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If you're on a customer call, being compared to a product that is NOT a competitor, you have a positioning issue. Every SaaS has a specific ✅ Use-case ✅ ICP That they're the best at serving. Your expertise at a use-case and the ICP you cater to, might be totally different than your competitors'. 🚨Even though you provide a similar solution. This is where positioning helps you. It helps both you and your customers understand 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 default option = Limitations of Status Quo + Your Key Benefits 4️⃣ How it’s different from other alternatives = Unique Differentiator / Positioning Angle How can you nail your positioning? By ✅ Building clusters of solutions, use-cases, and target customers ✅ Building connections and deciding who / what is a good fit ✅Adding arguments why specific connections are good / bad Doing so, you will end up with multiple connections between: Your SaaS and Usecase X & ICP X Competition 1 and Usecase Y & ICP Y Competition 2 and Usecase Z & ICP Z ... Positioning is an important foundation of your GTM. If you want to know more about how to get your positioning right and other GTM foundations, check out my latest guide on MRR Unlocked (link is in the comments).

I get asked this a lot. How do you design the perfect buyer journey? Let's break it down today. You can think of it in 4 stages 1️⃣ Awareness -> Identify your GTM channels -> Demand Generation & Demand Capture The goal: -> Get visitors on your website -> Or book a call with them 2️⃣ Consideration -> Generate MQLs -> Qualify them through a discovery call -> Run demos for qualified leads (SQLs) 3️⃣ Decision -> Set up trials/pilots -> Negotiate the contract/pricing The goal: -> Sign the contract 4️⃣ Customer success -> Onboard won customers -> Activate and bring them to impact The goal: -> Reduce churn -> Expansion -> Get referrals Here's how you can enhance your funnel ✅ Decide intentionally how you get customers from one stage to the next. ✅ Use sales methodologies like MEDDIC, SPIN, SUGAR, SPICED to define what qualifies a prospect to move to the next stage. That's it! You have your funnel / buyer journey. Draw it out to make the process easier. If you want to know more about each of these stages, -> I'm going to cover them in detail in MRR Unlocked this Sunday. Link in the comments. -> Send me a DM and I do my best to help you

I started MRR Unlocked 🚀 just as a place to share insights on SaaS GTM. 3 years and 4700 subscribers later, it has turned into my biggest growth channel. When I left my last startup, I only wanted a place to share what I learned. But when I got messages from people who liked my content, that feedback was a push to keep going. Writing helped me become crisp at sharing my insights. It helps me get better at organizing my thoughts, and it helps others who read it. However, growth did not happen overnight. It was slow and steady and hardly a hockey stick. For three years, I stayed consistent. Every two weeks, a new episode, almost never missing a beat. A few things made all the difference: 🔸 I look at what other writers do Kyle Poyar Matteo Tittarelli ⚡️ Emily Kramer Daniel Zsolt Rényi - thanks for the inspiration 🔸 Newsletter cross-recommendations bring in about 20% of my subscribers 🔸 I clear out inactive subscribers to keep engagement high 🔸 I use LinkedIn as an acquisition channel to bring people to my newsletter 🔸 Investing in good design (thanks Florian Goertzen has been a game changer because images do have the highest real estate on LinkedIn. Writing started as a way to share my thoughts. Now, it’s my main inbound channel. Every episode helps me learn, and helps others too. Big Thank You to everyone who has been reading the newsletter and supporting me. and also to all my sponsors of the newsletter 🙌 If you aren't already, go check it out!

I always recommend founders to have 1 ICP. But I need to admit, that this is wrong. You will have a lot of different ICPs over time 👇 So first things first. ❌ 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. In order to 'win' your TAM, you need multiple (different) ICPs over time. 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 ICP?

