Best GTM advisors for startups (2026): by specialty, with sources
The best GTM advisor depends on your bottleneck. For positioning, April Dunford and Andy Raskin. For product-led growth and pricing, Kyle Poyar and Elena Verna. For founder-led sales, Jen Abel and Pete Kazanjy. For outbound and sales development, Aaron Ross. For startup marketing, Emily Kramer. For revenue architecture, Jacco van der Kooij.
Everyone listed has public evidence of advising startups, cited at the bottom of the page. I am Garrett Wolfe, I wrote this page, and I am on it under outbound and GTM engineering. Groups are by specialty and alphabetical by surname, not a ranking.
Key takeaways
- Pick an advisor for one bottleneck: positioning, growth model, sales process, outbound, marketing, or RevOps.
- Most well-known advisors sell structured formats: retainers, workshops, accelerators, or firm engagements, not open-ended calls.
- Several work through a firm or fund (Winning by Design, Stage 2 Capital, JJELLYFISH, MKT1).
- An advisor tells you what to do. If nobody on the team has time to build it, pair the advice with someone who builds.
- Disclosures: Garrett Wolfe wrote this page, and Maja Voje co-authored the State of GTME report with him.
Positioning and messaging advisors
April Dunford
Positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. Hosts The Positioning Show podcast and draws on 25 years as a marketing executive. Advisory evidence: Own site offers positioning and sales pitch consulting (200+ companies).
Best for: Positioning and messaging
How to work with them: Her site offers consulting on positioning and sales pitch (more than 200 companies, per the site) and keynote speaking.
Andy Raskin
Strategic narrative consultant in San Francisco who helps venture-backed CEOs and leadership teams build one company story for sales, marketing, fundraising and recruiting. Advisory evidence: Own site offers strategic narrative engagements with venture-backed CEOs and leadership teams.
Best for: Positioning and messaging
How to work with them: CEO and leadership team engagements, a Storytelling for Marketers workshop, and sales conference keynotes.
Maja Voje
Disclosure: co-authored the State of GTME report with Garrett Wolfe
Author of the book Go-To-Market Strategist and creator of the GTM Strategist method. Previously worked in growth and marketing with Google, Rocket Internet, Bayer and Heineken. Advisory evidence: Own site offers GTM consulting, workshops and corporate programs and calls her an advisor and mentor.
Best for: Positioning and messaging
How to work with them: Her site offers GTM workshops, consulting (prioritizing AI products and B2B tech), corporate upskilling programs, and a Go-To-Market Masterclass.
Product-led growth and pricing advisors
Kyle Poyar
Writes Growth Unhinged, a newsletter on startup marketing, pricing and growth. Previously Operating Partner at OpenView, where he led marketing and worked with portfolio founders, and before that a Director at Simon-Kucher. Advisory evidence: Own site offers retainer advising, workshops and coaching calls.
Best for: Product-led growth and pricing
How to work with them: His Work with Kyle page lists retainer advising (weekly strategic sessions, typically 6 to 12 months), fixed-fee workshops and projects focused on pricing and packaging, up to 10 one-off coaching calls a month, and speaking.
Elena Verna
Growth and product-led growth operator who has held leadership roles at Lovable, Miro, SurveyMonkey, Amplitude and Dropbox. Writes the newsletter Elena's Growth Scoop. Advisory evidence: About page says she has advised dozens of companies, including Superhuman, Sanity, Veed and MongoDB.
Best for: Product-led growth and pricing
How to work with them: Her site lists the newsletter (free and paid), her courses, and advisory work with companies such as Superhuman, Sanity, Veed and MongoDB. It does not describe how to book advisory.
Founder-led sales and sales process advisors
Jen Abel
Co-founder of JJELLYFISH and writer of a Substack on early-stage B2B and founder-led sales. Guest on Lenny's Podcast with The ultimate guide to founder-led sales. Advisory evidence: JJELLYFISH, which she co-founded, sells Founder Copilot founder-led sales coaching to startups.
Best for: Founder-led sales and sales process
How to work with them: Through JJELLYFISH engagements, including Founder Copilot founder-led sales coaching, and her newsletter.
Pete Kazanjy
Author of Founding Sales, a handbook on founder-led sales. Founder of Atrium and the Modern Sales community; previously founded TalentBin (acquired by Monster). Advisory evidence: Own site offers the Founder-Led Sales Factory accelerator, working with Pete directly.
Best for: Founder-led sales and sales process
How to work with them: His Founder-Led Sales Factory accelerator (work with Pete directly), a paid video course and book bundle, a founder-led sales chatbot, newsletter and podcast. Book prices are listed on foundingsales.com.
Jason Lemkin
Founder of SaaStr and the SaaStr Fund. Co-founder and former CEO of EchoSign (acquired by Adobe) and co-author with Aaron Ross of From Impossible to Inevitable. Advisory evidence: SaaStr's company page says he is an advisor or smaller investor in Showpad, FrontApp, Greenhouse and other SaaS companies.
Best for: Founder-led sales and sales process
How to work with them: SaaStr events (SaaStr Annual and others), free content and Q&A, the SaaStr Academy, and an AI mentor on SaaStr. The SaaStr Fund invests in SaaS startups.
