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Guide · GTM tool stack
The GTM tool stack for B2B SaaS founders, stage by stage
Short answer: the best go-to-market tool stack for an early-stage B2B SaaS is smaller than most founders think. Before 10 customers, a spreadsheet or free CRM, your own inbox, LinkedIn, a booking link, Stripe and a written plan cover it. Add each new tool when a specific trigger shows up, like more prospects than you can email by hand or more users than you can watch, not before. Tools scale the ICP and positioning you already have. They don't fix them.
Disclosure. Some links on this page may be affiliate links: if you buy, Mazo may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend or the order tools appear in. Tools are listed alphabetically, affiliate links are marked, and we only mention a free plan where we checked the vendor's own site. Mazo only appears in the strategy rows, next to the alternatives.
The rule before any tool: tools don't fix an unclear ICP or positioning
A sending tool puts your message in front of more people. A data tool finds more people who look like your list. If the list is wrong or the message is generic, both make the problem bigger, faster.
- Wrong list and generic messaging are the first two ways outbound fails in the outbound diagnosis Mazo uses, drawn from Aaron Ross and Jacco van der Kooij. The fix for both is manual: pick 50 dream accounts by hand, then write about their situation, not your product.
- Your ICP comes from your best customers, not from a filter in a data tool. April Dunford's advice in Obviously Awesome: look at the customers who bought fastest and stayed longest, and find what they have in common. Under 10 customers, treat it as a hypothesis and test it in interviews.
- Your first 10 customers rarely come from a tool. As Lenny Rachitsky notes, most successful B2B companies got them from the founders' own network and manual outreach.
- Your price decides which stack you'll ever need. Brian Balfour's channel–model fit: a low price per customer can't fund an outbound motion, so an outbound stack is money spent on a channel that can't pay for itself.
Mazo's rule of thumb: before you buy a go-to-market tool, write the sentence it will help you say to more people: who you're for and what you replace. If you can't write it, spend the week on five customer interviews instead.
Your GTM stack, stage by stage
For each job, three buckets: what to use now, what to ignore for now and why, and the trigger that tells you when to add it. Categories come first. The named tools are well-known examples, listed alphabetically, not picks.
Pre-revenue: no paying customers yet
Goal: prove who buys and why
| Job | Use now | Ignore for now (why) | Add when |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | A spreadsheet, or a free CRM plan such as HubSpot's free CRM or Attio's Free plan: one row per conversation | Paid tiers and pipeline automation: there's no pipeline to automate yet | You start missing follow-ups, or someone else talks to prospects too |
| Prospecting and contact data | Your network and LinkedIn search; a hand-picked list of people who share one profile | Contact-data platforms (e.g. Amplemarket (Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket), Apollo, Cognism, Lusha): you need a few conversations with one profile, not thousands of contacts | Interviews confirm a profile and you need more people like them than you can find by hand |
| Data enrichment and signals | Nothing | Enrichment and signal tools: they add data to a list you don't have yet | You have a list worth enriching (see the next stages) |
| Email outreach | Your own inbox, every email written one at a time | Cold email tools (e.g. Instantly, lemlist, Smartlead): volume before you have a message that works scales the wrong message | A message gets replies from one profile and you have more of those people than you can email personally |
| Email deliverability and warmup | Nothing extra: a handful of personal emails from your normal inbox | Warmup and inbox-placement tools | You start sending cold email in volume |
