Early revenue is exciting, but VCs don't fund heroic efforts. We fund repeatable engines. Here’s what we look for in your Go-To-Market strategy.
As an advisor, I sit in a unique position between ambitious founders and the venture capitalists who fund them. Over hundreds of conversations and pitch reviews, a clear pattern has emerged. Founders pitch their product. Investors invest in the engine that sells the product.
Many founders come to a pitch meeting proud of their early revenue, and rightfully so. But for a sophisticated investor, top-line revenue is just a lagging indicator. The real story—the leading indicator of future, venture-scale success—is found by deconstructing the Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy.
We are looking for signals that you haven't just won a few deals, but that you've built a machine capable of winning hundreds, and then thousands. Here’s how we tell the difference.
The Red Flag: Heroic, One-Off Wins
Many early-stage companies show initial traction that is impressive on the surface but deeply concerning upon inspection. This is the "heroic effort" phase, and it often looks like this:
- Founder-Led Magic: The first 10 customers all came from the founder’s personal network.
- Opportunistic Catches: The customer base is a random assortment of industries and sizes with no clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
- Custom-Built Solutions: Each customer required significant custom work, has a unique pricing structure, and the sales cycle was wildly unpredictable.
Why is this a red flag? Because it’s not a scalable business model; it’s a high-end consulting service disguised as a SaaS company. It proves the founder can sell, but it provides zero evidence that a sales system can be built. You cannot scale by hiring 10 more founders.
The Green Light: Signals of a Scalable GTM Engine
In contrast, a scalable GTM engine has a clear and repeatable DNA. These are the signals that get an investor to lean in and open their checkbook.
1. An Obsession with the ICP The first thing I look for is a crisp, data-backed definition of the Ideal Customer Profile. A founder who can say, "We sell to B2B SaaS companies between 50-200 employees in North America who use Salesforce, and our buyer is the VP of Sales," demonstrates immense strategic discipline. It proves they understand their niche, which leads to efficient marketing spend, a focused product roadmap, and a higher probability of winning.
2. A Clear Link Between GTM Motion & Unit Economics The founder must be able to articulate why they chose their specific GTM motion (Inbound, Outbound, or Product-Led) and how it logically connects to their unit economics. For example, a founder with a $50k ACV product who explains their outbound-led motion and its corresponding CAC and LTV shows they are thinking like a CFO, not just a product visionary. This is a sign of operational maturity.
3. Evidence of a Repeatable Playbook (v1) I want to see the beginnings of a system that can be handed to a new hire. This doesn't need to be a 100-page manual, but there should be evidence of:
- A documented sales process (e.g., discovery call, demo, proposal).
- Consistent messaging and value propositions.
- A predictable sales cycle for a specific customer cohort.
4. Healthy, Legible Metrics Ultimately, the numbers must back up the story. The most compelling pitches move beyond vanity metrics and present a clear view of the business's health, often through cohort analysis. Can you show that your customer churn is low and stable? Better yet, can you show negative churn through expansion revenue (a Net Revenue Retention >100%)? This is the gold standard, proving that your existing customers become more valuable over time.
The Final Test: Can You Defend Your Numbers?
Before you walk into your next investor meeting, you need to have an unshakeable command of your GTM metrics. Your story is the "what"; your unit economics are the "proof."
We designed our SaaS GTM Scalability Scorecard for this exact purpose. It's a simple but powerful tool that calculates the exact unit economics (CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC Ratio, Payback Period) that investors will grill you on.
Download it, fill it out, and walk into your next pitch ready to prove you're not just building a product—you're building a scalable engine.
