Go-to-market strategy guide for SaaS startups
SaaS startups often trip up when it comes to figuring out their go-to-market (GTM) strategy.
The early stages are filled with excitement, but also a sense of urgency. You're trying to get your product into the hands of users, prove it works, and then figure out how to sell it.
But this isn’t straightforward—especially when you’re working with limited time and money. So how do you get the ball rolling without wasting your resources?
The key is to break it down into steps. Early-stage startups that thrive are the ones that can focus on the essentials, and the GTM strategy is no different.
We’ve seen plenty of startups who have joined us at Stone & Chalk first take a simple, clear approach to GTM, and the ones that succeed are the ones that focus on using their funds well. Here’s how they do it.
1. The early days: do everything yourself
When you’re just starting out, it’s probably you and your co-founder managing everything.
You’re not just building the product, you’re doing the marketing, sales, customer support—everything.
This isn’t just because you have to; it’s because you should. No one knows your product better than you. And you can adapt faster than anyone else.
You might be tempted to hire someone early on—an expert marketer or agency—to help get things moving. Don’t.
You need to handle marketing yourself in the beginning. It saves money, but more importantly, it ensures the messaging is aligned with what you’re building.
You’re learning about your customers as you go. This hands-on phase is crucial for understanding their pain points and adjusting both your product and your pitch to fit.
2. Get product-market fit
A big mistake founders make is thinking they’ve nailed product-market fit when they’ve barely scratched the surface.
Just because you’ve built something with a bunch of features doesn’t mean you’ve hit product-market fit.
A strong product-market fit happens when real customers start using your product, paying for it, and—most importantly—keep coming back. It’s not just about features; it’s about solving a real problem for your customers.
At Stone & Chalk, we’ve seen startups competing with products that have 10x more features, and yet, those competitor startups fail.
Why is that the case? Because it’s not about how many features you have, it’s about whether those features solve the problem better. The only way to know is to get your product into users’ hands and let them tell you.
If your product solves their problem and they can’t imagine living without it, that’s product-market fit.
3. The go-to-market phase
Once you’ve got a handle on your fit, you can start thinking about scaling.
But don’t confuse product-market fit with validation of your entire business. It’s just one piece.
Before you go all in on marketing, you need to validate your pricing, your customer acquisition strategy, and your sales process. That’s what the go-to-market phase is for.
The mistake we see startups make is hiring off sales too quickly. The founders delegate too soon, and suddenly they don’t know how to sell their own product.
You need to be closely involved in marketing in this phase because this is when you’re stress-testing everything: is the pricing right? How long are sales cycles? Are the features positioned correctly?
Once you know these answers, then you can think about scaling with marketing hires.
4. Getting your first customers
Forget big budgets and complex marketing plans in the beginning. Your first customers are going to come from scrappy, low-cost tactics.
This means personal connections, direct outreach, and leveraging your community. The first customers are often the hardest to get because you don’t have much proof behind your product yet.
A lot of startups at Stone & Chalk succeed by focusing on building relationships. They go to meetups, engage in online forums, build a presence on social media, or just cold email potential users.
If you’re not willing to grind it out, you won’t get those first few customers. You don’t need to be everywhere—just focus on one or two channels where your target customers already are.
5. Building out your marketing
Many founders jump into SEO or paid advertising too soon. SEO can be valuable, but it’s a long game. You won’t see results for months, and for an early-stage startup, that’s a lifetime.
Paid ads can be even riskier. You’ll burn through cash quickly, and if your product messaging isn’t solid, you’ll see little return.
While they are still useful tools, you should spend more of your time on direct outreach, community engagement, and building a reputation through thought leadership.
Speaking at events, and participating in webinars are all ways to get your name out there without breaking the bank.
Once you’ve got your first customers and your messaging is clear, then you can experiment more with SEO and paid ads.
6. Refine your message
In the early stages, the way you talk about your product is going to evolve.
A common mistake is trying to sell based on features or technical specs. But that’s not what users care about. What matters is the problem your product solves.
Keep your messaging simple. Cut out the technical jargon and focus on the pain points your customers feel. Iterate on this as you go.
At Stone & Chalk, we’ve seen startups test multiple versions of their pitch before something clicks. It’s normal.
The important thing is to keep refining until you find a message that resonates.
7. Iron out pricing and customer acquisition cost
Pricing can be tricky. If you price too high, early customers might baulk. If you price too low, you’ll struggle to cover your costs and scale.
The goal is to find the sweet spot where your pricing reflects the value of your product, but also allows you to acquire customers at a reasonable cost.
It’s important to experiment with different pricing models—whether it’s tiered pricing, freemium, or something else.
You need to make sure your customer acquisition cost (CAC) is low enough that you can afford to grow.
At Stone & Chalk, startups often test pricing early and adjust as they learn more about what their customers are willing to pay.
8. Don’t forget documentation
As your SaaS startup grows, documentation becomes more important. It’s not glamorous, but it saves you time and makes your product easier to scale.
Good documentation reduces customer support requests, helps onboard new users, and even impresses investors.
Investors want to see scalable processes, and good documentation is a signal that you’re building a business that can grow without everything falling apart.
It’s also a cost-saving measure, as it frees up your team to focus on product development instead of constantly dealing with customer support.
The bottom line: stay lean, stay agile
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to a go-to-market strategy, but the key is to stay lean and agile.
In the early days, focus on low-cost tactics like direct outreach and community engagement. Hold off on spending big until you’ve validated your product-market fit, pricing, and sales process.
The startups that thrive at Stone & Chalk are the ones that are constantly learning from their customers, and refining their messaging and approach.
Founders should stay close to the marketing efforts early on, as this is where you’ll gather the insights needed to scale effectively later.
In the end, success comes from staying flexible and being willing to iterate.
Keep listening to your users, adjust your strategy, and focus on solving their problems. That’s how you’ll grow your business.