| LinkedIn and LinkedIn automation | Your personal profile, messages to people you'd like to interview, posts about what you're learning | Automation tools and ads: automated messages read as generic, which is what kills replies | You work an account list every week (LinkedIn Sales Navigator) |
| AI sales and outreach tools | ChatGPT or Claude to prepare interview questions and summarise your notes | AI SDR and AI outreach tools: they automate outreach you haven't yet learned to do by hand | You have a proven message and list (see 10–50 customers) |
| Website, landing pages and forms | One page with your positioning sentence and a booking link, on any site builder (e.g. Carrd, Framer, Webflow, WordPress.com); a form for a waitlist or survey (e.g. Google Forms, Tally, Typeform) | A/B testing and landing-page optimisation: there isn't enough traffic to learn from | You send paid traffic or campaigns to dedicated landing pages (e.g. Unbounce) |
| Web analytics and SEO | Basic web analytics once the page is live (e.g. Google Analytics, Plausible, Simple Analytics) | SEO suites: search is a slow channel, and you don't yet know what buyers search for | Content and search becomes your chosen channel (Google Search Console first, then e.g. Ahrefs, Semrush) |
| Product analytics and session replay | Nothing yet, or watch the first users use it with you on a call | Dashboards: with a handful of users, talking to them tells you more | People sign up that you haven't met (see the next stage) |
| Billing, subscriptions and e-signature | An invoice or Stripe to take a pre-order or a paid pilot; an e-signature tool if a pilot needs a signed agreement (e.g. Docusign, Dropbox Sign) | Subscription tiers and billing platforms: before product-market fit, sell one plan | Customers start paying you every month |
| Customer support and chat | Email, and one shared doc with notes from every interview | Help desks and chat widgets: there's nobody to support yet | You have users asking questions |
| Meeting notes and call recording | An AI notetaker for interviews, with the other person's permission (e.g. Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Otter) | Conversation intelligence platforms built for sales teams | Other people run sales calls and need coaching (e.g. Gong) |
| Scheduling | A booking link in every message (e.g. Cal.com, Calendly, SavvyCal) | Routing and team scheduling | A second person takes calls |
| Strategy: deciding what to do | A written ICP hypothesis and positioning sentence, worked out in a spreadsheet with ChatGPT or Claude, with the free tools, or with an AI GTM advisor like Mazo | A fractional CMO retainer: there's no team or budget to lead yet | See the strategy row below |
Red flag: paying for a data platform or a cold email tool before five interviews with one profile have surfaced the same pain. So is running three channels before you have 10 paying customers.
Mazo's rule of thumb: pre-revenue, if a tool saves you from talking to a customer, you don't need it yet. A spreadsheet, your inbox, LinkedIn and a booking link are the whole stack.
1–10 customers
Goal: close your first 10 customers yourself
| Job | Use now | Ignore for now (why) | Add when |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | A CRM with one pipeline (e.g. Attio, folk, HubSpot, Pipedrive); log every objection you hear | Forecasting, paid add-ons and enterprise CRMs (e.g. Salesforce): 10 deals don't need a forecast | Your pipeline no longer fits in a single weekly review, or a second person sells |
| Prospecting and contact data | A list of 50 dream accounts you picked by hand, plus a contact-data tool to find the right person (e.g. Amplemarket (Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket), Apollo, Cognism, Lusha) | Buying big lists: more contacts don't make a better list | You've written your ICP down from real customers and need more matching accounts than you can research by hand |
| Data enrichment and signals | Manual research on each account before you write to it | Enrichment workflows and signal platforms (e.g. Clay, Common Room): they're for lists bigger than the one you should be working now | You've named a trigger event, like new funding or a relevant hire, and there are more matching accounts than you can check by hand |
