Alexander Estner

I help early-stage SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU 👇
1️⃣ GTM Advisory - Work 1-on-1 with me in bi-weekly GTM sprints
2️⃣ GTM Audit - Get a 360° assessment of your current GTM status quo + custom action plan
3️⃣ GTM Content - Bi-weekly newsletter +  Daily LinkedIn posts + Free GTM Library

P.S. You will find the links to all 3 in the featured section.

Among other things, I help you with:
👉 Creating your early/ideal customer profile (ICP)
👉 Working on positioning, messaging & value proposition 
👉 Choosing the right pricing for your business (pricing model, value metric & packaging)
👉 Implementing the right sales strategy (sales-led vs. product-led)
👉 Mastering 2-3 growth channels to continuously generate new deals/trials
👉 Setting up the right tech stack in sales, marketing & customer success
👉 Building your commercial teams.

Send me a DM on LinkedIn or book a free 15-minute intro call to learn more about my offering.

Startup Consultant for B2B SaaS

As a freelance startup consultant, I help early-stage B2B SaaS Startups quickly grow their business with a powerful Growth Strategy 🚀


I work on both, strategic and operational, levels and help you with the following topics.

► For Founders (Launch to Seed Stage):
- Clarify, validate and stress test your business idea
- Win first paying customers and kickstart growth for your SaaS
- Develop and implement a powerful B2B SaaS Growth strategy
- Find product-market fit and close your first funding (business angels & seed)

► For Startups (Seed to Series A Stage):
- Accelerate your growth to 5M€+ ARR
- Review or implement a powerful B2B SaaS growth strategy
- Optimization of direct & indirect growth channels
- Create a growth team mentality, track the right KPIs, and set OKRs

► For more information:
- check out my website (www.alexestner.com)
- subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter for founders & early-stage startups (https://startupbusinesstips.substack.com/)

► Interested?
- Send me a DM on Linkedin

Your ICP must define your daily GTM work.

If it doesn’t, you’re not enforcing your ICP.
You just have one on paper.

If the ICP is real, it shows up everywhere 👇

• Hero section of your website
• Customers you choose for case studies and logo carousels
• Your LinkedIn post themes
• Upcoming blog articles
• The dropdowns in your product onboarding
• Mandatory CRM fields that define ICP fit
• Filters you use for outbound list building
• Keywords you monitor on Reddit and LinkedIn
• Industry influencers you follow
• Events and conferences you participate in
• Which features you show first in a sales demo
• The examples you use in sales calls
• The objection handling scripts you prepare
• The integrations highlighted on your homepage
• The use cases shown in product screenshots
• The pricing page structure and plan names
• The success metrics you track post-onboarding
• The landing pages you build (or don’t build)
• The partners you co-market with
• The communities you spend time in

And that’s just the obvious layer.

👉 What else is defined by your ICP?

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Helping SaaS & AI founders build and execute their GTM foundation to grow from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial and error | ‘Hands-on’ GTM Advisor👇

You’ve defined your ICP, worked on positioning + messaging.
Now it’s time to show your work to buyers.

That means updating your:
- Website
- LinkedIn profile
- Ads
- Outbound messages

…and your sales deck.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth I've found from working with 30+ startups over the last few years:

Most B2B SaaS decks are either…
- a feature dump, or
- a random collection of slides that don’t build conviction.

But a high-converting sales deck has one job:
Tell a buyer a story they can repeat internally.

In a nutshell, your deck should walk them through:
✅ how they currently handle [use case]
✅ what breaks / why it matters (limitations + cost of doing nothing)
✅ what changes with your product (new way)
✅ what they’ll achieve (results)
✅ why they can trust you (proof + “you’re not alone”)

I put together a slide-by-slide structure + a ready-to-use template built in Pitch.

If you want it, comment “sales deck” and I’ll DM you the link.

Most founders choose their positioning anchor randomly.

They don’t decide it. They drift into it.

And that’s dangerous.

Because your primary positioning anchor determines:

→ How buyers search
→ What they compare you against
→ Who owns the budget
→ What proof you need

Here’s the simplified breakdown of the 4 primary anchors:

1️⃣ Activity Positioning
“We help you do X.”
→ You’re replacing manual workflows
→ No category exists
→ Goal: Create awareness

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning
“We help you do X without Y.”
→ You’re fixing broken workflows
→ Category is emerging
→ Goal: Own the use case

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning
“We are a X.”
→ Buyers already compare vendors
→ Clear budget line exists
→ Goal: Win comparisons

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative Positioning
“We’re a [Leader] alternative.”
→ Market leader dominates
→ Budget already allocated
→ Goal: Steal demand

The mistake I see?

Founders choose Category positioning...
...when there is no defined category. So they invent 'new categories'.

Or they try Competitive positioning…
…without a strong enough wedge.

Positioning must match buyer awareness and market maturity.

Quick test:

When buyers evaluate you, are they:

A) Comparing vendors and search for specific categories?
B) Comparing you to a specific leader?
C) Describing what they want to achieve, even if they don’t know what type of software solves it?

Your answer tells you your anchor.

If you want the full guide (incl. the decision tree + worksheet), comment “positioning” and I’ll send it over.

---
P.S. Follow Anthony Pierri, Rob Kaminski, and April Dunford to dive deeper into positioning.

