Mastering Go-to-Market with Geoffrey Moore
Go-to-Market is one of those mysterious terms which is elusive and confusing for a lot of startup founders. This is also a favorite topic for Investors. Go-to-Market is not an actual department or team, like sales or marketing, it's just a question HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET CUSTOMERS? The strategy itself, and that has always baffled startup founders.
Whats your Go-to-market Strategy??
Every Investor I have met has asked me this question, and I would find myself mumbling words without really understanding them, trying to think of something smart to say on the spot. Not anymore. After the Geoffrey session, my Go-to-Market strategy is crystal clear. And if you have a similar question, listen to this Video (the audio quality is not that great) it will probably be the best hour you would spend for your startup.
Background story: A few years ago when I was ideating my startup and I read the book Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. One thing that I learned was to THINK BIG. So when I recently was challenged in my Startup, for Sales, I went back to his book and also took the opportunity to invite the Author, Geoffrey Moore himself, to come and present on Sales and Go-to-market. And Boy was I blown away. The event was such an eye-opening experience. We had hundreds of startuppers from all around the Bay Area, who came to get a slice of Geoffrey Moore’s Wisdom.?
We also asked the audience what are some of the challenges they are facing in the sales and Go-to-market journey and what they want to learn from Geoffrey. This list below will paint you a picture of what the audience was expecting from the Session.?
What do you want to ask Geoffrey Moore about Sales and Go-to-market?
Big expectations and he covered everything and gave such a unique perspective on Go-to-Market that opened everyone’s eyes.
For the uninitiated, Geoffrey Moore is an author (Crossing the Chasm), speaker, and advisor who splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Wildcat Venture Partners portfolios and established high-tech enterprises, most recently including Salesforce, Microsoft, Autodesk, F5Networks, Gainsight, Google, and Splunk.
In his session, he started by giving an overview of what are the different kinds of customers you will face at different stages of your technology.
The idea here is, for each of these customers you need to have a different playbook. The sooner you understand this the better your go-to-market strategy becomes.?
His famous “Chasm” is somewhere between Early Market (Customer is Visionaries) and Bowling Alley (Customer is a General Manager). A lot of great technologies die because they don't get a foothold with actual customers, the general managers in the Bowling Alley. This according to him is the vertical customer. Like a Department Manager. He suggests focusing on a type of customer segment and being a LEADER in that department. And land and expand to other departments and by doing so Bowl each of the Duckpins/ departments.?
Because up to the Early market phase, your customer is all over the place, and they also pull you in a different direction.?
In the Early Market, you are making a PROJECT, but in Bowling Alley, you are creating a SOLUTION based on use cases. This was the amazing insight I needed for my startup.?
Another great question asked by attendee, Deep S. (Founder/investor) was how do you know, where your startup is in this Journey. A unique insight came from Mr. Geoffrey, the best way to find out was THE BUDGET ALLOCATION.?
If you selling a product for which there is already a budget allocated in a company then you are in the Bowling Alley. If the customer has to create a Budget for you (more challenging) then you are in the Early Market.
He also went ahead to show you how you can create your go-to-market Playbook/ strategy according to your technology stage.
领英推荐
The unique insight I got was at the beginning when your technology is not known your go-to-market strategy needs to focus on the CEO/EVP, people who are visionaries and responsible for DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION. They are the only ones who can take RISK in your startup.?
They are the only people who can CREATE THE BUDGET for your product. A manager cannot go to a CEO and say here we need this brand new technology because it could be RISKY. The manager is not a Risk taker, the CEO is.
In the NEXT STAGE when your product is replacing an existing technology like SLACK replace the old chat. There is no Rish the Solution is only getting updated or upgraded. A Manager can go and tell the CEO we need to update our Current technology to this new UPGRADED technology. The company is just REDIRECTING its Budget. No risk is involved. The Manager is the user so he can decide what's better for him and his team.
The following is the densest slide and it covers EVERYTHING, ALL OF YOUR DEPARTMENT WILL NEED TO DO for every stage?
That’s It guys. I am still trying to understand the full scope of the last slide and how it impacts me and my startup.?
-----------------------------
I did hear amazing feedback from other folks on Linkedin who attended the event. Almost everyone asked me for Video.
Geoffrey Moore sharing wisdom on how to generate revenues at different stages of startup growth!! His book, “Crossing the Chasm” is an essential read for startup founders. Must read! — Deep S
I gained new insights from today’s presentation in addition to what is in the book. Mr. Moore talked about the importance of having different playbooks for different stages of the organization. He dug deeper into what this playbook means for Marketing, Solution Engineering, Sales, Implementation Support, and Customer Success teams. He also elaborated on how Delivery Model, Budget Status, Target Customer, Marketing, Positioning, Sales Org Type, and CSF changes at each stage. — Hrishikesh Sathawane
I also got a chance to meet our Teamcal Ai members, who volunteered to host the event. Here are some photos by me, Deep, and Hrishikesh.
And don’t miss our Next SALES WORKSHOP