GTM Advisory for Pluno
About Pluno
Pluno operates in the AI support agent market. Founded in 2022, the seed-funded company had a team of 6 FTEs and 10 customers when we started working together.
The team was growing well through inbound leads from a Zendesk Marketplace listing for a niche feature. They wanted to build another acquisition channel, for example through active outreach.
At the same time, their win rate was low, particularly when it came to converting discovery calls into a proof of concept (PoC). In a crowded, highly competitive market, it was also difficult to stand out.
The Challenge
Pluno had an inbound channel that was working, but needed to build an additional channel and improve conversion through the sales process.
🔴 Building another acquisition channel beyond the Zendesk Marketplace listing. The team had tried cold outreach on LinkedIn, but struggled to progress prospects beyond the initial discovery call.
🔴 A low win rate, with a particular challenge in converting discovery calls into PoCs.
🔴 A crowded, highly competitive market that made it hard to differentiate Pluno.
🔴 The team had limited GTM experience and wanted support to grow further.
🔴 Finding the right person to hire for GTM was also difficult.
The Solution
The Pluno team already knew me through YC Co-Founder Matching. They had not tried other external services or solutions before working with me.
We worked on their GTM foundation: a tighter ICP, clearer positioning, a more focused sales motion and structured experiments.
The collaboration started with my GTM audit and followed by 6-month GTM advisory working in bi-weekly sprints to keep execution moving.
How I Helped Pluno
1️⃣ Positioning and differentiation. We clarified Pluno's positioning and differentiators in the AI support agent market.
2️⃣ ICP. We tightened the ideal customer profile.
3️⃣ GTM motion. We moved from running product-led and sales-led growth in parallel to focusing on a sales-led motion.
4️⃣ Website and case studies. We made the website clearer through refined positioning and improved case studies.
5️⃣ Sales process. I recommended adding a dedicated demo step after discovery.
6️⃣ Outbound. We launched signal-based outbound.
7️⃣ Content. We started a new LinkedIn posting routine and worked on bottom-of-funnel content pages, including alternatives and best-tools comparisons.
8️⃣ Pricing. We simplified the pricing model and removed freemium.
The Results
Pluno reported better conversion rates from discovery meetings to paying customers, more knowledge of possible GTM approaches and more structure in their efforts.
✅ Better conversion from discovery meeting to paying customer.
✅ A clearer understanding of the GTM approaches they could try.
✅ More structure in their GTM work and experiments.
But reality is also: We did not find a scalable, repeatable sales motion during the engagement.
What Was Most Valuable?
I would highlight four things:
1. The GTM audit.
2. The recommendation to add a demo step after discovery.
3. Working through positioning together and coming up with a clear new positioning
4. Structuring experiments.
When have you felt the most challenged by me, in a good or bad way?
Alex challenged us on how much we could fit into a week and what our medium-term plan was for each initiative.
What’s something I do that took time to appreciate?
It took us time to appreciate Alex pushing us on why certain tasks couldn’t fit into the week and playing devil’s advocate.
What do I do that makes you feel genuinely supported?
Always trying to find a way to help, getting hands dirty with some posts/messages.
Would You Recommend Alex to Others?
Yes, technical founder teams who don’t have much experience in GTM and want to grow organically.
