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

Fundraising still costs founders 15–20 hours every week.
I partnered with Notion to drop the AI Fundraising Kit - a free stack to help startup founders raise with clarity and confidence.

After working with 30+ founders over the last 3 years, I kept hearing the same questions:

→ Which investors should we actually talk to?
→ What does a “good” pitch deck really look like?
→ How do we structure a proper data room?
→ How do we track investor conversations without chaos?

All this is covered in the AI Fundraising Kit.

What's inside 👇

1️⃣ Investor Database (10k+ profiles)
--> including 2000+ early-stage VCs, incubators, and accelerators

2️⃣ 50 real pitch decks
--> From YC, a16z, and Sequoia-backed startups

3️⃣ AI agents for fundraising
--> Ready-to-use Notion agent prompts for:
- creating pitch docs
- logging investor emails
- building a data room

4️⃣ Notion Data room template
→ A clean, investor-ready setup you can use instantly

Plus a big Bonus 💰

$50K+ in free AI tools (Notion, v0, Supabase...):
▫️ 1 Year Framer
▫️ $60 in v0 by Vercel (frontend)
▫️ $300 from Supabase (backend)
▫️ Up to 6 months of Notion Business with AI (run your startup)

If you’re fundraising now, or planning to soon, this saves weeks of work.

👉 You can access your AI Fundraising Kit here: https://lnkd.in/e4zYDVCe

(It’s free — and yes, I’d grab it before that changes.)

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Newsletter

Join 4500+ SaaS Leaders and get actionable content in your inbox: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-gtm-foundation

GTM Foundation

Build your GTM foundation: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-gtm-foundation

Listen to Podcast

Listen to the podcast episode on the 3 stages to 1€ million ARR: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s6e18-the-3-step-gtm-playbook-to-grow-your-saas-from/id1670431932?i=1000713247114

Sales Deck

Build your sales deck with my free sales deck template: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/high-converting-sales-deck

Vetted Tools

Vetted Partners

SaaS GTM Guides

https://www.alexestner.com/#Best-SaaS-GTM-Guides

14 actionable CRM tactics

SaaS Homepage

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-homepage-copywriting-guide

Founder Brand on LinkedIn

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/founder-led-linkedin-guide

Customer Success into Referrals

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexander-estner_how-moritz-weiss-turned-customer-success-activity-7327573567070420992-DkSk?

GTM Audit

https://alexander-estner.webflow.io/services/gtm-advisory#Pricing-Table

ECP to ICP Guide

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/analyze-your-icp

SaaS Vetted Tools

👇GTM templates: https://www.alexestner.com/gtm-templates

360 GTM Audit

https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/360-saas-gtm-audit

SaaS Pricing Page Guide

Ultimate SaaS Pricing Page Guide: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/saas-pricing-page

Nocodefounders Newsletter

Read the full article on: https://nocodefounders.beehiiv.com/p/how-to-build-a-strong-gtm-foundation-0-to-1m-arr

6 founders sharing insights

Hear all 6 founders sharing their tips & mistakes: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/6-founders-insights

Experts Tips

📌 From 0 to €1M ARR: 17 Expert Tips Every Founder Should Know: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/17-experts-best-tips

MRRUnlocked Signup

Sign up on mrrunlocked.com to get all tips delivered in your inbox (+ 50+ GTM infographics for free).

LinkedIn Playbook

📌 Get the Founder + Team LinkedIn Playbook for free: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/founder-linkedin-playbook

6 GTM problems

📌 Full breakdown of the 6 GTM problems that keep repeating: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/the-6-gtm-problems

Homepage Teardown

📌 Homepage Teardown of 6 Top SaaS/AI companies: https://www.mrrunlocked.com/p/homepage-teardowns-what-6-top-saas

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

Notion

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👇

Tactics are great, but only if you have a strong GTM foundation.

When I work with founders on their way to 1€ million ARR,

we usually start building the foundation.

This includes:

Clarity...

1️⃣ on who you target (ICP)

Focus is key here. You can't afford having 2+ ICPs.

