Every successful company must excel in two fundamental areas:

1. Building a product/service

2. Selling a product/service

In this edition, we zoom in on the latter, exploring the diverse ways a VC platform team can support its portfolio companies in developing effective Go-to-Market (GTM) strategies and successfully selling their product. 

Why does this fall under the realm of responsibilities of a VC platform professional, you ask? 

The answer is simple: GTM support is arguably the most direct way a VC platform team can boost a portfolio company’s revenue, thereby improving the fund's investment returns.

Much like I emphasized when talking about the different kinds of talent support, a fund’s GTM support strategy will vary significantly depending on your VC fund's size and focus. For instance, a healthcare-focused fund might prioritize connections to hospitals or healthcare systems, a B2B fund could emphasize introductions to potential enterprise customers and channel partners, and consumer-focused funds can double down on relationships with distributors, influencers, and agencies to drive direct sales.

There's no universal approach, and not every fund needs a dedicated GTM effort. For those choosing to invest in GTM support as a value-add, this piece aims to provide a high-level framework to simplify the diverse strategies funds may employ.

When we break it down to a digestible framework, GTM support from VC platform teams falls into two categories:

1. Go-To-Market Advisory (teaching companies how to sell)

2. Go-To-Market Collaboration (selling with them)

Below we’ll explore specific strategies for each approach, introduce case studies of top VC platform teams executing these strategies, and offer guidance on which approaches may be most suitable for different types of funds.

Let’s get to it:

Go To Market Advisory

One key strategy VC platform teams may employ for GTM support is GTM Advisory. This approach encompasses all the ways a fund can train its portfolio companies on GTM best practices without directly engaging in the selling process. 

GTM advisory focuses on equipping startups with knowledge, tools, and strategies to effectively bring their offerings to market. By empowering their portfolio with this expertise, funds can increase their companies’ chances at success in a highly scalable fashion.

We can breakdown GTM Advisory with the following framework:

In-House Support

Some funds leverage in-house GTM experts to provide tailored advisory support to their portfolio companies. These experts may be full-time employees of the fund or functional experts who take an interim role with the fund as an "executive in residence" (or EIR) to provide on-demand support while they may be between roles.

One fund that utilizes this approach is Sagard who invest globally in b2b and b2c companies. Their Chief Growth Officer, Jonathan Metrick, walks through their reasonings for developing such an in-house advisory support model:

These specialists bring a wealth of experience and industry-specific knowledge, offering hands-on guidance across various aspects of go-to-market strategy, from market positioning to sales process optimization. They are often industry veterans with proven track records, the caliber of talent most VC-funded companies dream of hiring but often can't individually attract or afford.

We can split in-house GTM advisory support into three types of support:  Expertise, Training, and Resources.

Expertise

Some funds have dedicated GTM professionals who offer one-on-one consultations to portfolio companies, providing tailored advice on their GTM challenges and sales strategies. 

One such fund with this approach is Gradient, Google’s AI-focused VC fund. Their Operating Partner, Kyle Duffy, specializes in sharing his expertise with founders. In his words:

By applying this hands-on coaching approach to their founders, Gradient not only enables their startups to achieve GTM growth at a rapid pace but has established this support as a value-add and differentiator for those founders choosing to partner with them.

Training 

Another in-house GTM advisory strategy that a fund can offer its portfolio is GTM training, which can include large-scale or more intimate events and sessions. Funds that focus on training have GTM professionals who offer workshops, seminars, or boot camps on GTM topics like consumer acquisition strategies, sales optimization, pricing models, and marketing tactics.  

Scale Venture Partners has developed a comprehensive GTM Advisory practice under the leadership of Chief Platform Officer Craig Rosenberg. Among other efforts, Scale utilizes a dynamic roster of GTM Executives-in-Residence and advisors who conduct regular training and workshops for portfolio companies, which are then made accessible through Scale's online library. The firm also hosts an annual GTM Summit, bringing together founders and GTM leaders for learning and networking opportunities. 

