What belongs in a 100-day go-to-market plan
A 100-day GTM plan fits on a page: a few fixes in order, an owner for each and a KPI that moves. How to build one that survives the first board review.
By Semir Jahic
/ 3 min read
Many 100-day plans fail the same way. They list thirty actions, give every one the same weight and assign none to a named person. By day sixty the plan is a document nobody opens, and the sales engine is exactly where it started.
A useful plan is short, sequenced and measured. It is built from the diagnosis, so every action answers a finding. It also respects a fact that value creation work keeps confirming: with holding periods around seven years and revenue growth driving most of the value created in recent exits, the first 100 days set the pace for the next several years.
Where should the plan start?
Start with the finding that most limits the plan to grow, not the one that is easiest to fix. In most diagnoses that is either pipeline that is too thin for the target, or a forecast nobody can rely on. Fix those first because every later decision, such as hiring, territory design and pricing, depends on knowing what the pipeline really is.
How many actions are enough?
Five to eight. More than that and focus dissolves. For each action write one sentence on what changes, one name for who owns it and one number that shows progress by day 100.
An example for a software company with CHF 15 million in revenue: introduce a stage definition with exit criteria in week two, owner the head of sales operations, KPI forecast accuracy above 85% by the third month.
How should actions be sequenced?
By dependency, not by department. Data and definitions come first, because they make later actions measurable. Process changes come next. Hiring and territory changes come last, once the measurement can show whether they work.
Resist the urge to launch everything in the first two weeks. A team that is asked to change qualification, comp, tooling and territories at once will change none of them.
Who owns the plan?
The CEO or CRO owns the outcome, and each action has a named owner below them. The operating partner reviews progress every two weeks in the first 100 days, then monthly. A plan with no owner at executive level becomes a project of the person who wrote it.
How do you know it worked?
Re-score the same ten areas after a year. A score only means something against an earlier score. The first assessment sets the baseline. The annual re-score shows what moved, what did not and where the next plan should focus.
Key takeaways
- Five to eight actions, each with one owner and one KPI.
- Start with what blocks the other actions, usually forecast and pipeline.
- Sequence by dependency: data, then process, then people.
- The CEO or CRO owns the outcome, and the operating partner reviews regularly.
- Re-score annually to measure real progress.
Frequently asked questions
Does the plan need a full assessment first?
Yes. Without a scored baseline there is nothing to prioritise against and nothing to measure progress with.
Can a new CRO use this?
Often. New CROs commonly commission an assessment in their first 90 days to set priorities with evidence.
How is this different from a value creation plan?
A value creation plan covers the whole company. A GTM plan is the commercial part of it, built from a scored diagnosis of the revenue engine.