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Digital Nudging: User Experience positiv beeinflussen

Climate Change, Risks and Challenges

Digital Advertising

The Complete Digital Marketing Course

'Hands-on’ GTM Advisor || I help SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market and go from €0 to €1 million ARR with less trial & error || Join 4000+ SaaS leaders & get my free SaaS GTM tactics in your inbox👇

I help early-stage SaaS founders build & execute their Go-to-market and quickly go from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU
1️⃣ GTM advisory - Work with me 1-on-1 in weekly or bi-weekly deep-dive working sessions to build and execute your powerful GTM strategy.
2️⃣ List of 90+ actionable SaaS Growth Tactics and Free SaaS Growth Strategy Worksheet (Links are in the Highlight section).
3️⃣ Free actionable SaaS growth tips: Daily on LinkedIn and bi-weekly in my newsletter (read by 2300+ SaaS leaders)

Bonus: Sponsor my newsletter & reach 2300+ early-stage SaaS founders/leaders/decision makers.

Among other things, I help you with:
- Creating your ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Working on positioning, messaging & value proposition 
- Choosing the right pricing for your business (pricing model, value metric & packaging)
- Implementing the right sales strategy (sales-led vs. product-led)
- Mastering 2-3 growth channels to continuously generate new deals or/and trials
- Setting up the right tech stack in sales, marketing & customer success
- Building your commercial teams.

Send me a DM on Linkedin or book a free 15min virtual coffee to learn more about my offering.

------------
ABOUT ME:

Hi, I'm Alexander Estner - but please just call me Alex.

I'm based in Munich, Germany 🇩🇪 and I've spent my whole career in the startup environment with now more than 10 years of experience in SaaS and marketplaces from being the first commercial employee of a fast-growing SaaS-enabled-marketplace to being a Co-founder of a SaaS startup and now supporting other early-stage founders on their journey from pre-revenue to the first €1 million ARR.

Over the last 2 years, I've helped 25+ SaaS companies grow their business faster with a powerful GTM strategy - as a growth advisor, consultant, or interim manager.

What I care about: 

- Brainstorming new business ideas 💡
- Sustainability, healthy food, and barista coffee ☕.
- Traveling, well-being, and all kinds of sports like skiing, beach volleyball, yoga, and fitness 🧘‍♂️
- Books & podcasts about startups, leadership, personal development, & positive mindset 📚

------------
💡 Currently getting inspired for a new startup

Go-to-market in 2024 is tough.

My best SaaS GTM Guides help you master GTM in 2024.

1️⃣ The Ultimate Ideal Customer Profile Framework
2️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Messaging Framework
3️⃣ High-converting SaaS Homepage template
4️⃣ The perfect Sales Deck template
5️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Pricing Guide
6️⃣ The Best Outbound Tech Stack for SaaS
7️⃣ The Ultimate Content Marketing Guide for SaaS

The 7 Best SaaS GTM Guides 2024

The free Workbook helped 3000+ SaaS leaders build their SaaS GTM Strategy.

The Ultimate SaaS GTM Strategy Workbook [Free]

Grow faster from 0€ to 3€ million ARR with 100+ actionable & proven SaaS Growth Tactics (helped 200+ SaaS leaders)

100+ actionable SaaS growth tactics

Get weekly 3 actionable SaaS GTM strategies and tactics to grow your B2B SaaS business from €0 to €1 million ARR 🚀.

MRR Unlocked 🚀 | Alexander Estner | Substack

RevGenius is a group of revenue-generating sales and marketing professionals brought together to learn, share, support, and grow with each other. You can consider us your alt work family!

The Mentoring Club is a pro bono platform where mentors and mentees meet and can schedule mentoring sessions. You can schedule a free mentoring session with me here: https://www.mentoring-club.com/the-mentors/alexander-estner

When I work with AI & SaaS founders, the GTM problem is rarely obvious at first.

On the surface, things look “busy”:
– Content is going out
– Demos are happening
– Tools are in place
– Pipeline exists

But momentum is missing.

When I audit the GTM, it almost always comes down to the same 6 things 👇

1️⃣ ICP exists, but isn’t enforced in decisions
2️⃣ Buyers don’t know what to compare the product against
3️⃣ Demos are feature tours, not a structured narrative
4️⃣ Every deal follows a different sales process
5️⃣ Website, decks, and case studies sound like everyone else
6️⃣ Content is vague and generic

None of this is a “talent” problem.
And it’s rarely a “more effort” problem.

It’s a foundation problem.

How we usually fix it:
– Make the ICP operational (not just a doc)
– Define positioning (what do we replace, how are we different)
– Design a demo structure that guides buyers, not just shows features
– Lock a default sales process with clear next steps
– Align assets around one positioning story

Especially in AI & SaaS, this matters.

Foundations first.
Everything else compounds on top of that.

👉 This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Your positioning statement gives your entire team clarity on why you exist.

When it’s missing, you see it immediately:

• Marketing talks about features
• Sales talks about benefits
• Product talks about roadmap
• Founders talk about vision

But no one tells the same story.

A real positioning statement answers:

• Who is your ICP?
• What core problem do they face?
• How do they solve it today?
• What limitations does that create?
• What did you build instead?
• Why are you meaningfully different?

Strong positioning is structured reasoning.

If your team can’t clearly articulate:

• Why you exist
• Why current solutions fall short
• Why you win

Your messaging will always feel inconsistent.

Below you find 4 templates for the different positioning anchors.

👇 Comment your positioning statement below. I will give feedback to every single one.

