The methodologies, and how to apply them
A go-to-market strategy for B2B SaaS is the order of decisions between €0 and €1M ARR: who buys, what you replace, what you charge, which channel can carry that price, and whether people stay. The twelve methodologies below are the ones founderguide actually runs. Each section uses the long search people type, then the move to make this week.
Search volumes are average monthly US Google searches from DataForSEO Labs.
What is a go-to-market strategy
The order, not a slide title
What is a go-to-market strategy is the question under everything else on this page. It is not a launch announcement. It is who you sell to, what they would do without you, the price that matches the value, the motion that can reach them, and the number that tells you it worked. Go to market strategy examples that help a founder are specific: one segment, one alternative, one channel, one test. A diagram with six arrows is not an example.
Apply it by writing the sequence before you pick a tactic. Channel before price is the usual inversion, and it is why a €400 product ends up with a sales team it cannot pay for. A B2B SaaS go to market strategy at this stage fits on one page.
“What is a go to market strategy” is searched about 1,600 times a month in the US. “Go to market strategy examples” about 480. “B2B SaaS go to market strategy” about 30.
Positioning
April Dunford, Obviously Awesome
Positioning is five components, in this order: the competitive alternative the buyer would actually use, the attributes only you have, the value those attributes create, the customers who care most, and the market category that makes the value obvious. The alternative is a spreadsheet, someone’s Tuesday, or a feature inside a tool they already pay for. It is not the logo list on your battle card.
This week, say the position once to a prospect and ask them to repeat it. If they cannot, it is not finished. The positioning stress test runs the five components and returns Clear, Muddy or Broken.
How to create an ideal customer profile
Winning by Design
How to create an ideal customer profile starts from the customers who closed fastest and stayed, not from a persona workshop. What is an ideal customer profile is the shared trait of those customers: a triggering moment, a team shape, a stack, a size. “B2B SaaS, 10–200 employees” is not one. Ideal customer profile vs buyer persona is the difference between a list you can search and a fictional biography.
The test is practical. Can you build the account list from the profile in a single search? If not, it is still a description. With fewer than about ten customers there is no pattern yet, so label it a hypothesis. An ideal customer profile template for B2B is only useful if it forces that search. The ICP clarity scorecard estimates how many companies yours actually describes.
“What is an ideal customer profile” is searched about 140 times a month. “How to create an ideal customer profile” about 40. “Ideal customer profile vs buyer persona” about 40. “Ideal customer profile template B2B” about 40.
Strategic narrative
Andy Raskin
A strategic narrative is a five-part arc for a deck or a pitch: name a shift in the world the buyer already feels, show that the shift creates winners and losers, name the promised land the winners reach, introduce your capabilities as the way there, then show proof. The promised land is the buyer’s new reality. It is not your feature list.
Open the deck on the shift. If slide one is “About us”, the narrative is not in use. This is how a go to market strategy example gets told to a buyer who does not yet have a reason to care about your category.
Pricing strategy for SaaS
Kyle Poyar, Growth Unhinged
A pricing strategy for SaaS picks the value metric, the packages, and what you will not discount. Pricing models for SaaS that survive contact with a buyer charge for the unit the customer associates with value: seats, usage, or a result. A flat price that ignores that unit trains the buyer to negotiate.
This week, write the metric, three tiers, and the discount you will refuse. If nobody pushes back on the price, you have not tested it. “B2B SaaS pricing strategy” is the same decision with your contract value and your stage attached, not a second framework.
“Pricing models for SaaS” is searched about 320 times a month. “Pricing strategy for SaaS” about 90. “B2B SaaS pricing strategy” about 10.
Outbound sales vs inbound sales
Aaron Ross, Predictable Revenue
Outbound sales vs inbound sales is a split of work, not a personality type. Predictable Revenue separates the person who opens conversations from the person who closes them, because a closer will always abandon prospecting for a live deal. What is outbound sales in that book is targeted outreach to a named account, not a purchased list and a spray.
Under €1M you are often both people. The application is the calendar: prospecting hours that closing is not allowed to eat. If the contract value cannot pay for a human conversation, outbound is the wrong motion and the next section is the one to read.
“Outbound sales vs inbound sales” is searched about 720 times a month. “What is outbound sales” about 480.
