Founder at Upbeat 👉 Accelerating strategy so we can finally get our hands dirty | Revenue Architect | for B2B companies that want go to market, optimize revenue channels & build bowtie funnels

I went from being “fine at many things” to being known for one thing that compounds.

It took me almost 20 years.

Early in my career, I worked across sales, consultancy, and strategy in B2B and startups.

That looked like this:
- Chasing roles instead of building leverage
- Startups failing around me
- Being competent, but never the obvious standout

By 31, I’d been fired, quit jobs, and watched things fall apart more than once.

At my lowest point, I took a minimum-wage job because I didn’t know what my angle was anymore.
Surrounded by people who were “making it,” I kept thinking:

“Maybe this is just my ceiling.”

I was wrong.

So I changed how I operated.

I stopped being a generalist.
I stopped solving ten problems at once.
I focused on one thing:

Why revenue actually happens.

→ I dug into ICPs instead of personas.
→ Buying behavior instead of opinions.
→ Systems instead of tactics.

That shift changed everything.

Over time, people started coming to me for ICP-driven GTM and Revenue Architecture.
Not because I had all the answers. Because I asked better questions.

Since then, I’ve worked with 250+ teams, mainly B2B SaaS companies between €500k and €5M ARR.

And the conversations shifted:

“We finally know who we’re for.”
“Our pipeline makes sense now.”
“We can explain why deals close, or don’t.”

That’s when I realized something.

Most founders already have the skills, the experience, and a solid product.
What they’re missing is focus.

That’s why I built my ICP-driven Revenue Architecture approach.

To help teams stop guessing, align their GTM, and build growth that compounds.

If this resonates, DM me “ICP”.

No pitch. Just a conversation.

Would you give the setup fee back if a customer hit their goal?

I was thinking about this over the weekend while working on an offer.

Most onboarding flows reward signing up.
Very few reward doing the work.

What if we flipped that?

Instead of a setup fee being a sunk cost, it becomes a challenge.

Here’s the idea:

Discount or refund the setup fee if the customer hits a clear milestone in the first 30 days.

Not a freebie.
Not a blanket guarantee.
A challenge.

What kind of challenge?

→ Complete the 3-step learning path
→ Connect the core systems
→ Define success metrics
→ Review the dashboard weekly
→ Run one full GTM cycle:

Create
Check
Finalize

Rules are clear.
Progress is measurable.
The reward is store credit or a full refund.

You’re not lowering value.
You’re raising commitment.

You turn the first 30 days into a mission, not a checklist.

This works especially well if:
• Your product needs momentum to unlock value
• Activation is clear but effort-based
• Early wins drive referrals and advocacy

This isn’t about being generous.

It’s about behavior design.

Reward the right actions.
Attract the right customers.
Build a system that reinforces itself.

Would this work for your product?
Or would it create the wrong incentives?

Douwe Wester 🤷👉

li_at

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Talks about #strategy, #fullfunnel, #leanstartup, #growthhacking, and #entrepreneurship

Helping SaaS & Tech founders (500k–€5M ARR) nail their customer fit, messaging & GTM motion so scaling becomes predictable | ‘That ICP Guy’ | Ideal Customer-Led Growth | 👇

How many Clients does it take till ya get to the center of the...
(I’ve got to know)
How many Clients does it take till ya get to the center of the...
(Tell me...)
How many Clients does it take till ya get to the center of the...
(Oh oh)
How many Clients does it take till ya get to the center of the...
(Oooh oooh ah ah oh)

Turns out, how many touches you have with your clients
will determine how you acquire them
and how much you can charge them.

Here’s what that journey actually looks like 👇

1 | How many customers do you need before your ICP becomes real?
Each GTM motion reveals new data about your buyers.

