Launch & Go-To-Market Skill

Master the art of successful product launches. From GTM strategy through launch execution, learn to coordinate teams, build momentum, and achieve market success.

Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy

GTM Framework Decision

1. Direct Sales Model

• Your team directly sells to customers
• Best for: High ACV (>$10K), complex product
• Sales cycle: 3-6 months
• Team size: 1 AE per $500K-$1M ARR target
• Examples: Salesforce, HubSpot, Workday

Pros:

• Control over message
• Deep customer relationships
• Higher deal size possible
• Custom solutions

Cons:

• Expensive ($200K+ per rep)
• Slower to scale
• Long sales cycles
• Small addressable market needed for ROI

Key Metrics:

• Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
• Close rate (typically 20-40%)
• Sales cycle length
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

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2. Self-Service / Freemium Model

• Customers discover and sign up themselves
• Best for: Low ACV (<$1K), self-explanatory product
• Sales cycle: Minutes to days
• Team: Product + Marketing focused

Pros:

• Scales without sales team
• Low CAC
• Fast adoption
• Land and expand opportunity

Cons:

• High churn risk
• Need viral/network effects
• Requires excellent product
• Difficult to reach enterprise

Key Metrics:

• Free-to-paid conversion (2-5% target)
• Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
• CAC < 30% LTV

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3. Sales Development (SMB)

• SDR/AE team for smaller deals
• Best for: SMB market ($2K-$50K ACV)
• Sales cycle: 1-3 months
• Lower cost than enterprise sales

Pros:

• Better ROI than enterprise sales
• Faster sales cycles
• Larger addressable market
• Still personal touch

Cons:

• Volume required
• Lower margins
• Churn challenges

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4. Channel/Partner Model

• Resellers, integrations, platforms
• Best for: Reaching wide market cheaply
• Examples: App stores, Zapier, AWS Marketplace

Pros:

• Low CAC (partner pays)
• Wide distribution
• Established customer relationships

Cons:

• Less control
• Lower margins (revenue sharing)
• Partner incentive alignment

GTM Positioning

Template:

For [target customer]
Who [customer problem]
The [product name]
Is [category]
That [primary benefit]
Unlike [alternative/competitor]
We [unique differentiator]

Messaging Hierarchy:

1. Hero message (one sentence)
   • "Collaborate in real-time, anywhere"
2. Sub-message 1 (supporting feature)
   • "Works offline, syncs when online"
3. Sub-message 2 (why it matters)
   • "No more lost work"
4. Social proof
   • "Used by 100K teams"

Target Customer Profile (ICP)

Define your ideal customer:

Company Characteristics:

• Company size: 50-500 employees
• Industry: SaaS companies
• Revenue: $10M-$100M ARR
• Geography: US + EU
• Growth stage: Growth stage

Individual Buyer:

• Title: VP of Operations
• Reports to: COO/CFO
• Budget owner: Yes
• Decision timeline: 90 days

Why they'll buy:

• Main pain: 40% time on manual process
• Impact: Save $500K/year
• Decision criteria: ROI, ease of use, support

Launch Planning (12-Week Timeline)

Weeks 1-4: Strategy & Preparation

Week 1-2: Launch Kickoff

• Define launch goals (# signups, NPS, revenue)
• Identify target segments
• Competitive positioning finalized
• Go/no-go criteria defined
• Launch date locked

Week 3-4: Content & Collateral

• Launch press release drafted
• Product one-pagers created
• Demo video script written
• FAQ documentation started
• Sales pitch refined

Weeks 5-8: Content Creation & Team Prep

Week 5-6: Marketing Preparation

• Website landing page built
• Email campaign drafted
• Social media content scheduled
• Influencer outreach list built
• PR/media contact list built

Week 7-8: Team Training

• Sales team training (2 days)
• Customer success onboarding materials
• Support team training
• Executive briefing
• Talking points finalized

Weeks 9-10: Beta & Feedback

Week 9-10: Beta Program

• 50-100 beta users selected
• Beta feedback system set up
• Daily feedback review
• Bug fixes prioritized
• Product stability achieved

Weeks 11-12: Final Launch Prep

Week 11: Final Preparations

• All content finalized and approved
• Marketing assets tested
• Sales collateral printed/digital ready
• Support documentation complete
• Systems and infrastructure scaling verified

Week 12: Launch Week Readiness

• Final product testing complete
• Team communication plan reviewed
• Monitoring and alerts configured
• Support team on high alert
• Celebration planned!

