The GTM Sprint
Positioning, messaging and a launch plan in four weeks.
For seed to Series A software teams that have a product people use and a story that hasn't caught up yet. One flat fee. No retainer.
Start with an email See what's included
Product marketing at Zapier, Mailchimp, Square and Worldpay
You don't need more marketing. You need a few decisions.
Early teams usually have plenty of ways to describe the product. The deck says one thing, the homepage says another, and sales says something else on calls. Every launch gets planned from a blank page.
That's normal. It's also fixable. Most of it comes down to a handful of calls about who you're for and why you win, made once and written down where everyone can use them.
How the four weeks go
Week 1
Listen
I talk to five of your customers or prospects, listen to recent sales calls, and read what you've already written. You get a short memo on what buyers actually say and where your story loses them.
Week 2
Position
One working session to make the calls: who it's for, what they'd use instead, what only you do, and why they care. I write it up as a one-page positioning doc.
Week 3
Message
The positioning becomes messaging your team can use: a one-liner, three value pillars with proof, and answers to the objections you hear most. I also rewrite the top of your homepage.
Week 4
Launch
A plan for your next launch or raise, with the audience, channels, timeline, owners and what you'll measure. We finish with a handoff to whoever runs it.
Thirty days later we do one check-in call to see what's working.
What you keep
- A findings memo from your customer calls
- A one-page positioning doc
- A message house for sales, the site and the deck
- New copy for your homepage hero and first three sections
- A launch plan with names and dates on it
- A handoff session and a 30-day check-in
All of it comes as working docs your team can edit. No 60-slide deck.
Is this a fit?
Good fit
- You're seed to Series A and selling software to businesses
- You have customers, and they'll take a call
- A launch, a raise or a first marketing hire is coming in the next quarter
- A founder can be in the room for the big calls
Probably not
- You need someone to run marketing week to week
- You're looking for design, ads or a content engine
- You're pre-product, with nobody to talk to yet
Price
Positioning Sprint
$7,500
Weeks 1 and 2 only, for teams that mainly need to get the positioning right.
Ask about itWant help through the launch itself? I can stay on for a few hours a month afterward. Half the fee books your start date; the rest is due at the start of week 3. I take one team at a time, and two a quarter.
Who you'd work with
I'm Wade. My day job is leading go-to-market for Zapier's AI agent products, including Zapier MCP and the Zapier SDK. This fall I wrote the story for ZapConnect, Zapier's platform launch, and it became the spine of the keynote and the launch page.
Before Zapier I spent seven years at Mailchimp, where I ran product marketing for SMS as it expanded to 37 countries. Before that I worked on retail partnerships at Square in the run-up to its IPO, did product marketing at Worldpay, and started out at agencies. Through Hyde & Larkin I advise FilmPro, an AI film development platform, on positioning and launch.
The Product Marketing Alliance put me on its Top 100 list in 2024 and 2025. Mostly that says I've had good teams. The sprint is the part of this work early companies need most and can least afford to hire for full time.
Questions
Why a flat fee?
You know the cost before we start, and I have every reason to keep things moving. If we find something bigger, we talk before anything changes.
How much of my time does it take?
About two hours a week of live time, plus quick feedback on drafts. Plan for a founder to be in every session.
Do you do the work, or do you just advise?
I do the work. You make the calls.
What if we already have positioning?
Then week 1 tells us whether it holds up. If it does, we spend the time on messaging and the launch.
Can we keep working together after?
Yes, lightly. A few hours a month through your launch.
Got something launching?
Send a couple of lines about what you're building and what's coming up. I'll tell you quickly whether a sprint makes sense.
Email founder@hydelarkin.com