Something has been bothering me recently

New AI startups using old marketing & sales playbooks 🤦‍♂️

Skipping straight to the enterprise

Cold calling and cold e-mails

AI spam

Top down sales

Mindless press releases

Trying to buy off analysts

Long deal cycles

Looks and sounds like everyone else

No one knows about their startup

🤦‍♂️

I’ve been trying to work with more seed AI startups to break this pattern

Normally I don’t get involved in seed stage

But this is often where the GTM playbook gets cemented

AI startups are seeing MASSIVE amounts of competitors

Dozens per space

Built an AI autonomous customer support agent?

There are five dozen others you are competing against

My advice 🤔

Adopt modern, customer-centric playbook

Go where the eyeballs are (social, mobile, vertical video)

Deliver great experiences

Improve time to value

Use outcome based pricing

Reduce friction

Leverage seed and grow

Use northstar metrics like NPS, PQL, TTV, DAU

Educate and nurture

Embrace a mascot

Choose a color and use it everywhere in your website and product

Real life conferences to build connections

Social proof and more social proof

Focus on minting our promoters

Use customer quotes not marketing spin

Create delightful experiences

Do what you would want if you were a customer

Simple onboarding flows

Use AI first marketing tools that personalize and improve experiences

Do these and you WILL grow faster 🚀

Do these and you WILL grow more capital efficient 🏗️

Do these and your customers WILL love you more ❤️

Do these and your customers WILL recommend you more 📣

#Customer centric ✊

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🚀 About Bill 🚀

Bill Macaitis is an advisor and board member guiding aspiring AI & SaaS unicorns/decacorns. Bill works with companies to build out capital efficient go-to-market strategies and world class teams. Over his 30 year career Bill has achieved five successful exits and powered growth at three of the fastest-ever growing companies: Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO), and Salesforce (SVP of Marketing).

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