Hannah Ajikawo

Helping Revenue Teams Beat The Competition & Increase Sales Velocity | GTM Advisor | Keynote Speaker | Proud 🏳️‍🌈 Mummy | Diversity Advocate | ENTJ

Doing $5M+ in ARR? You've landed on the right profile. I've worked with over 40 B2B Go-to-Market Teams. You learn a lot about what good and bad looks like when your job is to fix things.

Everyone wants to grow. They just need trusted partners that can get them into the right vehicle. That's what I do through Revenue Funnel. Faster and with less risk. 
You may have hidden issues in your sales process and go-to-market engine. Sound familiar?
❗️An unoptimised sales process leading to inefficiencies and losing winnable deals
❗️Limited pipeline creation, affecting potential revenue
❗️You are struggling to close high value deals due to ineffective sales strategies

What if you could overcome these challenges and create a robust sales process based on frameworks that have been built to adjust to changing market conditions?

I can help you 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀, leading to:
- Enhanced pipeline creation at higher deal values - we're averaging 250% growth for clients in 2025
- More expansion revenue
- Better quality leads

This is designed to:
↳ Align your organization better with the B2B buyer journey
↳ Optimise every stage of the sales process so you differentiate through your customer experience
↳ Train your teams to execute effectively AND efficiently without pointless training that bores them
↳ Provide necessary enablement materials using tried and tested frameworks from 42 other go-to-market teams

You have the opportunity to transform your sales process and increase your funnel conversions. 

- Inefficient Sales Process: 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴
- Limited Pipeline Creation: these 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯
- Difficulty in Closing Deals: 𝘞𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉2𝘉 𝘉𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺

Curious to learn more? 
email me at Hannah@revenuefunnel.co.uk

CEO & Founder

On a mission to help others rethink how they deliver value to the world.

OMG... She said YES! 💍
I'm not even joking. I proposed. And she accepted.
Stay with me here...

Over two years ago, I started using Sybill in a previous role. 
Within weeks, I cancelled the other platform. Done. Gone. No looking back.

Since then, if you've been following me, you'll know I haven't exactly been quiet about it. 

I've shared post after post about how Sybill has genuinely transformed how I operate... as a leader, a consultant, a business owner, and honestly, as someone who just wants to spend less time on admin and more time on the work that actually matters.

So when we decided to launch our exclusive event series, both virtual and in-person, there was really only one conversation to have.

I reached out to Sybill. 

Not through a sponsorship deck (that came later). 
Not through an agency. 

Through a relationship I'd built organically, over two years, by simply loving the product and saying so publicly.

And now I'm genuinely proud to announce that Sybill is the official sponsor of Decisions & Dinner - our International Women's Month event on 11th March in London.

Why Sybill?
Female co-founder.
Female leader.
Female AI assistant who keeps rocking my world.
Need I say more?

Fine, I will. An incredible platform that is truly market-leading in the revenue intelligence space. 

If you're in sales, revenue leadership, or GTM and you haven't tried it yet — I genuinely don't know what you're waiting for.

(you can try it using the link in the comments and YES, I will get a commission as it's a referral link)

Fun fact: This partnership was built entirely on organic love for the solution. 
So nice to see this come to fruition.

31 senior women in revenue leadership. One evening. One room. One incredible partner. (plus a growing waiting list because I forgot to close it!)

See you on the 11th. 🥂

GTM Operator & Consultant for B2B Companies | Female Owned Firm | Proud 🏳️‍🌈 Mummy | ENTJ

“I’m not standing up for you” that’s what some guy said to me when I was about 6.5 months pregnant on the Victoria line. 

(Excuse my swearing and incorrect use of the English language - but I was so angry today) 

If you see a woman with a badge saying “baby on board…”

That is your SIGNAL to get up!

It’s that simple. 

No debates. 

No questions. 

No opinions. 

No extra data and research needed. 

Just get up!

About 80% of my followers are in the B2B world. I can guess that about 10% feel comfortable having an open conversation about GTM Strategy from a first principles perspective.

Do you know why this is?

For the most part, it's never really taught.

But also, there are so many books on Strategy that can make you feel pretty overwhelmed by what the heck you're actually supposed to do.

But no worries - I geek out on this everyday so you don't have to.

I've got another video for you - dropping very soon!

Pen and paper at the ready - it's about to get real!

Haven't joined me on Youtube yet? It's free game.

See you there...(link in the comments)

Not only is it International Women's Day #iwd2026, but It's also Revenue Funnel's 3rd birthday. 

3 years ago, after giving so much to others, I decided to give something to myself - grace, faith and an unwavering belief that I could create something of my own.

Consulting is a ridiculously competitive space.

You're competing with the big firms
The small firms
The job in-betweeners
The "I can guanrantee-ers"
The "ex-ooglers" et al

You're competing with the clients who tempt you back into security.
You're competing with the governments change of policy that is typically rooted in taking more from you.

Yet, I've paid my own bills - and others - for 3 years. This was only possible because my GTM journey started with giving. 

My time, my expertise... on platforms like this.

So many women inspire me daily. Most of you know who you are.

My mum is the single most influential woman in my life...my girlfriend comes a close second.

