Design the Right Go-To-Market for You, Without Burnout
Design the Right Go-To-Market for You — Without Burnout
Most early-stage founders don’t fail because they lack hustle.
They fail because they’re handed the wrong GTM playbook at the wrong time.
Ads too early. Tools before clarity. “Just try everything” advice.
The result? Burned cash, scattered execution, and founders questioning themselves.
This 45-minute, high-signal session is built to interrupt that pattern.
Led by Carmela Fortin, CEO of Seattle Startup Coaches, Fractional AI CMO, and host of The AI Marketing Coach, this session helps founders design a go-to-market strategy that actually fits their product, market, and stage—without copying VC Twitter, accelerator dogma, or last company muscle memory.
She’s joined by Steve Wood (Co-Founder, Noded AI; former SVP Product at Slack, CPO at Boomi) and Chris Port (CEO & Co-Founder, Noded AI; former COO at Boomi), bringing real operator perspective from scaling complex products and GTM teams.
This is not a tactics dump.
This is a clarity session for founders who want momentum and sustainability.
What You’ll Walk Away With
1. A GTM direction you actually trust
Learn how to choose a GTM approach that fits your reality:
B2B, B2C, SaaS, AI, DTC, services
What growth levers matter now (and which are distractions)
How to stop borrowing playbooks that don’t match your stage
The goal: fit over hype, confidence over noise.
2. A clear answer to “what should I be working on right now?”
You’ll learn how to intentionally allocate your time between:
Building vs. launching
Product vs. marketing
Learning vs. scaling
So you can stop doing “a little of everything” and start making real progress.
3. How to spend to learn—not to scale
Early spend should reduce uncertainty, not manufacture growth.
You’ll learn:
When ads and tools help learning—and when they distort signals
How mis-sequenced spend creates pressure and burnout
How to set small, intentional budgets that create clarity
4. When to add tools (and when to absolutely not)
Founders are walked through a tooling progression:
Baseline tools (everyone needs these)
Clarity amplifiers (only after direction exists)
Motion support tools (only once momentum is real)
You’ll understand why tools either amplify clarity—or chaos.
5. How to protect energy and avoid GTM burnout
Burnout isn’t a personal flaw. It’s a systems problem.
This session reframes GTM as:
A sequencing problem
A productivity problem
An energy-management problem
You’ll learn how focus, restraint, and signal-driven decisions protect momentum—for you and your team.
Interactive (Optional, Founder-Safe)
You’ll be introduced to lightweight tools designed to reduce overwhelm:
A GTM diagnostic to pinpoint what’s actually broken
A demand generation calculator that shows what must be true upstream
A tooling guide that helps you delay complexity without falling behind
No busywork. No dashboards for the sake of dashboards.
Who This Is For
Pre-seed and early-stage founders
Solo founders and small teams
Founders considering or applying to Founder Institute Seattle
Builders who want clarity, confidence, and sustainable momentum
If you’re tired of “do more” advice and want to build something real—this is for you.
Why FI Founders Should Attend
This session reflects how Founder Institute Seattle actually works:
Multiple paths (VC, bootstrap, build-to-sell)
Execution over hype
Discipline before scale
Sustainable companies, not founder burnout
If you’re thinking about applying, this is a preview of the thinking, and standards, we expect.
Our first cohort starts April 22nd, apply at fi.co/seattle
This is not a tactical workshop.
It’s a clarity-first GTM session designed to help founders move forward without burning themselves, or their teams, out.
👉 Come curious. Leave clear.