Go-to-Market Strategy for B2B Tech: Lessons from the Field
By Stephan Engelen · 2026-02-28
Having spent 25+ years at companies like Cisco and Philips, and advising dozens of startups and scale-ups, I've seen the same go-to-market mistakes repeated across generations of technology companies.
The product is rarely the problem. The problem is almost always in how the product meets the market.
The Three GTM Mistakes I See Most Often
1. Building for Everyone
Early-stage companies often describe their market as "any company that uses software." This isn't a market — it's a wish. The most successful GTM strategies start with a ruthlessly narrow beachhead: a specific persona, in a specific industry, with a specific pain point.
2. Confusing Interest with Intent
A packed webinar or a viral LinkedIn post feels like traction. It isn't. Intent is when someone has budget, a timeline, and a decision-making process. Everything else is awareness — valuable, but not revenue.
3. Scaling Sales Before Finding the Pattern
Hiring five salespeople before one salesperson has figured out a repeatable sales motion is the most expensive mistake in B2B tech. You don't scale what you haven't proven.
A Framework for Commercial Readiness
Before scaling your commercial engine, validate these five elements:
- Ideal Customer Profile — can you describe your best customer in two sentences?
- Value narrative — can a prospect understand your value in 30 seconds?
- Sales motion — do you know the average deal cycle, stakeholders, and objections?
- Unit economics — does your CAC/LTV ratio support the growth model?
- Retention signal — are early customers expanding, or just surviving?
If you can't answer all five, you're not ready to scale. You're ready to learn.
The Role of the CEO in GTM
In early-stage companies, the CEO is the chief salesperson. Not because they should close every deal, but because they need to understand the commercial reality intimately enough to build the right team and the right process.
The transition from CEO-as-seller to CEO-as-sales-architect is another critical inflection point — and one that requires honest assessment of where you are versus where you think you are.
To pressure-test your positioning and approach to winning customers, explore our strategy and go-to-market advisory.
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