7 Go-to-Market Lessons from Revelio Labs’ Journey to Revolutionize Labor Market Intelligence
Some of the most successful startups don’t start by selling to their ultimate target market. Revelio Labs, which aims to build the Bloomberg terminal for HR, found its initial success by serving hedge funds and private equity firms instead. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, founder Ben Zweig shared insights from their journey that offer valuable lessons for B2B tech founders.
- Follow Early Demand, Even If It’s Not Your End Goal
The most striking aspect of Revelio Labs’ early growth was their willingness to pursue unexpected opportunities. While their vision was to transform HR analytics, their first customers came from a different direction entirely. As Ben explains: “We kind of got sidetracked a little bit because we found this huge opportunity in selling to hedge funds and private equity firms and sell side research groups and VCs. And really they are in the business of understanding companies without having an affiliation to those companies.”
- Build for Scale with a Product-First Mindset
Revelio Labs maintained an intensely product-focused culture even as they grew. “Right now there’s, I think, 55 people in the company and only four people don’t write code. Everyone’s really hands on,” Ben shares. This approach helped them create what he describes as a “best in class experience” in their dashboard, setting a foundation for enterprise-grade solutions.
- Use Natural Market Expansion to Build Credibility
Rather than forcing their way into HR departments, Revelio Labs followed a natural progression of expansion through adjacent markets. “I’d say we started investment management, then our next big splash was in consulting. So we work with all the major consulting firms because they’re also in the business of understanding companies more deeply and without necessarily needing to get into their systems.”
- Solve Known Problems Instead of Creating New Ones
Their approach to enterprise sales focuses on addressing existing challenges rather than creating new ones. As Ben notes: “These end users, they are very often familiar with their sets of problems. Sometimes they’ll just come to us and they’ll say, oh, here are five challenges I have in my role. And we’ll say, okay, we can basically solve one, two, three, and four.”
- Navigate Enterprise Complexity by Understanding Buyer Dynamics
The transition to corporate markets revealed important lessons about enterprise sales cycles. Ben explains: “Breaking into the corporate market… it’s been hard just because it is a fragmented market and you don’t really know who the buyers are necessarily.” Unlike investment firms with clear buying centers, corporate sales required understanding that “the user is not always the buyer, and maybe the decision maker is two levels above.”
- Build Value Through Data Network Effects
Revelio Labs’ strategy involves creating value through comprehensive data collection and analysis. “Every company’s got their own HR data and that’s a locked box. They don’t share that with anyone,” Ben notes. “And we are trying to collect the universe of public employment records and try to reconstruct or approximate the HR database for every company.”
- Maintain a Clear Long-Term Vision While Being Flexible on Path
Despite taking an indirect route to their target market, Revelio Labs never lost sight of their ultimate vision. As Ben shares: “In ten years, I really would like to see a Revellia Labs terminal on the computer of every person who works in HR, just like a Bloomberg terminal is used by everyone in finance.”
These lessons highlight a crucial truth about B2B go-to-market strategy: sometimes the path to your ultimate vision requires following unexpected opportunities. By starting with investment firms who already understood their value proposition, Revelio Labs built the foundation, credibility, and product sophistication needed to tackle their broader mission of transforming HR analytics.
Their journey suggests that successful GTM strategies often involve finding the right initial market that can appreciate and pay for your value proposition immediately, even if it’s not your ultimate target market. This approach allows you to build a strong foundation while working toward your longer-term vision.