| Email outreach | Your inbox, personal emails, and follow-up until you get a yes or a no, as Steli Efti advises | High-volume sending tools and extra sending domains: you're still learning which message works | One message reliably gets replies from one profile |
| Email deliverability and warmup | Your domain's email authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) set up, and a spam check on your main message (e.g. mail-tester) | Warmup tools while you're sending personal volumes | You add separate domains for cold email (e.g. GlockApps, MailReach) |
| LinkedIn and LinkedIn automation | Messages to your warm network and regular founder posts: a point of view, not product promotion (Dave Gerhardt's advice) | Automation tools (e.g. Dripify, Expandi, HeyReach, Waalaxy) and ads: at this stage every message should be one you wrote, and check LinkedIn's terms before automating anything | You work an account list every week (LinkedIn Sales Navigator) |
| AI sales and outreach tools | AI writing help on emails you still read and send yourself (e.g. Lavender, or ChatGPT or Claude) | AI SDR and AI prospecting tools (e.g. 11x, Artisan, Regie.ai): they automate a pitch you haven't proven yet | You have a written message, list and process to extend (see 10–50 customers) |
| Website, landing pages and forms | A homepage that names who it's for and what it replaces, and a free-text "How did you hear about us?" field on signup and demo forms (e.g. Jotform, Tally, Typeform) | Landing-page optimisation tools and redesigns | You run campaigns to dedicated landing pages (e.g. Unbounce) |
| Web analytics and SEO | Basic web analytics (e.g. Google Analytics, Plausible, Simple Analytics) and Google Search Console to see which searches find you | Attribution software: as Chris Walker points out, it over-credits the last click and misses word of mouth. Paid SEO suites, too, unless search is your channel | Content and search becomes your chosen channel (e.g. Ahrefs, Semrush) |
| Product analytics and session replay | If people sign up without talking to you: event tracking on the few steps from signup to first value, plus session replays (e.g. Microsoft Clarity, PostHog, which has a free monthly allowance) | Detailed dashboards and data warehouses | You need retention by signup cohort (e.g. Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog) |
| Billing, subscriptions and e-signature | Stripe for subscriptions or invoices, one plan; e-signature when a buyer asks for a signed order form (e.g. Docusign, Dropbox Sign) | Usage-based metering and dedicated billing platforms | You sell self-serve in many countries and want payments and sales tax handled for you (e.g. Lemon Squeezy, Paddle) |
| Customer support and chat | Your email, and a call with every new customer | Help desks and chat widgets: every early customer should reach you directly | The same questions keep coming up, or messages get lost in your inbox (e.g. Crisp, Help Scout, Intercom, Plain) |
| Meeting notes and call recording | An AI notetaker on sales calls, with permission (e.g. Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Otter); reread the objections every week | Conversation intelligence platforms (e.g. Gong): built for coaching a sales team | Someone else starts taking sales calls |
| Scheduling | Your booking link in every email and post (e.g. Cal.com, Calendly, SavvyCal) | Routing forms and round-robin | Someone else takes demos |
| Strategy: deciding what to do | One ICP, one positioning sentence and one channel, reviewed weekly: in a spreadsheet with ChatGPT or Claude, with the free first 10 customers plan, or with Mazo | A fractional CMO retainer, unless you've raised and have a marketing budget to hand over | See the strategy row below |
Red flag: buying a sales-engagement stack (contact data, sequences, AI SDRs) before 10 customers. You'd be automating a pitch you haven't proven, and losing the objections you'd hear by selling yourself.
Mazo's rule of thumb: before 10 customers, every tool should make you faster at personal outreach, not replace it. If you're sending emails you didn't read, you've automated too early.
