prospect.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟱: We do all channels at the same time - Outbound, Content, PPC, SEO, Events, Affiliates...

-> Each channel works differently and takes up resources. 

-> Do smaller tests to figure which channels work and go all in on just those.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟲: We don’t have any competition

-> Every company has competition. 

-> Look at your indirect competitors and status quo if you can't find direct competitors.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟳: We lose deals because we are too expensive

-> Actually, most startups undercharge. 

-> It's not your pricing, it's how you package your product and value. Revamp it if you need to.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟴: My product sells itself, I don’t need marketing/sales

You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows about it, how will you sell it?

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟵: Our GTM strategy is Google Ads & Influencer campaigns

-> These are growth tactics. 

-> You need to focus on your GTM strategy first, THEN growth tactics.

❌ 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 10: We have first beta customers, now we want to ‘scale’.

The €0 to 1€ million ARR phase is not 1 phase - it’s 3 different stages.

--> Scaling comes after you have found repeatable and predictable growth.

So instead of looking for scale from day 1, take it step by step.

❌𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵: Your GTM Advisory is probably not very hands-on or actionable

I hear this concern in about 20% of my calls.

And I get it. You don’t want any ‘corporate advisory’ - you need actionable, hands-on support.

How I see our roles:

--> I act as your GTM co-pilot,

--> But you, the founder, are the pilot.

This means:

--> I guide you hands-on on what to do next and how (Drafting, reviewing, sharing best practices & templates)

--> You own the operations (talking to clients, writing emails, building your website…)

---
1. If you believe in any of these, check out the guide on mrrunlocked

2. Drop me a DM if you want my 1-on-1 advice.

Over the past 3 years, I’ve talked with 100+ SaaS founders about GTM.
These 10 GTM myths come up again and again — and they’re holding teams back 👇

On Sunday we will cover all 10 myths on the mrrunlocked newsletter.

👇 Let me know, what myth is missing?

I was the first sales hire myself 10 years ago.

So I deeply enjoyed writing a guide on hiring your first GTM person with SaaS recruiting experts Machiel Kunst and Elvin Kingma.
We created a list of characteristics to look for 👇

Hiring the right first salesperson for your business can have a multiplier effect, while hiring the wrong first salesperson creates the opposite effect. Getting this first profile correct is fundamental.

What NOT to look for in a pioneer or founding AE:

Filter out candidates who

❌ Come from big companies
—> They have a hard time to adapt to a fast-moving start-up culture

❌ Lack of product knowledge
—> A lot of (senior) sales reps, if they start working in an early-stage start-up, don't really (invest enough time) to understand the product.

❌ Not willing to become an industry expert
--> This point is closely related to point 2. If your sales rep is not willing to dive deep into the industry/ problem of customers, that's a bad sign.

❌ Not keen on building an industry network
--> Word of mouth, warm intros, high-touch relationships with customers are key growth strategies in the early stage. It’s super important they want to grow their industry-relevant network

❌ Always sell with massive discounts
--> Only being able to sell with massive discounts is a sign of lacking sales skills. 

❌ Competition-focused
--> The wrong sales reps spend too much time comparing with the competition and blame missing product features for unsuccessful sales performance. 

❌ Lack accountability & blames others
--> Wrong sales reps blame others (product, marketing...) and miss accountability for hitting their goals. 

❌ Don't have a growth mindset
--> Early-stage sales is a tough game. 
Mostly, you try to convince customers of an early (buggy) MVP. You need to be creative, smart, and always find new ways. 

Instead, do LOOK for people who:

✅ Have startup experience
✅ Can prospect from scratch (full-cycle)
✅ Have a strong track record
✅ are Challenger Sellers
✅ Have grit & adaptibility
✅ Have a willingness to build, test, execute

Disclaimer: I did not check all boxes (haven't had a strong track record/sales experience), but I guess most of them at least 😀

Did I? Hanno Lippitsch Stefan Feirer What's missing?

Want to read the Guide on the 9 most common hiring mistakes? 

Check out the link in the comments. 

-
P.S. This is me 10 years ago playing tennis at a racket center in Munich - one of the first clients I closed for eversports.

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

If I joined a startup as a late co-founder handling GTM, here are 12 things I would do in the first 3 months 👇

1️⃣ Check if we have a clear ICP and a set criteria to qualify / disqualify them.

2️⃣ Check if we understand our positioning against direct / indirect competition and what sets us apart from status quo.

3️⃣ Understand how we convey our value proposition and to whom.

