Go-To-Market Sprint (30 Days)

Referee App: Go-To-Market Strategy for Referral Marketplace
Charleston, SC · 2026

The Client
Referee is a Charleston-based startup that turns the everyday recommendations hospitality workers make (bartenders, hotel concierges, drivers, short-term rental hosts, event planners) into tracked, paid referrals for local tour operators, charters and experiences.

The Challenge
A two-founder, pre-revenue team needed to move from a strong product concept to real traction in their launch market, without a marketing department or budget. Their research, persona work and financial modeling were spread across multiple documents, and the most pressing question was still unanswered: how to get in front of the right buyers in Charleston, starting now.

The Strategy
We consolidated seven separate strategy documents into a single Master Go-To-Market Playbook built around the founders' actual capacity. The work included:

• Ideal customer profiles for both sides of the marketplace, ranked by priority

• Printable sales play one-pagers for the five highest-priority personas, each with where to find them locally, opening lines, objection handling, and incentives to close

• A relationship-first plan for reaching buyers through Charleston's existing hospitality associations, trade groups and event circuits

• A 90-day quick-wins plan designed to run on under $1,000, plus a dated, budgeted activation calendar tied to local events

• A social content system one founder can run in a single shoot day per month

• Market sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM), a directional revenue model, and a competitive landscape analysis

• Clear trigger points for when to hire or outsource, so the founders delegate execution without giving up key relationships

The Result
A launch-ready operating guide that gives Referee a clear, sequenced path from its first anchor partners to market-wide adoption, with every section ending in a concrete next action.