Going To Market: Marketing + Sales for Early-Stage SaaS Founders
Part of Twin Cities Startup Week 2026, September 14–18.
Early-stage founders have to make a lot of go-to-market decisions before they have the budget or team to do everything the “right” way. What positioning work actually matters right now? What can you do yourself? When do you need a salesperson? Which parts of your marketing can wait? And where is outside help actually worth paying for?
Erin Miska and Barbara Knott will walk through the early-stage GTM process from both the marketing and sales sides, including what founders can skip, what they should own themselves, and where getting help can make a meaningful difference. Then they'll turn the second half of the session over to founders in the room for open Q&A. Bring the sales and marketing questions you're actually dealing with, whether that's positioning, messaging, pipeline, first sales hires, or figuring out what you should be working on next. Attendees should leave with a clearer sense of where to focus their limited time and resources and what they can start doing differently Monday morning.
Speakers & Perspectives:
Erin Miska, B2B SaaS Product & Marketing Leader - Product positioning and marketing: With 15 years of B2B SaaS product management and marketing experience, Erin will focus on helping founders make sure the market understands what they've built, who it's for, and why it matters. She'll bring the marketing and positioning side of building an early-stage GTM strategy.
Barbara Knott, B2B SaaS Sales Advisor - Sales strategy and process: Barbara will bring experience selling and building sales teams at companies including Oracle and Workday to help early-stage B2B SaaS founders think through sales strategy, pipeline, process, and when it makes sense to make their first sales hires.
Getting here on Wednesday. Parking, Basecamp, lunch, and the rest of the day: tcstartupweek.com/wednesday