Why So Many Early-Stage Founders Get Stuck at GTM and What to Do About It

Hi, it's Alper.

Today we're talking about the gap most founders hit between shipping and scaling. You've built something real. Your product works. But somehow, the pipeline isn't there yet.

I've been in that gap. After exiting Flowla, I started getting messages from founders asking the same three questions over and over.

How do we get our first 100 customers?

Which channels should we test, and when?

How do we build a revenue engine that actually works?

There's a massive difference between having a product and having traction. And it's almost never solved by buying more tools or working harder. What's missing is clarity. Clarity on your narrative. Clarity on your offer. Clarity on the one or two things that matter right now.

Over the past few months, I've been helping founders build founder-led sales engines that work without the noise. I've helped them design 180-day GTM systems that mix scrappy experiments with scalable plays. I've helped them launch founder brands that attract leads without trying to be influencers.

This is your field guide to that messy, beautiful stage between product and growth. Pre-seed to Series B. Think of it like a GTM ops room. Frameworks you can steal. Tests you can run. Loops you can adapt. All based on real work. No fluff.

The founder growth loop is your first engine. When you don't have a team or a budget, this is what you need.

Story first. Build trust with your narrative. Not a pitch. Not a deck. A real account of why you built this, who it helps, and what you've learned.

Content second. Share proof of traction. Results. Lessons. Visuals that show the work. This doesn't mean a blog. It means sharing what you're learning. LinkedIn posts. Videos. Case studies. Threads. Podcasts. Email. The format matters less than the consistency.

Outbound third. Reach out manually to validate your ideal customer profile and test your messaging. This is founder-to-founder outreach. Targeted. Personal. Real.

Loop fourth. Document what works. Share it. Repeat it. Refine it based on what you learn. This is where momentum builds.

Most teams over-complicate this. If you focus on signal over process over scale, you're already ahead.

It's easier said than done. But when this loop works, it really works. In our first year scaling Flowla, it helped us generate over 1,000 leads and build a pipeline exceeding £1.5M.

I get it. LinkedIn. Podcasts. Founder brand. It can all feel hard or even cringe at first. But the moment you see your name or LinkedIn profile showing up as the lead source, everything changes. You realise this isn't just marketing. It's distribution with compounding trust.

You've probably heard people talk about scalable and non-scalable channels. But what do they really mean?

Scalable channels grow without needing more of your time or headcount. Non-scalable channels are high-touch, manual, time-intensive. But they're often high-impact early on.

Here's the punchline. At early stage, your GTM should follow this simple formula.

Pick two scalable channels for the year. LinkedIn content. Cold outbound. Virality. Something that compounds.

Then run one non-scalable experiment per quarter. Q1 might be founder-led content on LinkedIn or newsletters. Q2 might be PR or a product launch push. Q3 might be founder dinners, events, or collaborations. Q4 might be paid ads once you're closer to message-market fit.

Year two and beyond, you scale what worked. You layer on SEO, paid, and lifecycle marketing.

This approach gives you fast feedback early on. It also sets you up for compounding growth later. You're not guessing. You're testing. You're learning. You're building.

If I raised £1M today, here's the no-fluff budget I'd use to test different channels and turn traction into revenue.

Six thousand pounds goes to your founder brand engine. Canva visuals. Ghostwriting support. Three posts per week. This is your narrative engine.

One thousand pounds goes to your outbound stack. Clay. Honeysales. Salesforge. Dripify. Signal-based, highly personalised, AI-automated outreach. Both autopilot and manual.

Two thousand pounds goes to PR, a sponsored event, or a launch. Host a PR event. Launch a thought leadership initiative. Sponsor one where your leads already are.

Nine thousand pounds goes to SDR or VA help. List-building. Follow-up. CRM hygiene. This frees you to focus on strategy.

Two thousand pounds goes to two non-scalable experiments. Founder AMA. Private founder dinner. Pilot offer. Test something that doesn't scale but teaches you something real.

You don't need a head of growth. You need a loop that works and the confidence to run it weekly.

If you're posting into the void, booking zero meetings, or stuck in GTM guesswork, you're not alone. Let's fix that.