From GTM Uncertainty to GTM Clarity in 7 days.
About HzE Portal
HzE Portal is an end-to-end SaaS platform that connects youth welfare offices and care providers across Germany, covering everything from placement search to allocation, communication, and reporting.
Their platform connects youth welfare offices (Jugendämter) and independent care providers (Freie Träger) across Germany, making it faster and easier to find, request, and fill residential care placements for young people in need.
When we started working together, HzE Portal had already built a strong product, grown to 38 customers, and reached €400k ARR. Despite being a comparatively fast-growing startup in a traditionally analog sector, they struggled to communicate what their product could truly do for their market.
The Challenge
HzE Portal was growing, but without a clear GTM strategy in place. Prospects didn't perceive the full scope and value of what the product could do, even though the team had built something genuinely differentiated.
In particular, they struggled with:
🔴 No clear GTM strategy to guide how they approached their market
🔴 Customers didn't perceive them as what they actually were: an end-to-end SaaS solution with multiple usecases
🔴 No structured way to communicate their product and differentiation to prospects
🔴 A highly complex market (German public administration + youth welfare) that made clear positioning even more critical
The Solution
The HzE Portal team has always believed in bringing in external expertise to accelerate their growth. When they were looking for GTM support, another SaaS startup founder recommended me.
We worked together in a focused 7-day GTM Clarity Sprint:
✅ I shared my proven ICP, Positioning & Messaging templates as the starting point
✅ The team worked through a first draft independently
✅ I reviewed their draft and we ran a focused workshop together to sharpen everything
✅ They iterated into a second version, which I gave a final review
✅ I prepared a custom action plan on how to execute the new clarity
✅ Ongoing Slack support before and after the GTM workshop
The result: a complete set of GTM frameworks the team owns and can execute on independently.
How I Helped HzE Portal
This is how I worked together with the HzE Portal team to build their GTM foundation:
1️⃣ ICP Deep Dive: Provided a structured ICP framework. Analyzed their customer base and complex market together to identify best-fit customers, the specific buyer personas within youth welfare offices and care providers, and what makes an ideal customer for HzE Portal
2️⃣ Positioning Framework: Developed a clear positioning that communicates what HzE Portal does, why it matters, and how it's different from the status quo of Excel lists, faxes, emails, and phone calls
3️⃣ Messaging Framework: Crafted structured messaging that resonates with their ICP and clearly conveys the value of the platform across different audiences (youth welfare offices, care providers, and leadership)
4️⃣ GTM Execution Roadmap: Built a concrete action plan for the team to independently implement the new positioning and messaging across all their GTM activities & assets (e.g. new Website, Sales Deck, Email Templates, Content)
The Results
After the GTM Clarity Sprint, HzE Portal had:
✅ A clear understanding of what a GTM strategy is and how their own GTM strategy should look
✅ A well-defined ICP to focus sales and marketing efforts
✅ A positioning framework that communicates their true value in a complex market
✅ A messaging framework ready to deploy across website, sales materials, and outreach
✅ A roadmap to independently execute on the new GTM foundation
✅ Increased confidence and clarity in how they approach their market
How Was Your Experience Working With Alex?
"Very good! Besides reliable collaboration and competent support, Alex managed to understand our complex market and our solution so well that he could guide us in the right direction. Chapeau!"
What Has Changed Since Your GTM Clarity Work With Alex?
"We've developed an understanding of what a GTM strategy actually is and, most importantly, what our own GTM strategy can look like. We're now working independently with the finished frameworks to execute on our own."
What's Most Valuable for You to Have Alex as Your GTM Advisor?
"Understanding what GTM actually is and how we can apply a corresponding strategy to our company."
Would You Recommend Alex to Others?
"Yes! Alex manages to prepare expert knowledge for founders in a way that enables them to move independently in the GTM space. I'd recommend him to other SaaS startup founders."
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