When you witness someone do daily, what almost feels impossible, you build that same capacity for growth and action.

Today, it's taken me a little longer than usual to get my words together. But I'm just in a place of gratitude.

I've also got something up my sleeve...but you'll have to wait a little while to find out what that is. 

Feeling thankful for this #workmilestone

I've attempted to write 4 posts today. This is what I've come up with

.

Customer: "How much pipeline coverage do you recommend?"
Me: "It depends"

This happens a lot on Leadership calls with clients.

That's why I thought I'd do what I do best - talk about it with my whiteboard!

New one dropping this week. If you have not subscribed to my Youtube - why not? 

Someone left this comment recently: "This is fast becoming a go-to channel. Learning a lot from these"

If I can impact 1 person a day then I'm winning!

Link in the comments.

If there’s one thing that reliably sits on a revenue leader’s to-do list, it’s this: How the hell do we speed up the sales cycle?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and recorded a new video with a few practical ideas.

Warning.... I was hungry while recording it, which will make sense once you start watching.

The core issue is that many go-to-market decisions are made in isolation, without considering how sales, marketing, and customer teams actually interact.

As a result, many companies unintentionally create the very delays they’re trying to eliminate.

New video dropping this weekend.

Join me using the link in the comments.

If I was parachuted into a B2B company tomorrow to run a 20-30 person revenue team, my first 30 days wouldn't be about ripping everything up. 

It would be about getting real, fast.

1. Open my doors to be sold to (free market intelligence).

2.Get out of the building (meet customers, prospects, and peers weekly).

3.Ruthlessly audit our GTM (prioritise by biggest revenue impact, first).

4.Build a team focused on the future (hunt for moonshots, make failure a data point).

5.Sign up for an AI course & get a coach (because you don't know what you don't know).

6.Mandate rest (one day of breathing can add five days of pure productivity).

7.Keep the team lean & augmented (mandate AI use, add fractional talent for speed).

8.Challenge our own timelines (make people defend the long timeline, not the short one).

9.Create a space people want to be in (environment shapes energy).

10.Open up regular town halls (every two weeks, every voice is heard).

I've broken down the 'why' behind each of these in the carousel below. Swipe through for the full breakdown.

What would you do?

#GoToMarket #RevenueLeader #B2BSales #SalesLeadership #GTMStrategy

Revenue Leader of 2026

Most GTM strategies are built on the assumption that everyone knows the goals and therefore they'll make a plan.

They live in slide decks, disconnected from the day-to-day work of sales and marketing and the broader team.

That's why I'm excited to announce the second event in our Expert Series: The GTM Strategy Blueprint.

This is a practical, no-nonsense session for CEOs and revenue leaders who are tired of "this is what we're doing ideas" that don't translate into growth.

Join me and Shannon Plumb on Wednesday, March 25th as we unpack five critical lessons for building a go-to-market strategy that actually works. We'll cover how to:

↳Move beyond the slide deck and connect strategy to execution.
↳Challenge alignment, ownership, and execution across your GTM teams.
↳Ask the right questions to diagnose the structural problems holding back your growth.

This is a decision-level session for leaders with P&L responsibility. Registration is required.

View event: The GTM Strategy Blueprint — build a strategy that actually drives growth

The GTM Strategy Blueprint — build a strategy that actually drives growth

AI is a pile of crap and I don't know why people waste their time with it. It's a phase, a buzzword and it's taking jobs...Riiighttt...

Well. It is taking jobs. This isn't new. It's evolution

Between 2022- early 2024 I needed

a logo designer
graphic designer
slide deck builder
copywriter
marketing campaigns lead
SEO expert
Analysts
Researchers
List builders
Sales sequence writers
Full stack developer


Today?
A handful of excellent GTM Leads with an AI-first mindset.
Expert Partners to rubber stamp
Agents 

Less cooks
More power
Faster client outcomes

Our job today? Upskill. 
Develop horizontal expertise - know enough to be dangerous
Vertical domain expertise - be undeniably brilliant in 1 area
Use AI like it's lego - play everyday (or feel the pain of stepping on it unknowingly, while someone creates a 1000 masterpieces)

We are just getting started - AI is front and centre of everything we do and I'm sooo excited by the organizations who are choosing to power Revenue Funnel's Symbiotic I/O model.

GOTCHA Prospecting techniques you may not have heard of that might make you question your existence.

(In no particular order)

Add a calendar invite to their...calendar
↳ new event that looks suspiciously interesting but you can't really remember when you signed up to it... GOTCHA

The forwarder
↳ tell them they've been cherry picked by the ceo and keep the CEO's message in thread GOTCHA

The pornhub accident
↳ send them a porn hub password reset to get to 100% email open rates GOTCHA

Subject ninja
↳ "Updated invitation with note:" add this to the subject line so they open GOTCHA

and the winner goes to...

The new admin
↳ create a Linkedin company page and add them as an admin...GOTCHA

Hire me for more cold outbound prospecting techniques. We guarantee 80 leads per day.

Or you can actually get real help from people with ethics...(something's coming soon....👀)

There are lies we've accepted in B2B. 
Because they were repeated so often, by enough credible people, that we stopped questioning them.

They became "best practice."

And now they're embedded in how we build GTM Strategy & motions, how we train sellers, and how we think about buyers.