Resources

The most scalable in-house GTM Advisory strategy includes the creation and distribution of GTM resources. In this approach, in-house GTM professionals develop a suite of tools, benchmarks, templates, and best practices that can be shared across the entire portfolio, and sometimes with the wider public. These resources might include sales playbooks, market sizing models, benchmarking metrics, pricing calculators, competitive analysis frameworks, and more. 

Left Lane Capital, which invests in high-growth internet and consumer companies, exemplifies this approach. Under Chief Growth Officer Chris Taylor's leadership, one core part of their GTM support involves developing and sharing content on key growth issues across their portfolio.

External Support

Recognizing that truly value-add GTM support requires world-class sales professionals, many funds without a full-time sales expert on their platform team opt for external support. This involves curating a network of best-in-class GTM consultants or sales strategists to connect with their portfolio companies.

There are several advantages to this approach: time and effort savings for portfolio companies through pre-vetted resources, access to specialized expertise for building top-tier teams, and potential access to pre-negotiated preferential rates and terms thanks to the bargaining power of a VC firm.

Go to Market Collaboration

While teaching founders how to sell is often more scalable, many venture capital funds take a more active approach to supporting their portfolio companies' GTM strategies. This is a particularly common approach for early-stage funds whose portfolio companies may lack the resources or ability to hire dedicated sales teams.

This strategy involves the fund rolling up its sleeves and directly participating in various stages of the sales process, from developing marketing strategies and introducing distribution partners to actively engaging in customer acquisition efforts and closing deals alongside the portfolio company's sales team. 

When developing a GTM collaboration approach, funds must consider their industry concentration and portfolio diversity. For instance, a cybersecurity-focused fund with 90% of portfolio companies selling to CISOs might benefit greatly from building a robust CISO network. However, for a generalist fund, creating independent sales channels across dozens of different industries might be impractical and inefficient. The key is to find economies of scale. GTM collaboration with dedicated efforts only makes sense when the fund can leverage its resources across multiple portfolio companies, maximizing impact and efficiency.

This hands-on approach can be explained using this framework:

Direct

This immersive strategy involves VC platform professionals directly participating in lead generation, sales processes, strategy sessions, customer negotiations, marketing efforts, and other GTM strategies alongside the portfolio company’s team. 

This support is typically executed for a finite amount of time until a company is at the point of scaling up its own GTM team. Additionally, it serves as a stopgap solution when companies lack the internal resources, executive leadership or manpower needed.

Costanoa Venture‘s Operating Partner Jim Wilson has built a role at his the firm that focuses on both GTM Advisory and Collaboration. In his words, the impact that Direct GTM Collaboration has is by far that most significant:

Direct GTM support can look vastly different for different funds, companies, or industries. While for some funds, direct collaboration means getting on the phone and closing direct sales, for others, it involves initiating and closing deals with channel partners, an approach often taken by Corporate VCs. Intel Capital, for example, collaborates with "scale" partners such as system integrators or government contractors. Arturo Litvin explains:

In healthcare, biotech, and life sciences, this support may involve building relationships and closing deals with payors or health systems. For CPG-focused funds, direct support can include securing product placement and distribution deals with major retailers.

While this method is impactful for early-stage startups or those entering critical growth phases like the funds mentioned above, it’s also a hallmark strategy for private equity firms, who look to streamline and restructure GTM processes following significant investments.

Network

This strategy leverages the VC fund's extensive professional connections to provide portfolio companies with access to high-value leads and opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. While your typical portfolio company might struggle to get past gatekeepers, many funds have direct lines to CMOs, CTOs, and other key decision-makers across industries.

Network-driven GTM Collaboration can be incredibly impactful when executed thoughtfully. That said, platform professionals must approach this tactic with strategic consideration, carefully timing introductions to ensure portfolio companies are well-prepared to capitalize on these valuable connections. This measured approach helps prevent premature outreach that could potentially squander opportunities or damage relationships.