Every segment requires a different motion.

2️⃣ on what your product is and how it's different

This is your positioning anchor.

You can lead with a product category (e.g. CRM tool) or a usecase (sending SMS to clients).

This helps prospets to understand for what they need your product.

Once this is clear, you can add your differentiator (against the dominant status quo).

This might be: niche, unique feature, lite, premium...

3️⃣ on how to communicate this

This is your messaging. Your words need to resonate with your buyer.

Your website, demos, emails, sales decks, case studies all need to be aligned.

They become your core GTM assets that align your ICP, positioning & messaging.

4️⃣ on your GTM motion

Are you self-service / product-led or grow via demos (sales led).

You can't run both in parallel (too early). 

So your market, ICP and pricing defines your GTM motion. 

5️⃣ Pricing

In this phase, pricing is less about 'profit hacking' and more about willigness to pay.

You should treat pricing iterative. Key is to find the right value metric.

Build your pricing tiers (packaging).

The more clarity you have on these, the easier becomes the execution.

This includes choosing the right GTM channels.

👉 Which part needs most of your attention?

📌 P.S. Send me a DM if you want the full GTM foundation guide.

I’ve done 15+ GTM audits across:

different markets
different ACVs
different stages (0€–1M ARR)

The problems repeat.

The 6 repeating GTM problems I see.

1️⃣ ICP is defined, but not enforced

2️⃣ Positioning lacks a clear anchor

3️⃣ Sales demos are product tours

4️⃣ No clearly defined sales process

5️⃣ GTM assets are too generic

6️⃣ Content without strategy

Not because founders don’t work hard.
But because GTM is treated as disconnected tasks.

Not as a system.

👇 Which GTM area feels most fragmented for you right now? 

--- 
📌 Full breakdown of The 6 GTM Problems That Keep Repeating in the latest MRR Unlocked newsletter (link in comments).

No alternative text description for this image

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as GTM Advisor!

I'm deeply impressed what Yanick Frehner Ingmar Feldhoff Ramon Vorich Otto Attila Jonathan V. and the team achieved within a few months.

In November, I did a GTM audit for them.

They were doing already quite good.

But I uncovered a few areas that need their attention.
Since then, they executed crazy fast 🔥 

And now we decided to work together for the next months.

Excited about what the next months will bring together.

Co-Founder & CEO @ Leto GmbH | AI-Powered Automation | Zukunft der Arbeit gestalten

Vertriebsleiter | Leto AI | KI-gestützte Automatisierung für mehr Produktivität & Wachstum

CMO @ Leto AI

AI driven - PHP & Laravel Developer | Fullstack

I believe every B2B SaaS company has its own 'sales process'
So it's not about copying THE one.

But what you need to do is define your 'sales process'.

If you don't know what your sales process looks like,
you can't guide your prospects from first touchpoint to closing.

No need to overengineer too early.

Define:

✅ What is your primary CTA

--> Do you want them to book a call? Or do a free trial?

✅ What happens in the first call?

--> Is is a short discovery call? or already a demo?

✅ What defines a qualified lead?

--> What are your criteria for a MQL and SQL.

✅ When do you open a deal in your CRM?

--> Clear entry criteria

✅ What are the next steps after the call?

--> Do you do a technical deep dive? or a trial phase?

✅ What happens after closed won?

--> How do you handle the onboarding?

✅ How do you work with existing customers?

--> Monitor churn alerts? Identify expansion potential? 

Write down the steps your ICP take. 

👇 How is your sales process?

Over the last few months, I’ve done over 15 GTM audits across various B2B SaaS companies.

Different markets.
Different ACVs.
Different stages (all between 0€ and 1€ million ARR).

Yet the same GTM problems keep showing up.

Not because founders are sloppy.
Not because the product is bad.
Not because they don’t execute fast enough.

But because GTM is treated as a collection of independent activities, not a system.

Which is why many founders feel busy, ship constantly, and still struggle to create momentum.

Here are the 6 GTM mistakes I see over and over again.