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When I review early-stage GTM setups, I often see:

– 4 channels running “a bit”
– Positioning that tries to do everything
– No anti-ICP
– Demo calls that are product tours
– CRM data that no one reviews

And when things are not moving, founders ask:

“Should we try more channels?”
“Should we pivot positioning?”
“Should we hire outbound?”

Most of the time, it's not about doing more.
It's about focus and clarity on the foundation.

So before adding anything new, fix what's already there.

Here are 10 GTM fixes you can ship this week 👇

• Define your ICP + Anti-ICP in 5 bullets
• Pick ONE positioning anchor (category OR use case)
• Kill one weak channel
• Add proper attribution (“How did you hear about us?”)
• Push your best case studies everywhere
• Make your LinkedIn profile crystal clear
• Systematize referrals
• Track lost reasons (mandatory field)
• Define when a deal opens & closes
• Review your last 3 demos critically

Choose 2 for your next week.

👇 What's on your list?

If you can’t explain what you do in one sentence...

Your buyers won’t understand it either.

Here are the 4 clean templates 👇

1️⃣ Activity Positioning

Template:
We help [ICP] [manual activity they currently do] so they can [outcome].

Example:
We help B2B SaaS founders track all their customer information in one place so they never lose deal context.

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning

Template:
We help [ICP] [clear job-to-be-done] without [limitations of the status quo].

Example:
We help B2B SaaS founders manage their prospects without juggling spreadsheets and scattered notes.

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning

Template:
We are a [product category] for [ICP].
We are a [product category] with [unique differentiator].

Example:
We are a CRM software for early-stage SaaS founders.
We are a lightweight CRM built for startups.

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative Positioning

Template:
We are a [product category] alternative to [leader] built for [ICP] with [unique differentiator].

Example:
We are a CRM alternative to HubSpot built for early-stage SaaS founders with simpler setup.

👇 Let's drop yours in the comments.

P.S. If you want the full positioning guide + worksheet, send me a DM and I will send it over.

Whenever I start working with a new founder, I don’t start with tactics.

No growth hacks.
No outbound playbooks.
No content strategy.

Instead, I ask questions.

Because after working with 30+ SaaS startups, I’ve learned something:

Most growth problems are actually clarity problems.

Here are a few of the questions I ask early on.

Customers & ICP

• Who specifically is your product built for today?
• Who are your best-fit customers?
• Who should you not target right now?
• What triggers someone to start looking for a solution like yours?

Positioning

• What is your primary positioning anchor?
• What alternatives are customers using today?
• What makes you meaningfully different?

Messaging

• What’s the core message on your homepage hero?
• What objections do you hear all the time?
• What proof do you communicate?

GTM Execution

• What stage of GTM are you currently in?
• What is your primary acquisition channel?
• What sales motion fits your product best?

If founders struggle to answer several of these questions clearly...

We don’t optimize tactics.

We fix the GTM foundation first.

Because once the foundation becomes clear:

• messaging improves
• sales conversations get easier
• pipeline quality increases

GTM suddenly feels much simpler.

Curious:
Which of these questions would be hardest for you to answer today?

---
On Sunday, I published a new newsletter episode on mrrunlocked.com where we deep dive into all 17 questions.

If buyers don’t know what to compare you against, fix this first 👇

1. Decide your anchor

Category positioning (default)
Use-case positioning (if no category exists)

2. Write one clear sentence

We’re a [category] for [use case + ICP]

If you can’t say this cleanly, nothing downstream will work.

3. Name the real alternative you replace today
Not your dream competitor.

The status quo:
-Excel
-Manual workflows
-Agencies
-Internal hacks

4. Define 2–3 competitive buckets

-Status quo
-Incumbents
-Direct competitors

5. Differentiate with sharp contrasts

- Unlike incumbent tools, we...
-Unlike point solutions, we...
-Unlike the status quo, we…

This is GTM foundation work.
Get this wrong and everything slows down:
website, sales, outbound, demos, pricing.

Get it right, and buyers finally know:
“Ah, this is what I should compare you against.”

👉 What's part of your positioning?

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Most founders don’t have a product problem.
They have a positioning problem.
Last month I had 8 intro calls.

More than half needed 3+ minutes to explain what they’re building.
If I can’t repeat it back in 30 seconds, your buyers won’t either.

So here’s the simple 3-step framework I use with early-stage SaaS founders:

Step 1: Choose your Primary Anchor (What are you?)

When buyers ask:
“What is your product?”

You must answer in one sentence.

You have 4 options:

1️⃣ Activity Positioning
“We help you do X”

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning
“We help you do X without Y”

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning
“We are a X”

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative
“We are a [Leader] alternative”

Choose based on how buyers think today, not how you want them to think.

Step 2: Add a Secondary Anchor (Why you?)

Inside that primary anchor, differentiate:

• Niche down
• Low-cost
• Premium
• Unique attribute
• Lite version

Max 2. Not 5.

Step 3: Combine both into a clear statement

Strong positioning =
Primary Anchor + Secondary Anchor

Example:

(Product Category + Lite + Niche)
“We are a lightweight CRM built for startups.”

Positioning is a bet.
But no positioning is worse than wrong positioning.

If I asked you right now:
“What are you?”

Could you answer in one sentence without rambling?

P.S. I've launched my new positioning guide on mrrunlocked.com You will find the link in the comments.

One GTM problem that keeps repeating:

The GTM assets don’t reflect the 'internal strategy'.

