The launch plan: from live product to $1M ARR

1.1Make every visit measurable

Until this exists, every decision after it is a guess dressed as a strategy.

Target: Core funnel events firing in production

1.2Make the offer legible in five seconds

A visitor decides before they scroll. Most of your traffic never sees section two.

Target: A stranger can restate what you do, correctly

1.3Make the site crawlable and citable

Two audiences read your HTML now: search crawlers and answer engines. Serve both.

Target: Homepage indexed; structured data valid

1.4Clear the trust bar

Directories, review sites and buyers all check the same handful of pages.

Target: No missing legal or contact page

• 1.4.1Publish a privacy policyA hard requirement for almost every Tier-1 and Tier-2 directory.

  45m

• 1.4.2Publish terms of serviceSame requirement, same afternoon.

  45m

• 1.4.3Add a consent banner that defaults to decliningEU trafficOnly if you take EU traffic. Default-on tracking is the fine, not the banner.

  45m

• 1.4.4Write an About page with a real name and faceAnonymous SaaS converts worse and gets rejected by curated directories.

  45m

• 1.4.5Publish a support address a human readsIn Phase 1 that human is you, and the replies are the research.

  15m

• 1.4.6Put up a status pageB2BCheap credibility, and it stops the first outage becoming a support flood.

  45m

1.5Make it possible to pay you

Test with a real card, on a real phone, from a real network. Not in test mode.

Target: One successful live charge

• 1.5.1Take one real charge in live modeCharge yourself a dollar. Test mode hides at least one real failure, always.

  1h

• 1.5.2Complete checkout on a phoneMost of your launch-day traffic arrives on mobile, from a link in a feed.

  20m

• 1.5.3Turn on failed-payment emailsInvoluntary churn is the cheapest revenue you will ever recover. Switch it on now.

  30m

• 1.5.4Handle sales tax and VATStripe Tax, or a merchant of record. Decide once; retrofitting is genuinely painful.

  1h

• 1.5.5State the refund and cancellation policyA visible refund policy raises conversion more than it costs in refunds.

  20m

1.6Own your channels before you need them

Handles and deliverability take days to fix and minutes to reserve.

Target: All primary handles reserved; DMARC passing

• 1.6.1Set up domain email with SPF, DKIM and DMARCPhase 1 is 250 cold emails. Without this they land in spam and you burn the domain.

  1h

• 1.6.2Reserve every handle you might wantX, LinkedIn, Reddit, GitHub, Product Hunt, Discord, YouTube. Same name everywhere.

  45m

• 1.6.3Build the logo packPNG, SVG, 1024×1024 square, favicon. Every directory form asks for a different one.

  45m

• 1.6.4Put email capture on the siteEven with nothing to send yet. The list you start today is the launch audience in Phase 2.

  45m

• 1.6.5Wire the transactional email senderSeparate domain or subdomain from marketing mail, so one cannot poison the other.

  45m

2.1Build a list of 100 named humans

Named. Not “SaaS founders”. A person, a company, and why they would care this month.

Target: 100 qualified prospects

• 2.1.1List 25 people from your own networkThe list you are embarrassed to use is the list that converts first.

  45m

• 2.1.2List 25 from communities where your ICP postsPull them from people who described your problem in their own words in the last 90 days.

  1h

• 2.1.3List 25 from competitor reviewsG2 and Capterra 2- and 3-star reviews are a list of people actively unhappy with the incumbent.

  1h

• 2.1.4List 25 with a live trigger eventHiring for the role, funding round, migration announcement, a public complaint.

  1h

• 2.1.5Qualify each one in a sentenceProblem, trigger, and whether you can actually reach them. Cut anyone failing the third.

  1h

2.2Do the outreach yourself

Founder-sent beats anything else at this stage, and teaches you the objections.

Target: 100 personal touches, ≥10% reply rate

After 2.1 build a list of 100 named humans

2.3Talk to every single user

This is the only phase where you can. The information you get here shapes everything after.

Target: 10 recorded conversations

• 2.3.1Offer every signup a 15-minute callMaybe one in five accepts. Those five are worth more than a hundred analytics sessions.