No-touch → Build a behavioral ICP from analytics, churn, and usage.
Low-touch → Double down on high-retention micro-segments.
Medium-touch → Blend SPICED interviews with win/loss reviews to confirm fit.
High-touch → Treat every deal as a test case and iterate your ICP quarterly.
Dedicated-touch → Shift from ICP to Ideal Account Profile (IAP) and segment by org traits, not personas.

The higher the ACV, the clearer the ICP.

2 | ICP Fit Stages
Early customers → help you learn
Ideal customers → help you scale
More clients + more data = ICP Fit


3 | The Goldilocks Zone ICP
Too big → deals stall
Too small → revenue leaks
Your ICP lives in the middle ↳ where velocity meets profit.


4 | Profile Creation
Stack it!!!
→ ICP: What makes a customer ideal
→ SPICED Tiers: Who gets your best effort
→ Personas: Who’s really in the deal
→ Info Needs: What moves them forward

Each motion teaches you something new.
Each client brings you closer to clarity.

You don’t find your ICP by guessing.
You find it by graduating through each motion with intent.

P.S. I'll be dropping these individual BOMBs this week ;)

This weeks Ideal Customer-Led Series:
#2  of 5 | ICP FIt = https://lnkd.in/enA6jFTw
#3 of 5 | Goldilocks zone = https://lnkd.in/eHXsFTuF
#4  of 5 | ICP Profile Creation = https://lnkd.in/e8ugqAxQ
#5  of 5 | How many customers?

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Helping SaaS & Tech founders (500k–€5M ARR) nail their Customer Fit, Messaging & GoToMarket Motion so scaling becomes predictable | Ideal Customer-Led Growth | 👇

Your next customer probably won’t buy from you this quarter.
But they will remember who helped them think more clearly today.

That’s the part most founders miss.

Pipeline problems don’t appear out of nowhere.
They show up months after you stopped doing the work that actually builds demand.

I see this constantly with SaaS founders.

Things felt fine, so visibility dropped.
You stopped showing up.
You treated growth like something you could turn back on when revenue slipped.

Now pipeline is dry, and you want results immediately.

You’re asking for outcomes on a timeline you didn’t earn.

Nobody likes hearing that.
But it’s usually true.

Most founders chase quick pipeline wins.
Cold outbound. More volume. More pressure.

Sometimes that helps.
Most of the time, it doesn’t save your ass.

Because 90% plus of your market isn’t buying right now.
They’re not even looking.

But they are watching 🌱

The founders who keep showing up
sharing useful perspective
talking about real problems
teaching before they pitch

are quietly planting seeds 🌱

Pipeline isn’t a vending machine.
It’s a garden 🌱

You can’t harvest what you never planted.
And if you only show up when you need pipeline, you’ll always be chasing it.

The best founders I see understand this.

🌱 Educate before they sell
🌱 Build trust before there’s intent
🌱 Play the long game on purpose

Because growth doesn’t come from hacks.
It comes from habit.

If you need pipeline right now,
you probably should’ve started earlier.

If you want pipeline six months from now,
start today 🌱

If you are between 1–5M in revenue

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

What’s one thing you’re doing right now that won’t help this quarter, but will pay off later this year?

I’ve been outperformed by a lot of people in my life.

First by my peers.
Friends. People I grew up with.

I just turned 44 yesterday.

Now I’m competing with people in their 20s and 30s.

And yes, I still catch myself judging everything by one metric:
Revenue.

At some point comparison stopped motivating me and started hurting.

That point was when the gap wasn’t 10% anymore. It was a wopping 100%.

Here’s the part most people don’t see.

I grew up on welfare.
Anything beyond the basics, I worked for. Early.
I started working when I was 12.

By the time I finished studying, 
I’d done over 30 different jobs.

I didn’t have a real role model.
No mentor explaining how success actually works.

I decided not to see my dad when I was six. 
(Can't imagine my 8-year-old making such a decision)

Too young to make that call. Old enough to feel the consequences.

So I figured things out the only way I knew how:
By myself.

