Founder on a phone call with a notebook and laptop, taking notes during a customer conversation.
Strategy January 8, 2026· 5 min read

Go-to-Market: The First 100 Conversations

Forget the funnel. Your first GTM strategy is a list of 100 humans you can call by name — and what you'll say when they pick up.

By Anita Victoria Zdarzil

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Every GTM deck I've ever seen starts with TAM. Almost none of them start with the only thing that matters at the seed stage: the first 100 conversations.

Who are they? How do you reach them? What do you say in the first 30 seconds that makes them lean in? If you can't answer that on a napkin, no amount of paid acquisition will save you.

The early GTM motion isn't a funnel — it's a relationship engine. Build a list of 100 named humans who are exactly the customer you want. Reach out personally. Listen more than you pitch. Iterate the offer in real time.

By the time you've had those 100 conversations, you'll know exactly what to scale — and you'll have your first paying customers, references, and case studies sitting inside that list.

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