4️⃣ Check how our messaging is applied on homepage, sales deck, emails.

5️⃣ Check our pricing - do we have the right packaging, value tiers, payment terms, policies.

6️⃣ Understand our GTM motion (PLG, SLG, hybrid) and if it aligns with our ICP, pricing and product.

7️⃣ Analyze our sales funnel and check for any issues that hold us back.

8️⃣ See if we follow a sales methodology or identify what needs to happen to move deals through the pipeline.

9️⃣ Check how we do our demo and discovery calls (hope for no feature f*****)

🔟 See how our GTM channels are performing / what can we do to get new leads.

1️⃣1️⃣ Review if our GTM assets (e.g. case studies, product videos...) reflect our ICP, positioning and messaging correctly.

1️⃣2️⃣ Gather growth insights from sources like lost deal analysis, product usage, CRM audit, customer segmentation.

GTM is the foundation of your SaaS. 

If you don't have it right, you're going to struggle in growing your SaaS. 

If you need help with your GTM, drop me a DM, I'd love to help you grow! Not a a co-founder, but as your GTM advisor 😀

How Moritz Weiss turned Customer success from reactive support to proactive customer success and #1 source for referrals.

❌ Everyone makes the mistake of seeing CSM as a reactive function. 
✅ But the real opportunity lies in turning it into a proactive referral engine. 

I've worked with Moritz and the whole Locaboo for 2+ years - building the GTM foundation and growing the company beyond €1 million ARR.

And a big part of the success has been referrals.

So I asked Moritz if he wants to share the secrets we implemented over the last months.

(He has been handling more than 600 customers in the DACH region for Locaboo)

Here's the process to build a strong CS Referral engine

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: Customer check-ins

-> Schedule regular check-in calls with your customers. 

-> We assigned a dedicated CS manager to each customer.

-> Make it a point to actively ask questions about their experience during every contact you have with customers.

-> This sets a good foundation to get in the referral mindset.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: Draft the perfect script

-> Prepare a script that you can use to request referrals on these customer calls. 

🚨 Getting the right referrals depends a LOT on how you ask for them. So make sure you have the right script. 

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: Set referrals as a KPI

-> Set monthly referral targets for each Customer Success Manager. 

-> Actively report and track them within the team.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: Pool referrals in a single place

-> Build a dedicated Slack channel in which all referrals are shared transparently and celebrated. 

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: Involve sales in the process 

-> Forward these referrals to sales as warm leads. 

-> Our SDR teams proactively reach out to warm recommendations.

Bonus:
Build awareness on how your customers refer other clients. In our case we know:

-> They know other cities around them (so you can prepare for the calls and know who they might know)

-> They work closely with other departments (so we know how to get warm intros to other departments)

You're missing out if you are not actively engaging with your customers and building a referral engine around them.

👇 How do you use CS for referrals?

P.S. In the screenshot, you see how sales and customer success all share and celebrate referrals in Slack. Congrats Florian Obermeier & Stefan Ockenfels

---
If you want to know how to ask for referrals the right way, we have a dedicated guide over at MRRUnlocked.

graphical user interface, text, application, email

Charlotte Schmitt has helped 1000+ founders and GTM leaders with social listening through octolens.

She has seen it all, especially what NOT to do.
 6 common social listening mistakes and how you can avoid them 👇

1. Going straight for the sale

❌ Sounds super spammy and non-contextual.
✅ Help first, THEN promote your product.

2. Not Disclosing Founder/Employee Role

❌ Don't hide your role.
✅ State who you are and why you’re recommending your own product.

3. Not Tracking the Right Keywords

❌ Don't miss out on high-intent threads.
✅ Monitor brand name, competitor name, pain point, and product category.

4. Using AI-Generated Answers without a personal touch

❌ Lacks your POV and sounds like a bot.
✅ Edit AI outputs to include personal expertise and your pov.

5. Focusing Solely on LinkedIn

❌ Don't overlook other platforms where your ICP is active.
✅ Use a cross-platform monitoring strategy.

6. Being Inconsistent

❌ You’ll miss time-sensitive opportunities.
✅ Have real-time tracking to stay on top of every relevant mention.

Make social listening a valuable part of your GTM by avoiding these pitfalls.

Charlotte and I have spent hours creating the perfect social listening guide for founders and GTM leaders.

It covers every aspect of social listening to help you get started.

Comment 'social' and I'll send it right over to you.

Hiring your first GTM team is one of the most crucial tasks as a founder.

