Gtm Motions

GTM Motions

Overview

Scores the 7 acquisition motions against your ICP's deal economics and forces a stack decision — one primary motion, at most one secondary, with a named rejection reason for every motion not selected. A motion mix picked because it "sounds right" is a budget guess with a launch attached to it; this skill replaces that guess with gates and scores.

Trigger

• When: Choosing which acquisition motion(s) to invest in for a launch, a segment, or a company-wide GTM model.
• Not for: Launch tier + full GTM brief → go-to-market-strategy (this skill feeds its Channel Strategy section). Choosing the target segment → beachhead-segment, run first. Messaging within a chosen motion → positioning-messaging, run after.
• Example prompts:
  • "Which GTM motions should we use for this launch?"
  • "Inbound vs outbound — which is right for us?"
  • "Should this be PLG or sales-led?"

Inputs

• Args: Initiative/segment, ACV band, target sales-cycle length, current motion if any. Free format — Step 1 fills gaps conversationally.
• Defaults: If ACV and sales-cycle length are both unknown, block scoring and ask for a rough band first — motion fit runs on deal economics, not preference.
• Context keys:
  • /foundation/brain.md — required. Sections 2 (ICP), 3 (Positioning), 4 (Competitive).
  • /context/meta-patterns.md — optional; guardrails from prior motion decisions.
  • Brain contract: Reads Sections 2, 3, 4. Writes: none.

Pre-flight

• Load /foundation/brain.md Sections 2, 3, 4 if present — see Step 0.
• Load /context/meta-patterns.md if present; surface any guardrail fired 2+ times.
• Hard block: brain absent or Section 2 (ICP) empty → stop, direct to product-marketing-context first.

Steps

Step 0 — Load Context & Surface Guardrails

Load brain Sections 2–4, the confirmed beachhead if beachhead-segment already wrote one, and any guardrail from /context/meta-patterns.md that has fired 2+ times.

Gate check: if brain is absent or Section 2 is empty, block and surface:

"Brain not found. Run product-marketing-context first — motion fit is scored against ICP deal size, buyer type, and self-serve capability."

Step 1 — Intake (One Round)

Ask in one message, never score before it's answered:

"1. Segment or initiative? (uses confirmed beachhead if one exists) 2. ACV / deal size band? 3. Target sales-cycle length? 4. Current motion, if any — working or not?"

Reflect back in one sentence, then score.

Step 2 — Score Each Motion

Score all 7 motions — Inbound, Outbound, Paid Digital, Community, Partner, ABM, PLG — on 4 signals, 1–5 each (five-point, not ten, to force real spread):

Score against real bands, not gut feel: Outbound needs $10K+ ACV to clear cost-per-meeting; ABM needs $25K+ to clear cost-per-account; PLG needs sub-$10K ACV or a self-serve entry tier; Partner needs $5K+ to absorb revenue share. Inbound and Community work at any ACV but compound slowly; Paid compresses fast below ~$1K ACV without a self-serve close.

Step 3 — Apply Blocking Gates

A motion that fails its gate is excluded regardless of score — never average a gate failure away.

• ABM: ACV < $25K → exclude.
• PLG: no self-serve signup/trial (none planned in 90 days) → exclude.
• Outbound: no dedicated SDR/BDR capacity → exclude as primary (secondary still allowed if a founder/PMM runs it part-time — flag the constraint).
• Readiness floor: any motion scoring 1/5 on Team/tool readiness is excluded from primary consideration.

State every gate fired and what it excluded before Step 4.

Step 4 — Select the Stack

Sum each surviving motion's 4 scores (max 20), rank them.

• Primary — highest-scoring survivor. Gets the majority of the plan and budget.
• Secondary (max 1) — only if within 3 points of primary AND funnel-distinct from it (e.g. PLG + Community for expansion, not PLG + Paid fighting the same top-of-funnel).
• Rejected — one sentence each: gate failure, or lowest-scoring signal and why it matters here.

## Motion Stack — [Initiative/Segment]
**Primary:** [Motion] — [score]/20 — [why]
**Secondary:** [Motion or "None"] — [score]/20 — [why]
### Rejected
- **[Motion]** — [gate or signal reason]
### Sequencing
[If one motion should precede another, say so and why.]

Step 5 — 90-Day Activation Plan

Selected motion(s) only — a plan covering rejected motions signals the rejection wasn't real.

### 90-Day Activation — [Primary Motion]
| Weeks | Milestone | Owner | Leading indicator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | [Foundation work] | [Function] | n.v.t. |
| 3–6 | [First execution wave] | [Function] | [Earliest signal] |
| 7–10 | [Iterate on signal] | [Function] | [Signal] |
| 11–13 | [Scale or cut] | [Function] | [Decision metric] |
**Kill criteria:** [Number, by week 13, below which this motion is cut.]

If a secondary was selected, repeat at roughly half scope.

Step 6 — Learning Close

Append one row to /context/skill-sessions.md (create with header row if absent):

skill: gtm-motions
session_date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
pattern: [one falsifiable statement about this session, or "none"]
source: [surprised / wrong / missing / n.v.t.]

Write directly, no permission needed. Not a brain write — still needs separate confirmation if the user wants the stack saved elsewhere.

Outputs

• Files written: /context/skill-sessions.md — one row per session. n.v.t. otherwise; no brain write. Stack goes into go-to-market-strategy's brief if the user wants it saved.
• Chat output format: Motion Stack block, then 90-Day Activation table(s) — always together.
• External side effects: n.v.t.

Verification

• All 7 motions scored on all 4 signals before any gate applied.
• Every fired gate named with what it excluded.
• Exactly one primary; ≤1 secondary; every rejection has a stated reason.
• 90-day plan covers only selected motion(s) and includes a numeric kill criterion.

Do Not Use For

• go-to-market-strategy — tier assignment and full GTM brief. Run this skill first for real Channel Strategy backing.
• beachhead-segment — segment selection. Run before this skill if no beachhead is confirmed.
• positioning-messaging — messaging within a chosen motion.
• n.v.t.

Operating Rules

• Score all 7 before gating. A motion excluded pre-score gets a guess dressed as a gate.
• Deal-economics gates are hard. ACV < $25K blocks ABM regardless of other scores; no self-serve blocks PLG regardless of enthusiasm. Override only on explicit user request, stated back before proceeding.
• Max one secondary. A 4-motion "portfolio" at partial resourcing funds nothing enough to produce a signal.
• Every rejection gets one sentence. Silence invites relitigating later with no anchor.
• The 90-day plan always carries a numeric kill criterion. Milestones alone are a calendar, not a plan.
• Never write the stack to /foundation/brain.md. Motion choice is initiative-specific and can legitimately change per launch — writing it as a brain fact would drift the brain every time a new motion is tried.

Quality Gate