  30m

• 2.3.2Run ten problem interviews and record themAsk what they did before you, and what it cost. Never pitch during one.

  5h

• 2.3.3Interview every user who leavesAt ten customers, one churn interview outweighs any dashboard you could build.

  1h

• 2.3.4Write the top-five objections listVerbatim, in their words. This document becomes your homepage, FAQ and ad copy.

  45m

  After 2.3.2 run ten problem interviews and record them

• 2.3.5Fix the number one objectionIn the product or in the copy. Fixing it in copy is legitimate and much faster.

  4h

  After 2.3.4 write the top-five objections list

2.4Make the first session succeed

Acquisition is wasted while the first run leaves people staring at an empty screen.

Target: Activation rate ≥ 40% of signups

After 1.1.2.1 pick the activation event

• 2.4.1Instrument time-to-activationMedian minutes from signup to the activation event. Then halve it.

  45m

• 2.4.2Delete one step from signupEvery removed field is measurable conversion. Start with the one you “might need later”.

  1h

• 2.4.3Make the empty state do the workSample data, a template, or a one-click demo. Never a blank canvas and good luck.

  2h

• 2.4.4Send a three-email first-week sequenceDay 0 get started, day 2 the one feature that matters, day 5 ask what got in the way.

  2h

• 2.4.5Personally message everyone who stallsSigned up, never activated. One sentence, from you, asking what stopped them.

  30m

2.5Harvest proof while you still know everyone

Testimonials are easiest to get from your first ten and hardest from your first thousand.

Target: 3 testimonials, 1 case study with a real number

• 2.5.1Ask your three happiest users for a testimonialSend them a draft to edit. “Write whatever you like” gets you nothing for three weeks.

  30m

• 2.5.2Put names or logos on the homepageAsk permission first. Three real names beat a wall of unfamiliar logos.

  30m

• 2.5.3Write case study number oneOne customer, one before number, one after number, one quote. Two pages maximum.

  3h·how to do it

• 2.5.4Record a two-minute customer videoA shaky call recording with real specifics beats a produced testimonial with none.

  1h

• 2.5.5Line up 20 users willing to review you laterYou need 20 asks to land 10 G2 reviews in Phase 2. Ask permission now, cash it in then.

  30m

3.1Build the pages the links will point at

Directories are the source of link equity; these are the destination. Submitting first wastes the listing.

Target: 8+ conversion-intent pages live and indexed

• 3.1.3Write the best-of list for your own categoryInclude your competitors honestly. This ranks for category queries and becomes an AI citation source.

  4h·how to do it

• 3.1.4Ship one free tool or template galleryTypeform’s template library drove 30k non-branded signups. It is also a permanent link magnet.

  16h·how to do it·guide

3.2Raise Domain Rating to 20

DR is the gate on every competitive keyword you will ever want. It is bought with an afternoon of forms.

Target: ahrefs_dr ≥ 20 · referring_domains ≥ 30

After 3.1 build the pages the links will point at

3.3Get indexed at scale

Pages that are not indexed do not exist. This is where most content investment quietly dies.

Target: 50+ pages indexed in GSC

• 3.3.1Submit the sitemap to Google and BingThen check the coverage report for what was excluded and why.

  15m

  After 1.3.1.2 generate sitemap.xml automatically

• 3.3.2Set up IndexNowPush new URLs to Bing and Yandex on publish instead of waiting for a crawl.

  45m

• 3.3.3Make every page reachable in three clicksOrphan pages do not get crawled. Internal links are the cheapest ranking factor you control.

  2h

• 3.3.4Clear the crawl errors in Search ConsoleEspecially “Discovered — currently not indexed”, which usually means thin or duplicate.

  2h

3.4Become citable by answer engines

AI-referred traffic converts far above organic search because the assistant pre-qualified them.

Target: 3+ AI citations across ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity

After 1.3.3 get ready to be quoted by answer engines

• 3.4.1Publish five pages answering real user questionsPull the questions verbatim from your support inbox and Phase 1 interviews.