I'm calling out three.
→ Swipe through the carousel.

Then tell me — which other GTM lies would you add to the list?

#GoToMarket #B2BSales #Revenue #GTMStrategy

GTM Lies We've Accepted - Revenue Funnel

It’s Saturday. 
Come on people we gotta chill!
Check your inbox and sign out! 

😂

Weekend doom scrolling LinkedIn. Is just….

Crazy but here we are

Maybe we all need a WhatsApp group chat 😂

My son wants me to play Roblox again… people I am OVER IT!

You're about 6 months away from having to build an extremely strong business case for hiring more reps to support your growth...

It's very odd that posts like these are seen as fear-mongering. We can reduce fear when we are prepared.

Over the last month I've dedicated time to building an agent team, and wow! I'm not even finished yet and it's very clear that the GTM team of the future will look a little different.

Inbound SDRs?....start up-skilling Qualified and ASPR AI are already whispering in your leaders ears - as they should

Outbound SDRs?...start up-skilling if the majority of your success comes from channels outside of the phone. You may struggle to compete with Agentic Amy who seems to know everything, always

Mid-market sales reps...up-skill. Specifically around agentic workflows - you will be extremely hard to fire if you know how to create your own team mate. Easier to hire when you've built an app that you show during your interview

Enterprise reps?....up-skill. Now, this is more to do with the experience & execution. How fast and accurately can you de-risk the decision for a decision making unit? 

Enterprise reps, you're at risk if the business inflates costs for growth and the sales cycles keep slowing down. Challenge hiring decisions by proving to your Leader that you've leveraged AI to plug holes.

Sales Leaders? Yeah, so here's the thing. Stop managing numbers - leave that to AI. This is about visionary leadership - finding what's not been done before and excellent coaching.

Sales Leaders, we gotta let agentic AI help us build the strategy - ego aside - it's there to be curated by your experience and knowledge - your ride or die. You'll be managing reps that manage....AI, so you need to know enough to be dangerous. When a workflow collapses, you gotta be able to at least point to why.

CSMs....C...S...Ms....you'll no longer need to answer repetitive, draining, "put this fire out questions" and you'll have a partner that takes a lot of weight off your shoulders. AI has to help you act and think more strategically. You are a part of your customer's teams now. Use agentic AI on their behalf to help drive more value through your solutions.

Marketing...copywriters? let's be real now. Designers? Yes, if they are exceptional. It's not that you're wiping out your team - it's not that kind of post. But shrinking? Yes. You need 1-2 people to be FT building and overseeing agentic teams for each core skill.

This isn't about a clay workflow.  It's deeper than that.

Things you need to consider
- Model structure - not all LLMs are created equally and therefore must be used differently to help manage costs
- Costs - agents aren't free. However, they will be a fraction of the cost of a FT hire in particular skills
- Time - you're still "hiring & onboarding" this time it's building & contextualising. It takes time, but when it's done once? CTRL+V
- Customer appetite - you don't get a choice. AI is convenient.... (cont in comments)

You're stuck in a lift with a senior Revenue Leader. You ask them how they're working with AI and they respond...
"I don't believe in all that stuff"

What is your response?

Don't hold back - it's Friday!

No better feeling then making a plan and watching it come to fruition! We wanted to build something special for P&L owners and now it's live!

First session drops this week with the incredible Dhevesh Mewawalla.

If you are a leader responsible for GTM budgeting, then this intimate - straight facts session - is just for you.

We're intentionally keeping these rooms small. 

Click the link to request to join. This is reserved for P&L owners.

Can't wait to see you there!

View event: The Budget Blueprint — plan & allocate GTM spend for predictability

The Budget Blueprint — plan & allocate GTM spend for predictability

83% of my YouTube viewers are male. 

Where my ladies at? (Gents - I love you too)

I’m dropping new deep dive GTM content every week. 

Come join me. 

https://lnkd.in/eEVcAZe8

This week I’m diving into how to make your GTM Strategy actually work. 

Let’s get it!

Open article: by Hannah Ajikawo by youtube.com

Today we're launching our Expert Series for P&L owners in B2B with -Dhevesh Mewawalla. This is for leaders who need to build plans that actually work 

Wednesday Feb 18th, 2026
3pm GMT/10am EST
(link in comments)

Most revenue leaders say they’re “strategic.”
But let me ask you something uncomfortable.

If I looked at your budget today, would I see your strategy…
or your politics?

Are you allocating capital based on conviction,
or just defending last year’s spend?

Do you actually know your CAC payback by segment 
or are you relying on blended averages to avoid hard decisions?

If you froze hiring tomorrow,
would your growth engine still function…
or would it stall immediately?

We’re talking about capital stewardship.

If you’re a CEO, CRO, CMO or revenue leader with P&L responsibility,
this session will either validate your thinking…
or challenge it.

I can't wait to see you there!

Alper Yurder 🤝

Co-founder & CRO of Flowla, interactive deal rooms your buyers LOVE 👉 Follow our podcast #salestherapy by Flowla 🎙️ on spotify

You’ve built a great product. Now you need a system to sell it. I build, operate and transfer GTM systems for founders scaling from traction to repeatable revenue. Whether going from first $500K to $10M or entering a new market.

