You are building something good on a short runway, and buyers shortlist the names they already know. We help B2B tech startups from bootstrap to Series A build the story, prove the return and add programmes as they scale, each one tied to run rate, payback and return.
The startup programme at a glance
Built for
Founders and CEOs of B2B tech startups from bootstrap to Series A
Starts with
A brand and demand review
Covers
Positioning, demand, AI visibility and stage-based modules
Led by
Marketers with global B2B technology experience
Measured on
Run rate, payback and return against your hurdle rate
Startup marketing is a race against the runway. These are the patterns we see most, and what the research says about them.
In 95% of B2B buying cycles the winning vendor was already on the buyer’s shortlist on day one (6sense, 2025).
Outreach happens in bursts between investor meetings and product work, so pipeline rises and falls with the founder’s week.
51% of software buyers now start their research in an AI chat tool, and 1 in 3 bought from a vendor they had not heard of before they began (G2, 2026).
Only about a quarter of the companies that raised a seed round in 2022 had reached a Series A three years later (Carta, 2025).
In a review of 111 startup post-mortems, 38% ran out of cash and 35% found no market need (CB Insights).
The deck says one thing, the website another and the sales email a third. Buyers and backers both notice when a story does not hold together.
95%
of the time the vendor that wins a B2B deal was already on the buyer’s shortlist on day one.
6sense, Buyer Experience Report, 2025. Nearly 4,000 B2B buyers surveyed.
Founders often treat brand as a job for later. Buyers use it as the first filter. The startups that are remembered get the first call.
These are the shifts that shape how a startup should spend on marketing at each stage. Benchmarks describe the companies surveyed. They are not promises for yours.
Carta’s data puts the median time from seed to Series A at 2.1 years for companies that raised in 2024. Marketing has to help you win customers and tell a credible story inside that window.
Carta found that about a quarter of the companies that raised a seed round in 2022 had gone on to a Series A after three years. Investors are choosier, so evidence of demand counts for more than a good deck.
Carta’s head of insights, Peter Walker, said in early 2026 that the bar to raise a Series A is now roughly double what it used to be. That puts weight on run rate growth and on an efficient, repeatable way to win customers.
SaaS Capital’s 2026 benchmarks show 83% of bootstrapped private B2B SaaS companies are profitable or near break-even, against 52% of equity-backed ones. Equity-backed companies spend about twice as much on marketing.
A bootstrapped founder needs something different from a Series A team. We start with the stage you are in and add only what the next stage requires.
Need your core story first? Start with GTM & Brand Strategy
Bootstrap
With no outside capital, cash is the constraint. The aim is your first repeatable customers and a short payback period, which is the time it takes to earn back what you spent winning a customer.
Pre-seed
You need evidence that a market exists and wants what you build. Marketing earns its place by producing signals that investors and early customers can see.
Series A
Investors want to see a repeatable way to turn spend into growth. Marketing has to link brand to pipeline and show what each programme returns.
We report marketing in the language of the people who fund it. Here is what each term means and how we use it. Early stage numbers are small and noisy, so we show ranges and assumptions. These are planning estimates and not guarantees.
Your current monthly revenue multiplied by twelve. It shows where the business is heading if nothing changes. We tie every programme to the run rate it should add, so marketing is judged on growth and not on activity.
The yearly percentage return on money you put in, allowing for when it comes back. A programme that pays back in three months has a far higher IRR than one that pays back in eighteen. We estimate it for each programme so you can compare marketing with any other use of cash.
The minimum return a spend must beat to be worth making. Bootstrapped founders set it high because cash is scarce. Funded teams set it from what their investors expect. We agree your hurdle rate first and only recommend programmes that clear it.
Start where you are. Each programme is scoped to what the stage needs and what your cash allows, with a clear output and a number we report on.
For bootstrap and pre-seed. We find the claim only you can make, then sharpen your ideal customer, message and proof, with a simple site that says it clearly. You leave with a story that works for buyers, investors and hires.
For pre-seed and seed. Founder-led outreach, useful content and a small number of channel tests, each tracked against payback period, so you learn what works before you spend more.
