Go-to-Market SaaS (Product-Led Revenue) → Case Study

How Ripe rebuilt its GTM in 4 weeks, aligning Sales & Marketing Strategy

Selling to the most sceptical ICP in B2B – with one shared revenue point of view.

4-week GTM Sprint | 50% drop in CPL | 3× stronger ad performance

Context

Ripe was a pre-seed go-to-market SaaS with a powerful but complex product. They analysed product and CRM data to help Sales and Marketing teams at PLG companies identify which users were most likely to buy – and engage them at the right moment.

Problem

On paper, the product made sense.
In reality, traction didn’t follow.

Paid experiments hadn’t worked.
Outbound agency fees were draining a limited budget.
And with so much product complexity, neither the ICP nor the message was clear.

Worse, Ripe was selling to Sales and Marketing teams – one of the hardest audiences in SaaS.

This audience:

  • has seen every “revenue acceleration” pitch

  • is allergic to generic claims

  • spots weak positioning instantly

  • expects clarity, confidence, and proof

Without a sharp, consistent point of view:

  • ads failed to cut through

  • the website explained the tech, but not the need

  • Sales lacked clear narratives to lead with

Ripe didn’t just need leads.
They needed traction fast – and a GTM foundation they could actually scale.

Insight

The revenue tools market is saturated with identical promises:
30% more pipeline. Faster deals. Better conversion.

Another metric-led claim wouldn’t cut through.

Ripe had an advantage most tools don’t - a product that did something genuinely different – helping teams sell to users already inside their product.

But that difference only mattered if it changed the wider mindset of our ICP: stop chasing new leads – start converting the ripest users already inside your product.

So the real question wasn’t how do we explain the product?
It was which top-of-funnel messages could trigger that belief change – and which ones would get ignored.

The only way to find out was to test it, aggressively.

Actions

1. Turned opinions into testable hypotheses

Sales, Marketing, and Product dropped their assumptions about what we should say, and I translated them into 50+ ad concepts – spanning statements, humour, fake customer quotes, and challenger POVs.


2. Used paid ads as a learning engine

We tested messages across TOFU → BOFU, tracking performance from creative engagement and CTR through to demo interest.
We quickly learned what captured attention, what was too clever (hey, we tried!), and what should become the red thread going forward.


3. Hardwired winning language into GTM execution

The strongest messages were rolled out everywhere:

  • homepage copy

  • sales-ready case studies

  • ongoing campaigns

  • cold outreach

One narrative. End to end.

Results

Despite a limited budget and short timeline, the sprint delivered clear, actionable signals:

  • ~50% lower cost per lead vs cold-calling agency fees

  • 3× stronger creative performance vs indsutry benchmarks

  • First inbound leads after previous ad spend failed

More importantly, Ripe left the sprint with:

  • one consistent GTM point of view

  • shared Sales and Marketing language

  • evidence of what messaging resonated – and what didn’t

This didn’t magically fix product-market fit.
But it replaced gut feel with signal – exactly what Ripe needed at that stage.

What I learned (and why I apply it everywhere)

Instead of debating messaging internally - let the market decide.
Ads gave us clarity on what people actually reacted to – so the rest of the GTM wasn’t built on gut feel.
Just keep an eye on budgets, make sure you explore lots of angles, and keep your finger on the pulse of feedback.

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