There's so much talk about positioning. But how can you, as founders, use positioning to grow your SaaS? Through Messaging. Messaging is how you turn your positioning into something tangible. Think of it this way, ✅ You have a great product ✅ You have also mapped your users and ICP But what next? Notice the gap here. How do you tell your ICP that YOU are the best fit for them? How do you communicate your value proposition to them? Messaging bridges this gap and communicates your value to your ICP. Use it in your GTM collaterals like ✅ Homepage ✅ Sales Deck ✅ LinkedIn posts ✅ Case Studies ✅ Sales Demos To better reach your ICP. Take some time to get it right. It is a crucial foundation of your GTM. If you want to know how to nail your messaging and frame your one-line value proposition, check out our latest episode on GTM Foundations at MRR Unlocked. Link in the comments.

You've mapped your ICP. You've got the right messaging. You've even identified your GTM channels. What next? You need to decide your sales motion. Sales-led VS Product-led. ✅ Sales-led -> If the CTA on your website/emails says "Book a demo" you're probably aiming for a sales-led motion. -> A sales team member is involved in the buying process ✅ Product-led -> If you're pushing for "Free Trials", you're aiming for a product-led motion. -> The interaction is directly between your product and the user without any sales involvement. A few factors you need to consider while deciding on your sales motion 1️⃣ Complexity of your product 2️⃣ Length of your buying process 3️⃣ Pricing/ACV 4️⃣ Customer preference Based on these, you can decide what works for your SaaS. I'm launching a detailed GTM Foundations guide on Sunday, where you can learn more about sales motions. Link in the comments.

10 hard truths about working with me. Q&A with Locaboo CEO Andreas Michel on our 24+ month GTM collab. I always wanted to know: 'How is it working with me? So I asked Andi a few questions - I wanted brutal honesty from him 😀. Let's go. 1️⃣ What helped you surprisingly well that you didn’t expect from me? --> Your radical focus on clarity. No PowerPoint overload, just one question: “What drives revenue and growth within our ICP?” 2️⃣ What’s one trait of mine that’s incredibly effective—but occasionally frustrating? --> You're relentless. That’s incredibly valuable - even if you sometimes just wish you’d let it slide. 3️⃣ When have you felt the most challenged by me? --> When you tore apart our entire sales setup. You cut old habits and sharpened our ICP. That meant letting go of a lot. It was tough, but necessary. Nothing was the same after that. Thankfully. 4️⃣ Have I ever pushed you too far or too fast? What happened? --> Yes. Quite often actually 😂. And I’m glad you did. 5️⃣ What’s something I do that took time to appreciate? --> Your directness. You're highly goal-oriented and always come in with a clear plan. In the first week, I often thought, “This could get interesting.” 6️⃣ What’s one moment you questioned working with me? --> Yes, during one of our first discussions about our target group and ICP. It was tough, and to be honest, it sometimes felt like a bet. "If we go through with this, it could go really well, or we could lose just everything." But in the end, you were right. Honestly, that was the hope when we brought you in. 7️⃣ What do I do that makes you feel genuinely supported? --> You never just criticized, you always thought things through, pushed alongside us, and gave 100%, even as an external. I always said: we don’t need just a consultant who talks, we need someone who puts on the boots and gets things done. 8️⃣ What advice from me took time to sink in? --> Focus on one clear ICP. Digging deep instead of trying to be everything to everyone was a game-changer. But it took time to fully understand just how critical that really was. 9️⃣ If someone new were about to work with me, what would you warn them about? --> Get ready for speed, straight talk, and questions that push you way out of your comfort zone. 🔟 What’s something you wish I did more of? What do you wish I did less of? --> I would’ve loved to have more office time together. Those in-between conversations were incredibly helpful for me. And you could’ve lost a few more table tennis games; the team was getting a bit demoralized 😉 Bonus: What’s one “hard truth” about working with me that’s ultimately a gift? --> You don’t let us get away with excuses. 👇 What question should I ask in my next Q&A?

