Go-to-(Global)-Market from Day One
Description
There is plenty of talk about "going global from day one", but what does it really mean? And do founders from Aotearoa, especially first-time founders or founders with little to no commercial experience actually do it?
Doug Bohaboy is a GTM Principal at GD1 whose core expertise is across Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy and execution in B2B technology companies. He has nearly 20 years experience as a hands-on growth operator, building & running global sales, marketing & customer success teams. He filled leadership roles across these revenue functions from early stage to $100m usd.
In this session he is going to demystify early-stage high-growth startup GTM in three ways: (1) how to avoid the trap of building for a tiny market / how to use NZ strategically; (2) how to perform world-class customer discovery (and the volume required before you stop); (3) how to define and iterate your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
AGENDA:
12:00-12:15 doors open & intro networking
12:15-13:15 three-part workshop with brief breaks in between each section for Q&A and toilet breaks
13:15-13:30 outro networking
13:30-15:00 three 25-min office hour slots for UCE founders
15:00-15:30 break
15:30-17:00 three 25-min office hour slots for MoA founders
Meet the event partners

UC Centre for Entrepreneurship
At the UC Centre for Entrepreneurship (UCE) we connect, challenge, and support our students and staff as they build capabilities in entrepreneurship and innovation. UCE programmes and events broaden minds, challenge ideas, and empower our students to make a real difference.

GD1
We write first cheques at pre-seed, lead rounds at Series A, and follow on through Series B. Across deep hardware, vertical software, agentic infrastructure, and everything in between.

Startup Aotearoa
Startup Aotearoa ignites New Zealand’s entrepreneurial spirit by providing personalised one-to-one coaching to early-stage startup founders. Delivered nationwide through local regional providers, it offers accessible, consistent, and high-quality guidance, helping entrepreneurs build capabilities and turn ideas into thriving startups. Startup Aotearoa is made possible thanks to the generous support of MBIE, reflecting a steadfast commitment to fostering startup capability across Aotearoa.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
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