Go to market strategy template

What this go-to-market strategy template includes

• ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
• Target marketWho the product is for and how big the opportunity is.
• Value propositionThe problem solved and why this solution is better.
• PricingHow the product is priced and packaged at launch.
• Routes to marketThe sales and distribution channels and what each is expected to deliver.
• Launch planThe phases from first customers to full release.
• Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Go-to-market strategy example

A complete go-to-market strategy for a fictional organization: startup selling AI invoice processing to mid-size wholesale distributors.

Worked exampleGo-to-market strategy

Organization	Startup selling AI invoice processing to mid-size wholesale distributors (45 staff)
Ambition	Become the known choice for supplier invoice automation among mid-size electrical, plumbing and industrial distributors, and reach $4.2 million in recurring revenue without the founders in every deal.
Horizon	1 year

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

The product reads supplier invoices, matches each line to the purchase order and receipt, and posts to the ERP. Twenty months after the first sale we have 34 customers and $2.1 million in recurring revenue. Customers are scattered: 19 distributors, 8 manufacturers and 7 others, on five different ERPs. Distributor deals close in 96 days with a 31% win rate; the rest take 170 days and win 14%. The founders sourced 70% of revenue closed so far. Each new ERP connector takes 6 to 10 weeks of engineering, and new customers wait a median 74 days to post their first invoice.

Challenges

• Selling to anyone with invoices has spread a small engineering team across five ERP connectors and left no segment where we are the obvious choice.
• Sales depends on the founders. The four account executives have closed 30% of revenue and none has a repeatable way to open an account.
• Controllers at distributors doubt accuracy claims on invoices with 40 or more lines, freight charges and price variances, and ask for long free pilots.

We will focus on

• Electrical, plumbing and HVAC, and industrial supply distributors with $100 million to $400 million in revenue.
• The two ERPs that run most of that segment, with ERP resellers as a second route to market.
• Line-level three-way match on messy, multi-page invoices as the one capability we prove in every deal.

We will not

• New manufacturers, logistics firms or any account on an ERP outside the two. Existing customers keep full support, but we decline about a quarter of current inbound demand.
• Free pilots. Prospects get a paid 30-day proof on 1,000 of their own invoices, credited against the first year.
• Payments, supplier portals or receivables automation, although customers ask for them and competitors bundle them.

Target market

Ideal customer profile	US wholesale distributors with $100 million to $400 million in revenue, 5,000 to 25,000 supplier invoices a month, an accounts payable team of 4 to 12, and one of two mid-market distribution ERPs. The buyer is the controller. The champion is the accounts payable manager.
Market size	By our count, about 2,400 US distributors of durable goods have $50 million to $500 million in revenue. At an average contract of $65,000 that is roughly $156 million a year. Adding food and consumer goods distributors takes it to about $390 million.
Beachhead segment	620 electrical, plumbing and HVAC, and industrial supply distributors on the two target ERPs, worth about $40 million a year. 14 of our 19 distributor customers are already in this group, and its members share buying groups and trade associations where references travel.

Value proposition

Problem	Accounts payable clerks at a distributor key thousands of multi-line invoices a month and chase price and quantity mismatches by email. It costs $7 to $11 an invoice, early-payment discounts are missed, and month-end close waits on the backlog. Electronic data interchange covers the top 20 suppliers. The other several hundred send PDFs.
Solution	The product extracts every line, matches it to the purchase order and receipt, codes freight and tax, and posts clean invoices to the ERP with nobody touching them. Exceptions go to a queue with the mismatch already explained.
Differentiator	Line-level matching trained on distribution invoices, where general accounts payable tools stop at header fields. Distributor customers post 71% of invoices untouched after 90 days, and prebuilt connectors for the two ERPs remove the custom integration project.

Pricing

Model	Annual subscription with a committed invoice volume. Overage is billed quarterly at the contract rate. There are no per-user fees, so buyers and branch managers can approve exceptions without a license.
Price point	$0.95 per invoice at 60,000 invoices a year, falling to $0.60 above 250,000. The minimum contract is $36,000. Onboarding is a one-time $7,500 per ERP instance.
Packaging	One package at launch: capture, line-level matching, coding and ERP posting. Vendor statement reconciliation is the only add-on, at 15% of the subscription. The paid 30-day proof costs $5,000 and is credited against the first year.

