Turn a government small‑business survey into customers: a 90‑day GTM playbook for solo tech founders
Company Context
Industry: Technology (SaaS for SMEs) | Size: 1–10 (Solo founder) | Growth Phase: Early / Validation
Question to the Stravus Board
I read the NSW Small Business Momentum survey - how can I use those insights to focus my business plan and go‑to‑market so I turn the report into paying customers?
Answer provided by the STRAVUS board
Output provided: Strategic Guidance Document (70 pages) | Processing time: 15 minutes.
Executive Summary
Market sizing & ICP (market analyst) - The survey points to the highest pain and fastest willingness to adopt digital help in Hospitality (cafés, restaurants, pubs), followed by Retail and Trades. Focus your initial SAM on 5–19 headcount NSW operators in Greater Sydney + tourism hubs to maximise near‑term wins.
Product & first‑mile UX (product & design) - Ship a 90‑second onboarding that asks industry, headcount and a single priority (cost, insurance, compliance, hiring) and surface a “Next 3 actions” dashboard with NSW compliance calendar + a 1–2 quick templates (insurance renewal checklist, subscription audit). Time‑to‑first‑value must be under 15 minutes.
Demand & content (growth & brand) - Convert survey language into lead magnets: “NSW Compliance Sprint” and “Margin Pack” gated downloads, a 4‑week content sprint on LinkedIn/X that drives demos and a Founding NSW Cohort offer to create urgency and trust.
Pricing, grants & unit economics (finance) - Use three clear tiers with time‑boxed trials (no freemium), onboarding fees that can be waived on annual prepay, and a founding cohort discount. Build a “Funding Finder” to surface Service NSW, council grants and ASBAS subsidised onboarding so customers can reduce out‑of‑pocket costs and you preserve margin.
Partners & pipeline (sales & partnerships) - Prioritise five distribution routes (state chambers, bookkeeping networks, brokers, Service NSW, and industry bodies for hospitality). Offer partner bundles (member discounts + rev‑share or activation bounties) and a 30/60/90 day partner pipeline to deliver demos and pilots fast.
Operations & pilot execution (operations) - Run a 90‑day NSW pilot with three cohorts (total 50 SMEs) across two priority playbooks (eCommerce/retail; trades), target first‑value in <15 minutes, and use tight SLAs: kickoff in 2 business days, activation goal 80% by Day 7, onboarding completion 85% by Day 14.
Retention & lifecycle (CX) - Make compliance clarity the retention wedge: onboarding checklist → monthly NSW calendar nudges → quarterly health checks → proactive alerts for renewals/award changes. Build a daily health score and playbooks to rescue red accounts before churn.
Risk & legal (risk/compliance) - Reframe the product as an “AI assistant” (general information only), implement hard advice boundaries and escalation paths to licensed partners, capture explicit consent, keep AU data residency, bind PI & cyber insurance, and keep tamper‑evident logs for audits.
Tech roadmap (engineering) - Two 2‑week sprints: Sprint 1 = AU hosting + onboarding + Xero read‑only ingest + compliance dashboard + grants feed; Sprint 2 = cost insights, reminders, MYOB CSV import, insurer touchpoints and analytics. Instrument events to measure funnels: signup → onboarding → Xero connect → obligation evidence uploaded → insight acted on.
Holistic recommendation — Do not try to be everything. Launch NSW‑first, pick Hospitality as the beachhead, ship a single measurable MVP (Xero ingest + NSW compliance calendar + “Next 3 actions” + Margin Pack lead magnet), and run a partner‑backed 90‑day pilot to validate channels. Protect the business with narrow legal guardrails and AU data residency. Use the pilot to prove: conversion from demo→trial→paid, CAC payback by tier, and retention metrics that support pricing/partner economics.
What the company should do next (concrete first steps)
Week 0–1: Build one NSW hero landing page + two lead magnets (NSW Compliance Sprint; Margin Pack) and add a Calendly CTA for 15‑min ROI demos.
Day 1–14: Ship Sprint 1 MVP: onboarding flow, Xero OAuth read‑only ingest, obligations engine (10 NSW templates), evidence upload & basic analytics. Instrument events.
Day 7–21: Sign MOUs with 2 partners (one bookkeeping network, one hospitality association) and offer the Founding NSW Cohort (first 100 seats, early discount + waived onboarding on annuals).
Day 15–90: Run the 90‑day pilot (3 cohort waves → 50 SMEs), monitor activation/TTFV/D30/D90 retention, collect 3 anonymised case studies.
Parallel: Implement legal risk pack (entry consent, in‑chat disclaimers, escalation partners), bind PI & cyber insurance, and hire two fractional roles — CS lead (2–3 days/week) and an SDR (outbound + partner follow‑ups).
You’ll know you’ve won the wedge when hospitality pilots consistently hit demo→trial ≥30%, trial→paid ≥50% and D90 retention stays above 90% — that signal unlocks scalable partner channels, better pricing discipline and real investor or acquirer options.