Founders have 3 target audiences, NOT 1. 1. Target customers 2. (Future) Employees 3. Investors --> only if you want investors of course. Most VC-backed founders focus their messaging too much on 3. But the big-vision messaging that resonates with VC do NOT resonate with potential customers. They care about different things. VC = long-term vision VC = big TAM VC = future opportunities Customers = Fix the problem today Customers = specific audience (me?) Customers = product capabilities today So when I work with founders on building their messaging. We try to seperate the messaging from the pitch deck (visionary messaging) from the sales deck & homepage (messaging for clients). P.S. I just saw that my SaaS Messaging framework was used 4500+ times. Send me a DM if you want it too.

Three years into building my GTM advisory, and I still get these same 3 objections every time. So today, I've decided to address these for all early-stage founders.👇 1️⃣ "Will I be really working with you or just a team member of yours?" - Well, I am the team. I'm not an agency. When you sign up for the advisory, you work 1-on-1 with me through our 6-month sprint. 2️⃣ "Why 6-months - I rather want to have 2-3 sessions." - It is almost impossible to see the impact of GTM changes in 2-3 sessions. You need to consistently work on your GTM for months to see a positive impact. - However, I do offer GTM power hour sessions for a few select use-cases. 3️⃣ I want someone who does it for me, not with me This one cracks me up all the time. - As founders, it is YOUR responsibility to be in the trenches and take ownership of your GTM. I am your co-pilot, but you still need to be the one to execute. - If you outsource GTM during the early stage, you'll lose the pulse on your own business. Incase something goes wrong, you won't know what hit you! But of course, once we deep dive into executing different GTM channels, it might be helpful to bring in some experts (e.g. SEO, Paid Ads, Designer...) I've build a network of highly vetted partners. So you as a founder get a warm intro to them and know they will execute well. If you have any more questions regarding my GTM advisory, feel free to DM. PS: Solopreneurs, what objections do you face all the time?

SaaS pricing is considered super complex. But it doesn't have to be. At least not if you're < €1 million ARR. It's a simple transaction. You provide value to users (by solving their problem) They invest in you (by paying your price) Your pricing is simply a combination of 4 factors 1️⃣ Value Metrics -> Align these with the customer's value of using your product -> These can be per seat / per user / per subscriber, etc. Your value metric should - Be easy to understand - Align with the customers’ value of using your product - Be scalable and grow with customers’ usage of your product 2️⃣ Packaging & Tiers -> Decide on what (not) to include in tiers. -> Here, you can experiment with feature gating (if you want) Most of the time, feature gating is not recommended early stage. 3️⃣ Payment terms Decide on policies like - Contract duration - Cancellation policy - (Auto) renewals and timelines - Billing policy (monthly / yearly) 4️⃣ Discount policy -> Create a framework of how, when, and why to give discounts -> Always ask for something in return, like referrals, testimonials, etc. You don't need to have your pricing figured out on day 1. Start with simple, then iterate on a monthly/quarterly basis. I like to think about pricing as something iterative. You have a pricing strategy to get from: 1️⃣ 0 to first 10 customers = pricing v1 2️⃣ 10-100 customers = pricing v2 3️⃣ 100 to X = pricing v3 Your pricing needs to match the stage of your company. If you need a detailed guide on how to price your SaaS, I'm launching an episode about GTM Foundations this Sunday. Don't miss it. Link in the comments PS: What are you struggling with in terms of pricing currently?