10–50 customers
Goal: make it repeatable
| Job | Use now | Ignore for now (why) | Add when |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | A CRM (e.g. Attio, folk, HubSpot, Pipedrive) with stages that match how buyers buy, and discovery notes structured with Winning by Design's SPICED | Heavy customisation and enterprise add-ons | You hire your first account executives and need to compare how each works deals; an enterprise CRM (e.g. Salesforce) when your sales process needs one |
| Prospecting and contact data | A contact-data tool (e.g. Amplemarket (Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket), Apollo, Cognism, Lusha) for accounts that match your written ICP | Large intent-data contracts: your list is still small enough to research | A dedicated prospecting hire joins |
| Data enrichment and signals | Alerts for your ICP's trigger events (new funding, leadership hires, relevant job posts), and enrichment to fill in contact details (e.g. Dropcontact, FullEnrich) | Complex workflows nobody maintains | List-building eats hours every week (e.g. Clay, Common Room) |
| Email outreach | A sequencing tool for a message that already gets replies (e.g. Amplemarket (Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket), Instantly, lemlist, Smartlead): 6–8 touches over about three weeks, mixing email, LinkedIn and a call | Enterprise sales engagement platforms (e.g. Outreach, Salesloft), and sending more than your list of good-fit accounts supports | A sales team needs shared sequences and reporting |
| Email deliverability and warmup | A separate domain for cold email, with warmup and inbox-placement tests (e.g. GlockApps, mail-tester, MailReach) | Sending more to make up for falling reply rates | Replies drop or messages start landing in spam |
| LinkedIn and LinkedIn automation | Consistent founder posts, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator for account lists | Paid ads until you know your price can pay for them; automation tools (e.g. Dripify, Expandi, HeyReach, Waalaxy) for any message you haven't sent by hand first | You have a message that converts and know what a customer costs you to win |
| AI sales and outreach tools | AI help researching accounts and drafting first lines you review (e.g. Lavender, Regie.ai) | Handing all your outreach to an AI SDR before you know your own reply rates | Your message, list and process are written down and you want to extend them (e.g. 11x, Artisan); judge them against the reply rates you get yourself |
| Website, landing pages and forms | A public pricing page if a customer pays under about €10K a year (Kyle Poyar's rule), and demo request forms (e.g. Jotform, Tally, Typeform) | A full website rebuild | Paid campaigns need their own landing pages (e.g. Unbounce), or marketing needs a site it can edit without a developer (e.g. Framer, Webflow) |
| Web analytics and SEO | Web analytics plus self-reported attribution, and Google Search Console | Marketing automation platforms: there's not enough inbound to nurture | Content and search becomes a chosen channel (e.g. Ahrefs, Semrush), or inbound leads arrive faster than you can follow up |
| Product analytics and session replay | An activation funnel and retention by signup cohort (e.g. Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog), and session replays where people drop off (e.g. Microsoft Clarity, PostHog). Read the cohort curve the way Casey Winters describes | A data warehouse | Your questions need product, billing and CRM data in one place |
| Billing, subscriptions and e-signature | A billing tool (e.g. Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Stripe) with a price review every six months; proposals and e-signature for sales-led deals (e.g. Docusign, Dropbox Sign, Qwilr) | Dedicated revenue and billing platforms | Usage pricing, multiple currencies or finance reporting outgrow your setup (e.g. Chargebee) |
| Customer support and chat | A shared inbox or help desk (e.g. Crisp, Help Scout, Intercom, Plain, Zendesk), help articles for repeated questions, and onboarding emails triggered by what users did or didn't do (Wes Bush's bowling alley) | Customer success platforms: nobody owns accounts full time yet | Someone owns customer success and retention becomes a weekly number |
| Meeting notes and call recording | A notetaker on every sales and customer call, shared with everyone who sells (e.g. Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Otter) | Recordings nobody reviews | You hire reps and need call coaching (e.g. Gong) |
| Scheduling | Team booking links for everyone who takes calls (e.g. Cal.com, Calendly, SavvyCal) | Complex routing | Inbound demo requests need to go to different people (e.g. Chili Piper) |
| Strategy: deciding what to do | A written sales process, a pricing review and one channel pushed hard: in a spreadsheet with ChatGPT or Claude, with Mazo, or with a fractional CMO if you're about to hire marketers or agencies | A full-time marketing leader | See the strategy row below |
Red flag: buying a full revenue stack, or hiring a VP of Sales, while every deal still runs differently. Tools and people scale a process; they don't invent one.
Mazo's rule of thumb: add a tool when a step is repeated and written down, never to create the step. If you can't describe the step in one line, a tool will only make it messier.
