skills/build-business-from-zero/references/customer-access-and-growth-models.md

# Customer access and growth model

Do not start go-to-market design by assuming a narrow target group, sales pipeline, outbound prospecting, founder-led sales, or sales calls. First determine how people discover, evaluate, adopt, pay for, and continue using the specific business.

## Separate five concepts

1. **Eligibility** — who is allowed and technically able to use the product.
2. **Need or intent cluster** — the problem, search, job, situation, or outcome that brings someone to it.
3. **Validation cohort** — a bounded group used to learn whether a hypothesis works; it does not automatically define the permanent market.
4. **Buyer/customer** — who authorizes or pays, which may differ from the user.
5. **Acquisition and conversion motion** — how discovery and purchase actually happen.

A product may be open to everyone while its information architecture, landing pages, examples, onboarding, and analytics are organized by intent. Do not call intent routing an exclusionary target-audience strategy.

## Classify the primary motion

Select one primary model and any justified secondary models. Mark each `confirmed`, `proposed`, `assumed`, or `unsupported`.

| Model | Discovery and conversion | Required operating system | Do not add by default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-service inbound | Search, content, social, paid demand capture, referral or direct discovery → product evaluation → autonomous signup/purchase | SEO/content architecture, intent landing pages, product onboarding, conversion UX, lifecycle messaging, support, experimentation, analytics | Cold outreach, sales calls, account pipeline, proposal process |
| Product-led | Free use, trial, shared artifact, collaboration or embedded value → activation → upgrade | Activation events, usage limits, in-product education, invitations, upgrade triggers, retention loops | Lead qualification before value is experienced |
| Sales-led | Identified account → qualification → discovery → proposal/demo → approval → onboarding | ICP/account rules, CRM, pipeline, sales roles, forecasting, proposal/contract controls | Consumer-style funnel as sole operating model |
| Partner/channel-led | Reseller, affiliate, integrator, marketplace or strategic partner creates access | Partner criteria, attribution, enablement, agreements, channel conflict and quality controls | Direct-sales assumptions without evidence |
| Marketplace/network | Supply and demand attract each other and transact through the platform | Liquidity, matching, trust, quality, incentives, marketplace operations, multi-sided metrics | Treating only one side as the customer |
| Community/creator-led | Audience, community, education, creator or member participation builds trust and adoption | Editorial/community system, moderation, contribution loops, reputation, conversion boundaries | Assuming reach equals demand or revenue |
| Local/service-led | Reputation, referrals, local search, appointment or inquiry → human delivery | Local presence, intake, scheduling, quoting, delivery capacity, reviews | SaaS activation metrics as the main funnel |
| Procurement/enterprise | Stakeholder group, security/legal/procurement review and contract → rollout | Account ownership, security pack, procurement, implementation, success and renewal | Treating enterprise as instant self-service |
| Hybrid | Different motions for distinct offers, price points, regions or maturity stages | Explicit routing rule, ownership, handoff, economics and conflict controls for each motion | Combining every channel without a reason |

## Decision questions

- Can a user understand value, start, receive value, pay, and get support without a human conversation?
- Is the buyer different from the user, or are multiple approvals required?
- Does price, risk, customization, integration, regulation, procurement, or implementation require assistance?
- Is demand already expressed through search, comparison, communities, marketplaces, social content, or referrals?
- Does the product become more valuable through usage, sharing, collaboration, supply, community, or data?
- Is the transaction frequent and standardized or infrequent and negotiated?
- Which channel is supported by current evidence rather than convention?

## Broad-platform rule

When the owner confirms that the platform is broadly available and not based on personal acquisition:

- preserve broad eligibility;
- organize discovery by problems, search intents, tasks, industries, formats, maturity, or outcomes only where useful;
- use those clusters for findability, relevance, onboarding, examples, analytics, and experiments—not to falsely declare that only one group is the market;
- design the default journey as discovery → relevant entry page/content → immediate proof or useful result → self-service signup/use → activation → subscription/upgrade → retention/referral;
- treat SEO, helpful public content, social distribution, paid demand capture, referral, directories, comparison pages, templates, tools, and public examples as possible acquisition surfaces;
- make onboarding adapt to expressed intent or first task rather than requiring a sales qualification call;
- make pricing, limits, purchase, cancellation, support, and upgrades understandable without human intervention;
- measure intent-to-value paths, not only aggregate traffic.

Do not add outbound prospecting, cold calling, mandatory demos, account-based marketing, sales territories, proposal pipelines, or sales quotas unless evidence and the owner explicitly introduce a sales-assisted offer. Enterprise may later be a separate secondary motion; it must not silently redefine the core platform.

## Model-specific artifacts

Create only artifacts required by the selected motion.

### Self-service/product-led

- intent and entry-page map;
- search/content/social distribution system;
- acquisition-source and landing-page attribution;
- anonymous-to-account and account-to-activation journey;
- first-value and time-to-value definition;
- onboarding states and abandonment recovery;
- free/trial/paid boundary and in-product upgrade triggers;
- self-service support, cancellation and recovery;
- activation, retention, conversion, referral and unit-economics metrics.

### Sales-assisted/sales-led

- ICP/account criteria only if supported;
- qualification, pipeline stages, ownership and forecast;
- discovery/demo/proposal/approval controls;
- implementation handoff and account success.

### Marketplace/community/partner

- side/member/partner definitions;
- acquisition and activation for each side;
- trust, quality, incentive, attribution and conflict controls;
- liquidity, contribution or partner-performance metrics.

## Required output

State:

1. broad eligibility and exclusions;
2. user, buyer and payer relationship;
3. primary and secondary acquisition/conversion motions with evidence status;
4. discovery surfaces and entry intents;
5. self-service versus human-assisted boundary;
6. customer/user journey and value event;
7. required operating artifacts and deliberately omitted sales machinery;
8. channel, activation, conversion, retention and economics metrics;
9. assumptions and validation experiments;
10. triggers that would justify changing the model.

Never describe a model as validated merely because it is strategically preferred. Never equate traffic, followers, leads, signups, usage, customers, and retained profitable customers.