RVNU #034: RVNU Startup MBA - Lecture 2

The Market Analysis Challenge

Introduction

Before diving into the Market Analysis Challenge, it's essential to understand where this stage fits within the complete B2B SaaS growth journey. Since 1998 I have wrestled and collaborated with early stage SaaS founders and VCs about how to align startup teams to produce market beating revenue growth. Eventually, I identified 16 distinct stages organized into 4 critical phases that every successful B2B SaaS company must navigate:

Phase 1: Idea Market Fit (Stages 1-4)

• Stage 1: Hypothesis - Validate core problem assumptions

• Stage 2: Market Analysis - Establish competitive landscape and positioning

• Stage 3: Market Sizing - Quantify TAM, SAM, and SOM

• Stage 4: MVP - Build minimal viable product for early validation

Phase 2: Product Market Fit (Stages 5-8)

• Stage 5: Design Clients - Acquire first paying customers

• Stage 6: Prove Usage - Demonstrate product adoption

• Stage 7: Prove Value - Establish monetary value exchange

• Stage 8: Realize Value - Achieve fair pricing for value delivered

Phase 3: Go-to-Market Fit (Stages 9-13)

• Stage 9: Repeatability - Scale beyond founder-led sales

• Stage 10: Non-Founder Sales - Transition to team-based selling

• Stage 11: Build Sales Team - Implement specialized sales roles

• Stage 12: Control Churn - Achieve sustainable retention, and predictable expansion

• Stage 13: Scalability - Prove sustainable growth systems

Phase 4: Scale (Stages 14-16)

• Stage 14: Hire Leaders - Integrate executive leadership

• Stage 15: Expand GTM Org - Scale go-to-market organization

• Stage 16: New Lines of Business - Diversify revenue streams

Each stage requires achieving a 75% completion score before sustainable progression to the next. Companies that skip foundational work accumulate "GTM Debt" that prevents scaling regardless of later efforts.

ProTip: Print out the RVNU framework below, you’ll want to refer back to it on a high frequency