  5h·how to do it

  After 2.3.4 write the top-five objections list

• 3.4.2Retrofit question-shaped headings on your top 10 pagesHeadings that match how people ask are what extraction matches against.

  2h·how to do it

• 3.4.3Publish a definition and stat block per core termSelf-contained, 40–60 words, one citable number. Written to be lifted whole.

  2h·how to do it

• 3.4.4Earn genuine mentions on Reddit and Hacker NewsBoth are indexed heavily by assistants. Genuine is doing the work; astroturf gets caught.

  3h·how to do it

• 3.4.5Run the citation check monthlySame four prompts every month, logged. Movement here leads revenue by about a quarter.

  30m

  After 1.3.3.3 record your ai-citation baseline

3.5Run the launch moment

Around 80% of failed launches fail for one of two reasons: no warm audience, or asking for upvotes.

Target: Top 5 of the day; 30+ genuine comments

After 3.1 build the pages the links will point at

3.6Run the 10-in-30 review driveB2B

A zero-review G2 listing is worse than no listing. Ten reviews is the threshold that matters.

Target: 10 G2 reviews

After 3.2.2.3 create the g2 listing

how to do it

• 3.6.1Identify 20 users who did something meaningfulNot signups — users who got a result. Reviews from non-users read as fake and get removed.

  30m

  After 2.5.5 line up 20 users willing to review you later

• 3.6.2Email each one a direct review linkDirect URL, no landing page in between. Friction here costs about 70% of responses.

  1h

• 3.6.3Offer a modest thank-you where the platform allows itG2 and TrustRadius permit small gift cards. Check the policy per platform, not per rumour.

  20m

• 3.6.4Follow up once after five daysExpect roughly 50% conversion from 20 asks. That is your ten.

  30m

• 3.6.5Reach 20 reviews at 4.0+ for the free badge“Users Love Us” is free. Do not buy a paid G2 plan in year one.

  1h

• 3.6.6Diary the G2 report cut-offsSummer closes around 28 April, Fall around 28 July. Missing one costs a quarter.

  10m

3.7Build consumer review proofB2C

The B2C counterpart to a G2 grid: buyers check a public rating before they trust a card form.

Target: 20 reviews at 4.0+

how to do it

• 3.7.1Claim the Trustpilot profileThe default place a consumer checks whether you are real. Free to claim.

  30m·Trustpilot·DR 93 · nofollow

• 3.7.2Ask 20 happy users for a review, one at a timeAfter a win in-product, never on a schedule. Direct link, no landing page in between.

  1h

  After 2.5.5 line up 20 users willing to review you later

• 3.7.3Reply to every review, especially the bad onesA well-handled 2-star does more for trust than another 5-star. Public replies are the product.

  45m

• 3.7.4Put the rating on the pricing pageProof belongs at the decision point, not on a testimonials page nobody opens.

  45m

  After 1.2.3.1 publish plans with real numbers

3.8Publish the founding content set

Ten pieces that answer what your buyers actually search, not what you find interesting.

Target: 10 published pieces against 3 clusters

guide

• 3.8.1Pick three topic clusters from real search demandVolume you can plausibly rank for at DR 20 — long-tail, low-difficulty, high-intent.

  2h

• 3.8.2Publish ten posts against those clustersThree or four per cluster beats ten scattered posts. Depth in one place is what ranks.

  40h

• 3.8.3Publish one original-data study“We analysed 10,000 X and found Y” becomes the citation everyone else has to use.

  16h·how to do it

• 3.8.4Publish one definitive how-to guideThe page you would send someone who knows nothing. Long, structured, genuinely complete.

  12h·how to do it

• 3.8.5Publish a cost and pricing explainer for your category“How much does X cost” is bottom-of-funnel traffic that competitors refuse to answer.

  4h·how to do it

3.9Win the store listingmobile app

Store search is where most app installs begin, and the listing is the whole funnel: it is the ad, the landing page and the checkout in one screen.

Target: Store impressions → install rate you can watch move

• 3.9.1Take the listing terms from the store ad platform, not from a guessThe ad tools expose what people actually type into the store — the closest thing to a keyword planner the app stores have.

