Founder-led GTM: #1 unlock to accelerate growth

Advice from SAVVI AI's founder Maya Mikhailov

DEAR STAGE 2: I’m an early stage founder bringing a product to market for the first time and it has been slower than I expected. I’m committed to selling our first few customers personally, but would love any advice on how to accelerate go-to-market in the founding seat. ~FOUNDER SALES

DEAR FOUNDER SALES: First, let me just say that I couldn’t agree more with your commitment to personally selling early customers. There is no better way to get GTM off the ground and truly understand your prospective customers’ needs. 

I recently had an insightful conversation with Maya Mikhailov, Co-Founder & CEO of SAVVI AI about this very topic. Maya and her co-founder, Alex, have been the primary sellers up until this year when they brought on their first GTM hire. Having just gone through this phase of GTM acceleration, I asked Maya, “What is the #1 unlock in GTM over the last year? What has moved the needle the most?”

Maya’s advice? 

“Meet customers where they are today.” 

A common mistake founders make is falling in love with their product and the ideal future it promises, while forgetting where customers currently are in their journey. Maya highlighted, “Founders often envision how the future should look and get caught up in that vision, neglecting the present realities of their customers.”

Maya and her team found that early customer conversations with fintechs were going well, but stalling as they presented their API-first solution to banks and and credit unions. Maya reflected on this time sharing ‘It’s not just about listening to what customers say, but understanding what they mean. Often, customers won’t directly tell you that your product is too complicated or unsuitable—they’ll give you excuses instead.”

So the SAVVI AI team took a step back to listen to their customers. 

When customers say they need third-party integration or significant time to adopt your solution, what they’re really saying is that your product isn’t “out of the box” ready. It’s essential to read between the lines and ask deeper questions. For SAVVI AI, this meant asking how their potential customers could provide data and where they worked *today*. When they asked banks what tools they used daily to manage their data, the answer was always Excel. The consistent mention of flat files and CSVs was a clear signal that the solution needed to support these formats directly - APIs were not the right place for the product to start. This led SAVVI to add to their current product capabilities and they launched SAVVI Sheets, a solution that works natively within Excel, which banks and credit unions could adopt immediately. 

Too often sellers ‘cut bait’ when they hear “no” in a sales call. But with founders at the forefront leading GTM, each customer interaction can and should be a learning experience. Rather than just moving on to the next lead after a rejection, Maya dug deeper to understand the reasons behind the “no.” This iterative learning process was crucial to unlocking a new approach to their product and market. 

Maya shared, “I first had to get out of sales mode—let them know I was not trying to sell on this call, but rather listen and learn how to build a better product”.

The journey to accelerating your GTM strategy as an early-stage founder is as much about listening and adapting as it is about selling. Maya’s story highlights the importance of meeting customers where they are, understanding their unspoken challenges, and evolving your approach based on real-world feedback.

Until next week!

Thanks again to Maya Mikhailov, Founder & CEO of SAVVI for sharing her experience. SAVVI participated in the 2023 Cohort of the Stage 2 Capital Catalyst program, an 11-week go-to-market acceleration program which supports B2B founders with both funding and tactical, hands-on GTM guidance from Catalyst’s LP base of 300+ elite GTM executives. Stage 2 Capital Catalyst is currently accepting applications for the 2024 Cohort. If you're interested in joining or know a founder who might be, visit our website to apply and learn more about the program.