I often review a team’s ICP, positioning, and messaging docs and think:
“This is actually very good.”

Then I look at:

- the website
-the sales deck
-the demos
- the LinkedIn profiles
- the outbound messages

...and the clarity disappears.

What this looks like in practice:

--> ICP and messaging frameworks live in Notion or Miro only
--> Sales decks are 80% product features
--> Homepage copy is fuzzy or overly technical
--> LinkedIn profiles don’t explain what the product is and for whom
--> No clear callout of ICP, category, or status quo problem
--> Strong insights exist, but prospects never see them

This is painful because the thinking is usually solid.

It’s not a strategy problem.
It’s a translation problem.

👇 What's your take?

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out mrrunlocked.com for all 6 and follow for tomorrow's post.

Most startups waste time on growth channels before they’ve even tightened the basics.

Here’s a simple rule: Before adding anything new, fix 2 things you already have. 

Here are 10 quick fixes you can ship this week:

✔ Write your ICP + Anti-ICP in 5 bullets
✔ Choose one positioning anchor
--> product category OR use case. Don’t mix.
✔ Pause your weakest channel
✔ Add "how did you hear about us?" in your signup & demo flow.
✔ Share your best case studies everywhere.
✔ Revamp your LinkedIn profile for ICP clarity
✔ Ask your customers for referrals/warm intros.
✔ Track lost reasons in CRM (mandatory) + review weekly.
✔ Set hard rules for when to open/close deals.
✔ Coach yourself: Review your last 3 demo calls

None of these requires a strategy or expensive experiments.
They just reduce noise, clarify motion, and accelerate pipeline.

Start by simplifying what you already do. Then expand.

👇 What’s that for you?

P.S. For me, long hikes are where most of my GTM simplifications happen.
Distance creates clarity.

Most founders think positioning is about being clever.

It’s not.

It’s about clarity and choosing the right anchor.

There are only 4 real types of positioning in B2B SaaS:
(credits to Anthony Pierri  and Rob Kaminski )

1️⃣ Activity Positioning

“We help you do X.”

You frame your product around a manual activity.

Example (Scheduling):
“Send emails back and forth to find a time.”

You’re replacing spreadsheets, Slack, email.

Best when:
• Market is early
• No clear software category exists
• Buyers still do it manually

GTM goal: Create awareness.

2️⃣ Use Case Positioning

“We help you do X without Y.”

You anchor around a clear job-to-be-done.

Example (Product Analytics):
“Understand how users behave inside your product.”

Buyers know the problem.
They may not think in category terms yet.

GTM goal: Own the use case.

3️⃣ Product Category Positioning

“We are a X.”

Example:
CRM software
Scheduling software
Product Analytics software

Buyers:
• Google the category
• Compare vendors
• Check G2

GTM goal: Win comparisons.

4️⃣ Competitive Alternative Positioning

“We are a [Leader] alternative.”

Example:
HubSpot alternative
Calendly alternative
Mixpanel alternative

Best when:
• A dominant leader exists
• Budget already exists
• You have a strong wedge

GTM goal: Steal demand.

Important:

The same product can be positioned in all 4 ways.
But only ONE anchor should lead your narrative.

Choose based on:

→ Buyer awareness
→ Market maturity
→ What they compare you against

Not based on what sounds cooler.

If you want the full positioning framework + worksheet, head over to mrrunlocked.com

B2B Homepage Positioning // I play 🎸 in the band Good Hangs

Co-Founder @ Fletch | Positioning & Messaging for B2B Startups

Quick test: Can you answer these 4 ICP questions?

Most GTM problems actually start with a bad ICP.

You rarely struggle with tactics.
You struggle with who you should actually target.

Many teams define their ICP like this:

❌ “Mid-sized companies”
❌ “HR teams”
❌ “Any company that wants to automate X”

Which usually means...
the ICP is still too broad.

Before optimizing messaging, content, or outbound, I ask founders four simple questions:

1️⃣ Who specifically is your product built for today?
Not your TAM.

Your actual ICP.

Can you clearly define it with 4–6 attributes like:

• firmographics
• technographics
• persona attributes
• use case

Early-stage startups usually need one segment and one use case.

2️⃣ Who are your best-fit customers?

Look at your existing customers.

Who has:

• the highest usage
• the lowest churn
• the fastest sales cycle

These signals often reveal your real ICP.

3️⃣ What type of customers should you not target right now?

Define your Anti-ICP.

Companies that:

• don’t value your product
• don’t have the pain you solve
• don’t fit strategically

GTM becomes repeatable once you narrow your focus.

4️⃣ What triggers someone to start looking for a solution like yours?

Every purchase has a trigger.

For example:

• a new hire
• a new regulation
• a broken tech stack

Understanding this moment is critical for messaging and demand generation.

Can you answer these four questions today?

Writing blog posts and LinkedIn posts, but still 0 Inbounds.

I call it: "Content is done, but without a strategy"

I mean, the content isn’t designed to support real sales conversations or capture existing demand. 

This usually means teams are creating a lot of TOFU blog posts and random LinkedIn posts.

Results are usually 0 Inbounds.