That made me 
Resilient.
Creative.
Independent.

It also made me slow in places others were fast.

I tried everything.
Failed a lot.
Succeeded a few times.
Got close to bankrupt twice.

One thing I struggled with most?
Sticking with something after it worked.

Survival teaches you how to cope.
Not always how to compound.

But here’s the other side.

What I have now, many younger, faster people don’t yet understand.

A full library in my head for solving problems.
A family that supports me.
A community that actually has my back.

I know what chaos feels like.
I know what the bottom looks like.
And once you’ve been there, fear loses some of its power.

Today, I’m doing what younger-me hoped I’d do.
Teaching people hard things.
Being trusted.

I don’t have the €1M I thought “making it” would look like.
But I do feel like I’m building real wealth.
Personal first. Financial second.

Success didn’t fix everything.
It doesn’t undo bad parenting.
It doesn’t erase old wiring.

And honestly?
I still feel like a dumbass more often than I’d like.

But the race changed.

I’m not racing others anymore.
I’m racing myself.

Trying to become a 1% more complete version of who I already am.
Which, surprisingly, is already pretty good.

If you’re younger:
Ask the smartest, healthiest, kindest, most balanced person you know how they actually did it.
And listen.

If you’re older:
You’re too late to be young.
So don’t make young mistakes.
Make new old ones.

That’s where the freedom is.

You don’t go from “any customer” to “ideal customer” overnight.
You earn your ICP one stage at a time.

Your ICP isn’t static.
It evolves with every deal, every dataset, and every motion.

Here’s what that journey actually looks like.

Early customers
They help you learn.

They show where value is real and where it breaks.
They expose friction in onboarding, gaps in positioning, and mismatched expectations.

They are your first dataset.
They are not your finish line.

Ideal customers
They help you scale.

By this point, ROI is proven.
Onboarding is tighter.
Positioning is sharper.

These customers start to look familiar.
Same pains. Same wins. Same retention curve.

Patterns emerge.

ICP fit
This is where success becomes predictable.

Sales, CS, and product can describe the buyer the same way in one sentence.
New customers behave like your best customers by design, not by luck.

More customers plus more data creates ICP-Fit.

It’s not a milestone you announce.
It’s a signal you confirm.

You don’t find ICP fit by guessing.
You earn it through motion, validation, and iteration.

This week’s Ideal Customer-Led Series:
#1 Base idea behind the series https://lnkd.in/eqaUhrNS

Up next -> The ICP Goldilocks Zone

PS. Credit to Maja Voje for coining the Early Customer Profile concept that started it all.

This weeks Ideal Customer-Led Series:
#2 of 5 | ICP FIt
#3 of 5 | Goldilocks zone = https://lnkd.in/eW_BWzvk
#4 of 5 | ICP Profile Creation = https://lnkd.in/ea4w_Vnv
#5 of 5 | How many customers?

SEO could be important.
SEA could be important.
ABM could be important.
Outreach could be important.
LinkedIn ads could be important.
Facebook ads could be important.
LinkedIn content could be important.
Email sequences could be important.
...

But trusting a single-channel agency with your entire customer acquisition strategy?
That’s a narrow path to walk.

An SEO agency lives and breathes search.
A Google Ads expert thinks in clicks and conversions.
A LinkedIn specialist sees the world through professional networks.

Expertise? Undeniable.
Holistic? Hardly.

Before you choose a channel, start with clarity:
↳ Understand your pipeline
↳ Understand your market
↳ Talk to customers and prospects
↳ Map their problems, needs, and desires
↳ Map their buyer journey
↳ Map how to reach them
↳ Refine your offer

Then — make a plan.

If SEO fits the strategy, go deep.
If it’s LinkedIn, double down there.
But start from strategy, not from channel.

Because in a world this interconnected, no single play wins alone.

Don’t confine your growth to one lens.
Blend perspectives.
Combine expertise.

If you want this to compound, do it like that ;)

The copywriter is dead?

