GTM Journal

Run this outbound diagnostic before you change anything.

I’ve reviewed 20+ startups’ outbound in the last 3 months. The problem is almost never what founders think it is. Before you rewrite your sequences or buy a new tool, run through these 5 steps:

Sent 50+ messages, reply rate under 5%? Change your message. Not your list.
Same objection 3+ times? That’s a positioning problem, not a sales problem.
100+ messages, no leads? Try a different ICP or a different channel entirely.
Good replies but no meetings? Your CTA is too big. “Worth 15 minutes this week?” beats “let me know if you’d like a demo” every time.
None of the above? Stop optimising and start scaling what’s working.
Fix the signal first. Then scale it.

Not sure where your GTM stands right now? Take the free GTM Diagnostic - 10 minutes to a clear benchmark.

The LinkedIn-first revenue system. 30 steps, no paid ads before message-market fit.

This is the playbook I built for an Accelerator portfolio in the last 3 months, based on reviewing GTM funnels of 20 of their pre-seed to Series-A startups.

Mostly sales-led motions, some partnership led.

Linkedin as main channel for visibility and trust, but some have instagram others facebook where main audience lives.

Here’s the order we’ve created as a template to save & adapt.

One size fits noone, so if your audience is real estate agents who live in facebook, adapt!

If your audience is event promoters who live in instagram, adapt.

The cycle: posts build awareness. Comments build relationships. DMs convert warm leads. Email reaches people who haven’t found you yet. Each cycle makes next one faster.

That’s a growth loop. Not a channel.

The full 30-step playbook is available here: From Early Traction to £1M ARR

“Yes you have Nike as a logo - but that’s Nike Turkey, friend of your friend.”

That’s the harsh truth I had to tell a founder last week. £1M ARR. 50+ enterprise logos at home. Real product, real customers. UK expansion stalling for months.

I ran a quick diagnostic. Here’s what I found:

ICP clarity (UK): 2/10. Three segments from the home market, none tested in UK.

Messaging: 2/10. Product evolved but the UK pitch was never rebuilt.

Founder brand: 1/10. Neither founder posts on LinkedIn. Nobody in the UK knows they exist.

Lead gen: 2/10. One agency running outbound, stalled when the key person left. And £10K already spent on paid ads -before message-market fit. Most common mistake I see.

Home market score? 7/10. Solid business. UK score: 2/10 across the board.

The product isn’t the problem. The GTM is.

A new market is a new game. No presence, no trust, no sales. We’re starting a Sprint together in March to rebuild it properly.

UK-specific ICP. Rebuilt messaging. One founder posting consistently. 3–5 outbound angles tested fast. 2–3 UK case studies at any cost. Earned trust before bought trust.

If you’ve cracked your home market but the new one isn’t responding -the problem is almost never the product. It’s always the system.

& See the full OMMA case study & |Audit your own GTM first

I accidentally did our SDR’s 3-hour job in 20 minutes.

Last week I got my hands dirty. Sat down to do some list building myself - Claude connected to Apollo. I was genuinely mind blown.

Honestly every day AI keeps blowing my mind, what took us days, weeks now happens in minutes!

If you’re a leader and only doing “leadership” - you’re missing out on AI.

Last week I got my hands dirty to build some lists using Claude integrations.

What I did

So far Forte has grown through a mix of inbound-referrals, and now I’m planning to do some outbound trials for ourselves.

I had a list of European B2B SaaS founders to enrich - UK and France, Seed to Series A, no GTM hire yet. The kind of work that normally means Apollo, then Hunter, then LinkedIn, then Sheets, then cleanup.

Exact Steps:

- Asked Claude to pull target accounts from VC portfolios - Seedcamp, Playfair, Point 9, Kima, Dawn, Notion Cap

- Scored them against our ICP inside the same conversation

- Connected Apollo to Claude via MCP

- Claude queried Apollo directly and returned full contact cards

3 founders. Verified contacts. 11 minutes.

Old way: 5 tools, an SDR, half a day. New way: one conversation.

If you’re in sales, marketing leadership and relying on the old ways, you stay outdated.

