$160 million in funding. 110,000 SMB clients. These aren’t just numbers—they’re the result of a go-to-market strategy that defied conventional wisdom at every turn.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Kyle Hanslovan, CEO and co-founder of Huntress, shared insights from his company’s journey that challenge common GTM assumptions. Here are five key lessons that any founder, regardless of industry, can apply to their own go-to-market strategy.

1. The Unsexy Market Might Be Your Goldmine

When Huntress started, they didn’t chase enterprise clients like most cybersecurity companies. Instead, they focused on an often-overlooked segment: small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Kyle explains their rationale: “There is a poverty line that exists between enterprise and mid market SMB companies, and we’re for those folks that are the 99% that are usually ignored.”

This decision wasn’t popular. Kyle recalls, “From the Angels to the series A all the way, believe it or not, into series B was the first time I got conviction for SMB. So that is five years in, people did not believe in my go to market.”

Key Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to target markets that others overlook. The lack of competition can be a significant advantage if you’ve identified a genuine need.

2. Your Ideal Customer Might Not Be Who You Think

Huntress’s initial strategy was to sell directly to SMBs. But they quickly hit a wall. Kyle remembers, “As embarrassing as it sounds, my first, like, five or six calls were to these small businesses that were like, Kyle, I really like your story, and I, you know, it’s cool that you are a hacker and all, but we don’t have any IT. We outsource it.”

This led to a crucial pivot. Instead of targeting SMBs directly, Huntress decided to partner with the Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that these SMBs were outsourcing to.

Key Takeaway: Be prepared to radically rethink who your customer is. Your end-user and your buyer might be different entities.

3. Total Cost of Ownership Can Be Your Secret Weapon

In a competitive market, Huntress found an edge by focusing on total cost of ownership (TCO) rather than just the sticker price of their product.

Kyle breaks it down: “Even though my product isn’t the cheapest, if you combine the cost of acquisition plus the cost of the operations or humans to manage it, plus that opportunity that you could be doing other things and those three things into TCO or total cost ownership. I am the lowest total cost of ownership and we just disproportionately win our deals.”

Key Takeaway: Look beyond the initial price point. Consider how you can reduce overall costs for your customers, including implementation, operation, and opportunity costs.

4. Sometimes, You Need to Work for Free

To truly understand their new target market (MSPs), Kyle took an unconventional approach: “I ended up pitching my first handful of customers and was like, I will work for free one day a week in your office to learn more about MSPs. And I did that for probably the first two and a half years just to learn.”

This hands-on experience provided invaluable insights that shaped Huntress’s product and go-to-market strategy.

Key Takeaway: Deep market understanding is crucial. Be willing to invest significant time and effort to truly grasp your customers’ needs and challenges.

5. Data-Backed Conviction Is Your North Star

Throughout Huntress’s journey, they faced significant skepticism about their focus on the SMB market. What kept them going? Data-backed conviction.

Kyle explains: “I had the people telling me the stories, people showing. I had the data that I was building from the bottom up on saying, look, this is how big the total addressable market is. That kept me going.”

This conviction allowed Huntress to stay the course even when investors and others doubted their strategy.

Key Takeaway: Gather data to support your strategy. When faced with skepticism, let your data do the talking.

Putting It All Together

Huntress’s go-to-market journey offers a masterclass in challenging conventional wisdom. By focusing on an overlooked market, pivoting to an unexpected customer base, emphasizing total cost of ownership, investing deeply in market understanding, and maintaining data-backed conviction, they’ve achieved remarkable success.

Kyle sums up their impact: “We’ve got about 4000 of those [MSPs]. And they bring us to about 110,000 of those SMBs.”

But for Kyle, this is just the beginning. He asks, “You’re protecting 300 or 400,000 of us SMBs. How do you protect the 34 million that are in the US alone, let alone the hundreds of millions across the globe?”

This ambitious vision underscores a final lesson: a strong go-to-market strategy isn’t just about short-term gains. It’s about positioning your company to make a lasting impact on your industry.

As you craft your own go-to-market strategy, consider these lessons from Huntress. The path to success might not be the one everyone else is taking. In fact, the road less traveled could be your fastest route to growth.