Marketing is one of the departments that can have the biggest impact in a startup. If you have an amazing product or solution but no one knows about it, or the wrong people are the only ones talking about you, then your startup and product can fail. When a founder lacks go-to-market (GTM) expertise, it impacts their ability to plan business expansion strategies, conduct market analysis and develop customer acquisition plans—all of which are important to grow and sustain a company.

That’s a problem for young organizations operating in a competitive sector—especially when it comes to raising venture capital. I have seen the effects of this lack of knowledge and experience firsthand leading a marketing company that helps startups in various sectors achieve their next stage of growth, as well as my previous role as a chief marketing officer (CMO) for a few fintech-enabled companies. I’ve seen many startups face the challenge of scaling and expanding to new global markets and fintech is one tech sector that has expanded quickly and across borders. In fact, in 2021 a KPMG report found that fintech had strong expansion in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Despite rapid growth and the impact on local and global economies, there are challenges facing companies within the fintech community. These companies are usually started by tech-focused founders who typically have a strong understanding of and background in business, engineering, coding and product, but not necessarily in GTM planning. Founders are often passionate about tech but are also running other departments such as marketing and sales, and acting as CEO. As the company grows, founders have to decide if and when to hire for other roles and step aside to focus on the tech.

As founders decide when to do this, marketing research and GTM planning may take a back seat or borrow tactics that work in other roles but may not lead to successful marketing efforts. For example, a founder mindset may include the mantra “move fast and break things” in order to find what works. When they find something that works, there is a tendency to replicate. In marketing, this replication can make it hard to differentiate.