Launching your enterprise GTM engine: Top 10 takeaways from SaaS Talks #34
By Alok Goyal
Building a global enterprise GTM strategy is complex, especially if you’re an early stage-founder.
Unlike SMB strategies that can often be managed remotely, enterprise GTM requires physical presence in multiple countries. This involves handling large deal sizes, hiring expensive talent, and navigating long sales cycles, which can lead to higher costs and longer iteration periods.
In this David-and-Goliath scenario, bootstrapping your initiatives adds another layer of complexity. How and where does one begin?
We recently had the privilege of hosting Vispi Daver, CRO of Whatfix, in our 34th edition of SaaS Talks. Vispi has been instrumental in building Whatfix’s sales engine and brings extensive experience from his decade-long tenure as a VC partner in the Bay Area.
From his insights and our vast experience with multiple SaaS portfolio companies, here are our top ten takeaways for early-stage SaaS founders on developing an enterprise-centric (at least 1000+ employees) GTM strategy:
1. Founders, DIY your first 10 deals: There is no option for founders but to close the first 10–20 deals themselves. It cannot be delegated. This hands-on approach allows deep customer understanding and accelerates product iteration cycles. More importantly, it allows founders to build a playbook that can be passed down to GTM teams.
If you are not from a sales background — too bad! You’ve still got to do it. If you’re thinking of hiring a sales leader at the outset, it’s unlikely to work — when you do not know what the recipe is, it’s never a good idea to hire people who replicate recipes. This is first-principles work. Do it yourself!
2. There is no one size fits all — invest the time to understand the DNA of your sales cycle: Selling a $15K ACV deal can be just as challenging as selling a $600K ACV deal. How companies allocate budgets and make decisions vary widely. Understanding the economic buyer and their specific needs — including whether a business case or value exercise is required — differs significantly. It requires a high level of skill from the sales team to assess each account, evaluate decision-making power, and navigate budget allocation effectively.
3. ‘Co-design with’ rather than ‘sell to’ the first few customers: It’s crucial to differentiate between deciding to build the product yourself and then selling it to initial customers, versus co-creating it with them. Selling a disruptive technology involves proving superiority over existing methods. As a result, disruptive technologies often require more collaboration than straightforward replacements.
This is also a way for you to penetrate the “if you are not IBM, we cannot buy from you” syndrome. Some enterprises will play ball with you because you are willing to design things to their need which other larger providers may not do.
4. Character trumps experience in sales hiring: When hiring sales talent, prioritize character traits over experience. Coachability — or the ability to quickly learn from feedback — is paramount. Apart from this, strong work ethic, preparation, and clear communication skills (not necessarily flowery language) are indicators of potential sales acumen.
5. Build credibility by starting with the mid-market segment: Establishing credibility can be a huge challenge for early-stage startups getting started with enterprise sales. Crawling your way up from mid-market to enterprise might be easier than starting with enterprise customers directly.
6. You don’t need a sales team in the US to close $100k contracts: Contrary to popular belief, talent for meeting sales quotas can be sourced from India. The notion that US-based teams are essential for closing substantial contracts, especially for six-figure targets, is unfounded. Remote sales teams, equipped with sector knowledge and strategic alignment, can achieve comparable results.
7. Local (i.e.US) teams are more important for multi-stakeholder sales: When dealing with a single decision maker who has a budget, the sales process tends to be more straightforward, and can be executed from India. However, when there are multiple decision makers and no clear budget set, selling becomes more complex. In such cases, local sales teams can help speed up the sales process through personalized interactions.
8. Deploy your in-person sales team only after defining your ICP: Be sure to never deploy an in-person sales team until the ICP is well-defined and a customer pipeline is established in a specific geography. The value-add of in-person interactions cannot be underestimated, but it’s essential to align these meetings with your established ICP to maximize their impact.In fact, one of the things we have often heard from many enterprise-centric founders is that it is important to hire a demand generation leader in the US before hiring someone for sales.
9. Measure early sales hire success by logos, not just $ARR: It is a common practice to measure the success of your sales teams based on the revenue generated. Some founders set “industry standard” sales quotas for early sales hires, leading to failure. Instead, focus on securing significant logos that enhance credibility and market presence, which in turn open doors to more customers. In other words, align sales compensation with the number of logos landed rather than revenue targets.
10. Build ops and enablement functions from the early days: There exists a misconception that operations and enablement required to close a customer should only be considered once a company reaches a certain scale. However, it’s crucial to begin tracking revenue operations early on to monitor expenses and strategically plan before each meeting to increase sales conversion leading to accelerated growth.