Last month, I spoke about having an accountability buddy to keep your growth in check. It's been 2 months for me now, and this is how it's been going so far We've figured out a structure that works for us ✅ We meet for around 3 hours on a bi-weekly basis ✅ Each of us gets 1.5 hours to share our updates, progress, goals We pour our thoughts out to each other, and this helps set goals for the next time too! One downside of being a solopreneur is you don't always have someone to - Brainstorm - Share your goals with - Bounce off ideas - Strategize with Having someone who not only listens to your ideas, but also gives you feedback and holds you accountable for execution is gold. I had 3 goals for my business 1️⃣ Launching a website 2️⃣ Publishing 2 new case studies 3️⃣ Closing 1 new client The fact that I was accountable to someone Maximilian Antosch made me push even harder in achieving these goals. And guess what? I've almost achieved all three. So get yourself an accountability buddy, you won't regret it. PS: Check out my new website where I bring ALL my GTM resources in one place for you to use - https://lnkd.in/ekvpTEAu

One of the key things I think about as a solopreneur.. is my offer. While I help founders in their positioning, messaging and GTM, I, too, need to frame my offer and position myself as a GTM advisor for early-stage B2B SaaS. Currently, my offer is a 6-month 1:1 advisory with founders where I help them build and execute their GTM strategy foundation. The foundation they need to reach Product Market Fit and 1€ million ARR. But on a recent strategy call with a friend (highly recommend these to all solopreneurs), We realised that maybe it is too much of an upfront commitment - both financially and time-wise. So we had a brainstorming session and came up with 3 more ways for founders to engage with me. 1️⃣ GTM Program A program with set modules for ICP, positioning, messaging, etc. - the foundations of GTM that I know every founder needs to work on when they try to fix their GTM. Every module comes with: - Explainer Video - Templates & Resources - Best Practices But no 1:1 calls with me. It's 'self-learning'. At this point, I have worked with enough founders to know what needs to be done when and how🤷♂️ 2️⃣ GTM audit An audit where I can help founders understand what is working / not working out for them. Delivered in 48 hours. You share all your GTM assets (sales deck, CRM, Recordings, Case Studies...). I will give you a summary in 48 hours - GTM Strategy Review - GTM Execution Assessment - Sales Call Reviews - List of quick wins - Custom 6-month action plan 3️⃣ GTM Power Hour Call Just a 60min 1-on-1 Call between you and me. You come with specific questions. I will give you my best advice. For some specific challenges that might be a good solution. Of course this can't fix your GTM strategy. Because this needs to be holistic. All 3 offers involve different levels of founder engagement and are meant to drive different results. Open question to all of you - What do you think of the offers?

You have plenty of options to reach your ICP. 21 different channels, to be precise. But, as an early stage startup, keep in mind that 1️⃣ You can NOT run more than 3 (better 1-2) in parallel 2️⃣ Not all channels are equally relevant for you (depends on your ICP, ACV, own skills) These channels enable you to communicate your messaging to your ICP. Depending on your stage, some channels are a better fit than others. If you are just starting, use primary channels like - Network & Referrals - Content & SEO - Social Selling (LinkedIn) - Outbound - Social Listening - Google Ads Once you find a primary channel that works, use secondary channels like - Affiliates - LinkedIn Ads - Influencers - Events - PR - Partnerships - Communities It's tempting to use multiple channels at once, to "speed up" your growth. But it'll most likely slow you down. Instead, run micro tests to see what works and double down only on those channels. Need help on how to run each of these channels? I explain them and share the best resources to run each channel in the latest episode of my newsletter. 👇 Which channels do you bet on in Q3 2025?

Founder-led sales isn't a phase you graduate from—it's a permanent responsibility. There's a dangerous myth circulating among founders👇 "Once you reach $X in revenue, you can hand off sales to professionals and focus on being a real CEO." This well-intentioned but catastrophically wrong advice has killed more promising startups than Seth DeHart and I can count. Being involved in and being the steward of the revenue engine is a lifelong founding decision. 💡 One founder must always be involved 💡 Founder-led sales isn't just about the founder personally closing deals (though it starts there). It's about the founder driving the revenue engine for the entire existence of the company. Yes, your role will evolve. Yes, you'll eventually build a team. But no, you should never fully disconnect from sales. Think of it this way: --> In the beginning, you're the engine. --> Later, you're the engineer. --> Eventually, you're the architect. But you're always, ALWAYS responsible for ensuring the machine runs. ✅ It's certainly transitioning out of solo selling or founder selling, ❌ But not out of sales entirely. Founders who delegate sales too early find themselves completely disconnected from market reality. They lose touch with critical market truths: - Are customers actually willing to pay for your solution? - Which features truly drive purchase decisions? - What objections consistently block deals? - Is the pricing aligned with perceived value? - Who do you compete most with (direct & indirect competition)? - Is your messaging still resonating with your ICP? So when growth stalls, they lack the context to diagnose what's wrong. So one more time: One Founder must own the go-to-market motion for a very long time. 👇 Disagree?