  2h

• 3.9.2Make the first three screenshots carry the whole pitchAlmost nobody scrolls the gallery or reads the description. Three frames have to say what it is, who it is for and why it is better.

  4h

  After 3.9.1 take the listing terms from the store ad platform, not from a guess

• 3.9.3Localise the listing long before you localise the companyThe listing is a few hundred words and the store ranks each language separately. A market nobody else bothered to translate for is the cheapest ranking you will ever get.

  3h

  After 3.9.1 take the listing terms from the store ad platform, not from a guess

• 3.9.4Ask for the rating at the moment the app just workedRating is both ranking input and conversion rate on the same screen. Ask after a success, never on launch, and never twice.

  1h

4.1Know where signups actually come from

You cannot pick a winner you cannot see. This objective is the referee for the whole phase.

Target: Source known for ≥80% of signups

guide

• 4.1.1Add “how did you hear about us?” to signupA free-text box beats any tracking script for dark-social discovery. Read every answer.

  1h·guide

• 4.1.2UTM every outbound link you controlUse the convention you wrote in Phase 0. Untagged links become “direct” and hide your winner.

  30m

  After 1.1.1.4 write down your utm convention

• 4.1.3Store first-touch and last-touch on the user recordFirst touch tells you what to invest in; last touch tells you what to fix.

  2h

• 4.1.4Build a weekly channel report you will actually readFive rows: channel, signups, cost, CAC, trend. Anything longer gets skipped by week three.

  2h

4.2Run the channel tournament

Five candidates, four weeks, one scorecard, no sentiment. Then kill three of them.

Target: 5 channels tested to a decision

After 4.1 know where signups actually come from

guide

• 4.2.1Pick five candidate channelsPick where your ICP already gathers, not where you are most comfortable posting.

  45m·guide

• 4.2.2Define the four-week test for eachVolume, budget, and the number that counts as a pass. Written before you start, not after.

  1h

• 4.2.3Run all five in parallel for four weeksParallel, not sequential — sequential testing takes five months and the market moves.

  20h

• 4.2.4Score each on signups, CAC, effort and ceilingCeiling matters most: a channel that works but caps at 20 signups a month is not the winner.

  1h

• 4.2.5Kill the bottom three without negotiatingThe sunk cost is already sunk. Half-running four channels is how companies stall here.

  15m

4.3Double down on the winner

Most founders find their channel and then under-invest in it by an order of magnitude.

Target: Winner drives ≥40% of new signups

After 4.2 run the channel tournament

• 4.3.1Triple the volume on the winning channelBefore you optimise anything. Volume finds the ceiling faster than cleverness does.

  10h

• 4.3.2Document it as a repeatable SOPIf it lives only in your head, it cannot be delegated in Phase 4 and it dies when you get busy.

  2h

• 4.3.3Set a weekly cadence and defend itConsistency beats intensity in every distribution channel that compounds.

  15m

• 4.3.4Find out what breaks at ten times the volumeSupport load, moderation limits, ad auction, your own hours. Know it before you hit it.

  1h

4.4Convert the traffic you already have

Doubling conversion is usually cheaper than doubling traffic, and it multiplies every channel.

Target: Visitor → signup rate doubled

guide

• 4.4.1Test the homepage, one change at a timeHeadline first — it moves more than anything else on the page.

  5h

• 4.4.2Test the pricing pagePlan naming, ordering, the annual toggle, and what the free tier is allowed to do.

  5h

• 4.4.3Put social proof at the decision pointNext to the button, not in a carousel three sections down.

  1h

• 4.4.4Cut signup to the minimum viable fieldsEverything else can be asked after they are in and already invested.

  1h

• 4.4.5Add one exit-intent offerThe lead magnet from Phase 3.5, not a discount. Discounts train people to wait.

  2h

• 4.4.6Test a free tier against an extended trialThis decision shapes your CAC, your churn and your support load for years. Test it deliberately.

  10h

4.5Build the founder channel

At this size the founder outperforms the brand account by a wide margin. Use it while it lasts.

Target: Consistent posting for 12 straight weeks

guide

• 4.5.1Post 3–5 times a week on the one platform your ICP usesOne platform properly. Cross-posting everywhere reads as a broadcast, and performs like one.