The transition from founder sales to founder-led sales is not easy. 

Avoid these 9 most common hiring mistakes👇 

1️⃣ Not implementing a sales methodology
--> Your way of doing sales as a founder might seem structured to you, but it’s hard to replicate. 

2️⃣ Not setting realistic goals
--> Overambitious quotas have the opposite effect of a higher level of revenue.

3️⃣ Hiring the wrong Pioneer AE
--> People from "big companies" have most likely not been in the trenches often.

4️⃣ Hiring a sales leader before hitting PMF
--> Most haven’t been hands-on for a while and shouldn't be your first GTM hire.

5️⃣ Hiring strategic leaders too early
--> Executor >>> someone who only strategizes

6️⃣ Hiring "cheap" salespeople
--> Don't try to save money by hiring less experienced people. You don't have the required resources to train them.

7️⃣ Being slow in hiring process
--> Speed matters. The best candidates get multiple offers within weeks.

8️⃣ Founder stop selling too soon
--> You still need to be involved in sales, even after your first hire.

9️⃣ Neglecting cultural fit
--> Don't hire purely based on experience. Cultural fit and passion matters too.

Machiel Kunst , Elvin Kingma and I have worked on a detailed guide where we show you how to avoid and fix these. 

Check out MRR Unlocked to find these in our next episode. Link in the comments.

👇 What would you add to the list?

After 100+ calls, I've discovered the top 10 challenges of SaaS founders go from €0 to €1 million ARR.👇

I work with SaaS founders building their GTM foundation.

I've helped 20+ over the last 3 years and had 100+ calls.

Here's what I've found.

Challenges:

❌ Don't know our ICP

❌ Don't know our USP

❌ Don't know how to communicate our product's value

❌ Don't know the right pricing to grow to 1€ million ARR

❌ Don't know how to best sell the product (PLG? SLG? both?)

❌ Don't know where to find clients

❌ Don't know how it takes to grow to 1€ million ARR (budget, team)

❌ Don't know what assets we need

❌ Don't know how to systemize our sales process / CRM

❌ Don't know when and who to hire

That's exactly the things we cover in my 6-month GTM advisory.

Together, we:

✅ Define your ECP & ICP

✅ Define your unique positioning

✅ Build your messaging framework

✅ Build your pricing V1

✅ Define yoursales motion & buyer journey

✅ Test & optimize your first channels

✅ Create financial forecast & sales plan

✅ Launch your must-have collaterals (homepage, sales deck, case studies)

✅ Create your CRM V1 set-up

✅ Define your hiring plan

What challenge is missing?

---
Want to work 1-on-1 with me? Send me a DM. I have 2 free slots starting mid-May.

You have plenty of options to reach your ICP.

But keep in mind that:

1️⃣ You can NOT run more than 3 (better 1-2) in parallel as an early-stage startup

2️⃣ Not all channels are equally relevant for you (depends on your ICP, ACV, own skills)

What channels do you bet on in 2025? 👇

graphical user interface, text, application

We all talk about positioning.

But what is positioning really? 

My definition in a nutshell: Positioning means having clarity on:

1️⃣ Who benefits from your product = Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

2️⃣ What your product does = Product Category and/or Primary Use Case

3️⃣ Why it’s better than the current/default option = Limitations of Status Quo + Your Key Benefits

4️⃣ How it’s different from other alternatives = Unique Differentiator / Positioning Angle

...and being able to clearly communicate this across your product, marketing, and sales touchpoints.

But I'm sure the positioning experts Anthony Pierri 🎸 and Robert Kaminski 🎯  have an even better definition?

👇What's your definition of positioning?

Your first sales hire can either be a multiplier or have the complete opposite effect.

To help you filter the right candidates, Machiel Kunst, Elvin Kingma, and I have built a scorecard specifically for SaaS businesses.

They have helped 350+ SaaS companies hire the right GTM talent so far. 

Here are their dos and don'ts. 

What NOT to look for in a pioneer or founding AE👇

Filter out candidates who

❌ Come from big companies
❌ Lack of product knowledge
❌ Not willing to become an industry expert
❌ Not keen on building an industry network
❌ Always sell with massive discounts
❌ Competition-focused
❌ Lack accountability & blames others
❌ Don't have a growth mindset

Instead, do LOOK for people that:

✅ Have startup experience
✅ Can prospect from scratch (full-cycle)
✅ Have a strong track record
✅ are Challenger Sellers
✅ Have grit & adaptibility
✅ Have a willingness to build, test, execute

List the candidates you are considering and check them off against these points.