What this looks like in practice:

- Random LinkedIn posts (or disconnected from ICP pain points)
- No repeatable content format (every post is a different topic)
- No Inbound generating lead magnet
- TOFU blog posts that don’t attract buyers
- Content optimized for likes, not ICP engagements
- No measurement of pipeline influence

How to fix:

- Prioritize BOFU content
alternatives, comparisons, “best X for Y”, use-case pages

- Focus early on the 5% of buyers who are already *in the market*

- Build a content map based on ICP questions by awareness stage
from problem-unaware → problem aware —> solution aware —> product (category) aware —> purchase-decision

- Build a high-performing lead magnet

- Turn real sales objections into posts and articles

- Record customer calls and use insights for your content roadmap (objections, pains, desired outcomes...)

- Measure content by meetings influenced, not impressions
e.g. via self-reported attribution (How did you hear about us?)

👉 What's missing? 

P.S. This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out the other 5 on mrrunlocked.com and follow for tomorrows post.

graphical user interface, text, application

Whenever I ask founders to walk me through their sales process, this is where it breaks.

Sales is a set of calls, but not a designed journey.
They don’t guide prospects through a set of clearly defined steps.
 So they can’t describe what should happen after each step.

What this looks like in practice:

- Buyers decide on next steps at the end of the call
- 10 demos, 10 different next steps 'agreed'
- Unclear what the goal of each call is
- Deals are created without a clear definition
- Trials are offered without commitment or success criteria
- Deals stall because the next steps were never designed

The root cause. No 'designed' process. 
Meaning no repeatability.

And as it's not repeatable, it's also hard to measure and optimize.

So here's my recommendation: How to fix:

- Define a simple, explicit sales process 
 e.g., Disco → Demo → Trial/Pilot → Close
- Assign a clear goal and exit criteria to each stage
- Define when a trial is “earned” (qualification threshold)
- Create standard follow-ups for each stage (post-demo, trial kickoff, recap)
- Enforce pipeline hygiene: every deal needs a next step and a close date

Ofc, if you're advanced, implement a methodology like SPICED, SPIN, or MEDDIC.

👉 This post is part of a short LK series: 6 most common GTM problems I see working with early-stage founders. 
Check out the other 5 on mrrunlocked.com and follow for tomorrows post.

Most SaaS/AI positioning fails for one simple reason:

Buyers don’t know what you are.

So they also don't know what you replace.
They can't mentally classify you.

So your differentiation becomes useless.

When that happens:

• your messaging feels vague
• demos take too long to explain
• sales conversations become harder

So before improving messaging, I ask founders three positioning questions.

1️⃣ What is your primary positioning anchor?

How should buyers mentally classify your product?

Product category = CRM
Use case = We help you do X

2️⃣ What alternatives are customers using today?

Spreadsheets.
Manual processes.
Internal tools.
Other SaaS products/categories.

Every product replaces something.

3️⃣ What makes you meaningfully different?

Your differentiation needs to be:

clear, believable, and relevant.

Quick check: Could a new visitor understand what your product is in <30 seconds?

Most founders choose their positioning anchor based on opinion.

Here’s a better way:

Choose your primary anchor based on how buyers think today, not how you want them to think.

No strategy debates.
No branding workshops.
Just yes / no.

Use this simple decision tree 👇

Step 0: Leader Dominance Test (Check First)

Q0: Is there a dominant, well-known market leader that:

- Almost every buyer already knows?
- Owns most of the category mindshare?
- Is frequently referenced in conversations?
- Is the default comparison point?

If yes, and you have a clear wedge:
→ Consider Competitive Alternative Positioning

If no, continue below.
(If you choose Competitive Alternative, still validate Category Awareness below.)

Step 1: Category Awareness Test

Q1: When buyers start evaluating solutions, do they:

- Google a specific software category?
- Compare vendors on G2 or Capterra?
- Ask for demos of multiple vendors in the same category?

Examples:

- CRM software
- Scheduling software
- Product analytics software

If buyers already think in category terms:
✅ Yes → Product Category Positioning
❌ No → Go to Step 2

Step 2: Problem Articulation Test

Q2: Can buyers clearly describe what they want to achieve, even if they don’t know what type of software solves it?

Examples:

- “We need to schedule interviews faster.”
- “We need better onboarding walkthroughs.”
- “We need to coordinate approvals more easily.”

If they articulate the job, but not the category:
✅ Yes → Use Case Positioning
❌ No → Go to Step 3

Step 3: Manual Behavior Test

Q3: Is the dominant solution still manual? When you talk to potential customers, do most of them say:

- “We just use spreadsheets.”
- “We handle this in Slack/email.”
- “We don’t really have a tool for this.”

If yes:
✅ Activity Positioning
If no → Re-evaluate your market understanding.

That’s it.
Answer top to bottom.

If you want the full guide + worksheet, send me a DM and I will send it over

One thing I’ve learned working with 30+ early-stage SaaS founders:

Positioning debates don’t end after choosing the anchor.

That’s just the beginning.

Because you can choose the “right” anchor...

...and still lose buyers with the wrong level of specificity.

Here’s what I see all the time.

Founders avoid competition by inventing new categories.

“We’re a Revenue Intelligence platform.”
“We’re a Workflow Orchestration Engine.”

Sounds strategic.

But buyers don’t think that way.

Or they go too high-level on the use case:

“We help companies increase revenue.”
“We improve productivity.”

Technically true.
Practically useless.

Buyers don’t buy “increase revenue.”

They buy:

• Manage pipeline
• Schedule meetings
• Guide onboarding
• Understand user behavior

Clear jobs. Clear boxes.

The opposite mistake also happens:

Founders get so feature-driven that their positioning sounds like a Jira ticket.
That’s too narrow.