Mark Roberge
Former SVP of Worldwide Sales and Services at HubSpot, author of The Sales Acceleration Formula (Wiley, 2015), co-founder of Stage 2 Capital and creator of the Science of Scaling framework. Advisory evidence: Stage 2 Capital, his VC firm, gives portfolio founders a GTM Review and the Science of Scaling curriculum.
Best for: Founder-led sales and sales process
How to work with them: Stage 2 Capital invests $200K to $5M from pre-seed through Series A and gives portfolio companies the Science of Scaling curriculum and a GTM Review. He also hosts a weekly podcast.
Outbound and GTM engineering advisors
Aaron Ross
Author of Predictable Revenue and co-author with Jason Lemkin of From Impossible to Inevitable. Co-founder of Predictable Revenue with Collin Stewart. Advisory evidence: Bio says he now works with European SaaS companies as a sales advisor or board member / NED.
Best for: Outbound and sales development
How to work with them: His Predictable Revenue bio says he is stepping back from day-to-day operations to work with European SaaS companies as a sales advisor or board member / Non-Executive Director, and he continues to speak.
Garrett Wolfe
Wrote this page
Founder of OneGTM, a GTM engineering practice. Employee #9 at Unify, where he helped take the company from $400K to $6M+ ARR and built the automated outbound behind $15M+ in pipeline. At OneGTM, the system he built for Coastal Recruiting took accepted candidate intros from 72 a month to 340 in four months. Author of the State of GTME report. Advises Rubie and Dorado, and has angel invested in Aryeo (exited), Assert Labs, Diagonal, Leland and Rubie.
Best for: Outbound, signals, and GTM engineering
How to work with them: Through OneGTM engagements, scoped on a call.
Startup marketing advisors
Emily Kramer
Founder of MKT1, a B2B startup marketing media and advisory company, and writer of the MKT1 Newsletter. Built marketing teams at Asana, Carta, Astro and Ticketfly. Advisory evidence: MKT1 site says she advises growth-stage heads of marketing and founders, with limited availability.
Best for: B2B startup marketing
How to work with them: Her site says she advises growth-stage heads of marketing, VPs, CMOs and founders with limited availability. MKT1 also runs supper clubs, virtual events and private workshops for startups.
Revenue architecture and RevOps advisors
Jacco van der Kooij
Founder of Winning by Design, a B2B revenue consulting and training firm founded in 2012, and author of Revenue Architecture. Known for the Bow Tie data model and SPICED methodology. Advisory evidence: Founder of Winning by Design, a revenue consulting and training firm with 1,000+ client organizations.
Best for: Revenue architecture and RevOps
How to work with them: Through Winning by Design consulting and training engagements. The Revenue Architecture book targets founders and GTM leaders at companies from $10M ARR.
Every person here has public evidence of advising startups: an advisory offer on their own site, their firm or fund site, or a published listing. Sources are listed at the bottom. Groups are by specialty and alphabetical by surname inside each group. Garrett Wolfe wrote this page and is on it.
GTM advisors compared
| Advisor | Best for | How to work with them |
|---|---|---|
| April Dunford | Positioning and messaging | See their site |
| Andy Raskin | Positioning and messaging | See their site |
| Maja Voje | Positioning and messaging | See their site |
| Kyle Poyar | Product-led growth and pricing | See their site |
| Elena Verna | Product-led growth and pricing | See their site |
| Jen Abel | Founder-led sales and sales process | See their site |
| Pete Kazanjy | Founder-led sales and sales process | See their site |
| Jason Lemkin | Founder-led sales and sales process | See their site |
| Mark Roberge | Founder-led sales and sales process | See their site |
| Aaron Ross | Outbound and sales development | See their site |
| Garrett Wolfe | Outbound, signals, and GTM engineering | OneGTM engagements |
| Emily Kramer | B2B startup marketing | See their site |
| Jacco van der Kooij | Revenue architecture and RevOps | See their site |
Check each person's own site for current availability. Many have limited capacity.
What does a GTM advisor do?
A GTM advisor helps founders make go-to-market decisions: who to sell to, how to position, which motion and channels to run, how to price, and how to build the first sales process. Most work in structured formats such as retainers, workshops, or accelerators, and some advise through a firm or fund.
GTM advisor vs. GTM agency
An advisor gives judgment and pattern recognition, a few hours a month. An agency does the work. Early teams often need both: an advisor to sharpen the strategy and someone to build the lists, signals, and outbound that run it. See best GTM agencies for startups and the GTM strategy guide.
How to choose a GTM advisor
- Name the one decision you need help with before you reach out.
- Check they have done it at your stage and price point.
- Ask for the format: retainer, workshop, accelerator, or a firm engagement.
- Agree what done looks like after 90 days.
When you need someone to build it, too
Advice is only useful once someone acts on it. I build the GTM systems that turn the strategy into meetings.
- The strategy is clear but nobody has time to build the lists and outbound.
- You need signals and scoring set up before the first GTM hire.
- Early outbound tests need a second pair of hands.
GTM advisors FAQ
Who are the best GTM advisors for startups?
What does a go-to-market advisor do?
How do startups work with GTM advisors?
GTM advisor or GTM agency: which does a startup need?
Who wrote this list?
Have the strategy and need it built?
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Systems we've built for
- Antimetal
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- Rubie
- Enata
- Coastal Recruiting
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