Go To Market Plan

Go-to-Market Plan

Before you start

Gather the following from the user. If anything is missing, ask before proceeding:

1. What are you launching? (New product, feature, pricing change, market expansion)
2. Who is the target customer? (Persona, company size, industry, current alternatives)
3. What problem does it solve? (Pain point in the customer's words, not your feature list)
4. What is the competitive landscape? (Direct competitors, indirect alternatives, status quo)
5. What is the pricing model? (Free, freemium, paid tiers, enterprise — even if tentative)
6. What is the launch timeline? (Hard date, flexible window, phased rollout)
7. What resources are available? (Budget, team size, existing channels)

If the user says "we just need to get the word out," push back: getting the word out without positioning, segments, and channels defined is noise, not strategy.

Go-to-market plan template

1. Positioning Statement

Write the positioning in this format. If you cannot fill every field, the positioning is not ready.

For [target customer]
who [need or pain point],
[Product name] is a [category]
that [key benefit].
Unlike [primary alternative],
we [key differentiator].

Test the positioning by asking: could a competitor copy this statement word-for-word? If yes, the differentiator is too generic. Sharpen it until it describes only your product.

2. Target Segments

Define 2-3 segments ranked by priority. Do not launch to everyone at once.

| Priority | Segment              | Size Estimate | Why First?                         |
|----------|-----------------------|---------------|------------------------------------|
| P0       | DevOps teams (50-200) | ~8,000 cos    | Highest pain, shortest sales cycle |
| P1       | Platform engineers    | ~3,000 cos    | High ACV, strong word-of-mouth     |
| P2       | Freelance developers  | ~50,000 ind   | Volume play, lower priority        |

For each segment: How do they discover tools? What do they evaluate? Who signs the check?

3. Channel Strategy

Map channels to segments. Not every channel works for every segment.

| Channel              | Segment | Goal        | Tactic                          | Budget  |
|----------------------|---------|-------------|---------------------------------|---------|
| Content marketing    | P0, P1  | Awareness   | Technical posts, comparison guides| $5K/mo|
| Developer communities| P0      | Adoption    | HN, Reddit, Discord engagement  | Time    |
| Outbound sales       | P1      | Pipeline    | Targeted outreach to leads      | $15K/mo |
| Product Hunt         | P0, P2  | Launch spike| Coordinated launch day          | $2K     |

For each channel, define: content/action, owner, expected volume, and success measure.

4. Pricing Context

Summarize the pricing approach and how it connects to the GTM motion. Full pricing analysis is a separate skill — here you need enough to align the launch.

Model:              Freemium with usage-based upgrade triggers
Free tier:          Up to 3 projects, 1 user, community support
Paid tier:          $49/user/month — unlimited projects, team features
Enterprise:         Custom — SSO, audit logs, dedicated support, SLAs
Competitive anchor: Competitor A at $65/user, Competitor B open-source + paid cloud

5. Launch Timeline

Break the launch into phases with owners and milestones.

| Phase        | Dates      | Key Activities                                  | Owner     | Milestone              |
|--------------|------------|------------------------------------------------|-----------|------------------------|
| Pre-launch   | Weeks 1-4  | Positioning, landing page, beta onboarding     | Marketing | 500 waitlist signups   |
| Soft launch  | Weeks 5-6  | Open waitlist, gather feedback, fix issues      | Product   | 100 active, NPS > 30   |
| Public launch| Week 7     | PH, blog, email, social, outbound to P1        | Marketing | 1,000 signups in week 1|
| Post-launch  | Weeks 8-12 | Content cadence, sales ramp, funnel iteration  | Sales     | 50 SQLs, 10% conversion|

6. Success Metrics

Define metrics for each launch phase. Separate leading indicators (activity) from lagging indicators (outcomes).

| Metric                    | Phase        | Target           | Measured By     |
|---------------------------|-------------|------------------|-----------------|
| Waitlist signups          | Pre-launch  | 500              | Landing page    |
| Activation rate           | Soft launch | 60% complete setup| Product analytics|
| Week-1 signups            | Public launch| 1,000           | Analytics       |
| Free-to-paid conversion   | Post-launch | 10% within 30 days| Billing data   |
| Sales qualified leads     | Post-launch | 50 in first month| CRM             |
| Customer acquisition cost | Post-launch | < $150           | Finance         |

Review metrics weekly during launch, monthly afterward. If activation rate is below target, fix onboarding before spending more on acquisition — pouring users into a leaky funnel wastes budget.

Quality checklist

Before delivering a go-to-market plan, verify:

• [ ] Positioning is specific enough that a competitor cannot reuse it verbatim
• [ ] Target segments are prioritized with clear reasons for ranking
• [ ] Channel strategy maps channels to segments with owners and budgets
• [ ] Pricing context is included so the launch plan is internally consistent
• [ ] Launch timeline has phases, owners, and measurable milestones
• [ ] Success metrics separate leading indicators from lagging outcomes
• [ ] Every channel and phase has a named owner — a person, not a team
• [ ] The plan addresses what happens if early metrics miss targets

Common mistakes to avoid

• Positioning by feature list. "We have SSO, audit logs, and a CLI" is not positioning. Positioning answers why a customer should choose you — features are evidence, not the argument.
• Targeting everyone. A GTM plan for "all developers" will reach no one. Narrow the initial segment until it feels uncomfortably small.
• Channel strategy without capacity. Listing 8 channels with a 2-person team guarantees all 8 done poorly. Pick 2-3, execute well, then expand.
• Skipping pre-launch validation. Launching without beta feedback means debugging product-market fit in public.
• Metrics without action triggers. Define what number is good, what is bad, and what changes if you hit the bad number.
• Confusing launch with growth. A launch plan covers weeks 1-12. Growth is what happens after. Plan the transition to steady-state channels.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: The-AI-Directory-Company
• Source: The-AI-Directory-Company/agents-and-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://ai-directory.company

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.