Nope.

But the LinkedIn feed is drowning in AI-written fluff, emoji explosions, and the same copy-paste formatting everywhere.

Meanwhile, real buyers are still scrolling.

Do the people who win on LinkedIn do something different?

Yes.

They’re not just posting.

They’re building relationships.
Starting real conversations.
And using LinkedIn like the B2B engine it still is.

The first hurdle is posting.
The second hurdle is actually saying something.

Most people never clear the second one.

Random posts.
Generic takes.
AI comments and lazy DMs.

And yes, I use AI too.
But it doesn’t think for me.

Maybe 5% of founders, B2B marketers, and SDRs actually get this.

Here’s what they do differently 👇

Posers → post when inspiration hits.
Linketeers → show up with a strategy built for a specific buyer.

Posers → write content you’ve already seen.
Linketeers → write content that creates demand and starts conversations.

Posers → celebrate impressions and likes.
Linketeers → track leads, DMs, and revenue.

Posers → repost blogs and call it distribution.
Linketeers → create LinkedIn-native content that educates, entertains, and converts.

Posers → ignore their comments.
Linketeers → use comments to validate messaging, build rapport, and book calls.

Posers → try to be everywhere.
Linketeers → go deep on one channel until it prints pipeline.

I remind myself of this every week.

I don’t need to be everywhere.
I need to go deep somewhere.

And for B2B, that place is still LinkedIn.

Master it.
Specialize in it.
And it will return the favor.

Enjoy your day 🤙

You need to do more

Most Go-To-Market strategies aren’t failing because of bad products.

They’re failing because of blind spots no one’s measuring.

We built a simple GTM Maturity Scorecard that instantly shows you:
– Where is your GTM strong?
– Where were you leaking revenue?
– What to fix first for growth?

The assessment covers 6 areas:
→ Market & Ideal Customer Clarity
→ Messaging & Positioning
→ Pricing & Packaging
→ Motion Effectiveness
→ Revenue Operations
→ Customer Success & Expansion

Each is scored from 1–10 and prioritized (High/Medium/Low) so you know exactly what to focus on in the next 12 months.

We’ve opened 4 free assessment spots this month (100% discount).

If you want one, CONNECT and DM me “Assess” and I’ll send you the details.

P.S. Only for 500k to 5M in Annual Revenue, looking to optimize their current situation.

You don’t lose customers because onboarding is slow. 
You lose them because it’s meaningless.

I get it. Let's get them on the platform
Celebrating onboarding is “done.”
Customers really only care.
When they feel progress.

That turning point.
→ When they get it
→ When they start using
→ When users stop thinking.
→ When they start integrating.

The emotional and rational signal that says:
→ “Yes, this is working.”
→ “Yes, I’m getting value.”
→ “Yes, this was the right choice.”

We call it First Impact.

And it looks different across motions 👇

PLG
Rational: auto-loaded templates, real-time usage feedback
Emotional: instant output, shareable moments, personal success screens

Medium-touch
Rational: guided dashboards built on customer data
Emotional: async Loom recaps, teammate invite nudges, progress visuals

High-touch
Rational: outcome-based onboarding mapped to exec goals
Emotional: stakeholder playback sessions, internal win emails, personalized welcomes

None of this is fluff. It is design.

And design directly impacts retention and expansion.

Data backs it up:
→ Teams that map “First Impact” moments see 23–28% higher retention
→ Early-stage SaaS with outcome-based onboarding cut churn by 40%
→ PLG products reach 1.6× faster activation when users hit value in 24h

You don’t need faster onboarding.
You need faster impact.

I really want to hear your first impact's below.
Software, hardware, or service.

You can use this:
When [specific user] does [first meaningful action], they should feel [emotional payoff] and see [tangible proof of value].

How niche is too niche?

Here’s how I think about it for early-stage SaaS teams.

