The Go To Market Slide (GTM), is the most misunderstood, misused, and mangled slide in the entire startup pitch deck. It’s like the appendix of a pitch; everyone includes it, nobody knows exactly why, and when it bursts, the whole body of your presentation goes septic. Every founder knows they need one. Almost no one builds one that does its damn job.
For years, I have harped on the junk some of you call a Competition slide and while I keep pointing out that Marketing is the most important thing you do as a startup (not my words, the research is in evidence), I’ve never tackled how to fix that worthless Go To Market slide you put together.
What you think passes for a GTM slide in most decks? A bingo card of vagueness:
Creating a strong Go To Market Slide can significantly impact your success.
“Social media”
“Trade shows”
“Partnerships”
“Influencer campaigns”
“Press coverage”
Translation? “We’re going to do the things everyone else does, but with no explanation of how, why, or who it reaches, and we’ll spend your money like it grows on an Instagram tree.”
Let’s fix that. Here’s the breakdown of why most GTM slides fail, what should actually be on them, and how to build one that proves you understand your market and can get your startup into it.
The Fatal Go To Market Slide Mistakes
1. Listing tactics, not strategy
Saying you’ll do “social media” is like saying you’ll “go outside.” It tells me nothing about where you’re going, why you’re going, or what you’ll do when you get there. Are you targeting YouTube short-form product demos? Are you building an SEO-driven LinkedIn content flywheel? Do you have a Substack list of enterprise buyers already in beta? Maybe an OnlyFans account is the way to go. Or are you just going to start tweeting when the product launches?
Investors aren’t looking for what channels you know exist. They’re asking: Do you know where your market is, how they buy, and what gets their attention?
2. No customer acquisition cost (CAC) math
If you say “paid ads” but don’t specify your expected CAC and what you’re optimizing for (signups, sales, trials?), you’re just burning vapor. A good GTM slide should hint at unit economics. If you’ve done tests on Meta ads and your CAC is $17 with a $60 LTV, fantastic (put that in!).
If you haven’t, at least show that you understand which levers drive customer acquisition because FFS you’re going to tell me your GTM plan is to pay for clicks but you haven’t even validated that it will work??
3. Confusing PR with GTM
Public relations is not GTM. Unless you’re launching a celebrity skincare line or a political scandal, PR does not drive predictable revenue (sorry PR firms, it doesn’t, and you know it). GTM is about systematic, scalable, repeatable customer acquisition. That’s demand gen. That’s conversion optimization. That’s sales process and pipeline mechanics. PR is an announcement (which, sure, do) or reputation management (of which you have none yet). It helps, but it’s not a GTM plan.
Let me let you in on another criticism of most PR firms (because I want you to succeed). I press release isn’t worth **** and if I had more asterisks I could use to swear properly enough to drive it home, I would use them. Getting press ALSO requires a plan targeting reporters, developing stories, nurturing relationships, and engaging in interviews. If a firm is pitching you on getting you press, demand to know with whom, specifically (reporters names), how, and when – if they’re withholding contacts like their competitive advantage, go tell them to pound sand – PR isn’t valuable because of who they know, it’s how well they’re known and that they will get you conversations.
4. “Partnerships” without clarity
“Partnerships” is startup-speak for “we talked to a friend of a guy at Salesforce once.” Unless it’s signed, executed, and delivering customers without cost on your part, don’t call it a partnership. Better: explain the integration or if you are paying, explain the affiliate structure or channel revenue-sharing arrangement that proves there’s value.
‘Without cost on your part‘? Yeah, if you’re paying for it, it isn’t a partnership. That should be obvious, and yet you’re going to be inundated by people offering to “partner” with you and then stating their price. Remember that thing I said about pounding sand?
5. No funnel
You need to show how the customer discovers you, evaluates you, and buys. A good GTM slide reflects the full customer journey. It doesn’t need to be complex but at least coherent. Where’s top-of-funnel attention coming from? What gets prospects into the pipeline? Who closes them or how by way of your site or app? What keeps them?