👇 What GTM problem do you see?

---
📌 Yesterday, the first mrrunlocked.com newsletter episode went live, where we deep-dived into these 6 GTM problems. Link to the episode is in the comments.

I teamed up with web-design expert Maximilian Fleitmann for a teardown of  6 fast-growing SaaS and AI companies.

We reviewed Attio, Clay, Jimo, Fin AI, Sastrify, and introw.io.

We broke down
✅ what works
⛔ what doesn’t, 
🔥 and what we’d change immediately, 

turning all insights into a practical Figma file with concrete comments you can directly apply to your own homepage.

Comment 'teardown' to get the homepage teardown.

One of those bittersweet solopreneur moments today.

After 12 months of working closely together, my content freelancer Himani Sheth decided to take a full-time role.

And honestly?
I’m very happy for her.
And also... a little sad.

Over the last year, she helped me with:

--> My LinkedIn content

--> The mrrunlocked newsletter episodes

--> Getting sponsors

--> And a lot of behind-the-scenes work that most people never see

What I loved most about our journey:

In September 2024, she just reached out.
No pitch deck. No fancy intro.

She said:

“I’ve learned a lot from your content and would love to work with you.”

I checked her grid.
It impressed me.

We jumped on a few calls, aligned on expectations, and decided it was a good fit.

The rest is history.

This is also a reminder:
👉 Sometimes the best collaborations don’t come from job posts
👉 They come from people who already care about your work

Now, I’m looking for someone who can replace her.

Which, of course, is not really possible 🙂

But if you:

--> Love writing (LinkedIn + long form guides)

--> Care deeply about quality

--> And enjoy working closely with a solopreneur

Feel free to reach out (or tag someone great).

And to Himani:
Thank you for everything and good luck in your next chapter. 
You’ve earned it ❤️

Content marketing for B2B founders and solopreneurs | Influencer Marketing | Ex- VC

We all know competitor comparison pages, but CloudTalk is the only one I saw doing this on their homepage.

In crowded markets, Buyers evaluate different vendors.
You will NOT be the only one they check out.

So this is your chance to add your POV.

If you don't, someone else will do it.

And a very common way to do so is to have dedicated landing pages for competitor comparisons.

Either visible on the website footer.
Or completely hidden.

But I think if you know that buyers anyway compare you against your biggest competitors.

You can add them to your homepage.

I've seen Cloudtalk doing this.

And I think it's smart.

👇 What's your take?

P.S. If you want to learn how to position yourself against your competitors, send me a DM and I'll give you access to my new positioning&messaging framework.

graphical user interface, text, application, email

If you're SaaS/AI founder planning to launch new product pages on your website, we have something for you 👇

Quick reminder.

Your homepage is

❌ NOT a detailed page about how your product works.

❌ NOT a page purely on 1 specific use case or 1 specific feature.

Instead,

✅ That’s the job of product pages

Compared to your homepage, they come with a few benefits:

1️⃣ Homepage visitors find information that matches their specific needs quickly

2️⃣ Sales and support teams share more information about a specific feature in a snackable format

3️⃣ Search engines and LLMs understand the core capabilities of your product and recommend your tool in their answers.

You can have 3 different types of product pages:

1️⃣ Feature pages

2️⃣ Use-case pages

3️⃣ Customer segment pages (Persona/Teams, Company type, Industry pages)

Each of these pages has a slightly different focus.

✅ Feature pages and Use-case pages focus on ‘how it works’.

✅ Persona/Teams, company type, and industry pages focus on ‘Who it’s for and how this type of audience benefits from using the product’.

What are the best product pages you know?

---
P.S. If you want the 'Perfect Product Pages Guide', send me DM.

Everyone says you can't run a sales-led motion with <10k€ ACV

Unless you...

If you're a founder on the way from 0€ to your first 1-3€ million ARR, it can be fine to be sales-led. 

Because ACV alone is not an indicator if your motion is healthy or not.

At the end, you need to look at:

1️⃣ CAC payback period (fully loaded)

How long does it take you to make money (and recover your CACs).