There are too many GTM channels, tools and tactics to try. LinkedIn, outbound, content, SEO, paid ads, partnerships, events, podcasts. Founders are expected to figure this all out alone.

So you try outbound, no replies. Post on LinkedIn, crickets. Hire an SDR, they can’t sell what they don’t understand. Try an agency, generic playbook, no results.

I’ve been there. I co-founded Flowla and scaled it to $1M ARR. Owned sales, marketing, brand, outbound, the lot. No paid ads. Just founder-led growth loops with founder brand, content and systems that worked.

Before that, I led Witco’s UK market entry from zero to $1M ARR. International expansion into a new market with no brand, no pipeline, no team.

I cut my teeth in enterprise sales at MindGym (employee #20, stayed through to IPO), then scaled SMB and enterprise revenue at General Assembly before taking on full commercial leadership towards our exit. 

Five 0→1 journeys. One IPO, one exit, multiple international expansions. $60M+ in revenue closed across five startups as founder and/or CRO.

Now I run Forte Growth.

Me and my team, we help B2B founders build GTM systems that book meetings in weeks, not 18 months.

Whether you’re a technical founder who’s built your first $500K–$1M but now need a system to scale, going from zero to one, or entering a new market, I’ve got you covered. Different needs, different products, but always GTM system, clarity, and execution to get you to results.

3 ways we can work together:

✅ Fractional GTM Leader: I co-own your GTM system. Build, operate, transfer. Best for founders who got to $500K-$2M on hustle but now need a system to scale or expand into new international markets.

✅ GTM Sprints: Quick results. We build your founder brand, LinkedIn presence, and test message-market fit, then transition into scaling what works across inbound and outbound. Best for founders who need to start booking meetings fast and want to test working together before going fractional.

✅ GTM Coach: 1-to-1 or cohort. I help you figure out your buyer, nail messaging and positioning that books meetings, create content that builds trust, and build growth hacks and loops that scale your business. Best for early stage founders who need the help and look for a more affordable entry point. 

DM me “GTM” or visit fortegrowth.co to book a diagnostic call.

Co-Founder

Hey there, I'm an ex-sales leader turned co-founder, and I spend all day sharing ideas, solving problems and having #salestherapy with sales professionals from every sector and level. If you're after sales and G2M advice, you've come to the right place! And believe me, I've been through it all - from building SDR teams to closing multi-million dollar deals and everything in between. So, let's have some fun and chat sales!

👉Leaving a well-paid C-suite job for the startup grind is terrifying. I know because I did it. And some days I think of going back.

Some days I ask myself why I don’t just go back. Take a C-suite role at a mature company. Well-paid. 9 to 5. No 24/7 start-up hustle. No weight of the world on my shoulders.

Then I remember.

I travel when I want. I work from where I want. I work with incredible startups, VCs, on my own terms. Every win is self-made. Full ownership. I get to hire who I want. Build my own team. Build my own legacy.

Then I say ok it’s incredibly hard but it’s well worth it.

To anyone considering making the move from employment to entrepreneurship.

It’s incredibly hard. But it’s the best.

I’ve been on early stage grind for 6 years now since leaving late stage well-paid C-suite jobs. 

First as a CRO for a seed stage startup, then co-founder from zero, and now as a solo founder building Forte, where we provide cofounder level gtm and growth service to other founders scaling their businesses.

So it’s a few times the stress of building one company as we build 2-3 at a time as a fractional service and even more when I take care of vc portfolios as an advisor. But the early stage energy is different! I love it.

✈️Now on my way to Istanbul for a series of workshops, client work, and a visit to my parents. If you’re around, let’s meet.

P.S. I try to fly at least once a month. Not just to travel. Turns out a plane is the best place for deep focused work. No interruptions. No notifications. No AI.

Just thinking. The kind we get less and less of.

Alper Yurder

Founder @ Forte Growth | GTM Strategy & Market Expansion for B2B Startups | VC Portfolio Advisor | Former SaaS Co-Founder & CRO (1 IPO, 1 Exit)

No alternative text description for this image

👉 Just updated my 34-page playbook on how to audit your GTM and build a strategy that gets you to more leads and revenue in 8-14 weeks.

This is the exact framework I’ve used to help 16 startups from 2025 to date:
→ Create clarity across founders, sales, and product
→ Build roadmaps they actually stick to, to run 30 day test sprints
→ And in 2 cases - use the outcome directly in their fundraising decks

Normally I charge £3,5k to implement this in 2 full day workshops + write up.

Grab it while it’s free 👇

Please give a like & Comment “GTM” and I’ll send it your way.

Must be connected so I can DM.

👉 WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Most revenue teams get burned by outbound.

They launch channels. Spray messages. Burn budget.

Eventually, the realization hits:

❝We don’t need more tactics. We need a real strategy.❞

Because the unlock isn’t better copy or lists.

It’s alignment, trust, and clarity.

That’s what this GTM audit helps you build:

✅ Where to play (and what to ignore)

✅ What to say—and when to say it

✅ How to warm demand before you ever jump on a sales call

What you’ll get:

A GTM strategy audit you can run yourself

Or— if you need help, DM me and I’ll do the audit with you, and help you craft your roadmap

If you'd like to receive the playbook and start your own self-audit, please give a like, repost and comment

"GTM"

and I'll send it to you.

