Marketing Your Tech Business to Your Runway
Every startup runway is different and your marketing should be too. In this practical session, Christelle Blanchet‑Aissaoui and Tim Nichols (Proxi) map the go-to-market moves that fit each stage of a tech company’s journey, including: what to spend (and what not to), how to measure what’s working and how to align ambition with cash in bank. They share a step-by-step framework for matching your marketing strategy to your growth stage, budgeting realistically and proving traction.
Key themes:
The Three Go-to-Market Playbooks: Your annual contract value (ACV) and deal volume determine which motion suits your business. Self-serve/product-led growth works for low-value, high-volume plays where the product does the heavy lifting. Outbound sales motion applies to most businesses with 3-12 month cycles, requiring thought leadership, events and content. Account-based marketing suits enterprise deals above $50k with year-plus sales cycles. As Christelle warns: "It's really hard to nail one go-to-market motion, way harder to nail several of them at the same time."
Investment Benchmarks by Growth Stage: Product-market fit (pre-revenue to $1m ARR) requires 10% of target revenue invested in marketing fundamentals. Go-to-market fit ($1m-$10m ARR) demands 25-50% as you build out a complete marketing mix. Scale-up is where you've proven the flywheel and pour more fuel on it. Tim's reality check: "10% of your million dollar ARR actually doesn't go that far, so you have to be incredibly smart about how you use it."
The Four Quadrants Framework: Proxi maps companies across runway and growth targets. Life Support companies haven't found product-market fit but behave as if they have. Hard Yards describes many businesses: growing but cash-constrained, needing 3% month-on-month growth to become investable. Easy Street companies are profitable but farming what they've got. Pressure Cookers have high targets and investment but risk burning through the runway with unreasonable expectations.
Real-World Lessons: FileInvite moved from Hard Yards to Pressure Cooker by pivoting to vertical strategy, embedding fractional leadership, and hitting $1m ARR within 12 months. Portainer went from Pressure Cooker to Hard Yards when their strategy failed, then ground back through three years of founder-led sales to secure Series B. The lesson: "Raising money up front and racing ahead of revenue is extremely risky if you haven't got proof."
Surviving Budget Cuts: When runway evaporates, rank activities from least to most effective and cut from the bottom up. Consolidate spend below critical mass and understand cuts take three months to show impact.
Key takeaways:
Match investment to growth stage: 10% for product-market fit, 25-50% for go-to-market fit
Choose the right playbook based on ACV and deal volume: the wrong motion shortens runway
Focus on one motion at a time: pick one and commit rather than spreading too thin
Know your data cold: stack rank every activity by effectiveness so you can protect what works
AI amplifies but doesn't replace fundamentals: leverage it only after nailing core marketing basics
Budget cuts show delayed impact: consolidate spend to maintain effectiveness below critical mass.
Watch the full discussion and explore these insights in depth, plus practical advice for aligning your strategy with your runway.