From Pilot to Payment: Sales & Go-to-Market Strategies

During the three hours workshop, early-stage startup teams learn how to move from “we have interest” to getting paid by adopting a commercialisation mindset and putting repeatable systems in place (not just relying on the idea, research, or pitch deck).

The workshop gives teams a practical toolkit for turning pilots into paid customers, building a sales plan, and developing a Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy they can actually execute as a team. Startups will get familiar with the core building blocks of a GTM:

- customer personas and pain points
- value proposition and messaging (including testing)
- mapping the customer journey, and
- aligning pricing, marketing channels, and sales with the right target segment.

A strong focus is placed on early-stage reality: outbound sales, so teams learn concrete outreach approaches (email/LinkedIn/events), how to structure discovery calls and first meetings, and how to avoid common sales mistakes, while staying consultative.

Startups also get to understand in depth all the sales personas they need to face in order to close a deal. Finally, teams learn to manage sales with clear metrics (CAC, LTV, funnel conversion rates, ROI language) and understand basic compliance expectations that may matter to customers (e.g., GDPR/security/procurement).

The “pilot to payment” section gives a structured way to design pilots so they don’t become “nice project, maybe later,” clarifying success criteria, decision-makers, pricing/timeline, and next steps.

The workshop ends with a hands-on roleplay lab (pitch + buyer pushback + feedback) and a founders’ checklist where each team reviews a real pilot and leaves with concrete action steps and commitments.

Coach: Anastasia Patsouris, Anastasia Patsouri – MOXI | LinkedIn

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