Hey, it's Ed, and welcome to the weekend. Thank you for reading the Scale Smarter Newsletter — a once-a-week briefing with ideas from me, SaaS GTM insight and mindset tools for everyday life. This newsletter aims to provide you with actionable information in condensed form.

IDEAS FROM ME  📈

1. 13 steps to build a marketing machine.

Anti-Scale GTM Strategy
1. Invert the Problem, Establish Anti-Goals
2. Test GTM Channels, Techniques  & Tactics
3. Prove Channels Work

Operational Excellence “The machine”
4. Find Repeatable Channel Motions
5. Embed New People and Capabilities
6. Prove Team Can Execute
7. Embed The Right Processes and Tools
8. Ensure Marketing GTM ROI and Payback

Scale-Up execution
9. Prove Holistic / Cohesive Strategy “Your Playbook”
10. Align “One Unified Comms Engine”
11. Scale gas, Org, Process and Channels
12. Due Diligence Each Quarter on Results
13. Launch new programs iteratively 

2. Categorised book recommendations:

🟢 On Building Culture - Legacy by James Kerr
🟢 On Mindset - The Almanak of Naval Ravikant
🟢 On Building a business operating system - Traction by Gino Wickman
🟢 On leadership - The Ride of a Lifetime by Bog Iger
🟢 On-Time Management - Four Thousand Weeks by Olver Burkeman
🟢 On Negotiation - Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
🟢 On Direct Marketing - The One-page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
🟢 On Selling - The Jolt Effect by Matthew Dixon

3. The importance and impact of long-term thinking and planning. 

You'll learn why thinking ahead, not just in a quarter, is critical to your success. It’s something I discuss every week, the mindset of working in parallel, short term vs long term. To build a marketing machine, you have to build it together. 

SAAS GTM  📈

4. An ‘incredibly effective’ shift in marketing spend. 

Most GTM strategies focus on performance marketing and demand generation tactics. You’ll rethink this approach based on the AirBnbs example, which is quite simple, and focus on consistent content, education and story-telling. It might not gain you in-quarter success, but if you are serious about the machine, you want to have an alternate view on where you focus marketing. 

5. This is NOT your value prop.

Quote: Here’s the thing, time savings aren't differentiated, doesn't create urgency, and doesn't capture real $$$. A business case built on saving time won’t stand a chance of getting past the CFO. Learning here is to go deeper than “saving costs” in your value proposition. 

6. To build a community, you need to understand your people first.

Starting. Community. Is. So. Hard. I know. I’ve probably failed at doing it multiple times. Here’s why. The first step in the right direction is this cool idea called ‘first study your people. Because, to build a community, you need to understand your people first.