At the early stage, I would say
🟠 Everything below 12 months is acceptable
🟢 Below 6 months is great.

This might look a bit different if you're bootstrapped.

2️⃣ ARR signed per AE

If you set healthy quotas (e.g. 4-6x on OTE), it can be fine to scale with 'more humans' - at least for the first 2-3 reps.

All this, of course, requires an efficient sales motion.

Win rates over 20%.
Sales cycles < 90 days
Mostly inbound-driven demos.

I'm not saying that PLG or sales-assisted PLG is wrong.

I just say that sales-led can still be okay if you're early.

What do you think?

If your GTM isn’t working, this might be why:

You never made a real positioning decision.

No clear:
• ICP
• category
• competitor set

And without that:
→ your content lacks edge
→ your LinkedIn profile is vague
→ your outreach doesn’t convert

Founders often say:
“I don’t want to be boxed in.”

Reality:
You’re already boxed in by indecision.

Positioning is a bet.
Execution is how you validate it.

Take the bet.
Then improve it.

P.S. I'm launching soon my new ICP & Positioning Framework. Want early access? Drop me a DM.

If you already know how to reach your first 1€ million ARR, these slides are NOT for you ⛔

GTM Foundation Infographics

Sometimes the best planning happens away from the laptop.
I unplugged for 2 weeks.
And it gave me absolute clarity on 2026.

I spent unplugged,
in nature, hiking, slowing down, and being fully present with my wife.

No notifications.
No endless tabs.
Just long walks and clear thoughts.

And while I disconnected from work...
I reconnected with direction.

I used that time to plan my 2026.

And one thing became very clear:

I don't want to add more.

But rather less. More focus.

👉 I’m doubling down on GTM Foundations for AI & SaaS founders.

Not hacks.
Not shiny growth tactics.
But the fundamentals that actually compound.

This means a stronger focus on:

--> Defining who your product is really for

--> Sharpening positioning & messaging that cuts through noise

--> Designing a GTM motion that fits your stage

A few things that are coming soon:

--> ICP Framework V2
--> Sales Demo Blueprint
--> Positioning Framework

More on this soon.

👇 What topics should I cover in 2026?

If you're doing product demos for your SaaS/AI, this one is for you.

Most B2B demos fail not because of the product,
but because the structure is weak.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been building something to fix exactly that:

👉 The B2B SaaS Sales Demo Toolbox

It includes:

1️⃣ Demo Structure (1-pager)
A clear, repeatable flow for strong demos:
Intro → Time Check → Agenda → Discovery → Buy-In Summary → Tailored Demo → Recap → Next Steps

2️⃣ Sales Demo Script
Ready-to-use blurbs for every step of the demo
(no more “uhm... so yeah” moments)

3️⃣ Demo Coaching Feedback Template
A simple way to give (or receive) structured, actionable feedback

4️⃣ 2-Minute Demo Video Script
Perfect if you want a short sales/demo video without overthinking it

I’ve already tested this with 10 SaaS & AI founders over the last weeks.

Right now, I’m opening early access:
✅ Free
🔒 In exchange for qualified feedback

Heads-up:
I plan to turn this into a €50+ product soon once it’s polished.

So this is likely the only time it’ll be available for free.

👉 Want early access?
Comment “Demo Toolbox” and I’ll send it over.
,

One of the biggest GTM mistakes I see founders make:

They wait for perfect data before positioning.

But positioning creates the data.

The moment you decide:
• “We help X”
• “With problem Y”
• “Instead of solution Z”

Suddenly:
→ lead lists get easier
→ your website writes itself
→ content ideas appear
→ competitor research makes sense

Yes, it’s a bet.
Yes, it might be wrong.

If your GTM feels stuck, ask yourself:
👉 “Where am I avoiding a clear bet?”

P.S. Drop me a DM if you want my new Positioning Framework.

Me: "We're working in 2-week GTM sprints"
Founder: "Okay, but what does that look like practically?"

