Module 2, Lesson 6: Generating the GTM Document

In the last lesson, we produced the investor summary — the document you'd hand to someone considering putting money behind your idea. Now we're doing the final piece of this documentation phase. The go-to-market document. This is your sales and marketing playbook. It's the bridge between having a product and actually selling it.

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No corrections or updates to previous lessons at this point. We're closing out Module 2 clean.

Before We Start

Here's what I'd expect you to have in place:

From previous lessons:

All five documents from Module 2 so far — market research, technical doc, UX/UI doc, and investor summary — saved in your project folder
Claude Desktop open, with Cowork pointed at your project folder
Your ideal customer profile (ICP) is implicit in your research doc — Claude will pull from it

Tools / setup you'll need:

Claude Desktop (local desktop app — not the browser version)
Obsidian (or whichever notes tool you're using) with your project folder accessible
The GTM prompt from this lesson — available below. Customise it with your product's details before running it.

By the end of this lesson, you'll:

Have a complete go-to-market document saved to your project folder
Know which channels actually make sense for your product at this stage (and which ones to ignore)
Understand how Claude uses your earlier documents as grounding to produce a strategy rooted in real data
Have everything you need to move into Module 3 — spec, plan, and build

About This Lesson

Duration: ~8 minutes video + ~20 minutes practice
Skill Level: Intermediate
What You'll Build: A go-to-market strategy document — your sales and marketing playbook

This is the last document we're generating before moving into the spec-and-plan phase. I want to be honest with you: building is the part everyone gets excited about. But selling? That's the hard part. Everyone can build now — especially with tools like Claude. What separates the products that ship and grow from the ones that die quietly is whether you actually have a plan to reach people. This lesson is about making sure you've got that written down before you write a single line of code.

Watch the Lesson

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How I'd suggest going through this: Watch the video first without stopping — just get the big picture. Then come back here and work through the guide section by section. After that, this is your reference. You shouldn't need to rewatch to look something up.

What We're Covering

Here's what I'm walking you through in this lesson:

Why a GTM document matters — and why "I'll figure out marketing later" is the fastest way to ship something nobody finds
Running the GTM prompt in Cowork — same workflow as the previous docs, with some key things to pay attention to
What Claude produces — walking through the actual output so you know how to read and use it
The full Module 2 recap — everything we've built across this documentation phase, and how it all connects forward

1. Let's Set the Scene (~0:00)

This is the final document for the documentation phase. And it's the one that makes everything else come alive.

You can do all the market research in the world. You can build a technically solid product with a beautifully documented UX. But if you haven't thought through how you're actually going to reach the people who'll pay for it, you're building in a vacuum. That's what the go-to-market document is for. It's your sales and marketing playbook — a written strategy for how you take what you've built out to the people who need it.

The reason I always do this before we start building is simple: your GTM strategy should influence how you build. If you know your growth is going to come from product-led virality rather than paid ads, that changes what features you prioritise. If you know your primary channel is Apple Search Ads, that shapes your onboarding. Building without this document is guessing.

2. The Core Idea

2.1 What a GTM Document Actually Is

A go-to-market document is your sales and marketing playbook. It answers the questions that a lot of founders don't actually sit down and write out:

Who exactly are we going after first?
How are we going to reach them?
What are we not going to do (and why)?
What does success look like in year one?
What's our realistic budget for this?

It's not a brand deck. It's not a social media content calendar. It's a strategic document — grounded in your market research and your ideal customer profile — that gives you and anyone working with you clarity on the game plan.

2.2 How This Connects to the Rest of Module 2

This is why we do things in order. The GTM document pulls from everything we've built in this module:

The market research gives Claude the competitive landscape and demand signals
The technical document tells Claude what we're building and how it works
The UX/UI document informs how the product experience maps to the customer journey
The investor summary established who our ideal customer is and what the financial picture looks like

Claude uses all of that as context. This is the beauty of the sequential approach — by the time we get here, the document practically writes itself because the research is already done. We're not making things up. We're synthesising.

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This is exactly what I mean when I say "one thing after the other." We're not jumping the gun. Each document feeds the next. By lesson six, the GTM prompt has five solid documents to work with — and the output quality reflects that.

3. Let Me Show You How It Works (~0:30)

3.1 Running the Prompt

The workflow here is identical to what we did in Module 2, Lessons 3, 4, and 5. Open Claude Desktop, make sure Cowork is pointed at your project folder, paste the prompt, and let Claude do its thing.

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Before you run the prompt, check that Cowork is correctly pointing at the folder where all your documents are saved. Claude needs access to your previous outputs — especially the market research and investor summary — to produce a grounded GTM strategy.

Get the prompt template in the Library.