  15h

• 4.5.2Publish a build-in-public metrics post monthlyReal numbers, including the bad month. This is the post that gets shared.

  1h·how to do it

• 4.5.3Publish the open-books postRevenue, costs, what you got wrong. Uncomfortable, and reliably the best-performing post you write.

  1h·how to do it

• 4.5.4Comment ten times more than you postThe reach is the thread itself, not the feed — on X the ranker drops replies from accounts a viewer does not follow. Being read under a big post still beats being unread under your own.

  10h·how to do it

• 4.5.5Write the post people forward, not the post people likeSending something to one person costs more than tapping a heart, and every ranker reads it that way. Ask of a draft: who would paste this into a DM, and what would they say about it?

  1h

  After 4.5.1 post 3–5 times a week on the one platform your icp uses

4.6Start the owned list

The only audience no algorithm can take away from you. Start it before you need it.

Target: 1,000 subscribers

• 4.6.1Launch the newsletterPick a cadence you can hold on your worst week, not your best one.

  2h

  After 1.6.4 put email capture on the site

• 4.6.2Build a 7-day email course as the lead magnetConverts better than a PDF and teaches them to open your emails at the same time.

  16h·how to do it

• 4.6.3Build a welcome sequence from your greatest hitsYour five best pieces, sent automatically. Zero marginal cost, permanently.

  3h·how to do it

• 4.6.4Hold the cadence for twelve weeksTwelve consecutive sends is where a list stops being a liability and starts being an asset.

  12h

5.1Industrialise content

Ten posts was an experiment. A hundred is a channel — but only with a system behind it.

Target: 2–4 published per week, sustained

• 5.1.1Build the cluster map for 50 target keywordsPillar plus spokes, mapped to funnel stage. This is the brief for everything you commission.

  4h·guide

• 5.1.2Set and defend a publishing cadenceTwo a week forever beats ten in January and nothing until June.

  30m

• 5.1.3Contract a writer who knows the domainCheaper than your time and better than your seventh draft. Domain knowledge is non-negotiable.

  10h

• 5.1.4Write the editorial brief templateKeyword, angle, outline, sources required, internal links, and what a rejection looks like.

  2h

• 5.1.5Refresh the ten decaying posts each quarterUpdating an existing ranked page beats publishing a new one, almost every time.

  8h

• 5.1.7Turn each guide into one visual card and post it to PinterestB2CPins are indexed and keep surfacing for months, so the asset compounds instead of scrolling away. Cheap to test: the guide already exists.

  2h·Pinterest

  After 5.1.2 set and defend a publishing cadence

5.2Build pages at scale

One template, hundreds of pages, one search pattern. The largest single SEO lever at this stage.

Target: 200+ indexed programmatic pages

After 3.3 get indexed at scale

• 5.2.1Pick the template with real search demandVerify the pattern has volume before you build a generator for it. Most do not.

  2h

• 5.2.2Generate /integrations/[partner] pageshas integrationsThe Zapier playbook: programmatic integration pages drive ~15% of their organic traffic.

  20h·how to do it

• 5.2.3Extend alternative pages to every competitorYou wrote four by hand in Phase 2. Now cover the long tail of the category.

  20h

  After 3.1.1 publish alternative pages for your top competitors

• 5.2.4Build the template or use-case gallery to 100+ entriesOne indexable page each, with related entries at the bottom. That internal mesh is the engine.

  40h

• 5.2.5Interlink the generated pagesUnlinked generated pages are orphans and never get crawled at this volume.

  8h

• 5.2.6Add a thin-content quality gateNoindex anything below the bar. Mass-publishing thin pages is how sites get demoted wholesale.

  8h

5.3Automate the lifecycle

The same emails you sent by hand in Phase 1, sent automatically and better.

Target: 5 automated flows live

guide

• 5.3.1Automate welcome and activationBehaviour-triggered, not day-based. “Has not activated after 48h” beats “day 2”.

  8h

  After 2.4.4 send a three-email first-week sequence

• 5.3.2Automate the trial-expiry sequenceDay −3, day −1, expiry day, day +3. The last one converts more than you expect.

