Mastering your commercialization engine

For early-stage startups, the term “go-to-market” is often mistaken for a launch activity. A campaign, a sales push, or a growth sprint.  A go-to-market is a roadmap organisation’s made for launching a new product or service.

In reality, go-to-market is a learning process. It is how founders understand who their customer truly is, how value is delivered, and what it takes to move from early interest to real adoption.

These insights were at the center of an expert sharing session led by Sharinee Shannon, Venture Partner at Hive Ventures, as part of the She Wins Climate Southeast Asia Accelerator Program.

Start with one customer

One of the most important messages from the session was the need for focus at the earliest stage.

“You don’t win go-to-market by trying to serve everyone. You win by knowing one customer deeply, then expanding from there.”

Early-stage founders often see multiple potential customer segments, especially when building solutions that could apply across industries. While this flexibility can be valuable, pursuing too many customer types at once slows learning.

By selecting one ideal customer profile (ICP), founders are forced to go deeper. This includes understanding the customer’s buying cycle, pricing constraints, internal decision-making, competitors in their context, and where they spend time.

This depth of understanding becomes the foundation for effective distribution, pricing, and messaging. Expansion can come later, once there is evidence of traction.

Defining your ICP clearly

To help founders move from assumptions to action, the session encouraged using a simple framing to define an ICP:

We help (who) solve (pain) by (solution) because (urgent why).

The goal is to be as specific as possible. Specificity helps translate strategy into action.

A clear ICP definition makes it easier to decide:

• Who to prioritise for conversations and pilots
• How to tailor messaging and value propositions
• Which channels and partnerships are worth pursuing
• What kind of evidence or validation is needed

If defining one ICP feels restrictive, it may help to see it as a starting point rather than a permanent choice.

Start with a problem that feels urgent

Go-to-market does not start with market size. It starts with a problem that customers feel strongly enough to act on.

Useful questions to explore include:

• How does this customer currently address the problem?
• What are the limitations of that approach?
• What risks or costs exist if the problem remains unsolved?

Understanding urgency helps shape messaging, pricing, and distribution decisions, and often explains why some customers move faster than others.

Early go-to-market is about learning

In the early stages, go-to-market activities are less about scaling and more about learning.

Pilots, trials, and early deployments provide valuable insight into:

• How customers actually use the product
• Who is involved in approving a purchase
• How long decisions take in practice
• Where friction or hesitation occurs

These insights help founders refine both the product and the go-to-market approach before expanding further.

Choosing distribution with intention

Distribution channels should reflect how a chosen ICP prefers to discover and adopt solutions.

Some customers value direct engagement, while others rely on partners or peer recommendations. Understanding these preferences reduces wasted effort and improves conversion.

When the ICP is clear, distribution decisions tend to become more straightforward.

Pricing as part of go-to-market

Pricing plays a role beyond revenue generation. It signals value and influences adoption.

Early pricing discussions can reveal how customers perceive the importance of the problem being solved. Feedback during negotiations or pilots often provides direction for refinement.

Rather than aiming for perfect pricing early on, the goal is to learn and adjust.

Go-to-market evolves over time

It is expected that a go-to-market approach will change as a startup gains experience and feedback from the market.

Adjustments to ICP, messaging, channels, or pricing are signs of learning, not failure.

Go-to-market is best viewed as a capability that strengthens over time through focused experimentation and reflection.

Supporting women-led climate startups

This expert sharing session is part of the She Wins Climate Southeast Asia Accelerator, initiated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and supported by the Government of Canada and the Government of Australia.

The program supports women-led climate startups across Southeast Asia with investment readiness, go-to-market capability, and access to regional and global networks.