Most advice assumes a company already exists. Stratagem works with founders in the stretch before that — and doesn't stop at advice. We stand in and run the motion until it runs without us.
Start a conversationStage 01
Defining who the product is actually for, narrowly enough to act on.
Most early ICPs name a category, not a customer. "Mid-market fintech" doesn't tell you who has the problem, who feels it this quarter, or who can sign. We get to the specific person in the specific situation where your product is urgent rather than interesting — narrow enough that it's obvious who to approach, and obvious who to turn down.
Stage 02
Establishing whether the fit is real, and naming what would show it isn't.
Enthusiasm isn't evidence, and neither is a waitlist. Before you go looking, we define what a real signal would have to look like — and what result would force you to change course. Then we go get it. Sometimes the answer is that the fit is there and you've been underselling it. Sometimes it isn't, and learning that in six weeks instead of six quarters is the whole return on the engagement.
Stage 03
How the first customers hear about you, and why they say yes.
Before there's a funnel, there's a sequence of conversations that either work or they don't. We build the first repeatable version: the channel, the message, the qualification, the objection you'll hear every time and the answer to it. Not a strategy deck — a motion your team can run without you in the room.
Engagements start where it's broken.There's no fixed order. Sometimes the ICP is wrong and nothing downstream can work until it's fixed. Sometimes the fit is real and the motion simply doesn't exist yet.
You keep the system.The engagement ends with something repeatable your team owns, and revenue on the board while it gets built.
Contact us
Tell us what you're building and where you need help.
Best fit before Series A, when the motion doesn't exist yet.
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