GTM30 by Stage

Find the right GTM30 approach for your maturity level. Different stages need different pillars, different resources, and different focus areas.

Last updated: January 10, 2026

How to use this guide

GTM30 is not one-size-fits-all. A post-PMF startup with 3 people needs a different approach than a Series C company with 50 in GTM roles. This guide helps you find the right starting point.

Quick self-assessment

1.Do you have paying customers who retain and would miss the product? If no → not ready for GTM30 yet.
2.How many people do GTM work (marketing, sales, community, content)? → Determines your stage.
3.Do you have a shared vocabulary across teams for ICP, lifecycle stages, and signals? If no → start with Cross-Functionality.
4.Do you operate in multiple products or regions? If yes → you are at Enterprise stage.

Stage 1: Starting from zero

Post-PMF, no systematic GTM

Characteristics

You have paying customers but no repeatable acquisition motion
Founder is doing most of the selling personally
No dedicated GTM roles beyond maybe one generalist
Marketing = random content, sporadic social posts
No defined ICP or buyer journey documentation
Revenue comes from network, referrals, or inbound luck

Which pillars to prioritize

Priority	Pillar	Rationale
1st	Community	Fastest feedback loop. Build trust in public. Founder-friendly (no big team needed).
2nd	Ambassadors (Tier 1)	Capture organic advocates. Low overhead. Self-serve entry.
Skip	Programmatic	Requires stable schema and entity model you do not have yet.
Skip	Cross-Functionality	You are the cross-functional team.

Resource requirements

Founder time: 15-30 min/day on community presence
Dedicated hire: Not yet - use founders + one generalist
Tools: One community surface (LinkedIn, Reddit, or Slack), simple spreadsheet for signal tracking
Budget: Near zero - focus on time investment

Common mistakes

Launching a private Slack/Discord before demand exists
Trying to hire a "Head of Growth" before you have the system
Creating programmatic content without an entity model
Overbuilding tooling (CRM, automation) before patterns emerge
Treating ambassadors as influencers instead of operators

Recommended starting point

Choose one surface where your ICP already talks (LinkedIn, Reddit, X, industry Slack)
Show up daily for 2 weeks: answer questions, share WIP, close loops
Log every question in a simple table (date, topic, ICP segment, link)
After 2 weeks: identify your top 3 repeated questions
Turn those into your first canonical pages

Then move to the 90-day implementation guide.

Stage 2: Early GTM

Some activities but fragmented

Characteristics

You have 1-3 people doing GTM activities
Multiple channels running but not connected
No unified schema - marketing, sales, product use different terms
Content exists but no clear structure or entity model
Community exists but signals are not routed anywhere
Ambassador program is informal ("we have some fans")
Basic CRM in place but data is inconsistent

Which pillars to prioritize

Priority	Pillar	Rationale
1st	Cross-Functionality	You have activity but no coherence. Need the shared schema.
2nd	Community	Move from bootstrap to operating loops.
3rd	Ambassadors	Formalize the informal advocates into Tier 1 + Tier 2.
4th	Programmatic	Begin entity model, first page types.

Resource requirements

Headcount: 2-4 people with GTM responsibilities
Key hire: Community operator or growth generalist who can write
Founder time: Weekly involvement in high-signal threads
Tools: CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive), community platform, basic analytics
Budget: First real marketing budget for tooling and maybe one event

Common mistakes

Running parallel tagging systems ("marketing terms" vs "sales terms")
No signal routing from community to product
Ambassador program without tracking or tiers
Programmatic content that is just "SEO pages" disconnected from schema
Quarterly surprises because teams do not sync weekly

Recommended starting point

Define your shared schema - 7 fields max (problem, use case, ICP, persona, lifecycle stage, intent, region)
Establish weekly signal review across functions
Formalize ambassador program with clear Tier 1 entry point
Create your first 5 entity-backed pages (use cases or problems)
Set up the conversion engine for community

Then move to the 90-day implementation guide (Days 8-14).

Stage 3: Scaling GTM

Working GTM, need to grow it

Characteristics

GTM is generating consistent, measurable pipeline
Team of 5-15 people across marketing, sales, CS
Clear ICP and buyer journey documented
Community is active with regular engagement
Some programmatic content exists and ranks
Ambassador program has 20-50+ active members
Cross-functional meetings happen but could be tighter

Which pillars to prioritize

Priority	Pillar	Rationale
1st	Programmatic	Scale the content engine. Add page types, multilingual, LLM readiness.
2nd	Ambassadors	Launch Tier 2, start regional chapters.
3rd	Cross-Functionality	Add advanced signal routing, cross-pillar metrics.
Maintain	Community	Hire dedicated operator, add expert-operator layer.

Resource requirements

Headcount: 5-15 in GTM roles
Key hires: Content lead, community lead, possibly GTM Lead
Specialist roles: SEO/pSEO, ambassador manager
Tools: Full marketing stack - automation, analytics, CMS, attribution
Budget: Meaningful - events, ambassador incentives, tooling, potentially agency support

Common mistakes

Scaling channels without scaling the schema (narrative drifts)
Ambassador program plateaus because no Tier 2 or regional structure
Programmatic content without machine-readable metadata
Community becomes support-only, losing GTM signal value
Cross-functional cadence gets skipped "because we are busy"

Recommended starting point

Audit your entity model - is it stable and reusable across 50+ pages?
Define cross-pillar compound metrics (community to pipeline, ambassador to conversion)
Launch Tier 2 ambassador program with 3-5 regional leads
Implement LLM-ready structured data on all programmatic pages
Hire or designate a GTM Lead to own cross-pillar coordination

Then move to the 90-day implementation guide (Days 31-60) and Advanced topics.

Stage 4: Enterprise GTM

Multi-product, multi-region

Characteristics

Multiple products or business units
Operating in 3+ regions or languages
GTM team of 15+ people
Multiple community surfaces (product-specific, regional)
Ambassador program spans geographies and verticals
Programmatic content in multiple languages
Complex signal routing requirements
Governance and process documentation needed

Which pillars to prioritize

Priority	Pillar	Rationale
1st	Cross-Functionality	One schema across all products and regions. This is the glue.
2nd	Governance	GTM Lead, pillar owners, operating manual.
3rd	Programmatic	Multi-language, multi-product content architecture.
4th	Ambassadors	Regional ambassador leads, vertical specialization.
5th	Community	Product-specific or unified - depends on user overlap.

Resource requirements

Headcount: 15-50+ in GTM roles across products/regions
Leadership: GTM Lead with cross-functional authority, pillar owners
Regional: Local community operators, regional ambassador leads
Tools: Enterprise marketing stack, custom integrations, unified data warehouse
Budget: Significant - multi-region events, localization, tooling, headcount