Your market should be big enough to get investors interested.
Your ideal customer should feel almost uncomfortably specific.

The narrower you go:

→ Sales gets simpler
→ Your story gets sharper
→ The path to €1M ARR gets shorter

That’s the Goldilocks Zone of early GTM.

In astronomy, it’s the orbit where life can exist.
Not too hot.
Not too cold.
Just right.

Startups have one too.

Too broad, and your message turns into noise.
Too narrow, and you run out of oxygen.

The answer isn’t “bigger.”
It’s focus.

One clear customer.
One clear problem.
One clear way you win.

Below €1M ARR, that’s where leverage is built.

One story.
One buyer.
One repeatable sales motion.

Everything else comes later.
New segments. Expansion. Adjacent markets.

But not before the first million.

👉 How close are you to your Goldilocks Zone?

Not all buying signals hit your CRM.

Most of them never will.

They happen in private places you don’t control and can’t track.

P.S., before we start. My 8-year-old and I are fully immersed in Star Wars: The Clone Wars right now. Lightsabers. Dark side. Hidden battles everywhere.

Couldn’t help myself when thinking about GTM.

Because your future customers are already buying.
You just don’t see them.

They ask for vendor recommendations in Slack groups.
They compare ROI tools on competitor sites.
They debate options in DMs, not demos.

That’s the Dark Side of the Funnel.

And pretending it doesn’t exist is why most GTM motions underperform.

↓↓ How strong teams win inside the Dark Funnel ↓↓

1️⃣ Detect
• Use intent data from Bombora, 6sense, or ZoomInfo.
• Not to admire dashboards.
• To act fast when intent shows up.
  
2️⃣ Engage
• Ungate product guides, ROI models, and comparison pages.
• Serious buyers don’t want to “book a call.”
• They want to think in peace.

3️⃣ Amplify
• Show up where real conversations happen.
• Slack groups. Reddit. Niche communities.
• Add value without pitching.
• Private trust compounds faster than public reach.

4️⃣ Measure
• Track what your CRM ignores.
• Mentions. Screenshots. Shares. Quiet referrals.
• If you only measure form fills, you’re late.

We cannot deny the fact that buyers are better educated.
They can make great decisions on their own.
So the key is to have as much awareness.

Influence the decision before the buyer ever raises a hand.

...and track signal so you know who's ready to take out of the oven.

How are you spotting signals you can’t see in your CRM?

👇 Let’s trade real playbooks.

P.P.S. I turned 44 today 🥳🎉

Selection. Mutual commit. Onboarding. Impact. Expand.
Sounds like SaaS? It’s also how I fell in love.

I can’t seem to turn off the GTM brain, even in relationships.
And when I look back, the bowtie funnel fits a little too well.

Awareness
We noticed each other.
First glances. Slow smiles. Probably over coffee.
Definitely filtered.

Consideration
A few dates.
Sussing out values, attachment styles, and brunch orders.
No deck. Just vibes. And light stalking.

Selection
Choosing. Slowly, then all at once.
Not just “I like you,” but “I like where this is going.”
The spreadsheet of red flags? Surprisingly empty.

Mutual Commit
Labels. Exits closed. Shared Netflix login.
A roadmap (kind of).
Still messy. Like, who does the laundry kind of messy.

Onboarding
Moving in.
Cohabiting ecosystems. Calendar collisions. Towel negotiations.
It’s not all candles and playlists, or sometimes it’s moldy Tupperware.

PS. obviously getting Cats together is part of the onboarding, and dogs are expanding.

Impact
Real life shows up.
Family stuff. Struggles. IKEA assembly tests.
We figure out what “I got you” really means.

Expand
Kids (or houseplants that feel like kids).
Got a DOG
Joint rituals. Friends that become family.
A shared Google calendar with too many color codes.

There’s no pipeline stage for magic.
But it sneaks in somewhere between “Impact” and “Expand.”

Maybe love is a funnel.
Or maybe I need a day off.