Below you see a real example of a GTM sprint board with one of my clients (Thomas Moussafer  Andy M. ).

We usually use Notion for sprint planning.

And a very simple Kanban board.

To keep things organized, we use:
--> Backlog
--> Ideas for next sprint
--> This sprint planned
(here we add all the initiatives that we want to focus on in the next 2 weeks)
--> In progress
--> Done this sprint

Each Initiative comes with an owner, deadline and related topic cluster.

Within a card, we share:
- templates & best practices
- updates & drafts
- reviews

It's 100% not the most sophisticated project management ever.

But I am 100% convinced.
Keep things simple.
Clarity wins.

👇Let me know. Do you like more 'behind the scenes' content?

---
P.S. Want to improve your user onboarding? Check out Jimo

graphical user interface, text, application

I’ve asked GTM advisor Björn W. Schäfer what founders misunderstand about ICP. Let’s hear his advice 👇

ICP clarity is not a workshop. It’s a discipline.

Most founders think they know their ICP once they hit early traction. They don’t. They just have a few happy customers.

Segment by outcome:
Who gets the fastest and most measurable ROI?

Look where deals close fastest, with the lowest discount and fastest time-to-value. That’s your real ICP.

Build an Anti-ICP list. Knowing who not to sell to saves massive effort.

👉 Want to hear 15 more expert tips. Read the latest MRR Unlocked episode. Link is in the comments.

One sprint item last week:

Launching evergreen signal-based outbound for my client Jimo

In 2026, I want to share more content about the actual work I do with the founders in my GTM advisory.

The core concept:
--> 2 week GTM sprints
--> Each sprint comes with 3-5 initiatives 

So one sprint item last week was to launch signal-based outreach campaigns.

Step 1 was to decide on the relevant signals.

In our case, we decided on 4 key signals:

--> Negative reviews on competitor tools
(they operate in a highly crowded red ocean)

--> Lookalike of happy customers
(reaching out to companies very similar to their happy customers)

--> Champion getting hired
(We know if they are hiring 'the champion role' the topic the tool helps fix is hot)

--> Website visitors
(proactively reaching out to ICP contacts that are visiting their website)

Step 2

Setting up the tracking of these signals. And pushing relevant leads to the outreach tool (this time GetSales.io - most of the time I recommend lemlist)

--> Snitcher for website visitor

--> manual g2, capterra research for negative reviews (any good tips to track these signals?)

--> LinkedIn job search for hiring (and using Cargo 🧱 to automate this)

--> Ocean.io for lookalike

Step 3 

Building a LinkedIn DM campaign with (2-4 DM) for each signal.

---
Evergreen signal-based outbound is one of 4 key initiatives that we bet on in Q1. 

👇What are your best signal-based outreach campaigns?

I like being a solopreneur.
I really do.

But liking it doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Content, client work, sales calls, finance, launching new products...

Most days, it’s all on my plate.
You switch contexts constantly.
You make decisions alone.

And sometimes you just want to talk to someone who gets it.
That’s why I’m genuinely excited about the solopreneur event on May 8th.

A room full of people wearing the same hats,
dealing with similar challenges.

It's the first time this year. And I'm sure Stephanie Sgura and Christiana Kunzner-Brand will host a master event 🥳 

I’ll be there and share a lot of my learnings.

Who's joining me?

Elena Zapolyanskaya

Head of Partnerships

B2B | Strategy | Partner-Led Growth | PARTNER2B

Building Bonobee, an AI Partner Marketplace Infrastructure that makes invisible ecosystems visible (because hidden partners generate hidden revenue, which is just fancy talk for zero revenue).

I also advise B2B teams on making ecosystems visible and measurable, not vibes-based. Turns out when partners can actually be found, they show up and perform. Wild concept, I know.

17+ years of cross-functional B2B experience across marketing, sales, partnerships, finance, and logistics. I chose breadth over climbing the traditional career ladder because I wanted to understand how organizations actually work, not just one silo of them.

Come say hi ✨ ez@bonobee.ai

Strategic Marketing Consultant

Elena Zap.

