Thread by @dunkhippo33

This is a good question -- what goes into a good go-to-market strategy?

Especially at pre-seed when there's nothing there?

Read on >>

https://twitter.com/lolitataub/status/1382367939244937217

1) Even though you may not have any / much traction at pre-seed, your go-to-market strategy has to be solid when you pitch. But nevermind investors -- even just for your own plan, it should be solid.

There are 2 components:
-qualitative
-quantitative

2) Qualitatively, you must do the legwork to understand your customer persona.

Who is your target demographic? What is your target customer's specific problem? Why? What does a day-in-a-life look like for this person? How does this person currently solve this problem today?

3) You should be able to answer all these questions and more. In detail.

A bad answer would be: "My customer persona is a woman ages 20-45."

A good answer would be "My customer persona is a woman ages 20-45, who works in banking and has no time. But makes 6 figures."

4) A great answer would be "My customer persona is a woman ages 20-45, who works in banking and has no time. Eats lunch at her desk. Makes 6 figures & is not strapped for cash. And reads Benzinga for fun. And uses A, B, C apps. And solves this problem by doing D, E, F...etc"

5) You should know so much about your customer that if you were asked to be in a musical and play this person's role, you would be able to do so.

You effectively need to become this person -- that's how you know this customer well.

6) Quantitatively, you should have some ideas of how you are going to get this customer at scale.

You could be wrong -- you probably will be. But you should have some ideas.

7) A bad answer is "I will get this customer through word of mouth. Or SEO."

That is not a description of a repeatable process.

8) A good answer could be, "I will send out referral codes to people who live in this zip code, because I gave out 10 at the train station, and they worked well."

Trying some experiment and then applying a more scalable solution is a better answer.

9) The great answer is, "I am already acquiring customers, and here's how. I've only spent $20 so far, but I'm able to drive X people to the waitlist through direct mail. Our leads on our waitlist seem to be converting at 20% when we email them to buy the product."

10) Note: your plan will NOT hold at scale. The unit economics will only get worse. So, an investor may not believe that your unit economics will hold at scale.

BUT, half of the exercise is to show that at least you've thought about what to try and have a specific plan.

11) The best answer will also address this -- "If the cost per lead goes up over time, we expect in the long run to be able to upsell our customers into a premium package that does A, B, and C but for now, we are starting w/ a wedge product that is laser focused on X"

12) In short, your go-to-market should convey:
-strong understanding of the customer persona (qualitative)
-a detailed plan of how to get this customer REPEATEDLY -- ideally you already are even if limited results
-a case for upsell / repeat sale potential once CAC goes up

13) If you have these things, you will be ahead of 99% of the decks I see & it will show you are really thoughtful about how you think about customer acquisition.

Part of this is a reflection of the business. But part of this is a reflection of your thinking as a founder.