Have a great day! Almost weekend

Everyone says “start narrow.”
Almost no one actually does it.

No wonder your strategy isn’t converting.

Pipeline isn’t the problem.
You’re selling to the wrong customers.
Or just not the right ones.

Sound familiar?

You’re not alone.

The same patterns keep showing up:

• Sales burns out on discovery calls that go nowhere
• Marketing creates interest, but zero intent
• Product keeps pivoting because “the market doesn’t get it”

You’re optimizing for the wrong customer.

This week on a discovery call:
“We want to market to all of them.”
Me: “Yeah, I get it. Your customers won’t.”

Last week, in a coaching session:
“But that excludes these customers.”
Me: “Correct. It’s not forever.”

Another one, data review:
“So… we’ve been targeting the wrong prospects this whole time?”
Me: “Annoying. But better now than later.”

Wrong size. Wrong GEO. Too many verticals.
That’s how growth dies.

Let’s fix that.

ICP too broad
Everyone’s interested.
Nobody buys.

Your website doesn’t fully resonate.
Prospects ask “is this for me?”
Deals stall at offer sent.
Revenue feels like pushing a boulder uphill.

ICP too narrow

Deals close fast.
Then the pipeline dries up.
The market’s too small to scale.
Expansion dies early.

Different paths.
Same destination.

Burned teams. Missed targets.

And then the blame game starts:
↳ Marketing blames sales
↳ Sales blames marketing
↳ Leadership burns budget

Meanwhile, a competitor with a sharp ICP compounds quietly.

Same market.
Same category.
Different clarity.

What if there’s a customer size where everything clicks?

Not the biggest TAM.
Not the tiniest niche.

The Goldilocks Zone ICP sits in the middle.

Narrow enough to speak with authority

Broad enough to scale without rewriting your GTM

Clear enough that product, marketing, and sales reinforce each other

When you hit it, something shifts.

One message
One discovery flow
One demo
A few offers
One onboarding

It resonates. Because they know it’s for them.

Quick diagnostic:

• Do your best customers teach you how to find the next ones?
• Do deals follow a repeatable path to close?
• Does your team know who to disqualify, and why?
• Are sales, marketing, and product aligned on the same customer?
• Are fast deals also your best deals long term?
• Do you know why you win and why you lose, early?

It’s not about total addressable market.
It’s about total actionable momentum.

That’s the clarity most teams are missing.

This weeks Ideal Customer-Led Series:
#2 of 5 | ICP FIt = https://lnkd.in/enA6jFTw
#3 of 5 | Goldilocks zone
#4 of 5 | ICP Profile Creation = https://lnkd.in/ea4w_Vnv
#5 of 5 | How many customers?

Ever lost a deal? Whom am I kidding? We all have.

The ROI checked out.
The deck was airtight.
The business case was bulletproof.

Even though the numbers were flawless?

And you still lost.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth most teams avoid:

Buyers don’t decide with spreadsheets.
They decide with gut, pride, trust… and fear.

You can win every rational argument
and still lose the deal.

Why?

Because the real decision drivers are emotional.

I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly while supporting SaaS and B2B tech teams:

Deals close faster and stick longer,
when you speak to both the head and the heart.

Here’s what that actually looks like in the wild:

Rational questions buyers ask:
• Will this hit our targets?
• Will it save time or reduce risk?

Emotional questions they rarely say out loud:
• Will this make me look smart?
• Will my team trust this decision?
• What if this fails — will I look exposed or regret it?

The most consistent winners don’t just talk numbers.

They ask:
→ How does my solution make the buyer feel?
→ What are they afraid to admit, even to themselves?
→ Where does their confidence come from — and where does it crack?

That’s the real work.

Mapping the buyer’s emotional landscape,
not just their rational checklist.

Designing GTM motions that speak to
logic and identity.

So if your growth is stalling, ask yourself:

Are you selling to logic…
or to emotion?