What is the SPICED sales methodology
Winning by Design
What is the SPICED sales methodology: Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical Event, Decision. Situation is the context. Pain is what is broken. Impact is the cost of leaving it broken. Critical Event is the date that makes this quarter different from next quarter. Decision is who decides and how.
A call that ends without a critical event and a decision path was a chat. Write those five lines in the notes before you send a follow-up. The SPICED sales methodology is how a founder-led sale stays diagnosable when there is no sales manager to review it.
“SPICED sales methodology” is searched about 720 times a month. “What is SPICED sales methodology” about 30.
The golden demo
Peter Cohan, Great Demo
Do the last thing first. Open on the screen that matches the buyer’s situation, not on a company overview and a tour of every menu. The buyer should recognise their own problem in the first minutes. If they are still watching your navigation at minute ten, you are demonstrating the product to yourself.
Before the call, write the one job they hired a tool to do and start there. The rest of the product waits until they ask.
What is the MEDDIC sales methodology
Sales qualification
What is the MEDDIC sales methodology: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion. What is MEDDIC in sales is a way to see which of those six you do not have, before you forecast the deal. MEDDIC vs BANT matters because budget, authority, need and timing hide the economic buyer and the decision process. A champion who cannot name the metric is not a champion.
Under €1M the economic buyer and the user are often the same person. Use MEDDIC to find the missing piece, not to install an enterprise stage model in a CRM you do not have. If you cannot name the metric the buyer will be judged on, you are not in a deal yet.
“MEDDIC sales methodology” is searched about 1,600 times a month. “What is MEDDIC in sales” about 210. “What is MEDDIC sales methodology” about 110. “MEDDIC vs BANT” about 90.
What is product-led growth
Wes Bush, Product-Led Growth
What is product-led growth: the product is the first salesperson. A user reaches value before a human joins the deal. A product-led growth strategy lives or dies on time to value. Product-led growth vs sales-led growth is the wrong question if you treat it as an identity. It is a fit with contract value and with how the buyer decides.
Product-led growth for SaaS fails when the price needs a security review, a champion, and a quarterly budget. In that case the product can still onboard, but the motion is sales-led. The test is blunt: can a stranger get the outcome without you in the room? If not, stop designing a free plan to avoid selling.
“What is product-led growth” is searched about 390 times a month. “Product-led growth strategy” about 170. “Product-led growth vs sales-led growth” about 70. “Product-led growth for SaaS” about 30.
What is customer churn rate
Lincoln Murphy
What is customer churn rate is the share of customers, or of revenue, that leave in a period. The rate is the symptom. Lincoln Murphy’s diagnosis starts from the desired outcome: the result the customer needed, plus the experience they expected while getting it. Customer churn analysis that only counts cancelled logos misses the customers who stayed and never reached the outcome. They will leave later.
Reducing customer churn at this stage is one segment, one outcome, and a check on whether new customers reach it. It is not a win-back sequence for everyone who went quiet. If you are pre-revenue, you do not have a churn rate yet. Do not invent one to look measurable.
“What is customer churn rate” is searched about 880 times a month. “Customer churn analysis” about 210. “Reducing customer churn” about 140.
Product channel fit
Brian Balfour
Product channel fit says the channel is part of the product. A motion that works for a low-price tool adopted by the user will not carry a product that has to be sold to a committee. Product market channel fit is the same idea with the market named: the people, the product, and the channel have to agree.
Pick the channel after the price, not before. If one closed deal cannot pay for the acquisition, the channel does not fit, however many people liked the post. Brian Balfour product channel fit is the reference, not a tactic list.
“Product channel fit” and “product market channel fit” are each searched about 10 times a month. The phrase is precise. The mistake it names is common.
Series A benchmarks
Bessemer, Sequoia
Bessemer’s cloud benchmarks and Sequoia’s Arc metrics look at growth, net revenue retention, sales efficiency and burn once a company is actually selling. They are a picture of what a later investor will ask. They are not a score for a company that does not have the numbers yet.
Apply them by refusing the ones you cannot have. Pre-revenue, you are not marked on churn or net revenue retention. After revenue, the useful question is which of those benchmarks your current stage can actually move, and which one is the constraint.
These are published methodologies, credited to their authors. founderguide applies them to your business. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the experts or firms named.
Tips and updates
Notes on applying these methodologies to a company between €0 and €1M ARR. No listicle.
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