Your ICP is NOT your Total Addressable Market (TAM). Your TAM = The big market you sell to your investors Your ICP = The part of the market that you target today with your product Your ECP = A sub-segment of your ICP, that is easier to win early on. Your ICP is NOT the same as ECP and here's why👇 ECPs are your first 10-100 customers. The ones you land when you are in 'hustle mode' But these are most likely across ❌ Multiple use-cases ❌ Different customer types So not ideal for growth. To grow, niche down to an ICP that gets the most value from your solution. A powerful ICP has two parts ✅ Ideal Company ✅ Ideal Persona (User + Buyer) Here are 4 steps to go from ECP to ICP 1️⃣ Define your ‘better fit’ indicators 2️⃣ Collect data on your early customers 3️⃣ Break down your customer base into segments 4️⃣ Analyze customers against metrics that are indicators of ‘better fit’ Once you have your ICP, track them in your CRM, To make your GTM easier and sales predictable. If you want a detailed guide on how to execute each of these steps, check out our upcoming episode at MRR Unlocked. PS: Don't forget to map your Anti-ICP, who you do NOT want as customers. It's equally important.

One Founder must own Go-to-market for ever. There is no "transition out", your role just evolve in 6 founder-led sales stages 👇 There's a dangerous myth circulating among founders "Once you reach €X in revenue, you can hand off sales to professionals and focus on being a real CEO." This well-intentioned but catastrophically wrong advice has killed lots of promising startups. Being involved in and being the steward of the revenue engine is a lifelong founding decision. One founder must always be involved. Why? Founder-led sales isn't just about the founder personally closing deals (though it starts there). It's about the founder driving the revenue engine for the entire existence of the company. Founders who delegate sales too early find themselves completely disconnected from market reality. They lose touch with critical market truths: 🔸 Are customers actually willing to pay for your solution? 🔸 Which features truly drive purchase decisions? 🔸What objections consistently block deals? 🔸 Is the pricing aligned with perceived value? Who do you compete most with (direct & indirect competition)? 🔸Is your messaging still resonating with your ICP? So when growth stalls, they lack the context to diagnose what's wrong. All these things require the founder to be close to the metal, close to the action, steering from the source of truth, and it comes only from direct communication with the customer. If there is anyone else between you (the founder) and the customers/prospects, you'll most likely receive biased information based on who's giving it to you. For these reasons, the founder must be close to the go-to-market forever.

Case studies and testimonials are your (secret) GTM weapon. Before someone buys, they need proof that your product works (aka. social proof). And there’s no better proof than real customers saying, “This SaaS changed my business.” - Customer X That’s why case studies are one of your most crucial GTM assets. You can (and should) use case studies: ✅ on your website ✅ in your sales deck ✅ on your blog articles & landing pages ✅ on social (e.g. LinkedIn posts) ✅ in your sales prospecting ✅ for fundraising But when Romana Kuts and I work with SaaS founders, we usually hear the same 3 challenges: ❌ How do we get that proof when you’re just starting? ❌ What type of case studies & testimonials work the best? ❌ How do we write a good case study? What is a good case study structure? So we decided to join forces and write a guide. The case study guide will cover: ✅ Where and how to get your first testimonials - even if you don’t have customers yet. ✅ How to find testimonials everywhere - sometimes they’re already out there, you just need to collect them. ✅ Case study trends you should know - from traditional written case studies to Walls of Love, video testimonials, and quote libraries. ✅ How to structure and distribute case studies for maximum impact, ensuring they reach the right audience. ✅ Case Study Interview Questions ✅ SaaS Case Study Page template you can steal :) 👉 Drop your favorite case studies & testimonials in the comments. We’re collecting the best examples. #saas #gtm #saasmarketing