€50K ARR and up, towards €1M
Goal: build a pipeline that doesn't depend on you
| Job | Use now | Ignore for now (why) | Add when |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | Your CRM as the one source of truth: pipeline by source, conversion by stage, and how long a customer takes to pay back what they cost to win (CAC payback) | Switching CRMs for its own sake | Several people sell and someone needs to own the system (a revenue operations role), or your process needs an enterprise CRM (e.g. Salesforce) |
| Prospecting and contact data | Contact data owned by whoever prospects (e.g. Amplemarket (Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket), Apollo, Cognism, Lusha) | Account-based marketing platforms, unless your price per customer is high | You sell to a named list of large accounts with long sales cycles |
| Data enrichment and signals | Enrichment and signal workflows feeding your CRM (e.g. Clay, Common Room, Dropcontact, FullEnrich) | Tracking signals nobody acts on | A signal consistently comes before your best deals |
| Email outreach | Sequences owned by the person who prospects; a sales engagement platform once the team grows (e.g. Outreach, Salesloft) | More sending volume to make up for falling reply rates | Founder-led outbound works and you're ready for a first prospecting hire (Aaron Ross's role split) |
| Email deliverability and warmup | Regular inbox-placement checks (e.g. GlockApps, MailReach) | Buying more domains to outrun a spam problem | Several people send from several domains |
| LinkedIn and LinkedIn automation | Founder and team posts; paid LinkedIn if you can measure payback | Automation that makes the whole team's messages generic | A second person in the company builds an audience |
| AI sales and outreach tools | AI tools on a written, measured process, compared with what your team gets by hand (e.g. 11x, Artisan, Lavender, Regie.ai) | Replacing reps before you know their numbers | A step in your process is repeated, measured and slow |
| Website, landing pages and forms | A site marketing can edit (e.g. Framer, Webflow, WordPress.com) and landing pages for campaigns (e.g. Unbounce) | A redesign as a substitute for sharper positioning | Your first marketing hire starts |
| Web analytics and SEO | SEO tools if content and search is a chosen channel (e.g. Ahrefs, Google Search Console, Semrush), marketing automation for inbound nurture, and self-reported attribution | Multi-touch attribution software to settle channel arguments: ask customers instead | Your first marketing hire, who should create pipeline (Jason Lemkin's advice) |
| Product analytics and session replay | Usage signals that show buying intent if you're product-led, Blake Bartlett's product-qualified leads (e.g. Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog) | Tracking every event "just in case" | Product, billing and CRM questions need answering together (a data warehouse) |
| Billing, subscriptions and e-signature | A billing tool (e.g. Chargebee, Stripe) with subscription metrics: expansion, churn and net revenue retention; proposals for larger deals (e.g. Qwilr) | Rebuilding billing before pricing is settled | Finance needs revenue reporting your billing tool can't give |
| Customer support and chat | A help desk (e.g. Intercom, Plain, Zendesk), and a customer success tool once someone owns renewals and expansion | Scaling acquisition while churn is high: fix retention first, as Elena Verna argues | Net revenue retention is the number you review every week |
| Meeting notes and call recording | Call recording for coaching reps (e.g. Gong), or notetakers (e.g. Fathom, Fireflies, Granola, Otter) | Recordings nobody reviews | A sales manager coaches reps every week |
| Scheduling | Routing for inbound demo requests (e.g. Chili Piper) | — | Several salespeople share inbound demand |
| Strategy: deciding what to do | A fractional CMO once you have a team or agencies to lead; Mazo while you still run go-to-market yourself; ChatGPT or Claude for drafting and research either way | A full marketing team built around a motion that only works when you're in the room | You're hiring your first marketer (see fractional CMO vs Mazo) |
Red flag: adding tools and headcount to a growth model that isn't working. It scales the problem along with the spend.
Mazo's rule of thumb: at this stage every tool needs an owner and a number. Before you buy, name the person who'll run it and the metric it should move. A tool nobody owns is a monthly bill and a messy database.