Prompt

3.2 What Claude Produces

Once Claude finishes, you should have a document that covers your product's complete go-to-market picture. Let me walk through the kind of things you'll see in a well-generated GTM output — using Neutoro (the app I'm building in this course) as the example.

Growth motion: For Neutoro, Claude identified product-led growth as the primary motion — not outbound sales. This makes sense for the product because it has a structural viral loop built into how it works: when one parent joins and submits an expense, they naturally invite the other parent to accept it. Every new user potentially brings another user with them. That's a meaningful CAC reduction right out of the gate.

Channel strategy: Claude flagged Apple Search Ads as the highest-priority paid channel at this stage — because the product is an iOS app, the search intent is high, and competition for the relevant keywords is low. For context on budget: with around $200/month in Apple Search Ads targeting people already searching for co-parenting expense tools, Claude estimated roughly 50–160 installs per month. Not viral scale — but meaningful for early stage.

On the channels to skip: Meta, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn — none of them make sense at year one. The audience is reachable, but the CAC would be too high for the budget and the intent isn't there. Maybe year two. Not now.

Budget: Under $1,000/month total is a realistic ceiling for most micro-SaaS at launch. Claude's output will give you a breakdown of how to allocate that across your specific channels.

Risks: For a solo founder, the biggest risk is almost always founder time. Managing development, support, marketing, and sales simultaneously is genuinely hard. I'll cover the time management side of that when we get into the product management section later in the course.

3.3 Reading and Reviewing the Output

Same principle as every other document in this phase: don't just accept it wholesale. Read it. Does the ICP match what you know about your user? Does the channel recommendation match what you've seen in your own research? Are the year-one targets realistic given your market size?

Use Claude to go deeper on anything that's unclear. If there's a term you don't recognise, highlight it and ask Claude to explain it. The document is a starting point — your job is to review it until it genuinely reflects your strategy, not just a plausible-sounding AI output.

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Even though I go through the output fairly quickly in the video — I've spent years reading and working with documents like this. You should slow down and spend real time on yours. Read every section. Understand every recommendation. This is the document you'll be executing against.

4. Try It Yourself

Example: Your GTM Prompt Run

Here's what to do:

Open Claude Desktop and make sure Cowork is pointed at your project folder
Copy the prompt template above and replace the placeholder values with your product name and type
Run the prompt and let Claude work through it — this may take a minute or two
Open the output document in Obsidian (or your notes tool)
Read through it section by section, following the structure described above

Now try this: After Claude generates the document, pick the one channel recommendation you're most uncertain about — the one where you're not sure if Claude got it right. Ask Claude directly: "Why did you recommend [channel] over [alternative]? What in the research supports this?" Make it defend its reasoning.

5. Watch Out For These

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Generic output that ignores your research
Here's why this happens: if Cowork isn't correctly pointed at your project folder, Claude won't have access to your previous documents and will fall back on generic GTM advice.
The way I avoid it: always verify Cowork is configured and the folder is accessible before running any of these prompts.
If you've already hit this: re-run the prompt with Cowork pointing at the right folder. The difference in output quality is significant.

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Treating the GTM doc as a to-do list for day one
Here's why this happens: the document covers a lot of channels and tactics, and it's tempting to try to do all of them at once.
The way I avoid it: use the "What We Will NOT Do" section as your filter. The GTM doc is a full picture — you execute it in phases. Year one is about focus, not coverage.

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Skipping the review
Here's why this happens: the output looks professional and thorough, so it's easy to assume it's right.
The way I avoid it: I always read the full document. Even if I'm going quickly on video, I go back and read it properly before moving on. AI output is a first draft, not a final answer.

6. Practice

Exercise 1: Run the GTM Prompt

What to do: Run the GTM prompt in Cowork using your product's details. Let Claude generate the full document and save it to your project folder.

A nudge if you're stuck: If the output feels too generic, check whether Cowork has access to your previous documents. Add a note to the prompt that says "refer to the market research and investor summary documents already in this folder."

How you'll know it's working: The document references your specific product, your ICP, and your market by name — not generic placeholders. The channel recommendations are specific and reasoned, not a list of every marketing channel that exists.

Exercise 2: Challenge One Recommendation

What to do: Pick one channel or budget recommendation from your GTM doc that you're not 100% sure about. Ask Claude to explain the reasoning behind it using your specific research as the source.

What this is practising: Critical review of AI output. The goal isn't to accept everything Claude writes — it's to understand it well enough that you could defend the strategy yourself if someone asked you about it.