Happy building!

👉 Most founders I work with have the same problem. They know their product is good. Their first customers love it. But when they try to find MORE , it becomes chaos without the results:

LinkedIn posts? "Lead gen." Cold email? "Lead gen." Events? "Lead gen." DMs? "Lead gen."

No wonder nothing compounds. You're asking every channel to do the same job. That's like asking your CTO to also run sales.

Here's how channels actually work:

- LinkedIn posts don't generate leads directly. They build awareness and trust. 

When you post about the problems your buyer has, you're not trying to get them to book a call. You're trying to get them to remember your name when they need help.

- LinkedIn DMs convert. This is where you turn that awareness into a conversation. But only if they already know who you are. 

Cold DM from a stranger with zero content? Ignored. DM from someone whose post they liked last week? Replied.

- Cold email creates awareness at scale. It's an interruption channel. The job isn't to close a deal. The job is to get a reply. That's it. "Worth a conversation?" is the only CTA you need.

- Events build trust. Nobody buys from a 15-minute talk. But they remember the person who said something smart. Then when your DM lands in their inbox a week later, they reply.

- The system: Posts build awareness. Comments build relationships. DMs convert warm leads. Email reaches people who haven't found you yet. Events deepen trust with people already in your orbit.

Run them in parallel. Not sequentially.

One founder I worked with was only doing cold email. 2% reply rate. We added LinkedIn posting (3x/week about buyer problems) and commenting on target accounts. 

Within 4 weeks, his cold email reply rate doubled. Same emails. Same list. The only difference: people had seen his name before.

Here's the order that works:

- Pick LinkedIn. Not because it's best. Because it's fastest feedback.

- Post about buyer problems. Book meetings from DMs.

- Create content from every call you have. Every objection is a post. Every question is a carousel.

- Warm up your target accounts. Comment on their posts. React. Be visible.
Convert warm leads through DMs. They already know your name.

- Record every call (Fathom, Fireflies). Listen back. Write down the phrases that made prospects lean in.

- Learn and improve weekly. Which messages got replies? Which didn't? Rewrite.

- Scale with cold email as your awareness increases. People who've seen your posts reply to your emails at 2-3x the rate of cold strangers.

- Use email to educate, not just sell. Send them to your best LinkedIn post. Invite them to a webinar. Drive traffic to your website.

Repeat. Every cycle makes the next one faster.

That's not "pick a channel." That's a growth loop.

👉 Weekly, gradually move away from scattered tactics to a growth loop that compounds. This is what I crack all day every day with founders. 

DM me if you want to discuss

Fractional CRO & GTM Leader for B2B Startups expanding into new markets (Seed → Series B) | VC Portfolio Advisor | Former SaaS Cofounder (1 IPO, 1 Exit) 👉 DM me for a growth audit

👉 No fancy visual, just the exact playbook that built our linkedin-first revenue machine at Flowla thru founder brand & what I now implement with founders I work with to scale GTM - use linkedin as testing lab then scale email and SEO.

1-Define your persona as the people who book a call fastest and close fastest.
2-Pick three main persona types to target.
3-Write down urgency signals that confirm someone is your persona (role, pains, triggers).
4-Re-listen to customer calls. What do they want, care about, want to learn?
5-Summarise what they most want to hear from you in a few sentences.

6-Pick five competitors and study how they and their founders post on LinkedIn.
7-Note what works: topics, hooks, formats, CTAs, comment style.
8-Do external listening on Reddit and elsewhere. Ask ChatGPT what your audience cares about.
9-Optimise your LinkedIn profile fully for this persona (headline, About, banner, proof, clear next step).
10-Make sure it clearly says who you help, with what, and what they should do next.

11-Follow 1,000+ people matching your persona and urgency signals to train your feed.
12-Build a core list of 20–30 ICPs and allies you engage with every week.
13-Comment on their posts daily. Specific, useful, on-topic comments (you or your SDR).
14-Share your tone of voice with your SDR so they comment like you.
15-Publish thought-leadership posts 2–3 times per week.

16-Focus on the problems, questions, and topics your personas care most about.
17-Mix TOFU–MOFU–BOFU: awareness, evaluation, and decision-stage content.
18- 70–80% core domain, 20% other things to stay human.
19-Before and after each post, engage with ICPs' content. Be in their feed and comments.
20-Occasionally post product/FOMO content with screenshots so they see what you do.

21-Connect with people from your list and commenters. No pitch in the first message.
22-Test two DM styles. Friendly/curious vs. direct. See which opens more conversations.
23-Use posts and assets in DMs. Send a relevant post or guide instead of a cold pitch.
24-Track who replies, books, and closes fastest. Refine personas based on real data.
25-Collect repeated questions from comments and DMs. Turn each into a new post.

26-Move into assets: carousels, checklists, guides, mini-playbooks on topics they react to.
27-Reuse assets in comments and DMs. They get saved, shared, and boosted by the algorithm.
28-Keep doing competitive listening. Fold new angles back into your content.
29-Ask for testimonials, quotes, or screenshots as you deliver. Even from small wins.
30-Publish social proof regularly so talking to you feels like the obvious next step.