Get in the trenches, try new tools and technologies. The world’s changed drastically even compared to 6 months ago.

If you’re curious to discover how I did it, DM and we’ll have a chat.

The Forte Growth Sprint - built for founders who’ve proven the product and need to scale the revenue.

1- GTM essentials and growth plan

2- Lead gen tests to find repeatable meetings on linkedin

3- System that scales trust and visibility with content, linkedin, AIO

4- Scale what works to scalable channels like email and SEO

Here’s what most GTM engagements get wrong: they hand you a strategy deck and leave you to execute it alone. We don’t do that.

What we actually deliver:

The Forte Growth System is a 16-week engagement that builds six connected engines -from scratch if needed, or on top of what’s already working:

1- The idea is to find repeatable growth loops

2- Get first leads in month 2 of testing,

3- Create a stable pipeline of leads by month 4 so the engagement pays for itself

- ICP definition, signal-based prospect lists, competitive positioning. Know exactly who to target and why they buy now.Intelligence -ICP definition, signal-based prospect lists, competitive positioning. Know exactly who to target and why they buy now.

- Founder brand, LinkedIn presence, content system. Build trust before the first outreach lands.Voice -Founder brand, LinkedIn presence, content system. Build trust before the first outreach lands.

- Positioning, copy, outbound sequences. Every touchpoint says the right thing to the right person.Messaging -Positioning, copy, outbound sequences. Every touchpoint says the right thing to the right person.

- Posting cadence, engagement engine, DM conversion. Your highest-ROI channel, running as a system.LinkedIn -Posting cadence, engagement engine, DM conversion. Your highest-ROI channel, running as a system.

- Multi-channel sequences, A/B testing, weekly iteration. Built to find signal fast and scale what works.Outbound -Multi-channel sequences, A/B testing, weekly iteration. Built to find signal fast and scale what works.

- Discovery framework, objection handling, pipeline tracking. So meetings actually close.Sales Foundations -Discovery framework, objection handling, pipeline tracking. So meetings actually close.

Why work with us:

We’ve done this before. £500K ARR at Flowla with zero paid ads. £1M ARR for Witco in a new market. £1M pipeline in 90 days for OMMA. £750K pipeline in 6 months for Wealt.

We build the system with you, hand you the keys, and leave no dependency behind. By the end you have a documented, tested GTM engine your team can run -or you can scale with AI.

One closed deal covers the investment.

Who it’s for:

B2B founders at £500K–£5M ARR. Particularly founders entering a new market, preparing for Series A/B, or done being the entire sales team.

How to get started:

- no pitch, just a diagnostic of where you are and what the right next move looks like.Book a 30-minute advisory call -no pitch, just a diagnostic of where you are and what the right next move looks like.

Not ready to talk yet? Start with our free resources:

• GTM Diagnostic - 10 minutes to benchmark where you stand
• Audit Your GTM - the foundational diagnostic playbook
• From Early Traction to £1M ARR - the full 20-step system
• All playbooks - everything in one place
• Case studies - see the results before you commit

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One framework to steal this month: Before you touch outbound, map your existing customers by who bought fastest, paid most, and complained least. That’s your real ICP. Not the one in your deck.

One question worth sitting with: If you stripped out every logo from your last market and had to rebuild trust from zero in a new one -where would you start? The answer tells you whether you actually have a repeatable system, or whether your last market was personal network disguised as GTM.

One thing I keep seeing: Founders who are brilliant at building product consistently underestimate how much of their home-market traction came from pre-existing relationships and reputation. It doesn’t transfer. The system has to.

Podcast spotlight

• How to Get Prospects to Stop Ghosting You | Sales Logic Podcast
• How to avoid being ghosted by corporate decision makers | Selling To Corporate
• Building a content machine and founder brand | Sales Therapy by Flowla

Only the most useful, and no Fluff Linkedin posts I like this month

Most teams try to fix growth by adding more. More outreach. More tools. More content. More hires. Growth gets easier when the system gets tighter.

Get clear on the market. Build the right list. Create founder visibility. Turn calls into content and proof. Let each part strengthen the next.

That’s the flywheel.

Here’s to a April with fewer scattered tactics and more of the right conversations.