Strong positioning lives in the tension between:

Too vague → confusing
Too specific → limiting

When we fix positioning specificity in my GTM audit, something interesting happens:

• The homepage headline gets simpler
• Sales calls get shorter
• Prospects “get it” faster

Positioning isn’t about sounding sophisticated.

It’s about being understood.

If you want me to get your positioning right, send me a DM. I have 1 free spot available starting in April.

Last weekend my wife and I escaped to the Alps for a few days.
One of the first sunny spring weekends after a long winter.

Hiking, fresh air, no Slack notifications. 
Just mountains.

And somewhere between the trails and the views, I realized something again that I tend to forget during busy weeks.

I need these breaks.

Every few weeks.

Being a solopreneur means wearing a lot of hats.
And working very hands-on with founders on their GTM means being fully present, focused, and sharp.

Right now I’m working closely with 6 startups.
Positioning, messaging, content, outbound, go-to-market foundations.

Work I genuinely love.
But it also requires a lot of energy and attention.

These few days in the mountains reminded me that recharging isn’t a luxury.

It’s part of doing great work.

So one of my big focuses for 2026 is simple:
Finding the right balance between deep work and quality time.

Time with family.
Time with friends.
Time away from screens.

Because the goal isn’t just building a business.
It’s building a life that actually feels good to live.

That's the real challenge of solopreneurship.

Strategy & GTM Advisor | Follow me for strategy, growth, and leadership tips.

I lead Growth at Pricing I/O, the leading hands-on SaaS pricing consultancy.Our track record:→ 400+ software companies→ 98% client satisfaction→ 15x average Year 1 ROIBefore joining Pricing I/O, I was their client. I spent 11 years at Mercatus, a private equity software company:→ Started as employee #5→ Navigated multiple promotions (constant imposter syndrome)→ Eventually became Global Head of Product &amp; Marketing→ Built global teams and owned pricing and GTM strategy→ Delivered Avg 85% YoY ACV growth → Led to a 9-figure exit to State Street (Fortune 250 global bank)→ Company now manages $1.8+ trillion in private equity assets for the world's largest investorsI lived the pricing struggle every leader fears:→ Sleepless nights: Are we leaving millions on the table?→ Boardroom wars: Everyone has an opinion on price→ Investor pressure: Triple revenue AND keep customers happyIf pricing feels reactive instead of strategic, we should talk.Connect:→ Book a FREE pricing strategy call at pricingio dot com→ Join The Moat, my free newsletter for B2B leaders for an inside look what I am working on.

Ali Mamujee

In 1987, Alcoa was in trouble:

 → Market value: ~$3B
 → Net income: ~$200M
 → Injuries were common across plants
 → Morale was low. Productivity was slipping.

Wall Street expected a classic turnaround playbook.

Then the new CEO, Paul O’Neill, opened his first investor meeting with:
“I intend to make Alcoa the safest company in America.”

No talk of margins or growth targets. Just safety.

People thought he’d lost the plot.

But O’Neill understood something most leaders miss:
You don’t fix broken organizations by attacking everything.
You pick one keystone behavior that forces the system to change.

So he built the company around safety:

– Every incident reported within 24 hours, with a prevention plan
– Exec incentives tied to safety performance
– Frontline teams empowered to flag hazards without blame
– Plant visits focused on listening, not lecturing

Safety became the forcing function for better processes, clearer communication, and real accountability.

And the business followed.

Over the next decade:
→ Net income grew to ~$1.5B
→ Market value climbed to ~$27B
→ Productivity per employee rose ~45%
→ Injury rates fell dramatically

The lesson:
Real turnarounds start with one discipline that builds trust, surfaces problems, and tightens execution across the org.
That’s leadership.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more insights.

VP Growth of Pricing I/O | B2B SaaS Pricing | I write about growth, monetization, and leadership

“If we don’t deliver, I will resign.”
That was Carlos Ghosn’s public promise at Nissan in 1999.

The company was collapsing:
→ $20B in debt
→ 7 losses in 8 years 
→ 27 straight years of declining market share 

Nissan was bloated and stuck in keiretsu gravity:
lifelong supplier ties, protected relationships, slow decisions.

Renault stepped in with a ~$5B alliance and sent Ghosn in as COO – a Brazilian-Lebanese outsider known at Renault as “Le Cost Killer.”

He didn’t run a consensus tour.
He formed 9 cross-functional teams of mid-level leaders and told them to diagnose the truth.

Then he launched a revival plan that broke Japanese corporate norms:
→ Closed five plants (including domestic closures)
→ Cut 21,000 jobs (~14% of the workforce)
→ Reduced suppliers from 1,100+ to ~600
→ Cut purchasing costs by ~20%
→ Unwound keiretsu cross-shareholdings

Then he made 3 public bets and staked his career on them:
1. Return to profitability in FY2000
2. Hit 4.5%+ operating margin by FY2002
3. Cut automotive debt in half by FY2002

Backlash was brutal. Protests. Media outrage. Culture shock.

But the goals were public and employees had a role in the plan.

The result: they beat the timeline by a full year.
→ Profitable in FY2000
→ Operating margin hit 4.75% by 2001
→ Debt reduced ahead of schedule
→ Stock surged
→ Products like the 350Z helped revive the brand

Nissan went from near-collapse to launching “Nissan 180”:
 +1M unit sales, 8% margin, zero net automotive debt.

The lesson:
The thing you're protecting is often the thing killing you.

