Building a successful B2B tech company requires more than just great technology. The path from early-stage venture to public offering demands strategic preparation, systematic testing, and the right go-to-market approach. Jonathan W. Buckley, a growth strategist and fractional CMO & CEO, has spent over 25 years guiding companies through this complex journey. Helping transform ambitious early-stage companies into NASDAQ-listed enterprises across three continents.
Building Companies That Actually Last
Jonathan’s been around the block a few times. He’s led go-to-market teams across Silicon Valley, Europe, and the Middle East, watching companies rise, fall, and fight their way back again. The difference between winners and losers? It often comes down to three simple things that most founders overlook. “Over 50% of the companies I’ve worked with have reached IPO or acquisition, and it’s not luck,” he says. That kind of success rate doesn’t happen by accident. Jonathan’s helped dozens of venture-backed companies navigate hypergrowth, acquisitions, and public offerings. And here’s what he’s learned: most companies don’t fail because of vision or talent, they fail because they skip the boring stuff that actually matters. According to Jonathan, here are three ways to prepare your B2B tech company for market:
Ensure Product-Market Fit
Here’s where most companies mess up. They think having a few customers means they’ve got product-market fit. Jonathan knows better. “Find 10 to 20 companies in your beta process at arm’s length that use your product in the same pattern format,” he explains. It’s not about getting people to try your product once. It’s about finding companies that keep coming back and using it the same way.
This isn’t rocket science, but it takes patience. Too many companies rush to market because they’re excited about their technology. But excitement doesn’t pay the bills. You need real customers doing real work with your product before you can claim you’ve found market fit. The beta process becomes your testing ground. When multiple companies start using your product in similar ways, that’s when you know you’re onto something. Until then, you’re just guessing.
Build a Sales & Marketing MVP
Most founders obsess over their product MVP and completely ignore the sales side. That’s backwards thinking. Jonathan argues you need both running at the same time. “Build a sales and marketing minimal viable product, so to speak, or MVP, alongside your product MVP process,” he says. Think about it this way: you can build the best product in the world, but if nobody knows how to buy it, you’re dead in the water. The sales and marketing MVP helps you figure out how to actually reach customers and convert them. It’s just as important as the product itself. This parallel approach saves companies from the classic mistake of building something amazing and then scrambling to figure out how to sell it. By the time you’ve got product-market fit, you should already know how to reach your customers and convince them to buy.
Think Like a Scientist, Not a Salesperson
This is where his approach gets interesting. Most people think selling is about persuasion and charisma. He thinks that’s wrong. “Think like a scientist through this process, not a salesperson per se, but a scientist that experiments, measures, and iterates before applying scale to a go-to-market strategy,” he explains. Scientists test things. They measure results. They try again when something doesn’t work. That’s exactly what companies should do with their go-to-market strategy. Instead of betting everything on one approach, you run experiments to see what actually works. This means treating every marketing campaign, every sales strategy, and every customer conversation as a test. You’re not trying to be right the first time. You’re trying to learn what works so you can do more of it later.
Jonathan’s success comes down to one thing: preparation. “At the end of the day, preparation is everything,” he says, and his track record backs that up. The companies that make it to IPO or acquisition aren’t the ones with the most funding or the flashiest technology. They’re the ones that did their homework. Most companies want to skip ahead to the exciting parts like scaling and raising big rounds. But the boring work of testing and measuring is what separates winners from losers. “It’s having a repeatable system to test, learn, and adapt before going to market. That’s how you build a company that lasts,” Jonathan points out.
The math is simple. When you know your product-market fit is solid, when you’ve tested your sales and marketing approach, and when you’ve got data backing up your decisions, scaling becomes much easier. You’re not gambling anymore. You’re executing a plan that’s already been proven to work. That’s how you build companies that last instead of companies that flame out after burning through their funding. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s the difference between success and failure.
Want more insights from Jonathan W. Buckley? Connect with him on LinkedIn for practical growth strategies.
