Chris Elsheikhi’s Post

It was a great privilege to host a workshop for Unicorn Factory Lisboa on Growth Strategy for a group of the most promising startups in Europe yesterday! From creating and scaling a winning GTM plan to building a solid model for execution to developing a process on how to look for moonshots, we covered the lot. Nice work Inductiva.AI, Kinderpedia, MyCareforce, Modatta, 360hyper, Vawlt, DIG-IN and ListKit. And big congrats to the scale-ups who were announced in Cohort #5! 👏

Over the past 2 years as a fractional CMO/Go-To-Market Leader, I have developed an 8-step roadmap that guides startups from Product Market Fit through to $10 million in revenue. This roadmap has been refined and successfully used by over 20 companies so far. These companies were either: - Trying to find Product Market Fit and secure their first paying customers - Under $5 million in revenue and looking to build a repeatable way to grow - Under $5 million and launching new products or expanding to new geographies If you're a startup that fits any of these categories, please give me a shout. I'd be happy to have a chat and share it all with you! 😎

Sometimes competitor analysis gets a bad rap for being boring... I've created a modified version of the #BlueOceanStrategy and actually find it to be quite an interesting experience, sometimes... even fun. As a fractional GTM leader, I work with a wide range of businesses, and this process is usually my first port of call. Let me know what you think! If you’re a founder or CEO and would like some help with your GTM planning, give me a shout. I'm always happy to chat and offer some advice. #fractional #gotomarket #startups

So far this year, I've mentored or worked as a fractional CMO for over 20 startups, both B2B and B2C. On the journey to finding Product Market Fit, I find the same strategy to be effective... Spin up different landing pages that speak to the hypothetical ICPs we’re targeting and use a range of tactics to drive traffic. Comparing the funnel data from each helps us determine whether the issue lies with the ICP, the channel, or the marketing execution. Moving quickly and making mistakes is the best way to learn from the market. If you're navigating similar challenges, feel free to reach out. I have a ton of playbooks and I'm more than happy to share them!

Hitting the market and trying to find customers through a structured GTM plan (beyond the founders' network) is a super exciting time for any startup! I've recently talked with quite a few startups that want to hit opposite sides of the market right away—Enterprise and PLG. My reaction is always to slow down and really think about the effort and resources needed. The Go-To-Market model from Winning by Design is a great way to frame this. Ongoing success requires solid Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support. And remember, the bigger the client, the more specialized the support has to be! _________________________________________________________________ I help start- ups ‘Evolve Beyond Founder-Led Sales’ ⭐ Zero to One: Helping you find Product-Market Fit and first paying customers. ⭐ One to Ten: Helping you in defining and scaling your GTM strategy and process. ⭐ New Market Expansion: Guiding strategy and execution for new market or product launches.

One of the hidden challenges in building a successful Go-To-Market often lies in the varied nature of initial customers acquired through the founder's network. This diversity might suggest that a scattergun approach is suitable, based on the notion that "we have proven we can serve anyone." However, a truly scalable GTM strategy needs to function independently of the founder's network. That's why I always recommend the Beachhead Strategy: identify a market segment that works for you and deepen your presence in it through testimonials, relevant case studies, referrals, partnerships, and increased marketing. Once a foothold is established, strategically expand into adjacent markets! Image borrowed from the brilliant Maja Voje ( I highly recommend her GTM Strategist book!) _________________________________________________________________ I help start- ups ‘Evolve Beyond Founder-Led Sales’ ⭐ Zero to One: Helping you find Product-Market Fit and first paying customers. ⭐ One to Ten: Helping you in defining and scaling your GTM strategy and process. ⭐ New Market Expansion: Guiding strategy and execution for new market or product launches.

Great to be involved with Revenue Operations Alliance as a speaker last week sharing my experience on growth at scale ups ($160MM) and founder led start ups ($1MM). I also really enjoyed chairing the event too.. great to meet everyone! Shout out to Vivek Gulati for catching the pic of me passionately explaining ‘Hypergrowth’ 😂

As a fledgling founder-led startup, creating a repeatable system to drive growth can be like running an obstacle course. Luckily, I’ve put together a few 'Rules' to help you get started! DM me if you’d like access to a free template. Also, let me know in the comments if I’ve missed anything. As per Rule #5, I’m always eager to improve...

Looking forward to speaking at CRO Summit on Thursday in Amsterdam. Send me a message if you are going to be in town and I shall get you a guest pass. Otherwise you can grab below! https://lnkd.in/eJ2UpUGr

Ahead of the IRL conference on May 16th in Amsterdam there is a virtual one tomorrow. You can register below if you'd like to hear some of my experiences of revenue leadership at $1 million and at $160 million! https://lnkd.in/dkEM6Pnj) Vivek Gulati Revenue Operations Alliance _________________________________________________ I help start- ups ‘Evolve Beyond Founder-Led Sales’ Three things I love to do: ⭐ Zero to One: Helping you find Product-Market Fit and first paying customers. ⭐ One to Ten: Helping you in defining and scaling your go-to-market strategy and process. ⭐ New Market Expansion: Guiding strategy and execution for new market or product launches.