I don't join communities. Like, ever. But Rob Moyer is building a free community for partnership and ecosystem people, and I'm in. BlueThread Collective. 

No selling, just practical thoughts and daily chats with people who actually run partner programs.

Rob doesn't just talk, he fixes what's broken. He's curating this for partner managers, GTM leaders, and vendors who do the work, not collect LinkedIn badges.

Most communities die in a month. Rob builds things that last because he's lived through the chaos when your partner program is falling apart and nobody in your company gets it.

If you're running partnerships and tired of being the only one who understands why everything is cross-functional hell, request access - there's a waitlist.

Link in comments.

𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞.

Co-founder & CEO @ Bonobee | B2B Partner Marketplace Infrastructure

"Hire for attitude, train for skill." I've heard this a thousand times. Never bought it. Ambition without execution is just noise. And at the early stage, noise is expensive. Here's what I learned: 

𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 

Professionalism without attitude gets you mediocrity. 
Attitude without professionalism gets you chaos.

The best "attitude" someone can bring to your team? 

Taking full responsibility for their area. 
Delivering what they said they'd deliver. 
Not needing hand-holding because they already know their domain.

Early-stage startups don't have time to train basics. Every minute you spend teaching fundamentals is a minute you're not building, selling, or shipping.

I want people who show up ready. Who challenge me because they know their craft. Who bring both the skills AND the drive to use them.

𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲-𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨.

That's how we're building Bonobee, and that's how we win one step at a time. Thank you amazing Bonobee team!!!

Partner program visibility isn't something VP of Partnerships can fix alone. That's where most B2Bs get it wrong. They dump it on the partnerships team, expect magic, and six months later wonder why there's no pipeline attribution.

Because the problem isn't the person. It's the infrastructure.

𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐲: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬' 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦

→ VP of Partnerships "owns" visibility 
→ Partner page sits in a PDF or static web page 
→ Marketing treats it as partnerships' job, not a channel 
→ Sales doesn't know which partners influence deals 
→ Product builds integrations but doesn't showcase them 
→ Finance can't measure partner-influenced revenue 
→ Attribution is a black box 
→ ROI conversations are hand-wavy 
→ Partnerships operates in a silo

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐚𝐲: 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

→ Partner visibility is built into GTM infrastructure 
→ Marketing tracks partners like any other channel 
→ Sales uses partner data in their workflow, not as optional context 
→ Product showcases integrations where buyers actually look 
→ Finance measures partner-influenced revenue in the same system 
→ Attribution is automated and accurate 
→ ROI is provable with real numbers 
→ Partnerships drives growth with company-wide alignment

𝐈𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.

→ Bonobee transforms partner ecosystems into SEO-optimized, discoverable marketplaces.

Does your infrastructure make space for partner visibility to work?

VP of Partnerships used to succeed at relationships. Now they succeed being great at systems. The skill set changed and companies still hire for 2019. Here's what the best partnerships professionals are adding to their toolkit:

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 - because your ecosystem needs to be discoverable. Partners won't join a program they can't find. Your partnerships person needs to think like a marketer: SEO, positioning, messaging, content strategy.

𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 - because partner journeys are funnels. Application → approval → activation → revenue. Every step needs conversion optimization. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 - because partner programs are products now. Your partners have a user experience. They need dashboards, resources, analytics. Someone needs to design and build that.

𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 - because relationships don't scale, infrastructure does. The partnerships professional who can build a system that works without them is worth 10x the one who can't.
_____

The relationships still matter. 

You still need strategic thinking, negotiation skills, business development instincts.

But now you also need to build.
_____

The partnerships professionals who combine both? They're building competitive moats for their companies right now.

And the companies recognizing this shift early are moving fast while everyone else is still posting job descriptions from 2019.



P.S. Partnership infrastructure shouldn't require a dev team. Start powered by Bonobee. Built for partnerships professionals who want systems without the technical complexity.