Routes to market

Route	Role	Share of pipeline
Account executives, outbound to 620 named accounts	Primary route; reach controllers and accounts payable managers with peer references	45%
ERP resellers and implementation partners	Introduce us during upgrades and migrations; 15% referral fee in year one	25%
Buying groups and trade associations	Member webinars, regional meetings, endorsed-vendor listings	15%
Inbound from search and content	Capture controllers researching invoice automation for their ERP	10%
Customer referrals	Introductions between controllers in the same buying group	5%

Launch plan

Phase	Timing	Goal	Exit criteria
Reference build	November 2026 to January 2027	Proof the segment can check for itself	8 beachhead customers on record with over 75% of invoices untouched
Repeatable direct sales	February to May 2027	Account executives close without the founders	12 deals closed with no founder after discovery; cycle under 100 days
Partner route	June to August 2027	Resellers source real deals	4 resellers with a closed deal each
Scale and next segment	September to November 2027	Coverage for 2028 and a decision on segment two	Pipeline at 3 times the next two quarters' target; second segment chosen from win data

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: Chief Executive Officer

Become the known choice in the beachhead

Distributor deals already close faster and win twice as often. Concentrating on 620 accounts that talk to each other turns each new customer into a reference for the next.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Annual recurring revenue	$2.1M	$4.2M	Q4 2027
Customers in the beachhead segment	14 customers	45 customers	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Build the named list of 620 accounts with ERP, invoice volume and buying group for each
• Publish 8 customer stories that state the untouched rate and days saved at month-end close
• Present at 4 regional trade association meetings and 2 buying group conferences
• Refer inbound leads outside the segment to a partner and stop quoting them

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: VP of Sales

Take the founders out of the sale

Founders sourced 70% of revenue. Growth beyond their calendars needs a sales process an account executive hired in March can run by June.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
New revenue closed with no founder involved after discovery	30%	85%	Q3 2027
Win rate on qualified opportunities	21%	36%	Q4 2027
Median sales cycle for new customers	128 days	90 days	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Write the sales playbook from recordings of the founders' discovery and proof calls
• Standardize the paid 30-day proof with fixed success criteria agreed before it starts
• Hire 3 account executives with distribution or ERP experience by March
• Move the weekly deal review from the founders to the VP of Sales

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Head of Partnerships

Open the ERP reseller route

Mid-size distributors buy and upgrade their ERP through local resellers they have trusted for years. An introduction from that reseller during an upgrade is worth more than any cold call.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Qualified pipeline sourced by partners	4%	25%	Q4 2027
Resellers that have sourced a closed deal	1 partners	6 partners	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Sign 10 resellers of the two target ERPs, starting with those our customers already use
• Certify two consultants at each reseller to install the connector
• Set up deal registration with a 15% first-year referral fee
• Build a joint offer timed to ERP upgrade projects

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Head of Customer Success

Get new customers to touchless posting in 30 days

A 74-day wait for the first posted invoice delays references and expansion, and gives the controller's doubts time to grow. Speed to proof is part of the product in this segment.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Median time from signature to first posted invoice	74 days	30 days	Q3 2027
Invoices posted untouched 90 days after go-live	71%	85%	Q4 2027
Net revenue retention	108%	118%	Q4 2027

Initiatives

• Package the two connectors with a fixed four-week onboarding plan
• Tune extraction on each new customer's top 50 suppliers before go-live
• Review cost per invoice and discounts captured with every controller each quarter
• Freeze work on new ERP connectors for the year

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

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Blank go-to-market strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planGo-to-market strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

• [A problem the strategy has to solve]
• [A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

• [Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
• [Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

• [Something you are deliberately leaving out]
• [Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Target market

Ideal customer profile	[Your ideal customer profile]
Market size	[Your market size]
Beachhead segment	[Your beachhead segment]

Value proposition

Problem	[Your problem]
Solution	[Your solution]
Differentiator	[Your differentiator]

Pricing

Model	[Your model]
Price point	[Your price point]
Packaging	[Your packaging]

Routes to market

Route	Role	Share of pipeline
[Route]	[Role]	[Share of pipeline]
[Route]	[Role]	[Share of pipeline]
[Route]	[Role]	[Share of pipeline]

Launch plan

Phase	Timing	Goal	Exit criteria
[Phase]	[Timing]	[Goal]	[Exit criteria]
[Phase]	[Timing]	[Goal]	[Exit criteria]
[Phase]	[Timing]	[Goal]	[Exit criteria]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 4Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
• [A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

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How to adapt it

1. 01

   Split your existing customers by segment and compare win rate, sales cycle and time to value. The beachhead is usually visible in that table.

2. 02

   Size the market from a count of real companies multiplied by your average contract, not from an analyst's industry total.

3. 03

   Write down what you will decline. A beachhead only works if inbound demand from outside it stops consuming sales and engineering time.

4. 04

   Give every launch phase an exit criterion that someone outside the team could verify, such as deals closed or references published.

5. 05

   Assign each route to market a share of pipeline and an owner, then check the shares against where closed deals actually came from each quarter.

6. 06

   Set the price point from the cost of the buyer's current process, and decide early whether a trial is free, paid or replaced by a proof on their own data.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

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Common mistakes

• Defining the target market as everyone who could use the product, which leaves sales with no list and marketing with no message.
• Treating founder-led wins as proof of a repeatable motion before anyone else has closed a deal the same way.
• Adding channels before one works. A partner program launched without references gives partners nothing to sell.
• Planning the launch as a single date instead of phases with criteria for moving on.