Building a Go-to-Market Strategy: Turning Innovation into Commercial Traction

One of the biggest challenges facing early-stage companies isn't developing innovative technology - it's turning that innovation into commercial traction.

That was the focus of June's Entrepreneur Club, where marketing strategist Mark Errington joined founders for a practical workshop on building an effective go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Drawing on his experience working with brands including Rapha and Castore, Mark shared practical frameworks to help businesses better understand their customers, communicate their value and create a repeatable process for winning new business.

Here are some of the key lessons from the session 👇

"Start with the product you have today, not the future roadmap"

It's easy for startups to focus on where their product will be in two years' time. However, an effective GTM strategy starts with the product customers can buy today, not the future roadmap. Before thinking about marketing or sales, founders should ask themselves:

• What problem does our product solve today?
• What evidence supports this?
• What assumptions still need validating?

Building a GTM around today's product creates stronger messaging, more credible customer conversations and a clearer path to commercial growth.

"People don't buy features; they buy outcomes"

One of the strongest messages from the session was that customers rarely buy technology simply because it's technically impressive. Instead, they buy the outcome it delivers.

Whether it's saving time, reducing costs, improving safety or increasing efficiency, successful businesses communicate the value they create rather than the features they offer. A simple framework discussed during the workshop was:

Problem → Solution → Outcome

Understanding the customer in detail is vital; and the key personas you need to influence or interact with to move a sales conversation forward. In B2B markets, particularly healthcare and manufacturing, the person using a product is more often than not different from the person purchasing it. Founders were encouraged to consider four key groups:

• Who gets value from the product?
• Who uses it?
• Who purchases it?
• Who influences the buying decision?

Recognising these different audiences helps to develop clearer messaging and more effective sales conversations.

"Your GTM must be focused on the needs of the customer"

A successful go-to-market strategy is focused on the customer and their needs, not the company and the product they've built.

The workshop explored how founders can map the customer journey, identify the right growth channels and create a repeatable process for generating traction. Marketing was only one part of the discussion; partnerships, referrals, pilot customers, investors and industry networks were all highlighted as valuable routes to market for innovation-led businesses.

"Create a GTM strategy that will inspire action"

The session concluded with a reminder that a GTM strategy is not simply a static document; it's a practical framework that should guide action. Every business should be able to answer five simple questions:

• What are we selling?
• Who are we trying to win?
• Why would they choose us?
• How will we reach and convert them?
• How do we make money?

By working through these questions alongside LYVA Labs advisors, participants left with the foundations of a go-to-market strategy they can continue to refine and evolve as their businesses build traction.

For founders, commercial success isn't determined solely by the quality of the technology they build. It comes from understanding customers, communicating value clearly and creating a repeatable process for turning innovation into traction, the central theme of June's Entrepreneur Club.