UGLY TALK: WHY THE STANDARD GTM PLAYBOOK WON’T GET YOU FAR ANYMORE
Launching a company is only the first baby step. You can spend days, weeks, or months building something, hit launch, and still hear crickets.
Everyone runs the same standard GTM playbook. Same channels, same launch posts, same best practices. The market is noisier, audiences are more skeptical, and the playbook everyone shares no longer earns traction. Some of our speakers will argue the real gap is not go-to-market at all. It is the work that should happen before it.
🎯 Why You Should Attend
Understand why the standard GTM playbook stopped producing traction.
Hear what founders actually did when their launch went quiet.
Learn from the launch mistakes founders had to pay for.
Get clarity on the work that has to happen before any channel works.
Spot the common missteps that slow product adoption and growth.
🙋 Who's Getting In This Room
Founders preparing to launch or scale a product.
Go-to-market, brand, and marketing leaders.
Operators supporting product growth and customer acquisition.
Investors, advisors, and ecosystem partners working with early-stage companies.
🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage
Prince Rumi - Partner at Excelsior Edge Ventures
Prince Rumi is the founder of Madeline & Co., an AI-native strategy and execution platform helping leadership teams turn strategic thinking into coordinated action. With a background spanning music, film, brand strategy, and AI, he has spent two decades exploring how ideas become culture. He also founded Excelsior Edge Ventures, where he works alongside founders building enduring companies, and has cultivated a community of more than 11,000 founders, investors, and executives across New York City. His work sits at the intersection of strategy, technology, venture building, and organizational intelligence.
Zach Moskow - Founding Team, Head of GTM & Product at Concentrate AI
Zach Moskow is founding Head of Product and GTM at Concentrate AI — the last AI inference provider you’ll ever onboard. One API, hundreds of models, better rates, usage analytics. Backed by a $5.1M pre-seed from True Ventures and RRE Ventures, Concentrate routes billions of tokens and recently crossed its first 300B token day. Previously, Zach spent three-plus years as a Chief of Staff across Steve Cohen’s Point72 and the New York Mets, working on strategy, operations, human capital, and AI. A WashU in St. Louis grad based in New York, he frequently tweets about AI to his 942 followers.
💬 What We Do Not Sugarcoat
Where the standard playbook breaks The crowded channels, copied tactics, and best practices that stopped producing results.
Launch day reality What actually happens when founders hit launch and the market does not respond.
GTM versus the work before it Why positioning, purpose, and story decide whether any channel works.
Real cases of what did not work The launch mistakes, false assumptions, and failed tactics founders had to learn from.
From launch to traction How to turn attention into adoption, feedback into iteration, and early users into momentum.
Who's Backing This
Excelsior Edge Ventures is an emerging venture firm that partners with domain experts who have close proximity to broken systems. Through our proprietary venture-building methodology, we help founders move from pre-idea to MVP, building category-defining technology companies with speed and rigor.
Industrious is coming to Grand Central. Book a tour today for an early look at Midtown’s newest flexible workspace, opening this August. Founding member pricing is available for a limited time.
About Industrious
Industrious delivers premium flexible workspaces designed for better workdays. From coworking and private offices to meeting rooms and suites, Industrious takes care of the details so members can stay focused on their work. Opening this August near Grand Central Terminal, the new location will bring thoughtful design, warm hospitality, and flexible workspace options to the heart of Midtown.
GREY Journal – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News).
⭐ About Ugly Talk:
Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.
With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.
Official Website: UglyTalk.com
📢 Important Notice for Ugly Talk Attendees
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