For CXOs & PE Investors in B2B SaaS & Services businesses
The first 100 days in any of the above scenarios set the tone for execution. They show investors whether your team can find a signal and move fast, and show customers whether anything has really changed.
In 2025, the pressure is immediate. Capital is harder to raise. Post-deal patience is shorter. Teams don’t have six months to align. Whether you’re merging two businesses, entering a new market, or transitioning to a new Go to Market (GTM) model, the job is the same: rebuild traction, fast.
The challenges facing B2B companies are not cyclical. They are structural.
These patterns show up consistently in our work with PE-backed and post-growth B2B companies. The first 100 days should focus on five things that move the needle:
Most teams begin with internal diagnostics. But internal views don’t reflect how buyers think, or what they need post-raise or post-merger.
This is a missed opportunity.
Most M&A and funding events already include customer interviews. But they’re rarely designed to surface GTM insight. Too many collect sentiment, not the kind of insight that sharpens positioning, informs pricing, or reveals hidden churn risk.
Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Customer Switch Interviews close that gap. They focus on the decisions buyers make - what they value, where they hesitate, and what they fear will change post-raise or post-merger.
When done before Day 1, these interviews give leadership teams immediate clarity on value delivery, competitive risk, and messaging misalignment. They replace assumptions with signals, fast.
This is the foundation of Buyer-Led Post Merger Integration™ (PMI), with a commercial reset built on real customer input, not internal opinion.
What used to land with buyers may now fall flat. Messaging that leans on product, feature sets, or legacy logos often stalls in today’s environment.
Your narrative must answer three questions:
The story should live in the heads of every customer-facing employee from the CEO down, not in slides. It needs to be short, specific, and easy for teams to use in the field.
Strategy doesn’t create a pipeline. Activation does.
Sales and marketing teams need repeatable tools they can use right away:
If teams can’t use the strategy, it’s not ready.
AI is rapidly changing how work gets done for both buyers and sellers.
Buyers now expect tools that fit how they operate - faster, more autonomous, and easier to adopt. If your pricing, positioning, or post-sale model gets in their way, AI won’t save you.
The first 100 days are not for consensus-building. They are for traction.
Leaders should run short-cycle GTM experiments/ “sprints” that produce real outcomes, fast. Early wins build momentum. Minor adjustments improve the message. Signal emerges through action, not debate.
We’ve seen the same mistakes across multiple transitions:
In a constrained market, execution beats vision.
The first 100 days are about showing customers, investors, and your own team that you know where traction lives, and that you can get there fast.
Webinar: “Win the First 100 Days”
When: Wed. 27 August 2 PM BST
What we’ll cover: