The emerging startup playbook

I’m on the road this week meeting with investors across two continents.

Thus, I’m keeping this post shorter / am pointing you towards a great piece I read this week that is very much in line with what we’re seeing as we’re working with founders:

Kyle Poyar’s great post re how the (B2B software) startup playbook is changing.

As he puts it:

The conventional approach tends to look something like this:

• Build a minimum viable product (MVP)—you should be embarrassed otherwise you’ve shipped too late.
• Launch with a big PR splash—open your waitlist all at once to capitalize on the lightning strike.
• Push hard on cold outbound to prove you can spend money to make money.
• Write SEO-bait content for inbound leads—volume is what matters even if it is uninspired.
• Get to $1M in ARR to show product-market fit (PMF) and raise your Series A.
• Keep growing by hiring more reps—growth is an equation based on the number of ramped reps, quotas and average attainment.
• Goal marketing on qualified leads (MQLs) to feed the army of sales reps.
• Raise more money for external signaling—fundraises generate PR, close candidates and prove viability to prospects.

This playbook is working less and less in a world powered by AI that is moving faster than anything we’ve seen to date.

To get off the ground successfully, the following things are becoming more important he argues:

• Build a Minimum Remarkable Product: Launch a polished, standout product that's bug-free and offers unique value to immediately gain trust and encourage word-of-mouth in a competitive market.
• Embrace Storytelling to Attract an Audience: Use authentic storytelling on social media to build an engaged community before your official launch, fostering trust and anticipation without relying on traditional PR.
• Hire Operations Experts to Test and Scale Channels: Quickly experiment with various growth channels using versatile operations experts to identify and scale the most effective strategies efficiently.
• Lead with the Product: Attract users by offering immediate, barrier-free access to your product through interactive experiences or demos, showcasing value without requiring sign-up.
• Prioritize Retention and Word-of-Mouth for Product-Market Fit: Focus on strong customer retention and organic referrals as true indicators of product-market fit, ensuring users consistently find value and recommend your product.
• Stay Lean Through Automation and AI: Leverage automation and AI to maintain a lean team, achieving more with fewer resources and keeping operational costs low while boosting productivity.
• Adopt a Unified Go-To-Market Strategy Focused on Ideal Customers: Align marketing, sales, and product efforts to target your ideal customers cohesively across their buying journey, eliminating departmental silos.
• Maintain Capital Flexibility and Control Your Destiny: Be strategic with funding by considering bootstrapping or raising only necessary capital, aiming for profitability and maintaining control over your company's direction.

I’ll dive in myself on some of these points over the coming weeks.

Until I do so, I can highly recommend reading Kyle’s full post linked below where he gives specific examples for each point from companies like HeyGen, Rows, or Copy.ai.

Kyle Poyar’s Growth UnhingedThe emerging startup playbook

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