For seed to Series A. Brand and demand in one plan, pipeline reporting an investor can inspect, AI search visibility and account-based plays aimed at the customers you most want to win.
Brand makes buyers choose you when they are ready. Demand finds the buyers who are ready now. Startups that do only one of the two tend to stall. We link them and change the balance as you grow.
Why it matters
73% of decision-makers say thought leadership gives them more trust in a company than its marketing materials do (Edelman and LinkedIn, 2024). For an unknown startup, a clear and consistent point of view is how you start to feel like a safe choice.
Plan your brand to demand pathEach module has a clear output, a number we watch and a point where you decide whether to add the next one. Together they draw on our five solutions.
Module 1 · Foundation
Positioning, message, a simple site and the numbers we will track. We watch payback period.
Module 2 · Proof
Thought leadership, customer evidence and founder-led outreach. We watch run rate growth and pipeline.
Module 3 · Engine
Demand programmes, AI search visibility and RevOps reporting. We watch return against your hurdle rate.
Module 4 · Scale
Account-based programmes and partner routes. We watch IRR by programme and reallocate to the best.
Each takes a few minutes to test. The answers show where your next stretch of marketing should go.
Work out how many months of gross profit it takes to earn back what you spent winning one customer. If you cannot answer, you cannot tell whether the next spend is a wise one.
Ask the main AI assistants who leads your category and what you do. 51% of software buyers now start their research in an AI chat tool (G2, 2026), so a missing or wrong answer costs you the shortlist.
Put your pitch deck, website and sales email side by side. If they tell three different stories, buyers and investors will both notice. One clear story is cheaper to tell and easier to believe.
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly
It helps early-stage companies find their position, earn trust and build pipeline without wasting scarce cash. That covers positioning, brand, content, AI search visibility, demand programmes and reporting that links them to growth.
It depends on your stage and how you are funded. SaaS Capital’s 2026 benchmarks show equity-backed private B2B SaaS companies spend about twice as much on marketing as bootstrapped ones. We set a budget from your hurdle rate and payback period and not from a fixed percentage.
Run rate is your current monthly revenue multiplied by twelve. IRR is the yearly percentage return on an investment, allowing for when the money comes back. A hurdle rate is the minimum return a spend must beat to be worth making. Together they let you compare marketing with any other use of cash, and they are the language your investors already speak.
Evidence of a repeatable way to turn spend into growth. Carta’s head of insights said in early 2026 that the bar for a Series A has roughly doubled, and Carta data shows only about a quarter of 2022 seed companies reached a Series A within three years. Pipeline you can trace, a consistent story and efficient acquisition all help.
Often a smaller scope fits better. We start with the foundation module, which sets your position and the numbers to track, and add modules only when the return justifies it. SaaS Capital found 83% of bootstrapped private B2B SaaS companies are profitable or near break-even, against 52% of equity-backed ones (2026), so we plan around cash first.
We use one story for both. Brand work decides how you are described and why buyers trust you. Demand work finds the buyers who are ready now. At first the balance leans on brand basics and low-cost tests, then it shifts to demand programmes as you learn what works.
With a brand and demand review. We look at how buyers, investors and AI tools see you today, then recommend the first module. You can read more about our GTM and brand strategy work first.
6sense, Buyer Experience Report, 2025. Nearly 4,000 B2B buyers surveyed.
G2, The Answer Economy, March 2026. 1,076 software buyers surveyed.
Carta, Seed graduation rates, December 2025.
Carta, Time between funding rounds, 2025.
Peter Walker of Carta, What you need to raise a Series A, The Product-Market Fit Show, Q1 2026. A spoken estimate and not a published dollar threshold.
CB Insights review of 111 startup post-mortems, as reported by SmartCompany.
SaaS Capital, Spending benchmarks for private B2B SaaS companies, 2026. Figures apply to private B2B SaaS companies only.
Edelman and LinkedIn, B2B thought leadership impact study, 2024.
Insights
Perspectives on B2B technology marketing, brand, AI and the commercial case for growth, from founder Jonathan Booysen.
Marketing and Finance
Brand and AI
White paper · Henley Business School
Jonathan Booysen's research with Henley Business School on how B2B organisations can apply AI across sales and marketing.
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