You know those moments when something just feels right? No overthinking. No pros and cons lists. Just... yeah, this makes sense. That's how Teodora joining Bonobee as CMO felt.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 

We've been talking for about a year. Marketing stuff, partner ecosystems, where B2B is actually going. And somewhere along the way, she just became part of what we're building. No formal decision point. No "let me think about it." It just clicked.

I'm grateful when life works like this. When things flow instead of force 🤍 

Honestly, that's how this entire Bonobee team came together. People who just get it. Who feel like they've been here all along even when they haven't.

_____

Building something is hard enough. Having people who naturally fit into the chaos? That's the part that makes it worth it.
_____

Teodora, welcome to the official unofficial team you've already been part of. Thanks for being someone I can actually delegate marketing to without my brain exploding 🙃 

To everyone building teams right now: sometimes the best additions aren't planned. They just happen. And when they do, you know.

Most partner programs fail because they're invisible. You sign 50 partners. Maybe even 100. But buyers can't find them when they need them. Here's what actually works:

1. Start with an audit. 
Not a spreadsheet of logos. Document where your partners live today and which use cases they actually solve. Pick your top 20.

2. Define what visibility means. 
For you. Not best practices from some consultant. Is it partner page traffic? Search rankings? Pipeline attribution? Pick the metric that matters to your business.

3. Structure around solutions, not partners. 
Buyers don't just search for "Acme Corp integration." They search for "CRM sync for manufacturing" or "payment gateway for healthcare SaaS." Map your partners to what buyers are actually looking for.

4. Build searchable profiles. 
20 partners with real integration details and use cases beat 100 logo walls. Make it functional, not pretty.

5. Launch internally first. 
Your sales team needs to know this exists. This is competitive infrastructure, not a partnership vanity project. If your AEs don't know about it, your buyers won't either.

6. Optimize with data. Track what gets traffic. Track what drives pipeline. Add more partners in those categories. Remove what doesn't work.

90 days. That's it.

Not because it's the perfect timeline. Because most companies spend 90 days talking about partner programs instead of building them.

What's stopping you?


P.S. This is the infrastructure we're building at Bonobee - making partner programs actually discoverable for buyers. If you're tired of invisible partnerships, we should talk.

I'm building Bonobee without VC money. But I keep watching founders crash at fundraising for stupid reasons. 17+ years in B2B, three startups, more investor meetings than I can count. 

I have incredible advisors, a team that knows what they're doing, people who remind me I'm brave when I forget. I'm lucky.

I've made a thoughtful decision not to go the VC route with Bonobee right now. But I keep watching other founders with good products get stuck at fundraising. Not because their business is bad. Because they don't know how VCs think. The ghosting, the "we'll circle back," the rejections that feel personal but aren't.

I've been through this. Multiple times. It's exhausting.

So when Kevin Chavanne (10 years at Tenity and Funderbeam, thousands of pitches reviewed) told me he built something to fix this, I paid attention.

𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐂 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞. The real questions. The real framework. The stuff that happens in the room after you leave.

No pitch coaching. No making your deck prettier. Just: here's how your startup is actually being analyzed and here's what's breaking.

(Also their website is beautiful. The marketer in me never sleeps haha.)

Sometimes your baby is ugly. Better to know early.

I'm sharing this because if I'd had access to how VCs actually think during my first two startups, I would've saved myself so much confusion and time.

Kevin's one of the good ones who actually wants founders to succeed, not collect fees.

If you're fundraising or thinking about it, look at what he built. Worth it!

Remember that ebook I dropped last week? The 50+ page beast on ecosystem-led growth for B2B marketers? Turns out people actually read it. Not just skim. Read 🙃 

Honest truth: it was one of the spontaneous things I do 😉

I wasn't planning some big content play. I just looked at all the posts I've been writing about partner visibility, ecosystem infrastructure, why your partner program is invisible... and realized I'd basically already written the damn thing.

So I gathered it all up, organized it into something that makes sense, and designed it to actually look good (because why not).

The messages I'm getting are wild. 

Marketers forwarding it straight to their CMOs. People saying they've been trying to make these exact points internally for months but couldn't get traction. One person told me it changed how their leadership team talks about partnerships.

