If there’s one thing that kills promising startups faster than running out of money, it’s getting go-to-market (GTM) wrong.

Most founders think GTM just means “launching a product” or “running some ads.” That’s why so many burn through their seed money without ever building a repeatable sales motion. GTM is about building a system that consistently puts your product in front of the right people, with the right story, in a way that creates revenue you can count on.

And most startups screw it up.

Here are the biggest mistakes we see, over and over.

1. Thinking GTM = Marketing

A lot of early-stage founders think GTM is just demand gen. Run some LinkedIn ads, publish a blog, maybe a PR push. That’s not GTM.

GTM is cross-functional. It’s product, sales, marketing, positioning, distribution. It’s the playbook that connects what you built to people who actually pay for it.

Fix: Stop delegating GTM to “marketing.” It’s a company strategy, not a campaign.

2. Not Defining Who You’re Actually Selling To

Every founder says, “Our product can work for anyone.” That’s a death sentence.

If you try to sell to everyone, you end up with messaging so broad it doesn’t resonate with anyone. Your sales team chases bad leads. Your CAC goes up. Your confidence goes down.

Fix: Narrow your ICP until it feels uncomfortably small. Pick an industry, company size, job title, pain point. Win there first.

3. Copying Competitors

A mistake I see constantly: startups copying whatever sales motion their competitor is using. The Series D company does outbound cadences? The founder thinks they can do the same with one SDR. Or they see a unicorn running PLG and assume free trials will magically convert.

Reality check: you don’t have their brand, budget, or runway.

Fix: Validate your own motion. Test small, measure, and scale what actually works for you — not what worked for them.

4. Scaling Too Early

Hiring five SDRs when you haven’t closed deals yourself yet? Recipe for disaster.

If you can’t prove founder-led sales works, adding more headcount just burns cash faster. Same with dumping $50k into ads without knowing if your message converts.

Fix: Don’t scale until one rep (or you) can close consistently. Repeatability before scalability.

5. Treating GTM Like a Static Document

A lot of startups make a nice GTM slide deck for investors, then never update it. Meanwhile, markets shift, competitors adapt, buyers change how they buy.

Fix: Revisit GTM quarterly. Your ICP, your channels, your messaging — all of it should evolve as you learn.

6. Overcomplicating Messaging

Founders love buzzwords. “AI-powered blockchain-enabled solution for next-gen enterprises.” Buyers roll their eyes and hit delete.

People don’t buy technology. They buy outcomes.

Fix: Write your pitch like you’d explain it to a CFO in one sentence. “We help X do Y so they can Z.” That’s it.

7. Ignoring Distribution

The “build it and they will come” myth is alive and well in startup land. Great product, no distribution plan = dead startup.

Fix: Put as much energy into distribution as you do into product. Cold outbound, partnerships, community, content, whatever fits your ICP. The best product loses to average products with great distribution every time.

How to Actually Do GTM Right

Here’s the simple framework I recommend:

1. Validate the problem + solution. Talk to customers, run pilots, close a few deals.
2. Narrow your ICP. Focus on the group where you consistently win.
3. Build clear positioning. Outcome-driven, not jargon.
4. Pick one or two channels. Outbound, inbound, PLG — but don’t spread too thin.
5. Measure like crazy. Reply rates, conversion, CAC/LTV.
6. Iterate fast. Cut what doesn’t work, double down on what does.
7. Scale only when repeatable. If one person can close consistently, then you hire.

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Startups rarely fail because the product was bad. They fail because they didn’t figure out how to consistently get that product into the hands of paying customers.

That’s what GTM is. Not a launch campaign. Not a press release. Not copying what the unicorn next door is doing. It’s your path to repeatable revenue.

Get it wrong, and you waste your runway. Get it right, and you build momentum that compounds.

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