Launch Week Execution

Launch Day Schedule

6:00 AM - Team Standup

• Goals for the day
• Potential issues
• Communication channels

9:00 AM - LAUNCH

• Press release goes out
• Email campaign sends
• Social media posts
• Website live
• Sales team activated

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Monitoring

• Metrics dashboard live
• Support team responding
• Sales team following up
• Marketing team posting
• Exec team celebrating

5:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Close Monitoring

• Continued metric tracking
• Issue response
• Team updates hourly
• Press/media engagement

Post-Launch Week (Days 2-7)

Day 2 (Friday):

• Performance review
• Bug prioritization
• Customer feedback analysis
• Day 2 communication push

Day 3-5 (Weekend/Monday):

• 24/7 support coverage
• Customer success outreach
• High-priority fixes
• Feedback pattern analysis

Day 6-7 (Tuesday/Wednesday):

• Retrospective planning
• Performance vs goals review
• Course correction planning
• Team debrief

Sales Enablement

Sales One-Pager (2 pages)

Page 1:

• Product/company logo
• One-line pitch
• 3 key features/benefits
• Comparison vs competitors
• Pricing

Page 2:

• Customer testimonial/quote
• Use case scenario
• ROI calculator
• Call to action
• Contact info

Pitch Structure (3 minutes)

1. Hook (15 sec)

   • Current state: "Teams spend 40% time on manual sync"

2. Problem (30 sec)

   • Real impact: "Causes delays, errors, frustration"

3. Solution (60 sec)

   • How you solve: "We automate the sync process"
   • Key benefit: "Save 5 hours/week per team member"

4. Social Proof (15 sec)

   • Used by: "100 teams across industries"
   • Outcomes: "Avg 40% time savings"

5. Call to Action (15 sec)

   • Next step: "Let's run a quick 30-min POC with your team"

Objection Handling

Objection: "We're fine with current solution"

• Response: "I understand. What if we could cut your manual sync time in half? Worth 20 minutes to see how?"

Objection: "We don't have budget"

• Response: "What if this saves $50K in productivity? Would you make budget? Let's see if it applies to you."

Objection: "We need to evaluate competitors"

• Response: "Smart. Here's how we compare to X and Y. What's most important to you - speed, ease of use, or cost?"

Sales Process

1. Prospecting - Outbound/inbound leads
2. Discovery Call - Understand needs
3. Proposal/Demo - Show solution
4. Negotiation - Pricing/terms
5. Close - Customer acquisition!

Launch Metrics

Acquisition Metrics:

• Sign-ups: [Target #]
• Conversion rate: [Target %]
• Cost per acquisition: [Budget]

Engagement Metrics:

• DAU (Daily Active Users)
• Feature adoption rate
• Time in app

Retention Metrics:

• Day 7/30 retention
• Churn rate
• NPS score

Business Metrics:

• MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
• ACV (Average Contract Value)
• Payback period

Troubleshooting

Yaygın Hatalar & Çözümler

Hata	Olası Sebep	Çözüm
Launch delay	Product not ready	Parallel tracks, beta extend
Low buzz	Insufficient marketing	4-week teaser campaign
Sales not ready	Late enablement	Training week 6
Support overwhelmed	Under-staffed	Temp staff, extended hours

Debug Checklist

[ ] GTM model clearly defined mi?
[ ] Target segments validated mi?
[ ] Messaging tested mi?
[ ] Sales team trained mi?
[ ] Support docs ready mi?
[ ] Rollback plan var mı?
[ ] Monitoring configured mı?

Recovery Procedures

1. Launch Date Slip → Communicate early, propose new date
2. Critical Bug → Activate rollback procedure
3. Low Adoption → Accelerate marketing, CS outreach

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Master launch execution and create market momentum!