👉 Save this. Come back to it when you're ready to stop posting randomly and start posting with intent.

👉 I've diagnosed 20+ startups' outbound in the last 3 months. These were the main problems and here's how we fixed'em - with detailed examples:

Before you tweak anything, run this simple diagnostic:

Step 1: Sent 50+ messages with the same approach? If reply rate is under 5% 👉 Change your message.

Example: Genifea was messaging real estate agents saying "we put AI into your customer communications." Sent 80+ messages. Crickets. Then we dug into the actual pain: agents were losing deals because calls went unanswered when nobody was in the office. We rewrote the message around that: 

"How many calls did your office miss last week?" Reply rate went from 2% to +20%. Same product. Same audience. Different pain. (+ we did some work around founder brand & landing page too - nevertheless...)

Step 2: Same objection 3+ times? 👉 Try different positioning & messaging.

Example: A dev tools founder friend of mine kept hearing "We already have something for that." Three calls in a row. The product wasn't the problem, the positioning was. They were selling a feature, not a shift. We repositioned from "automated testing tool" to "the reason your fellow engineers at X ship 3x faster." The objection eased down.

Step 3: 100+ messages, no leads? 👉 Try different ICP or channel.

Example: Wealt was targeting "anyone earning £500K+." Investment bankers, PE guys, corporate execs. 100+ messages, barely any bites. We rebuilt around behaviour signals : ex-founders with recent exits. Same wealth bracket, completely different buying psychology. Reply rate went from <5% to 40%+ in 3 months.

Step 4: Good replies but no meetings? 👉 Try another CTA.

Example: Simplisales was getting "looks interesting, thanks!" and then silence. Their CTA was "let me know if you'd like a demo." We changed it to "worth 15 minutes this week to see if this fits, got time in my diary tomorrow?" Meeting rate doubled. The ask was too big. Make it small and human.

Step 5: None of the above? 👉 Scale what's working.

Example: OMMA had 28% reply rate, meetings booking weekly, deals closing. So we stopped optimising linkedin DMs and started scaling email: double the list, keep the similar message, add a second channel. Pipeline went from $200K to $600K in 90 days.

GTM isn't sending 1000 messages hoping for a reply. 

That's spamming. And my inbox suffers from that garbage,

GTM is about clarity -> tests -> compounding.

Fix the signal first. Then scale it.

👉 This is literally Phase 1 of every Forte Sprint. We don't strategize. We diagnose. Then fix and run weekly tests to get there faster.

Founder @ Forte | GTM systems for expanding B2B startups | Ex-SaaS Co-founder & CRO (5X Zero to 1, 1 IPO, 1 Exit) | VC Portfolio Growth Advisor

💡 There are 50+ go-to-market channels in B2B. The average SaaS company ran 5 core and 5.5 experiments in 2025*

That's a lot when you're a founder doing it mostly alone.

Kyle Poyar published research on which channels B2B SaaS companies actually used in 2025. I mapped them by the job they do in the funnel:

👇 

A few things stand out:

- LinkedIn dominates at 66%. Nothing else comes close for B2B. If you're not there, you're invisible to your buyers.

- Founder brand is only at 37%. That's way too low. At $500K-$5M ARR, your company brand IS your founder brand. This is the most underinvested channel on the list.

- Warm outbound (48%) is almost 2x intent-based outbound (33%). The "warm" part is doing the work. That's your content, your comments, your presence before the DM.

- The fastest-growing experiments: intent-based outbound, AI discovery, B2B influencers, Reddit. These are the ones to watch in 2026.

👉 But the biggest insight isn't which channels to pick. It's that each channel has one job in the funnel.

✅ Awareness channels get you seen. 

✅ Trust channels get you believed. 

✅ Conversion channels get you meetings. 

✅ Compounding channels make it predictable.

Most founders/ marketing people - run 5 awareness channels and wonder why nothing converts.

The system: pick one from each layer. Go deep. Let them compound.

Which channels are you running in 2026? What's compounding?

☀️2 days in Lanzarote and I feel like a human being again after 4 months of working with AI and turning into a 🤖. Afternoon run done and now responding to 100s of unresponded messages - finally. thank you sunshine, you always help me recover!

Founder @ Forte Growth | Revenue & Market Expansion for B2B SaaS | VC Portfolio GTM Advisor | Ex-SaaS Co-founder & CRO (1 IPO, 1 Exit)

👉 If you want to grow your business in the next 180 days, write down these GTM essentials and track them with a simple tracker👇

Without it, here's what happens:

One co-founder wants to update the website. Another wants to run five outbound sequences. The third is rewriting the pitch deck for the fourth time this month.

Everyone's busy. Nobody's aligned. Nothing compounds.

I've seen this pattern at every startup I've worked with. And at my own.

At Flowla, we burned months doing "a bit of everything." Content one week, outbound the next, partnerships the week after. We looked productive. We weren't.

The moment we got clear on ICP, channels, messaging, and priorities, everything changed. Revenue followed clarity. Not the other way around.

Now every engagement I run starts the same way.

Before we touch outbound. Before we write a single post. Before we open the CRM.