Ghosn didn’t save Nissan by adding something new.
He saved it by cutting what everyone was afraid to touch.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more insights.

The gap between you and top performers isn't talent. 
It's these 5 mental models they use on autopilot.

(The last one is my favorite)

1. Second-Order Thinking
↳ Great strategists don’t just ask “What happens next?”
↳ They imagine the chain of events a choice sets in motion.

2. Opportunity Cost Awareness
↳ Every “yes” also says “no.”
↳ Masters know exactly what they’re sacrificing for each yes.

3. Pattern Recognition
↳ Veterans don’t solve the same problem twice.
↳ Experience teaches them winning moves and losing traps.

4. Position Before Action
↳ The best don’t rush into battle. They make victory inevitable.
↳ By patiently building unassailable positions.

5. First Principles Thinking
↳ Top performers strip away assumptions and start as if from scratch.
↳ They question the impossible and spot opportunities others miss.

Ultimate mastery means combining them.

So start with one, practice until it’s second nature,
Then layer on the next.

♻️ Repost & Follow Ali Mamujee, for more.

5 Mental Models Used By Top Performers

I can guarantee your promotion if you do these 7 things.
(I've been promoted 9 times in my career)

Throughout my career, I've watched several employees swiftly climb the ladder.

Here is the pattern I've seen across them all:

1. Manage-Up: They own their 1-on-1 meetings, ensuring they're scheduled and outcome-driven. They do this every single week like clockwork.

2. Outcome-Oriented: They align their personal goals with company metrics - like revenue, profit, and growth.

3. Opportunity Seekers: They don’t wait for tasks; they identify and seize opportunities proactively.

4. Meeting Masters: Their meetings have clear agendas, defined outcomes, and ends on time.

5. Deadline Driven: They set personal deadlines and consistently meet them.

6. Feedback Focused: They actively seek and incorporate feedback to refine their skills and approaches.

7. Relationship Builders: They dedicate building connections with key stakeholders with the sole purpose of learning and giving value.

These daily behaviors compound over time.

You stop being someone who does good work.

You become the person no one can imagine promoting anyone else over.

♻️ Repost to share this with someone building their career.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more insights.

P.S. Which of these 7 do you think is most underrated?

How to reduce churn without shipping a single feature.

Make progress visible. Here’s the experiment that proves it.
In a 2006 study, car wash customers were given loyalty cards.

Both groups needed 8 paid washes to earn 1 free.

But the cards were framed differently:

Card A:
→ 8 blank stamps
→ start at 0

Card B:
→ 10 total stamps
→ 2 already stamped
→ still needed 8 paid washes

Same reward. Same required purchases.

But completion jumped:
→ 19% completed Card A
→ 34% completed Card B

Nothing changed economically. What changed was perception.

Card B made people feel like they’d already started.
And once people feel progress, they don’t want to waste it.

That’s the endowed progress effect:
Progress (even “gifted” progress) creates commitment.
Commitment creates momentum.
Momentum drives completion.

The SaaS lesson:
Retention isn’t just about delivering value.
It’s about making progress toward value visible.

If the user experience feels like “still at zero,” churn is easy.
If it feels like “I’ve already built something here,” churn feels like loss.

So don’t just build value.
Build visible progress toward value.

Because people don’t abandon what feels in motion.

♻️ Repost if this reframed retention for you.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more pricing insights.

The 3 most expensive sentences in SaaS pricing right now.

1) "The market's uncertain. Let's wait." 
2) "We're too busy to look at pricing." 
3) "We can figure this out ourselves." 

They’re expensive because the margin for pricing confusion just disappeared.

And yet - I hear these every week from leadership teams.

But in this market, they’re quietly destructive.

Here’s why:
1) “The market’s uncertain. Let’s wait.”
Uncertainty is exactly when pricing has to be cleanest.

Buyers aren’t stopping buying. They’re stopping forgiving confusion.
If your model is easy to discount around, you’ll feel it first at renewals.
And right now, renewals are everything.

2) “We’re too busy to look at pricing.”
Translation: we’re okay with leakage while we’re drowning.

Pricing is the conversion layer between value and revenue.
If it’s off, every deal still “wins”…  just smaller than it should.
In this market, that gap compounds fast.

3) "We can figure this out ourselves." 
↳ Maybe. But you need expertise + capacity + time.

Most teams have one of those right now.
So it turns into a pricing committee… and six months of opinions… while the market keeps moving.

The one nobody says out loud: "What if it backfires?"
That fear is real. Pricing is visible. Career-risk visible.

But the riskiest move isn’t changing your pricing.

Because buyers will re-price you anyway - through discounts, seat cuts, or churn - if you don’t do it intentionally.

So the real risk is letting your product and customers evolve while your pricing stays frozen.

The fix isn’t “be bold.” It’s reduce risk:
prototype → test → validate → align stakeholders → then roll out.

That’s how you move fast without breaking trust.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more pricing insights.

Nearly $1T wiped off software & services stocks since Jan 28

The SaaS Index is down ~15% YTD and ~27% over the past year (Aventis Advisors).

The “SaaSpocalypse” narrative is everywhere.

I don’t see this as a SaaS apocalypse. It's a market that's been maturing for a decade and finally getting honest about it. 

Growth has been cooling since the 2021 peak. 
AI didn't create this moment.  It accelerated a reckoning that was already coming. 

This isn't a signal to panic. It's a signal to get clear.

That said, I'm worried about what most SaaS founders are going to do next.