What is it that gets founders from €0 to €1 mil ARR? 10 GTM foundation parts that bring you to the first Big Milestone in a founder's journey - Product-Market Fit (PMF). It's a simple formula Problem-solution fit + Go-to-market fit = Product Market Fit You need to ✅ Validate the problem ✅ Validate your solution to it ✅ Identify the best channels to get the solution to your ICP And there you have it. But most founders I speak to still struggle with it. To help you with this, I have prepared a checklist of things you need to have in place to go from 0 to 1 mil ARR. To PMF. You need to work on 1️⃣ Ideal Customer Profile 2️⃣ Positioning 3️⃣ Value Proposition & Messaging 4️⃣ GTM Collaterals 5️⃣ Pricing 6️⃣ Sales Motion 7️⃣ CRM & Tracking 8️⃣ Forecasting & Planning 9️⃣ Internal Operating Systems 🔟 Channels Check out the visual below to see what exactly you need to tick off within each of these components 👇 If you want to deep-dive into each of the 10 elements, then 👉 Don't miss the guide that I publish on mrrunlocked this Sunday 👉 Send me a DM and I share with you detailed guides on each of the 10 elements.

Getting your SaaS to Product-Market Fit, requires a strong GTM foundation. The last 3 years I've been working with SaaS founders building their GTM Foundation. Now I've put together a GTM foundation guide. It includes 10 must-have elements. 1️⃣ Ideal Customer Profile 2️⃣ Positioning 3️⃣ Value Proposition & Messaging 4️⃣ GTM Collaterals 5️⃣ Pricing 6️⃣ Sales Motion 7️⃣ Channels 8️⃣ Forecasting & Planning 9️⃣ Internal Operating Systems 🔟 CRM & Tracking When you search online about each of these elements, You mostly get drained into very complicated documents. I'm not saying that these are easy. But getting a 'simplified' explanation of what these are helps a LOT of founders. That's why I added GTM foundation visuals, which try to 'simplify' each element. I want to hear your thoughts 👇 1️⃣ Are the simplified visuals helpful? 2️⃣ What's missing? --- 👉 Need help in building & executing the GTM foundation for your SaaS? Send me a DM and I will share all the infos for my 6-month GTM advisory program with you.

How clarity on positioning and messaging turned into a new homepage for Innkeepr 👇 I've been working with Willi Linke on building the GTM foundation for Inkeepr for 6 months. And we are seeing great results. He managed to close deals with leading e-commerce brands. Companies like LILLYDOO GmbH asambeauty DocMorris and many more. Every customer conversation turned into more insights. We used these insights to: 1️⃣ Hone in on positioning --> What Innkeepr is exactly --> Who is it for --> What is the main 'competitor' (the status quo) 2️⃣ Sharpen our messaging --> The core capabilities and features of Innkeepr --> benefits & results --> Who is it for (ICP) --> Social proof --> FAQs & objections and turned them into our positioning & messaging framework. We used the framework to rework 2 main GTM assets: 1️⃣ New Homepage 2️⃣ New Sales Deck Based on the messaging framework, we drafted our first homepage design in Canva. Did some iterations. Shared 3 different versions with a handful of his clients to get ICP feedback. Based on this, we fine-tuned the homepage draft, incl. copywriting. This draft was then given to the design team to deliver the final version. What do you think of the new homepage? P.S. Next on the list: new sales deck.