Three practical starting paths

Choose the task closest to what you are doing today. Each path brings together a guide, a working file you can copy, and a filled example to help you get started. Skip what you already know and return when another question comes up.

Reading edited: 2026-09-12

The examples are fictional teaching examples, not customer results or recommended performance targets. Replace the sample assumptions with evidence from your own work.

Find your first customers

Use this path when you have a product idea but need to decide which buyers to approach first.

1. Read the ICP field test. Write down the business problem, the person responsible, and what they do today.
2. Make a private copy of the wedge card. Choose one audience and one use case; name the alternatives and the boundaries of the test.
3. Use first ten customers to plan conversations that can challenge those assumptions. Record what people actually say separately from your interpretation.

Example wedge card: A fictional software team explores appointment coordination for independent repair shops.

Field	Illustrative entry
Audience	The owner or service manager who schedules repair appointments
Use case	Keep appointment changes visible to the staff handling calls
Named alternative	A shared calendar and handwritten notes; confirm this in interviews
Advantage to test	Staff can find the latest appointment status without asking the owner; unproven
Boundary	Explore appointment coordination first; exclude invoicing and inventory
Next action	Ask a relevant manager to walk through a recent schedule change and its consequences

Ready for review when: the card names an audience, a job, an alternative, supporting evidence, unanswered questions, and the next conversation. Do not claim validation or a performance advantage until the evidence supports it.

Prepare and review an outreach test

Use this path when you know the intended buyer and need a small, explainable outreach plan.

1. Read account research. Record why each account fits and which facts support the proposed message.
2. Fill a private copy of the message-market-fit card. Define the offer, the reason to respond, and what you need to learn.
3. Choose cold email or LinkedIn outbound. Use one suitable route first; add a multichannel sequence only when the extra step has a purpose.

Example outreach brief: The same fictional repair-shop team prepares a message after a manager has described coordination problems in a discovery conversation.

Field	Illustrative entry
Evidence	The manager described staff checking with them after appointment changes
Offer	Review one recent schedule change together and show a relevant workflow if useful
Draft	“You mentioned that staff check with you when appointments move. Would it be useful to walk through one recent change together and see whether a shared status view would help?”
Unknown	Whether the problem is frequent enough to justify a change
Review record	Contact basis, message, date, response, objection, and agreed next action

Ready for review when: each message has a verifiable reason, an appropriate contact route, a clear ask, and an owner. After an authorized test, separate substantive replies, agreed next steps, declines, and delivery failures. Use the evidence to revise the offer; silence alone does not explain why it failed.

Plan a trade-show follow-up workflow

Use this path when deciding how an event should contribute to specific account conversations.

1. Read event marketing. State the audience, account objective, effort, and decision that would justify attending.
2. Use trade shows to plan qualification questions, roles, and follow-up before the event.
3. Make a private copy of the show capture sheet. Record the business context and agreed next action for each conversation.

Example capture record: A fictional team meets a service-operations manager at an industry event.

Field	Illustrative entry
Business job	Coordinate appointment changes across staff
Evidence	The manager describes a recent handoff problem; the team has not verified its frequency
Missing information	Who else approves a workflow change and which system holds the schedule
Agreed action	Send the requested workflow example the next business day; sales owner follows up
Rank	Next-step, because an action and timing were agreed
Pipeline treatment	Record the conversation and action; do not count a badge scan as an opportunity

Ready for review when: the event plan identifies target accounts, responsibilities, qualification questions, and a follow-up process. After the event, each prioritized record has evidence, an owner, and a dated next action. Review whether those actions happened before attributing commercial results to the event.

Tell us what happened

If a step is unclear, open an issue with the page, task, point where you got stuck, and what you expected. If a template helped, describe the decision or output it supported. Remove customer names, contact details, and confidential working data before sharing.

Browse all playbooks · Choose another working file

Copyright © 2026 Ivan Xu. All rights reserved. See the copyright and reuse terms.