Network support can be approached in two ways:

1. Proactive: A fund anticipates sales opportunities for portfolio companies, identifies potential connections, and makes introductions.

2. Reactive: A fund responds to specific requests from portfolio companies to leverage their network when they seek assistance in closing deals.

Proactive Network

Proactive network support is when a fund identifying the strongest nodes in their network that have the most overlap with the sales pipeline of its portfolio, and activate these nodes. This process involves a proactive and often complex analysis of potential synergies between the fund's connections and the needs of their portfolio companies.

One proven proactive networking strategy employed by leading funds is the Executive Briefing Center model, pioneered by Andreessen Horowitz and now adopted by several VC platforms.  This approach involves bringing together C-level decision-makers from major corporations with a curated selection of portfolio companies. Through rapid-fire pitches and trend discussions, these events aim to solve multiple challenges for the executives while simultaneously creating sales opportunities for portfolio companies.

An example of a fund that takes this approach with its GTM support is Craft Ventures. Under the leadership of Operating Partner Sarah Blanchard, they conduct regular portfolio reviews for technology executives. This strategy allows executives to identify relevant innovations and request connections with those portfolio companies whose solutions align with their current business needs. This direct and scalable method of proactively leveraging their network for GTM support creates win-win situations for both executives in their network and portfolio companies.

Reactive Network

The reactive network approach is a longstanding practice in the venture business, rather than a novel concept exclusive to VC platforms. At its core, it's the simple act of leveraging personal connections to facilitate deals, a practice CEOs have employed in board meetings for decades: presenting their sales pipeline and seeking introductions from board members.

While this approach is fundamental to the investor-portfolio company relationship (including those with no platform team), newer tech platforms have enabled a more sophisticated, platform-driven approach. Tools like Cabal, Commsor and Connect the Dots now enable portfolio companies to programmatically share their Salesforce or HubSpot pipelines with the fund, automatically identifying key connection points. 

Aleph's Amplify Business platform stands out as a shining example of this tech-enabled approach, demonstrating how funds can systematize and scale their reactive network support to benefit portfolio companies more efficiently.

Where GTM support meets Talent support

It's worth noting that there are also funds that approach GTM support by leveraging their Platform Talent team. Some funds like Sequoia even have entire teams of talent professionals focused solely on GTM Talent.

In these cases, the Talent team is tasked with helping portfolio companies hire key sales, marketing, customer success, and other GTM leaders, getting to the root of the GTM function by enabling companies to build their teams of experts who can drive revenue-generating companies.

Conclusion

While GTM support can be a powerful tool for VC platform teams to drive portfolio company growth and ultimately contribute to the ROI of the fund, it's crucial to remember that not every fund should implement this strategy. As with all platform efforts, the decision to provide GTM support and the specific approach taken should be tailored to the fund's unique characteristics, resources, and portfolio needs.

For those VC Platform teams that choose to focus here, this framework presents a simplified way to navigate the many possible approaches to GTM support. Whether opting for GTM Advisory or GTM Collaboration, or both, and whether leveraging in-house expertise, external support, or network connections, each fund should craft a strategy that aligns with its strengths and objectives.

Ultimately, the most effective GTM support strategies will be those that are thoughtfully designed, consistently executed, and adaptable to the evolving needs of both the fund and its portfolio companies.

Bonus: The VC Go To Market Who’s Who

While developing this post, I tapped into the insights and strategies of many GTM leaders at top funds. I also asked my network to highlight the best GTM leaders across the venture capital industry. To recognize these unsung heroes, I'm thrilled to share some bonus content: a curated list of 80+ VC GTM Superstars.

This post is brought to you with the help of Yaffa Abadi of Abadi Brands, a premier personal branding firm for leading executives and VCs.