Every tool on this page, by job
The same tools in one place, listed alphabetically within each job. The last column is the earliest point most founders get value from the category; your stage table above has the detail.
| Job | What it's for | Well-known options (A–Z) | Usually worth adding |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | Tracking every conversation and deal | Attio, folk, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce | A spreadsheet or free plan from day one; paid tiers once a second person sells |
| Prospecting and contact data | Finding the right person, and their contact details, at accounts you picked | Amplemarket (Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket), Apollo, Cognism, Lusha | 1–10 customers, for a hand-picked list |
| Data enrichment and signals | Filling in contact details and spotting trigger events | Clay, Common Room, Dropcontact, FullEnrich | 10–50 customers |
| Cold email and sales engagement | Sending and managing email sequences | Instantly, lemlist, Outreach, Salesloft, Smartlead | 10–50 customers, with a message that already gets replies |
| Email deliverability and warmup | Keeping cold email out of spam | GlockApps, mail-tester, MailReach | When you send cold email in volume |
| LinkedIn sales tools | Building and working account lists on LinkedIn | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | When you work an account list every week |
| LinkedIn automation | Automating LinkedIn outreach | Dripify, Expandi, HeyReach, Waalaxy | Only for messages you've proven by hand, after checking LinkedIn's terms |
| AI sales and outreach | AI-assisted prospecting, research and email writing | 11x, Artisan, Lavender, Regie.ai | 10–50 customers, with a written message and process |
| Website and landing page builders | Your site and campaign pages | Carrd, Framer, Unbounce, Webflow, WordPress.com | Pre-revenue: one page |
| Forms and surveys | Waitlists, demo requests and customer surveys | Google Forms, Jotform, Tally, Typeform | Pre-revenue |
| Web analytics | Who visits your site and where they come from | Google Analytics, Plausible, Simple Analytics | As soon as the site is live |
| SEO and content | Seeing what buyers search for and how you rank | Ahrefs, Google Search Console, Semrush | When content and search is your chosen channel |
| Product analytics and session replay | What users do in your product, and where they drop off | Amplitude, Microsoft Clarity, Mixpanel, PostHog | When people sign up that you haven't met |
| Billing and subscriptions | Taking payments and running subscriptions | Chargebee, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Stripe | Your first paying customer |
| E-signature and proposals | Getting pilots, order forms and proposals signed | Docusign, Dropbox Sign, Qwilr | When a buyer asks for a contract |
| Customer support and chat | Answering customer questions in one place | Crisp, Help Scout, Intercom, Plain, Zendesk | When questions repeat or get lost in your inbox |
| Meeting notes and call recording | Capturing interviews and sales calls | Fathom, Fireflies, Gong, Granola, Otter | A notetaker from your first interview; call coaching once you have reps |
| Scheduling | Booking calls and routing demo requests | Cal.com, Calendly, Chili Piper, SavvyCal | A booking link from day one; routing once several people take demos |
The strategy row: deciding what to do
None of the tools above tells you which customer to chase, what to charge or which channel to push. That's the strategy job, and there are three honest ways to cover it. Mazo is one of them. It doesn't send your emails, hold your pipeline or run your ads: it helps you decide what to do, then checks whether it worked.
| A spreadsheet + ChatGPT or Claude | Mazo (AI GTM advisor) | Fractional CMO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Answers and drafts for whatever you ask, if you give it your context | A go-to-market diagnosis, a 90-day plan, one move at a time with a pass/fail test, and weekly follow-up | A senior marketer's judgement, plus leadership of your team and agencies |
| Who runs the process | You: the brief, the plan, the weekly review | Mazo sets the plan and follows up; you do the work | They lead it, often with their own team |
| Cost | The AI plan you already pay for | €99 a month or €990 a year; 14-day free trial, no credit card | Most charge $8,000–$15,000 a month for 10–20 hours a week (US, 2026) |
| Best for | Founders who'll run their own process and just need a fast thinking partner | B2B SaaS founders, €0–€1M ARR, running go-to-market themselves | Companies with a team or budget that needs a marketing leader |
| Wrong choice when | You don't know what to ask, or nobody holds you to the plan | You need someone to do the work, or you don't sell B2B SaaS | There's nothing to lead yet and the fee would eat your runway |
More on each: Mazo vs ChatGPT for go-to-market strategy, with copy-paste prompts, and fractional CMO vs Mazo vs an agency, with costs.