Because until you win the emotional battle,
the deal is never truly safe.

I explained what we’ve been building to my family.

And for the first time ever,
they actually understood what I do.

No more “so… you post on LinkedIn?”
No more “is that marketing?”

They finally saw the strategy.
Not the tactics.

They understood that every decision ladders back to one thing:
who it’s for, why it matters, and how it grows.

And it hit me.

If they get it,
some founders probably will too.

Here’s what we actually do.

We help SaaS founders between $300k and $3M ARR stop guessing.

They’re past the idea stage.
The product works.
But growth still feels noisy and inconsistent.

Founder-led selling.
Mixed signals from the market.
Too many ideas. Not enough leverage.

We help them replace that with a clean, repeatable way to grow.

That means clarity on:
→ Who they truly serve best
→ How to package their value for that buyer
→ What to focus on now and what to ignore

Not content.
Not ads.
Not funnels.

A system that helps the right buyers:
find you,
recognize it’s for them,
and choose without friction.

And because we’re building something precise,
we’ve started saying no.

Even when yes would be easier.

In December, I turned down two companies.
Smart teams.
Well-resourced.
Serious intent.

But the fit wasn’t there.

When we onboard non-ideal customers, we have to deliver a different product.
Even if the difference is small, it takes time and energy away from what actually works.

They didn’t have a go-to-market problem.
They had an orchestration problem.
Which is easily solvable.
By someone else. 

Could we have helped?
Probably.

But not in the way I do for others.

I'm not building a factory.
I'm building a standard.

And that requires fit,
not just funding.

It finally made sense to them.

Maybe it clicks for you too.

You don’t need more features.

You need a clearer way to sell what you already built.

I keep seeing the same pattern with SaaS teams doing 1M to 5M ARR.

The product works.
The growth doesn’t.

And most of the time, that gap isn’t about talent or effort.
It’s about structure.

Teams that grow predictably get three things right:

Whom they’re really building for
The story they tell those people
How they price and package the value

Most founders think they have this figured out.
They usually don’t.

Right in the middle of those three sits the offer. The offer is simply this:
What you’re selling, who it’s for, and why it’s worth paying for.

When those three line up, growth stops feeling forced.

Who it’s for + the story → the right message lands
The story + pricing → people buy the outcome, not the product
Who it’s for + pricing → you sell the way customers actually want to buy

When all three connect, selling gets easier.

Not because you pushed harder.
But it finally makes sense to the buyer.

Clarity alone doesn’t scale, though.
Execution does.

This is where most teams quietly hit a wall.

Founders who actually scale build a repeatable growth system:

→ They can see where deals come from and where they stall
→ They segment the market instead of selling to “everyone”
→ They talk to customers constantly, not once a year
→ They commit to one clear value story
→ Sales, marketing, and product actually align
→ They focus on a few channels that work
→ They track metrics that tie directly to revenue

That’s how an offer turns into growth.

You don’t scale by shipping more stuff.
You scale by making what you already have easier to understand and easier to buy.

👉 If you could only fix one of these three first, which one would it be?

P.S. Check the comments for some additional nuggets
P.P.S. Follow me (Douwe) if you aren't already for ICP-driven Go To Market & Revenue Architecture content

Douwe Wester 🟢 👉

I’ve watched Pulp Fiction way too many times.
Still have no idea what’s in that briefcase.

But I do know what should be in yours if you’re running a B2B company.

If you’re a founder sitting somewhere between €500k and €5M in ARR, this is for you.

You have a proven concept.
You’ve got paying customers.

But every new deal feels harder.
Because at that stage, growth feels off.

And somehow, progress still feels like pushing uphill.

Most founders I talk to are obsessed with the hunt.

New leads. 
New logos. 
New channels.

It feels productive. 
It feels like motion.

Meanwhile, your customers are already paying
And for some reason, they get less attention.