I'm genuinely proud of how it turned out. The content is solid. The design is clean. And it's actually helping people reframe conversations that needed reframing.

50+ pages. Real data. No fluff.

Sometimes the best content happens when you stop overthinking and just put what you know into the world.

If you haven't grabbed it yet, link in comments. Not gated. Wasn't planning lead gen, haha.

Video walkthrough attached. Happy Friday 🤗

Saturday mood = watching our Bono the Bee fly ✨ Sometimes you just need to see your logo come to life.

Partnerships are hard. Building visibility infrastructure is harder. But forward motion hits different on a Saturday morning.

Keep flying, keep building, keep making invisible ecosystems visible.

Happy Saturday from the Bonobee team 🐝

The 2026 ecosystem gap is opening right now. Your partner ecosystem is about to become your biggest competitive advantage or your most expensive blind spot.

𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬
78% of B2B buyers can't find your partners when they're evaluating solutions. That's qualified pipeline walking straight to competitors with visible ecosystems.

𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 
Your board can't see partner-influenced revenue, so they're not funding the programs that could 3x your pipeline. Meanwhile, companies with Partner RevOps infrastructure are getting the investment and strategic priority you're fighting for.

𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Your partner marketplace exists in isolation while your competitors are connecting theirs into network effects that create actual category moats.

𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞 
Companies building ecosystem visibility infrastructure right now will dominate their categories. The rest will spend years playing catch-up with fragmented programs that boards won't fund and buyers can't find.

This isn't about partnerships being "strategic." It's about whether your ecosystem infrastructure can compete when visibility becomes table stakes.

What are you building?


P.S. We're building Bonobee to solve the visibility infrastructure problem: turning invisible partner ecosystems into discoverable, measurable revenue engines. DM me if you want early access.

Match your partner type to your business model and growth stage. Not your wishlist. Not what your competitors are doing. What actually fits your GTM.

- Need market reach without building a direct sales team? 
Channel partners with deal registration and partner portals.

- Buyers won't demo without seeing your integrations first? 
Technology partners with a public marketplace and API/SDK infrastructure.

- Selling complex solutions that need expert implementation? 
Agency partners with certification programs and co-sell materials.

- Going after transformative enterprise deals? 
Strategic partners with executive sponsorship and joint business plans.

Most B2B companies pick partner types based on what sounds impressive. Then wonder why their partner program isn't driving revenue.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

You can't run a channel program without margin structures. You can't scale tech partnerships without integration attribution. You can't activate agency partners without certifications.

Wrong partner type = wasted time and zero traction. 

Right partner type + right infrastructure = compound growth.

Which partner type actually fits where your business is today?

You can't scale without systems. Everyone knows this. So partnerships teams buy PRMs. Automate partner management. But they start at the wrong step. Missing the infrastructure that comes BEFORE you have partners to manage.

Partner discovery is still manual. Outreach, one conversation at a time. Visibility lives in static directories at best.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:

𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱
Every partner gets an SEO-optimized profile. Buyers searching for solutions find your partners with your brand attached. Your ecosystem becomes a lead generation engine that compounds through search.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 
Partners research your program like buyers research products. Applications flow inbound, partners self-qualify. Strategic conversations happen because both sides see opportunity, not because someone cold outreached.

𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 
AE pulls up marketplace mid-call, filters by industry, sees exactly which partners serve that vertical. Zero manual updates from partnerships team.

𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 
Which partner profiles get views? Which integrations generate leads? The system tracks it without building reports.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 
Not sending recruitment emails or updating partner lists. Building high-value relationships. Designing programs that scale.

I'm watching teams build visibility infrastructure first. Their partner programs become discoverable. Recruitment becomes inbound. Growth becomes scalable.

𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

Then wondering why PRMs don't solve their growth problem. You can't manage a network you haven't built yet.


PS: Bonobee turns partner ecosystems into discoverable partner marketplaces. Built specifically for teams who get that visibility comes before management.

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