We build the GTM Clarity Tracker.

One document. 31 components. 30/60/90/180-day goals.

It covers everything:

✅ Who you sell to and why they buy now. 
✅ How customers find you and which channels actually work. 
✅ Your messaging, positioning, and proof stack. 
✅ Your content engine, LinkedIn rhythm, and visibility plan. 
✅ Your sales process from first touch to close. 

Your 3 mission-critical priorities - not twelve, three: product, sales, marketing. 

Revenue targets broken into a formula you can track weekly.

Every co-founder sees the same page. Every decision maps back to it. Every week has a clear priority.

It's not a strategy deck that sits in Google Drive. It's a living document you open every Monday.

When I built this for a legaltech startup preparing to raise, the founding team went from three different versions of "our GTM plan" to one page everyone could point to. They raised shortly after.

When I built this for a salestech company post-raise, the CEO stopped asking "what should we do next?" and started asking "are we on track against the plan?"

That's the shift.

From chaos to clarity. From scattered to focused. 

From "let's try everything" to "here's what matters this month."

I'll share the full playbook, 31 components. Description of each one. Examples. And the 30/60/90/180-day milestones to track against.

Comment "clarity" and I'll share the whole thing.

If you can't fill in a row, that's your priority.

👉 Your prospect list is your strategy. Get it wrong and the best message in the world won't save you.

I've always been against spray & pray. Unless your Total Addressable Market is everyone and their mother, you need to be careful with your outbound. The more targeted you are the shorter the sales cycle.

Which is why when we work with a client, we make sure our prospect lists are well curated. We start with LinkedIn outbound, which means you only get 100-120 connection requests and 20-30 messages to begin with.

So we don't spray and pray. We aim for high reply rates.

Unfortunately though, most B2B teams build lists the same way. Open a database. Filter by title, size, industry. Export 500 names.

Reply rate: 1-2%. Result is noise and pollution.

The reason our conversion is at 30% is because we don't filter by demographics. We decode the buyer and track their behaviour.

5 buying signals that work for most B2B companies 👇

1️⃣ HIRING SIGNALS Are they hiring for the role your product replaces? New leadership in your buyer's department? Team growing fast? Budget is unlocked and they're building.

2️⃣ FUNDING SIGNALS Recently raised. New budget cycle. Growth targets announced publicly. Money is available and there's pressure to spend it on results.

for this obviously Crunchbase or Clay  is best.

3️⃣ CONTENT SIGNALS Posting about the problem you solve. Asking for recommendations. Engaging with content in your space. They're telling you what they need. Listen. 

👉 Use a tool like Trigify.io for social listening to see what your buyers are posting.

4️⃣ EXPANSION SIGNALS Entering new markets. Opening new offices. Hiring in new geographies. The biggest buying window is when a company is growing into unfamiliar territory.

5️⃣ INTENT SIGNALS Visiting competitor websites. Reviewing tools on G2 or Capterra. Downloading industry reports. They've already decided they need something. Will they find you or someone else?

Demographics = who exists. 

Signals = who's ready.

The difference between a 2% reply rate and a 20% reply rate isn't your message. It's your list.

When you find the right buyer, there's a buyer for every product.

At Forte we help you find your buyers and convert them fast when you enter a new market. If you're going through a similar exercise DM me, let's chat.

🎉 Client Success story: Atria was one of our very first clients when we started Forte last year.

Technical founding team. Product gaining traction. But sales and marketing plan needed clarity to help them close the round.

We built their GTM one-pager - product, positioning, how they'll acquire clients and close them,

90-day roadmap, and founder-led sales and marketing playbook together.

They closed their +£700K shortly after.

This was the same formula I used before we raised our $1.5M round for Flowla.

Same equation every time: great founders, product somehow gaining traction.

But without GTM clarity, it’s hard to raise.

VCs don’t fund confusion. They fund conviction.

When an investor can immediately understand what you do, why now, and why you, conversations move faster. Rooms open. Rounds close.

A GTM plan isn’t a document. It’s a trust accelerator for the investor.

It creates alignment between cofounders, and creates focus for execution.

That’s why I start every engagement with creating a GTM one pager, all your GTM essentials, product, marketing and sales plan in one place. then we execute, test-iterate-update. but we have one point of reference to look at.

if you’d like to see an example DM me,

👉 When you work too much, your language changes first.

You get shorter with people. More agitated. Less patient. You're technically "fine" but everyone around you can feel it.

I see this around me all the time. Founders, managers, execs who look completely calm and collected on the outside. Then they share what's actually going on... Or they don't but it comes out in a team meeting, and noone understands where it's come from.

The stress is real. For everyone. At every level. I'm no exception. And noone truly is.

This AI craze. Staying on top of everything. Managing people for the first time. Running a business alone. None of it is easy. And no one is immune to it.

At Flowla, I had a rule: take a break every two months. A small escape. A day off. Whatever. Just reset.

Then I became a solo founder. Hiring. Delivering. Building product. Frameworks. Workshops. Client work. The rule quietly disappeared.

Last week I was catching up with an old friend. A growth manager who recently moved to Athens to work from there. She looked bright. Happy. Recharged. 