7. You Should Be Able to Build This Now

Here's what you can put together with what we just covered:

A complete, research-grounded go-to-market strategy document for your product
A clear view of which channels to pursue in year one and which to park for later
A realistic budget framework for early-stage marketing

Check Yourself

I've run the GTM prompt and have a document saved in my project folder
I've read through the full document — not just skimmed it
I understand my primary growth motion and why it fits my product
I know which channels we're pursuing and which we're deliberately skipping
I've completed both exercises above

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If you're ticking those boxes, you've completed Module 2. That's a real achievement — you now have six documents that together form the strategic foundation for your entire product. Next up: Module 3, where we take all of this into specs, prioritisation, and your project board.

If Something's Not Working

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Claude produces a GTM doc that doesn't mention my product by name
What's happening: Cowork likely doesn't have access to your previous documents, so Claude is working without context.
How to fix it: Check your Cowork folder configuration in Claude Desktop settings. Make sure it's pointing at the folder where your project documents are saved, not a parent folder or the wrong directory.

The Short Version

Here's what I want you to walk away with:

Building is the easy part now. Everyone can build. Selling is the hard part — and that's exactly why we document the GTM strategy before we write a line of code.
The order matters. The GTM document works because it's grounded in everything that came before it — the research, the technical doc, the UX doc, the investor summary. That's the whole point of doing things sequentially.
Focus beats coverage. In year one, you're not doing every channel. You're going deep on one or two, based on what your specific product and market support. Everything else is deferred, not abandoned.
What you can do now: You've got the playbook. Module 3 is where we translate all of this into specs and start making it real.

Quick Reference

Module 2 Documents — What We Built

Document	Lesson	What It Does
Market Research Summary	M2 L1–L2	Validates the market; go/no-go checkpoint
Technical Document	M2 L3	Backend architecture; what we're actually building
UX/UI Document	M2 L4	Design philosophy; key flows; screen inventory
Investor Summary	M2 L5	Stakeholder-facing; the "will this make money?" question
GTM Document	M2 L6	Sales and marketing playbook; channel strategy; year-one plan

GTM Sections to Know

Primary Growth Motion     — how the product grows (PLG, paid, SEO, etc.)
Ideal Customer Profile    — who the first paying customer is, exactly
Channel Strategy          — pursue / defer / skip, with reasoning
Budget Guidance           — realistic monthly allocation by channel
What We Will NOT Do       — deliberate exclusions in year one
Viral / Referral Loop     — structural growth mechanism (if it exists)
Year-One Milestones       — success metrics 12 months post-launch
Key Risks                 — most likely failure modes + mitigations

Resources

Tools Used

Claude Desktop — local desktop app, required for Cowork MCP integration
Obsidian — where documents are saved (any notes tool works)

Questions I Get Asked

Q: Do I need to do a separate GTM document if I'm just building for myself or testing an idea?

Honestly — yes, still do it. Even if you're not raising money or building a team, the act of writing this down forces you to think through who you're actually building for. I've seen a lot of founders skip it and then spend six months wondering why nobody's finding their product. The document doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to exist.

Q: What if Claude's channel recommendations don't match what I expected?

That's worth paying attention to. Either Claude has picked up something from the research that you hadn't fully weighed — or it's missing context. Ask it why. Have it walk you through the reasoning. If you disagree after that, update the document to reflect your own judgement. It's your strategy, not Claude's.

Q: How do I know I'm ready for Module 3?

If you have all five documents from Module 2 saved in your project folder and you've actually read through them — you're ready. Don't wait until everything feels perfect. The docs will evolve. What matters is that you have a foundation to build from.

💬 Stuck? Come Talk to Us

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If something's not clicking or you want to share what you've built — come find us in Discord.
Build What Ships community → https://discord.gg/RFXRf9yg
Drop your question in the right channel. The community's active and I check in there too.

Glossary

Go-to-Market (GTM) Document: Your sales and marketing playbook — a strategic document that defines who you're targeting, how you'll reach them, what you'll spend, and what success looks like. Not a brand deck or a content calendar. A strategy. (first introduced in Module 2, Lesson 6)

Product-Led Growth (PLG): A growth model where the product itself is the primary driver of acquisition. Users invite other users as a natural part of using the product — rather than growth coming from outbound sales or paid ads. (came up in Module 2, Lesson 6 — Neutoro's viral loop is an example)

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The total cost of acquiring a single paying customer. In a product with a viral loop, every user you acquire can potentially bring additional users — which effectively reduces your CAC per acquired pair. (first came up in Module 2, Lesson 6)

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): A specific description of the person most likely to buy and get value from your product — including demographics, behaviours, and context. Not "anyone who might use this." The most precise version of your target customer you can write down. (refined across Module 2, Lessons 5 and 6)

Apple Search Ads: Apple's paid advertising platform, which shows ads in the App Store search results. High-intent channel for iOS apps — users are actively searching for solutions when they see your ad. (came up in Module 2, Lesson 6 as the primary paid channel recommendation for Neutoro)