Go-to-Market Readiness Score
A fifteen-point readiness index across four go-to-market pillars. Output: a composite score plus the pillar most likely to break the launch.
Who it’s for: CMOs, CROs, and founders about to commit a quarter of GTM spend to a launch and looking for a sanity check that is not a project-management Gantt chart.
- 01
10 = live with three named references willing to talk. 1 = still behind a flag or only in beta with paid design partners.
Not shipped5Shipped, referenced - 02
10 = you have run the test on three outside readers. 1 = the internal draft still has open comments.
Drafting5Tested, locked - 03
10 = the channel already delivers 60% of current pipeline. 1 = you are opening a channel you have never run.
Unproven5Proven at scale - 04
10 = certified by the AE manager after live reps. 1 = sales has seen one deck walkthrough.
Unrehearsed5Certified - 05
10 = published and self-explanatory. 1 = every deal is a custom quote and discount desk is guessing.
Improvised5Published, intuitive - 06
10 = baseline is instrumented and agreed. 1 = the launch will declare success against a feeling.
No baseline5Instrumented - 07
10 = cards refreshed in the last 30 days and reps have rehearsed. 1 = cards are over a year old.
Stale5Fresh, rehearsed - 08
10 = one sentence, signed, shared. 1 = three different definitions of success in three different decks.
Divergent5One sentence
Two or more of the heavy-weight inputs are thin. A launch now will miss its number and then get re-explained as a positioning problem when it was a readiness problem. Delay four to six weeks.
Read it honestly, not charitably.
The weights are not neutral. Product, messaging, sales readiness, and exec alignment carry the heaviest load because those are the pillars that, when thin, poison the other inputs. A thin channel can be rebuilt mid-launch. Thin messaging rarely recovers.
If the composite lands in the 60s and one input is a 3, fix that input before the launch date — not after. Averages mask bottleneck risk, and this index is designed to make the bottleneck obvious through the pillar view, not just the score.
A high score is not an all-clear. It is a signal that the preparation is not the problem. A launch still has to be launched well, and this index does not evaluate execution on the day.
Three moves you can make this week.
- Move 01
Revisit the lowest-scoring pillar with its owner within the week. If that pillar is product, messaging, or exec alignment, the launch date is negotiable until it is fixed — the others you can ship while improving.
- Move 02
Lock the single success metric in writing. Share the one sentence with the CEO, CRO, and CMO. This pushes the exec-alignment input up and preempts the most common post-launch argument.
- Move 03
Pair this score with the GTM strategy guide. The index gives you the readiness snapshot; the guide gives you the pillar-level checklist to raise the weakest inputs.
Why these questions, in this order.
Eight inputs because any fewer misses a real pillar, and any more dilutes the signal. Readiness failures tend to cluster in product, messaging, or alignment. The remaining inputs are the ones that turn a survivable launch into a durable one.
The weights skew to leading indicators. Baseline metric is rated lower than messaging because a team can add instrumentation in a week — they cannot fix a category definition in a week. Weight the slow-to-fix inputs heavier, because that is where you need the pressure before the date slips past repair.
What this is not: a project plan. It answers the readiness question, not the sequencing question. Use this index before you decide the launch can go. Use a Gantt after.
Run the full Launch Playbook.
Drafts your announcement, FAQ, and battle-card patch when you ship.