Tool-stack red flags before €1M ARR
- A sales-engagement stack before 10 customers. You automate a pitch you haven't proven.
- Buying data before you've defined your ICP. You get more of the wrong list, faster.
- An AI SDR instead of learning to sell. If you can't get replies by hand, automation won't find the message for you.
- A new CRM every six months. The problem is usually what goes into it, not the tool.
- Attribution software instead of asking. A free-text "How did you hear about us?" field tells you what software misses.
- Product analytics nobody reads. Track the steps to first value and look at them weekly, or don't track at all.
- A tool per channel you "might" try. One channel, pushed hard, needs a small stack.
- Tools with no owner. If nobody's name is next to it, cancel it.
Free resources for your stack
- Free go-to-market tools: a positioning stress test, a willingness-to-pay test, a first 10 customers plan and a 90-day plan generator, no account needed.
- Go-to-market templates you can copy into your own docs and spreadsheets.
- GTM glossary: ICP, ACV, CAC payback, net revenue retention and the rest, in plain English.
- Go-to-market strategy for B2B SaaS: the stage-by-stage guide this stack is built on.
- Free GTM scorecard: find the first thing to fix in two minutes.
Who wrote this
Madalena Rugeroni built Mazo. She's an ex-Googler, a startup advisor and investor, and runs a portfolio of internet companies. Before that, as Head of Growth at Amplemarket, she scaled a B2B SaaS to $10M ARR. LinkedIn
FAQ
What GTM tools does an early-stage B2B SaaS need?
Before 10 customers: a spreadsheet or free CRM, your own inbox, your LinkedIn profile, a booking link, Stripe or invoices to take payment, and a written plan. Add outreach automation, product analytics and support tools when a specific trigger shows up, not before.
When should a startup buy a cold email or sales engagement tool?
When you have a message that gets replies from one clear profile and more of those prospects than you can email personally. For most founders that's after the first 10 customers. Before that, the tool sends an unproven message to more people.
Which CRM should an early-stage SaaS use?
The one you'll actually update. Before 10 customers a spreadsheet or a free CRM plan, such as HubSpot's free CRM or Attio's Free plan, is enough. Choose on how you and your team work, and avoid switching CRMs for its own sake.
Do I need product analytics before product-market fit?
With a handful of users, watching sessions and talking to them teaches you more than a dashboard. Track the few steps from signup to first value once you have signups you don't onboard personally.
Will better tools fix my pipeline?
Rarely. Tools scale whatever ICP, positioning and message you already have. If you're emailing the wrong list or sending a generic message, a better tool gets you the same result faster. Fix the list and the message by hand first.
Are there affiliate links on this page?
Some links on this page may be affiliate links: if you buy, Mazo may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend or the order tools appear in. Tools are listed alphabetically, and affiliate links are marked.
Get the plan before the stack
Mazo builds your go-to-market plan from where you are today, then runs it with you every week. €99 a month, 14 days free.
Start 14-day free trial Not ready? Try the free go-to-market tools, no account needed →Sources. Free plans as described on the vendors' own sites (checked 15 September 2026):
- HubSpot, "Free CRM": free CRM with no expiration date.
- Attio, "Pricing": a Free plan.
- PostHog, "Pricing": a free allowance that renews every month.
- Fractional CMO pricing: Web Tonic, "Fractional CMO cost in 2026" (updated 4 September 2026).
Plans and features change; check each vendor's site for what's current. Other tools are named as well-known examples of their category, described at category level only. Madalena previously led growth at Amplemarket. Frameworks and operators referenced: Aaron Ross and Jacco van der Kooij (outbound), April Dunford (Obviously Awesome), Lenny Rachitsky, Brian Balfour, Steli Efti, Dave Gerhardt, Chris Walker, Winning by Design (SPICED), Kyle Poyar, Casey Winters, Wes Bush (Product-Led Growth), Blake Bartlett, Jason Lemkin and Elena Verna. These are published methodologies credited to their authors; Mazo is not affiliated with or endorsed by them or by any tool vendor named here.