If you want to know more about common hiring mistakes and how to avoid them, don't miss the next MRR Unlocked newsletter.

We are launching it this sunday!

I've added another criteria to my ICP.

And it has nothing to do with firmographics.

It's a matter of 'work ethic'.

If someone don't show up to our intro call, it's a disqualifier.

I talk about 'no shows' - people who don't inform you ahead of time that they can't make it. 

No message. No appologize.

I don't want to work with someone who don't respect others time. 

What's on your ICP list?

Proper lost reasons are 1 of 3 easy fixes for your CRM.

I get it. CRM is hard.

Millions of things to optimize. But simplicity is king.

Tracking your deal lost reasons is one of 3 things that can really make a big impact on your SaaS success.

The other 2 are:

- Self-reported attribution
Asking prospects: How did you hear about us?

- Mandatory deal fields
To move the deals through your pipeline.

But let's focus on lost deals.
 
Learning WHY you lost a deal is pure gold.

Because getting to know your customers, especially when they decide NOT to go ahead with you, is key🔑

However, most founders don’t track the reasons systematically in their CRM-

To really get insights from your lost deals,

✅ Here are the 7 'lost reasons' I recommend tracking 👇

1️⃣ Decided for competition

2️⃣ Status quo sufficient

3️⃣ Decision delayed

4️⃣ Too expensive / no budget

5️⃣ missing key feature

6️⃣ no response

7️⃣ other

❌ Using open text boxes to track reasons is not ideal.

✅ Instead, use dropdown options.

✅ These 7 pre-defined lost reasons should cover 90% of your lost deals.

✅ In case you see an emerging reason in your 'other' bucket you could add them as a dropdown option (e.g. Compliance risk).

✅ Having pre-defined reasons makes analyzing lost reasons easier.

✅ Add an (optional) text field to add more context to the lost reasons.

These insights will help you understand which GTM channels to optimize and what's stopping your ICP from buying.

It will also help you close deals faster once you address the issues.

Get started with this today by setting up your CRM and let me know how it works for you!

Sometimes, small things can have a big impact on founders.

8 'small things' I recommended to founders in Q1 👇  

Yes, I mostly work with founders on building their GTM foundation.

But yes, small things can also have an impact.

1. Have a weekly founder sync meeting
--> Great to align on top priorities of the week.

2. Review pricing quarterly
--> Treat pricing as the pricing for 'now' that brings you to the next milestone.

3. Plan 'deep work' sessions
--> Especially if you feel like you never have time to get things done

4. Collect testimonials in a folder
--> Build an internal testimonial hub that you can use for marketing.

5. Leverage your network for warm intros
--> Sounds easy, but most don't do this properly.

6. Record your sales calls
--> Analyze regularly your calls and ask someone else to review it 
(I do this with every founder I work with)

7. Turn customer calls into content
--> Take notes of calls. Every question and objection can be worth a post/content.

8. Analyze your top KPIs weekly & monthly
--> Define the key steps (visits, leads, MQL, SQL, won/lost etc.) and analyze what's working and what's not (tracking alone is not enough).

What would you add to the list?

The most challenging part of being a solopreneur?

Accountability. 

I thoroughly love being a solopreneur.
It gives me the flexibility to work on my terms. 

But the downside is I lack accountability.
There is no "manager" to check in on me.

Up until now, I had been setting OKRs to keep me on track. 

It's harder, though, to track them when no one's checking on your progress. 

So 4 weeks ago Maximilian Antosch and I started this thing called "accountability buddy"

It's not a new concept. 
The idea is to have someone who holds you accountable to your goals and OKRs.

We've decided on bi-weekly syncs but you can choose a frequency based on what works for you. 

I'm going to test this out and keep you updated with how it goes. 

How have you been holding yourself accountable as a solopreneur?

How to monitor high-intent social mentions to grow your SaaS in 4 steps 👇

Thanks Charlotte Schmitt for sharing your best tips from working with 1000+ GTM leaders on social listening.

But first of all: What is Social Listening?

--> Social Listening is the process of monitoring online conversations (on LinkedIn, X , Reddit Slack etc. about your brand, product, and industry, 

Usually via tracking certain keywords

And why is this relevant for early-stage SaaS?

Social listening lets you:

✅ Discover early leads
--> You can find people actively asking for the solution you offer or complaining about a competitor, and get on their radar organically.

