5 Counter-Intuitive GTM Lessons from Azumuta’s Journey
Technical founders often approach go-to-market strategy as an engineering problem to be solved. But in a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Azumuta founder Batist Leman revealed how unlearning technical instincts became crucial to their growth. Here are five unexpected GTM lessons that emerged from their journey.
- Let Market Pull Guide Product Development
The conventional wisdom suggests starting with a vision and building toward it. But Azumuta’s success came from following market demand rather than forcing a predetermined path. “Then came a customer asking, can you create a software tool for making these work instructions here?” Batist recalled. “I did that and a while later another manufacturing company came to me and said, hey, we have a problem with our work instructions here.”
This pattern recognition led to their core business: “So then I thought like, yeah, that’s now the second time they are asking me this. Perhaps I can do this as a service and provide them with this software tool online where we manage the service and improve it.”
- The Hidden Cost of Junior Marketing Hires
Many founders try to bootstrap marketing with junior talent, but Batist’s experience reveals the true cost of this approach. “In the beginning we hired… not the most expensive people. And so that was a mistake. There were junior people, just graduated, didn’t have a lot of experience. And so it was really hard.”
The transformation came when they invested in experienced marketers: “We had some great hires from HubSpot… those people are coming from HubSpot, a lot of experience in marketing, and that really changed the game completely. Since then you can clearly see it in our metrics. Like when did they join Azumuta? From that point on, you really see like a dent in our graphs.”
- Evolution Beyond Feature-First Messaging
Technical founders naturally gravitate toward feature-focused messaging, but Azumuta discovered this limited their market reach. “We are quite technical team… we like to talk about features. That’s a classic, it’s not necessarily a mistake, but that’s a classic property of a startup,” Batist explained.
The key was shifting to strategic business messaging: “Now we are shifting our messaging from those features, more like about the bigger picture items, for example, how do you get your quality under control, the quality of your workforce? How can you defend against an aging workforce? How do you manage to capture all the tacit knowledge that’s available in your operators?”
- The Power of Precise ICP Definition
Rather than casting a wide net, Azumuta found success through hyper-specific customer targeting. “For us, it’s like our sweet spot is a discrete manufacturing… companies that are building complex products that takes a long time to make. So for example, discrete manufacturing where it takes 60 seconds to do your job, that’s too short for us. If it’s a bit longer, like 1 hour, 2 hours to do your job, and then products with high degree of complexity.”
This precision allows for more focused messaging and efficient resource allocation, particularly important for companies targeting enterprise customers. “If you talk about features, then you can reach like your key users, your team leaders, operators, engineers… it’s less relevant for the C-level types. And of course, if you grow as a company, you want to sell more enterprise deals, you have to reach that C-level.”
- Embracing Iterative Growth Over Big Breaks
While many founders look for breakthrough moments, Azumuta’s growth came through consistent iteration. “Actually, in the moment, I rarely feel like it’s working,” Batist admitted. “You’re always super busy. You’re doing deals, you’re doing hires, you’re handling all kinds of things… there is a huge amount of work on your plate.”
Progress often only becomes visible in retrospect: “It’s only when you stop and you think like, oh, two years back, and now we grew times ten, for example, and then you realize, okay, it is going fast, but we just don’t realize that you are so focused on doing the work.”
The Path Forward
These lessons challenge common assumptions about GTM strategy. Instead of following a predetermined playbook, Azumuta’s success came from remaining responsive to market signals, investing in experienced talent even when bootstrapping, evolving beyond technical messaging, maintaining precise customer focus, and embracing gradual evolution over dramatic pivots.
As Batist notes, “We really have a culture of doing things iteratively. We also listen very well to our customers. So we really started with Azumuta based on questions that we got from the market.” This approach has enabled them to build sustainable growth while maintaining strong customer relationships – a blueprint for technical founders looking to build lasting businesses rather than just innovative products.
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