I get it.
New, New, New is kinda sexy.

It gives you the dopamine hit you probably need.

But when growth slows, and CAC keeps climbing, you need to wake up.

Adding new customers is linear.
Adding and retaining them is compounding.
That’s where real growth happens.

It’s Q1.

Everyone’s setting goals, 
chasing momentum, 
trying to build faster.

But the companies that will actually grow faster this year

They’re not chasing. 
They’re compounding.

TL;DR

Do this this week:
- Who's still in onboarding?
- Who's still in adoption?
- Who's really getting recurring Impact?
- Who's so happy you can ask for a case study?
- Who's so happy to refer you to others?
- Who's ready to renew?
- Who's ready to expand?

1. Make a Google Sheet. 
2. Put these questions horizontally.
3. Divide all your customers into these categories.
4. Make two types of plans 
a) What do we do when a client enters that stage
b) How do we progress the client to the next phase
5. Pick the area that needs the most attention.

Tom van Os 📈 any additions or suggestions?

You don’t need a new tactic.

Clarity brings all the clients to the yard. 
And they're like, "It's better than yours"
Damn right, it's better than yours
I can teach you, but I have to charge

Would love to hear the CS community about how to transition from focusing on sales to a full bowtie focus.

Your funnel is freezing up

If you think you need more leads, you probably don’t.

The real problem is why everything slows down after the first demo.
Buyers are colder, cycles are longer, and momentum keeps disappearing.

Here is what is really happening.

Buyers are in control.
They do not need your pitch to learn.

They already have the data, 
the reviews, and the alternatives.

Teams are ghosting each other.
Sales closes deals that CS cannot retain.
Marketing sends leads that sales will not touch.
Nobody owns the flow from first click to full value.

Velocity is gone.
Decisions crawl because trust and clarity break halfway through.
The middle of your Bowtie is frozen.

You can pour more prospects into the top,
but if the center is blocked, nothing gets through.

Here is how to warm it back up.

Track time to value
↳ Speed is the strongest indicator of health. Watch it closely.

Build expansion into onboarding
↳ Teach customers to grow with you from day one.

Make post-sale handoffs seamless
↳ Every handoff should add momentum, not confusion.

More leads will not save you if every deal slows to ice halfway.

Get your funnel flowing again this winter.

We are giving away three free ICP and Messaging coaching sessions. (Founders only 🟢)
DM me “hot cocoa” and let us thaw your funnel out.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.
 
Most teams "define" their ICP in a workshop. 
They throw firmographics on a slide. 
They make a few guesses. 
They call it done. 

But your ICP isn't something you define. It's something you prove.
 
Here's how I do it.
 
𝟭. 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮
 
Stop guessing. 
Start collecting facts. 

Pull real signals from four sources: 
Your CRM shows who actually buys and sticks around. 
Enrichment tools give you third-party data and intent signals. 

Market research shows what's happening outside your bubble. 
Conversations reveal what customers actually say in their words. 

If you're not gathering, you're gambling.
 
𝟮. 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮
 
Stop making gut calls. 
Start spotting money patterns. 
Sort by revenue. 
Segment by size. 
Use AI to cluster top customers. 

Validate what you see with interviews and win/loss notes. 
The goal? Know exactly where your best customers come from.
 
𝟯. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀
 
Turn insight into focus. 
Create ICP tiers. 
Map buyer personas. 
List their information needs. 

Stop targeting everyone. 
Start dominating a niche.
 
Great outcomes aren't luck. 
They're built with focus. 
And focus starts with a proven ICP.
 
DM me "ICP" if you want the free email course on building yours.

This weeks Ideal Customer-Led Series:
#2 of 5 | ICP FIt = https://lnkd.in/enA6jFTw
#3 of 5 | Goldilocks zone =https://lnkd.in/eHXsFTuF
#4 of 5 | ICP Profile Creation <- TODAY
#5 of 5 | How many customers?

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