☀️ Luckily, I'm off for a much needed break. First in 8 months. I had no Xmas, no holiday no weekend these last months. Building, delivering. The balance lost.... 

So. Some much needed sunshine after the most horrendous rainy stretch London has seen in years.

Life isn't just about work. We all know this. We just forget it when things get busy.

The pipeline will still be there when you get back. The inbox will survive. Your clients won't disappear.

👉 But your energy, your patience, your clarity? Those need topping up.
If you're reading this and can't remember your last proper break, book one. 

Seriously. Even a long weekend.

I'm taking mine this week. Pics incoming. Something I haven't done in a long time. You should do the same.

"yes you have Nike as a logo but that's Nike Turkey, friend of your friend. a new market is a new game. no presence -> no trust = no sales!"

is the harsh truth I had to tell a founder last week expanding to the UK. $1M ARR. 50+ enterprise logos at home. real product, real customers. but the UK isn't working.

so I ran a quick diagnostic. here's what I found:
👉 ICP clarity (UK): 2/10. three segments identified from home market, none tested in UK.
👉 messaging: 2/10. product evolved but the UK pitch never got rebuilt.
👉 founder brand: 1/10. neither founder posts anything on linkedin. nobody in the UK knows they exist.
👉 lead gen: 2/10. one agency running linkedin outbound, stalled when the key person left.
👉 competitive positioning: 2/10. can't articulate why you'd pick them over the well-funded incumbents.
👉 growth tests/ non-scalable channels: non-tried so far, no podcast, no event presence, no industry expert interviews.
❌ paid ads: +10K spent on paid ads! most common mistake I see all the time. before message-market or channel market fit. 

home market score? 7/10. solid business. UK score? 2/10 across the board.
the product isn't the problem. the GTM is.

yes you have Nike as a logo but that's Nike Turkey, friend of your friend. a new market is a new game. no presence -> no trust -> no sales

this is the pattern i see over and over with SaaS companies expanding to the UK:

they assume what worked at home will work here. they hire an agency before 
they have message-market fit. no founder builds any visibility in the new market. they pitch features instead of positioning around a wedge.

the fix isn't complicated. it's just not obvious from the inside.
✅ pick a UK-specific ICP 
✅ rebuild the messaging for UK buyers 
✅ get one founder posting on linkedin consistently 
✅ test 3-5 angles fast on linkedin outbound 
✅ get 2-3 UK case studies at any cost
✅ balance earned vs. bought trust

we're starting a sprint together in march. so we can put the company back on track,

if you've cracked your home market but struggling internationally, the problem is almost never the product. it's always the system.

❌ You have no idea how many founder calls I have where they've just let go of a sales hire in a new market. 
Same story. +10 times last year alone. 👉 I've made the same mistake myself. Now I'm obsessed with helping others avoid it!

Raise money. Decide to expand. Hire a country manager or BD person in the new market. Give them a target and say "go get meetings."

3 months later: zero pipeline. The hire quits or gets fired. Back to square one.
The problem wasn't the hire. It was what they walked into. A blank slate with no system.

🤯 Mind you. I've been the leader told off for not being fast enough. Then been the leader or founder telling people off. Same story repeats!

6 things you owe yourself and your first hire before they start 👇

01 REBUILT ICP Your home market ICP won't transfer. At Witco, French property managers bought on relationships. UK buyers bought on ROI and case studies. 10 buyer conversations in the new market before you hire anyone.

02 TESTED MESSAGING 50 messages sent by you personally. 3 angles tested. See what resonates. Your hire needs proven templates. Not guesses from a brainstorming session.

03 CHANNEL STRATEGY What works HERE. Not what worked at home. In France, events drove 80% of deals. In the UK, LinkedIn content and targeted outbound converted faster than any event.

04 AI SCORING Claude scores every prospect 1-10 against signal criteria. Nobody under 7 gets a message. Quality over volume from day one.

05 WARM PIPELINE 5-10 conversations already started. Meetings already booked. Your hire walks into active pipeline. Not a cold market where nobody's heard of you.

06 DOCUMENTED PLAYBOOK What worked. Every objection you heard. The full sales cycle mapped. Your hire needs your brain on paper. Not your hope that they'll figure it out.

Founder-led first. Handover second.

I've done the Turkey to UK journey twice. Built two companies past £1M ARR in a new market. The playbook is different here. The buyer is different. The trust signals are different.

If your board is pushing expansion and your instinct is to hire first, you're starting at step 6. Start at step 1.

👉 Save this. Comment EXPAND and I'll send you the full expansion Sprint checklist.

💡 Hiring a GTM lead costs £80-120K a year if you're lucky!
You still have to manage them. Ramp them. Hope they figure out your market.
Here's what a Revenue Sprint gets you instead:

✅ GTM strategy locked in week 1-3, not month 3 
✅ Messaging written and tested before you spend a penny on ads 
✅ Target list built from your actual ICP, not a job description 
✅ First meetings booked by month 1 if you're post PMF
✅ A system your team can run after we're gone

A full-time hire is the right move. Eventually.

But not when you're still figuring out what works.

The Sprint is how you figure out what works.

👉 If you're between £500K and £5M ARR and expanding into a new market, DM me "Sprint" and I'll show you what 90 days looks like.

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