  4h

• 5.3.3Build proper dunningCard retries plus four emails. Recovers 30–50% of involuntary churn for a day of work.

  4h

  After 1.5.3 turn on failed-payment emails

• 5.3.4Build the win-back sequenceSent 30 and 90 days after cancellation, and only when you have actually shipped their reason.

  4h

• 5.3.5Put an upgrade prompt at the limit momentWhen they hit the ceiling, not on a schedule. Context is the entire conversion rate.

  10h

5.4Build the referral loops

Acquisition that gets cheaper with scale instead of more expensive. Rare, and worth the build.

Target: 15% of signups from existing users

• 5.4.1Ship a double-sided referral incentiveBoth sides get something. One-sided programmes feel like being used, and perform like it.

  20h·how to do it

• 5.4.2Put a “made with” badge on free-tier outputThe classic bottom-up loop. Every free user becomes a distribution surface.

  16h·how to do it

• 5.4.3Trigger the ask at the promoter momentRight after a win in-product. Asking on a random Tuesday wastes the goodwill.

  8h·how to do it

• 5.4.4Create one genuinely shareable artefactA wrap, a score, a public report. Something users want to post because it flatters them.

  40h·how to do it

5.5Borrow other people’s audiences

Integration marketplaces are simultaneously the highest-DR backlinks available and a real channel.

Target: 3 integrations shipped and co-launched

• 5.5.1List the 20 tools your customers already useAsk them; do not guess. The answer is rarely the one you would have picked.

  2h

• 5.5.2Ship the top three integrationsRanked by how many customers asked, not by how interesting the API is.

  60h

• 5.5.3Co-launch each one with the partnerShipping an integration silently is the most common way to waste one.

  20h·how to do it

• 5.5.4Get listed in their marketplaceshas integrationsZapier DR 91, HubSpot 93, Slack 89, Notion 88, Airtable 82. Worth engineering for on their own.

  20h

• 5.5.5Run newsletter cross-promos with five non-competing toolsSame audience, different product. The cheapest qualified reach available at this size.

  16h·how to do it

• 5.5.6Co-author one substantial asset with a partnerA report or benchmark you both promote. Two audiences, one production cost.

  20h·how to do it

5.6Stop being the bottleneck

Past roughly $20k MRR the founder-as-marketing-team stops scaling and starts capping growth.

Target: Founder time on execution below 20%

• 5.6.1Write the SOP setOne page per recurring motion. You already wrote the first in Phase 3.

  20h

  After 4.3.2 document it as a repeatable sop

• 5.6.2Hire the first marketing execution roleExecution, not strategy. You still own strategy at this size and should.

  40h

• 5.6.3Institute the weekly metrics reviewSame day, same five numbers, thirty minutes. The ritual is the point.

  30m

• 5.6.4Build the single dashboard everyone readsIf there are two dashboards there is no dashboard.

  8h

6.1Fix the leaky bucket first

At 5% monthly churn, $1M ARR needs you to sell $600k of new revenue a year just to stand still.

Target: Gross churn < 3%/mo

guide

• 6.1.1Measure gross and net revenue churn monthlyBoth numbers. Net alone hides a retention problem behind expansion revenue.

  1h·guide

• 6.1.2Put an exit survey on every cancellationFive fixed options plus free text. The free text is where the actual reason lives.

  4h

• 6.1.3Build a save-offer flowMatch the offer to the stated reason. A blanket discount buys back the wrong customers.

  20h

• 6.1.4Offer pause instead of cancelA paused customer returns far more often than a cancelled one you have to win back.

  12h

• 6.1.5Get net revenue retention above 100%Above 100%, existing customers grow revenue on their own. That is what makes $1M reachable.

  1h

6.2Grow revenue per customer

Cheaper than acquisition and it compounds with every cohort you already own.

Target: ARPA up 30%

After 6.1 fix the leaky bucket first

• 6.2.1Add an expansion lever tied to valueSeats, usage, or workspaces — whichever grows as the customer gets more out of you.