✅ Get unfiltered feedback
--> People are often brutally honest on social media and forums. This feedback is gold for refining your product and messaging.

✅ Build brand awareness
--> By participating in conversations, you start to be seen as part of the community, not just an ad in the sidebar

✅ Inform product and marketing strategy
--> Patterns in discussions can reveal what features users care about, what language they use, where they spend their time, and how they compare options, guiding your product roadmap and marketing strategy.

✅ Collect testimonials
--> Organic mentions of your product are a great way to collect first testimonials

Okay, so how to do this the right way?

4 steps to monitor (high-intent) mentions

Step 1️⃣: Identify key channels

--> where your audience and industry peers are most active.

LinkedIn, Slack, Youtube, X, you name it. 

Step 2️⃣: Define the keywords

--> you need to track your brand name, product categories, competitor names, industry terms and specific pain points.

Step 3️⃣: Monitoring your channels

--> With a social listening tool like Octolens or manually to find relevant conversations based on the keywords.

Alternatives to consider: Google alert, F5bot, Brand24, Mention, Brandwatch, Hootsuite

Step 4️⃣: Take action 

--> respond quickly and relevant to mentions that matter (both positive and negative) or learn from it (e.g., add a new feature).

Make sure to povide Value First instead of pitching immediately or just dropping the link to your product

and Be Transparent About Who You Are

--> If you’re the founder, say so—it builds credibility.

Want to deep-dive into social listening.

We just published an extensive guide on social listening for SaaS founders on mrrunlocked.com 

👇 Share your social listening experiences

I've been talking about good vs bad sales decks in the past few posts..

In this post, I'm going to help you build one slide by slide (stay put it's a long one)

Slide 1️⃣: Cover Slide

--> Add your company name, company logo, and your 1-sentence description.

Slide 2️⃣: Market Insight / Macro trend

--> Set the context. Share insight about the market, what's changing and why it matters?

Slide 3️⃣: The problem

--> What is the problem for them? Why it is a real pain?

Slide 4️⃣: Status Quo (Old way)

--> Describe the (shitty) status quo of your ideal customers.

Slide 5️⃣: Solution (New way)

--> Share high-Level Information about your Product

Slide 6️⃣: Solution

--> Highlighting the top 3 Capabilities & Features

Slide 7️⃣: Product Demo

--> Switch to presenting your product (the actual 'product demo')

Slide 8️⃣: Benefits

--> Explain what's in for them! Focus on max. 3-4 benefits

Slide 9️⃣: Trust/Social Proof

--> Add Social Proof elements. Case Studies, Testimonials, Reviews, Badges, Logos.

Slide 🔟: Pricing

--> How do you charge clients? What pricing plan is for whom?

Slide 1️⃣1️⃣: Why now/Cost of inaction

--> Emphasize why they need to act now.

**Remember, not making a decision (staying with the status quo) is your number 1 lost reason.

Slide 1️⃣2️⃣: FAQs/Objections

--> Proactively share the most common objections and your answers to them (concern handling).

Slide 1️⃣3️⃣: Next Steps / CTA
-
-> What do you want them to do next? Provide guidance. (Free trial, Book demo, etc.)

WOW, if you've made it this far, you've successfully made a 10/10 sales deck.

If not, I've still got you covered. I'm sharing a template to make this process easier for you.

The link is in the comments.

If you want to build a solid GTM foundation for your SaaS, you need to track the right KPIs (so you know what's working and not).
Here are 20 KPIs that might be relevant to you 👇

Website & Lead Generation Metrics
✅ Website Traffic (Sessions)
✅ # New Leads
✅ # New MQLs

Sales Pipeline Metrics
✅ # New SQLs / Opportunities
✅ Pipeline Generated €
✅ Weighted Pipeline €

Sales Activity Metrics
✅ # Discovery Calls Done
✅ # Demo Calls Done
✅ # Proposals Sent

Sales Output Metrics
✅ # Closed Wons
✅ # Closed Lost
✅ Closed Won €
✅ Closed Lost €

✅ Expanded Revenue €
✅ Churned Revenue €

Sales Efficiency & Conversion Metrics
✅ MQL to SQL Conversion Rate
✅ SQL to Opportunity Conversion Rate
✅ SQL to Closed Won Conversion Rate (Deal Win Rate)
✅ Sales Cycle (Rolling 90 days)
✅ Average ACV €

Set up a dashboard and review daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly your key metrics.

What's missing?

Taplio

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