Go-To-Market Playbooks for Founders and Early Teams
- Stephanie Roulic
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Let’s be honest: most founders don’t have a go-to-market strategy.
They have a mix of LinkedIn posts, a half-built website, maybe a few ads running somewhere, and a vague hope that “people will find us.”
At Startup Boston Week, that reality got a much-needed reset. Pardees Safizadeh (revenue operations leader at ArxEd, with experience across IBM, CloudHealth, and Evergage) broke down what it actually takes to get a product in front of the right people - and more importantly, get them to buy.
Because here’s the thing: GTM isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right things - early, intentionally, and repeatedly.
First: Every GTM Strategy Starts With a Simple System
No matter what you’re building - B2B, B2C, or somewhere in between - the fundamentals don’t change.
You are always trying to:
Attract people
Engage them
Convert them
That’s it.
Safizadeh broke it down simply: “At the end of the day, you're always trying to find a person… there’s no cats and dogs buying things quite yet.”
From ads and social posts to your website and chatbot, every touchpoint should ladder back to this system. If it doesn’t, it’s noise.
The Early-Stage Trap: Doing Too Much, Too Soon
One of the biggest mistakes early teams make? Trying to do everything at once.
Instead, Safizadeh encourages founders to think in focused growth pillars:
Content (blogs, newsletters, thought leadership)
Digital (social + ads)
Offers (free trials, lead magnets, promos)
Sales (founder-led outreach)
You don’t need all four on day one.
You need one that works.
And for many founders, that starting point is surprisingly simple: your network. “A lot of people don’t use their own network…and then they fail because no one ever knew what they were working on,” Pardees stated.
Speed Matters: Sell Before You Scale
If there was one theme that came up again and again, it was this: Get to revenue as fast as possible.
Before building a complex marketing engine, founders should focus on:
Direct outreach
Founder-led sales
Simple landing pages
Conversations with real users
Because sales gives you something marketing can’t:
Immediate feedback. “Sales, you get feedback right away. Marketing takes a little bit longer.”
Inbound, Outbound, and Ecosystem: The Three Growth Levers
Once you have early traction, your GTM strategy expands into three core channels:
1. Inbound: Make People Come to You
Think:
Content
Social media
SEO
Webinars & podcasts
This is where credibility compounds over time.
A standout insight: you don’t need to be everywhere.
Focus on one channel first (especially early on) because spreading yourself too thin slows everything down.
2. Outbound: Go Get Your Customers
This is your fastest growth lever:
Cold outreach
Paid ads
Direct messages
Event networking
But the key isn’t volume, it’s relevance. Bad targeting → spamGood targeting → pipeline
And your best weapon? A one-liner that makes people lean in.
3. Ecosystem: Grow Through Other People
Often overlooked, but incredibly powerful:
Partnerships
Communities
Sponsorships
Influencers
One of the most practical plays shared: Sponsor small, niche communities (even with something as simple as pizza) and get direct access to your audience.
Email Isn’t Dead, But It Has Changed
Despite all the noise around new channels, email is still one of the highest ROI tools in GTM. But there’s nuance:
Inbound email (opted-in users) → still highly effective
Outbound cold email → getting harder due to saturation
And perhaps the most counterintuitive takeaway: Sometimes, ugly emails outperform polished ones. Why? Because they feel human.
The Real Goal: Product-Market Fit, Not Just Growth
All of these tactics are in service of one thing: Aligning your product with real demand
Safizadeh emphasized that before scaling anything, founders need to answer:
Do people actually want this?
Will they pay for it?
Will they keep using it?
“The most important thing is making sure people actually want what you're building before you get too far.” Because scaling a broken GTM strategy just gets you…failure, faster.
Final Takeaway: Start Small, Then Compound
The best GTM strategies don’t start big, they start with:
A clear audience
A simple message
One channel that works
Then they layer:
More channels
More automation
More scale
Over time, because launching “like a pro” isn’t about having a perfect strategy. It’s about building something that actually works and then doubling down on it.