  20h

• 6.2.2Introduce annual plans with a real discountTwo months free is the norm. It buys cash up front and a year of churn protection.

  10h

• 6.2.3Prompt upgrades at the value momentImmediately after a success in-product, never on a billing anniversary.

  10h

  After 5.3.5 put an upgrade prompt at the limit moment

• 6.2.4Raise prices for new customers and watchGrandfather everyone existing. Almost every product at this stage is underpriced.

  8h

• 6.2.5Repackage tiers around the value metricCharge for the thing that grows when they succeed, not for a feature checklist.

  20h

6.3Turn on paid, with a payback rule

Paid works here and not earlier, because you finally know your real LTV and conversion rate.

Target: CAC payback < 12 months

After 4.1 know where signups actually come from, 6.1 fix the leaky bucket first

guide

• 6.3.1Compute CAC payback and write the ruleOne sentence that decides every future spend, before you spend anything.

  2h·guide

• 6.3.2Defend your branded searchCheap, high-converting, and it stops competitors buying the traffic you earned.

  8h

• 6.3.3Bid on competitor and alternative keywordsPoint them at the alternative pages you built in Phase 2, not at the homepage.

  10h·how to do it

  After 3.1.1 publish alternative pages for your top competitors

• 6.3.4Retarget readers of your best pagesWarm, self-selected, and vastly cheaper than cold prospecting.

  10h·how to do it

• 6.3.5Sponsor niche newslettersSmall lists with real trust beat large lists with none. Start with three.

  16h·how to do it

• 6.3.6Boost the organic posts that already workedThe cheapest paid social there is, because the creative is pre-validated.

  4h·how to do it

• 6.3.7Kill anything breaching the payback rule, monthlyEnforced without exceptions. This is the whole reason you wrote the rule down first.

  1h

6.4Open a second segment

One segment usually runs out somewhere near $1M. Open the next one before it does.

Target: Second segment at 20% of new revenue

• 6.4.1Find who already pays you the mostSegment by revenue and retention, not by how much you enjoy the conversations.

  2h

• 6.4.2Build the vertical landing page and proofTheir language, their case study, their integrations, their compliance question answered.

  20h

• 6.4.3Price for that segment specificallyDifferent willingness to pay usually means a different package, not a different discount.

  10h

• 6.4.4Dedicate one channel to itRun the Phase 3 tournament again, scoped to the new segment. It rarely has the same winner.

  40h

6.5Add sales assist for larger dealsB2B

Not a sales team. A human on the deals where a human changes the outcome.

Target: Deals above threshold get a human

guide

• 6.5.1Define the deal size that earns a humanBelow it, self-serve only. Ambiguity here quietly destroys your unit economics.

  1h

• 6.5.2Add a book-a-demo path for those deals onlyQualify before booking. A calendar open to everyone consumes the week.

  10h

• 6.5.3Publish the security and compliance pageSOC 2 status, DPA, subprocessors, data residency. This page unblocks deals on its own.

  20h

• 6.5.4Write battle cards for the three competitors you meet mostWhere you win, where you honestly lose, and the question that reframes the comparison.

  10h

• 6.5.5Offer paid implementation for large accountsImproves their retention and yours, and it prices out the accounts you cannot serve.

  20h

6.6Own the category term

The last compounding asset: being the name people say when they describe the problem.

Target: Rank 1–3 for the category term

• 6.6.1Pick the term you intend to ownOne term. Something buyers already search, not a phrase you invented in a workshop.

  2h

• 6.6.2Publish the definitive resource on itThe page that makes every other page on the topic look thin.

  40h·how to do it

• 6.6.3Publish the annual state-of-the-niche reportRecurring original data. It becomes the thing journalists and AI answers cite by default.

  10 days·how to do it

• 6.6.4Pitch press off the original dataJournalists want the number, not the product. Lead with the finding.

  16h·how to do it

• 6.6.5Do twelve podcasts in a quarterBatch the pitching. One recorded hour keeps returning traffic for years.

  40h·how to do it

• 6.6.6Give one conference talk or workshopA talk becomes a video, a post, a lead magnet and a permanent backlink.

  40h·how to do it