They'll go wider. More segments. More features. More custom deals.

That instinct is understandable. It's also exactly wrong.

Going wide is how many companies ended up here in the first place. They sold to anyone who would buy. Built for every edge case. Avoided the hard decision of choosing who they actually serve best.

That works when budgets are loose. 
It breaks when buyers start asking, "What do we actually need?"

And right now, buyers are asking. Hard.

Enterprises are consolidating.
Recent research shows 82% are actively reducing vendors.
And ~70% of CIOs say they plan to consolidate further this year.

Buyers aren't looking for more software. 
They're looking for fewer tools that matter more.

The companies that make it through will answer one question clearly: 
What problem do we solve so well, for such a specific buyer, that replacing us feels risky?

Not what you do. Not who might buy. Who needs you.

This is the time to go back to first principles. 
- Double down where your unit economics work. 
- Say no to revenue that burns your team. 
- Build your pricing and GTM around one clear position.

Some products won't survive this filter. 
Not every SaaS built during the boom deserves a standalone subscription.

But if you solve a real problem for a real buyer, this is your window.

If you're the one they keep – you don't just survive. You earn more of the budget.

This isn't the end of SaaS. It's a filter.
And filters reward depth.

Where is your team going deep right now?

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more SaaS insights.

Credit: Aventis Advisors

The biggest pricing mistake in uncertain markets?
Assuming your price hasn’t moved.

Most software teams built pricing in a different market:

- Stable budgets.
- Predictable expansion.
- Clean ROI narratives.

Those assumptions are breaking.

In stable conditions, pricing is an optimization problem.
Set it. Test around the edges. Refine once or twice a year.

In volatile conditions, pricing becomes a recalibration discipline.

Your “right” price now depends on:
- How quickly buyers feel ROI
- How aggressively procurement pushes back
- How elastic your value is vs. “do nothing”

Raise price blindly → You lose volume.
Discount aggressively → You leak margin.
Freeze pricing → You drift.

And recalibration isn’t changing a number.

It’s revalidating your value metric.
Reassessing elasticity.
Stress-testing packaging.
Separating signal from discount noise.

Most teams don’t have a structure for that.

In volatile markets, pricing stops being a growth lever.
It becomes a control system.

The companies that treat it that way won’t just survive this cycle.

They’ll exit it with cleaner margins than they entered with.

♻️ Repost if you think pricing should be a board-level conversation right now.

A Head of Product told me: 
"We look identical to our cheaper competitor."

That one sentence explained why they kept losing deals they should have won.

They weren't losing on product. 
They were losing on perception.

Deeper platform. More compliant. Built for regulated industries.

But their pricing page told a completely different story.

Same tiers. Same feature grid. Same layout as everyone else.

So buyers did what buyers do:
They compared on price. And went with the lower number.

In a loose market, that's frustrating. 
In this one, It's fatal.

They often win those deals back later after the cheaper option fails to scale.

But by then, they've paid CAC twice.

Here's what most Software companies miss:

Your pricing page isn't just where deals close. 
It's where the comparison gets set.

Look similar → get compared. 
Get compared → get discounted. 
Get discounted → climb uphill forever.

And your sales team spends every call fighting a battle the page already lost.

The fix isn't a redesign. It's a repositioning.

Your pricing page has one job:
Make the comparison impossible before the call even starts.

Not "here are our tiers." 
But "here's why comparing us on price is the wrong question."

That's the difference between a pricing page that sells and one that just sits there.

♻️ Repost if pricing is more than a number.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more pricing insights.

You can't outgrow a broken foundation in SaaS.
And right now, a lot of foundations are cracking.

SaaS companies are down 30-40% in value. 
Budgets are frozen. Deals are stalling. 

Private equity and growth investors are reallocating fast. 
Away from thin application layers and toward vertically integrated, agentic infrastructure.

If you're a SaaS company heading toward a Series B or C, that’s not abstract.

Boards are asking harder questions. Investment theses are being rewritten.

And behind closed doors, most CEOs are asking the same question:
Are we even building the right thing?

The AI strategy conversations happening internally right now are unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Because the market is separating two types of SaaS companies fast:
→ Vertically stacked applications solving a specific problem deeply
→ Thin AI layers sitting on top of existing workflows

The first group tends to have pricing power. The second is the easiest to cut.

If you're reconsidering where you sit - you're not alone. It’s the right conversation to be having.

Before you walk into that board meeting - before you respond to your investors - before you touch your roadmap or AI strategy, you need to answer 4 things:

1) What your best customers would actually pay to keep
↳ Not what you think they value. What they'd pay to keep.

2) What your real alternatives are 
↳ Not competitors. What customers would use if you disappeared: a spreadsheet, an internal build, or nothing.

3) Where your value lands - fast vs. delayed 
↳ If customers don't feel ROI before renewal, no pricing change will save you.

4) Where you can simplify 
↳ In this market, the winning move is rarely more features. It's making value easier to understand - and easier to defend in a budget meeting.

Without this clarity, strategy is just expensive guessing.

Survival right now isn't about doing more.
It's about getting specific on who you serve, what outcome you drive, and what you stop doing.

That's the foundation. Everything else comes after.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more SaaS insights.

P.S. If you're a B2B SaaS company rethinking AI monetization + pricing, we’ve been having this conversation with a lot of teams lately. Happy to share what we’re seeing. Book a free discovery call here:

Open article: Meet Pricing I/O by calendly.com

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