What a GTM Slide Should Actually Do
Your GTM slide should answer one thing: How are you going to get your first 1,000 (or 10,000, or 1 million) customers? And the only acceptable answer is one that’s:
Rooted in how the customer already buys
Mapped against how your solution fits into that process
Supported by your distribution unfair advantage
Instead of channel names, show customer behaviors.
Instead of “social media,” say:
“We convert users from Reddit threads where this problem is already being discussed. Our founder is active in the top communities. We’ve mapped 14 high-volume threads with engagement >100 comments each. First customers came directly from those.”
Instead of “trade shows,” say:
“We closed 22 customers at DEFCON last year because they demoed the product in our invite-only suite and converted at 31%. Our GTM model now includes two events per year with private-track product activations.”
Instead of “paid ads,” say:
“We’ve run paid search campaigns on 15 long-tail terms with <$2 CPCs, converting to trial at 9.2%. We scale that with a $50 CAC on a $300 ACV.”
That’s GTM. You’re telling me: where your customers are, what they respond to, how much it costs to reach them, and how you’re going to scale that acquisition with real budget planning.
How to Actually Figure Out Your GTM Plan
If you’re struggling to build this slide, good news: the fact that you can’t means you haven’t done GTM yet. And knowing that? Already puts you ahead of the delusional founders who’ve pasted in a logo wall and called it traction.
So how do you really figure out your go-to-market?
1. Interview 500 potential customers.
You’re not Steve Jobs. You don’t just know. Talk to the market (not the customer! The market – people). Ask if they understand what you’re doing. Ask if they think it’s valuable. Ask if they’d be interested and then ask where they hang out, who they trust, how they found their last solution. Don’t guess – map it.
Yes, talk to people. When I kick of an incubator with one of my lectures, I demand that everyone talk to at least 100 people in coffee shops by next week. Random people. If they don’t understand what you’re doing, you can’t go to market; and from those 100 people, some will understand it, some work in sales or marketing, some are in tech, and many will have advice that is new to you.
2. Reverse-engineer from competitors.
Where do your rivals get traffic? What do they rank for? Who refers to them? Use tools like SimilarWeb, SparkToro, SEMrush, BuiltWith. If they’re using a specific channel, they’re doing it for a reason. Figure out what works.
3. Run $500 worth of tests.
Spend a few hundred bucks across 2–3 channels to see what gets engagement. TikTok, Reddit, SEO, cold email, LinkedIn ads; pick based on your customer persona, not trends. Measure CAC, conversion rate, and quality of leads.
4. Build one repeatable motion.
What’s the one thing you can do every day/week that brings in users or customers consistently? Cold outreach? Webinars? Founder posts on LinkedIn? Focus there, not everywhere. GTM is about repeatability, not variety.
What you’re trying isn’t working? Then clearly it isn’t the one thing, stop it (for now) and try something else.
5. Write your funnel narrative.
Walk me through how a customer goes from stranger to buyer. Where do they learn? What triggers the interest? How do they evaluate? Where do they convert? Build your GTM slide as a visual of this journey with your tactics layered in.
Explain How You Go to Market; Not That You Will
Follow that? Listing “Social Media” is effectively only saying that you will do it. You’ll be live and tweet. Well, good for you, I’d hope so.
GTM is not about what you plan to try. It’s a battle plan built from evidence. It’s the slide that tells me: “This founder knows their buyer, where they live, what they read, what they click, and how to get them to buy.” Everything else is noise.
Remember: if your GTM slide could fit any other startup, it fits none. Make it so specific it could only describe yours.
Don’t just pitch your product. Don’t SELL! Pitch your plan to get it into the world.
If you can’t articulate that plan, you’re not raising money. You’re raising hopes (only yours really, but you get the point).
And if you’re wondering how that fits with your total addressable market (odds are your TAM/SAM/SOM slide is junk to so maybe I’ll cover that next), pricing strategy, or CAC: learn funnel math. It’s time your GTM slide grew up because it’s killing you more than it’s killing me having to read it.
The reddit example is great on how to actually put this in action, great post!
Good article. I've sat through quite a few startup pitches. A lot of them contain fluff, not facts. But you have broken down the problem well in this article, makeing it easy to understand and therefore fix.