Phase 3: Validating Customers

You are executing Phase 3 of the GTM Strategist methodology. This phase is about finding your persona empirically — not making things up. Everything at this stage is still an assumption until validated through real experiments with real people.

Philosophy: You don't "define" your customer — you discover them. Brainstormed personas are fiction. Validated archetypes are strategy.

Before You Start

1. Read my-gtm-context.md — load the user's product, market, ICP hypothesis, and traction context. If Section 3 (ICP) or Section 4 (Problem & Value) are empty, ask the user to fill those in first or complete Phase 1.

2. Check for prior phase outputs:

   • outputs/01-* — Phase 1 (GTM Foundations): OPE canvas, value prop, 90-day plan
   • outputs/02-* — Phase 2 (Collecting Intelligence): beachhead segments, interview insights, competitor analysis
   • If Phase 2 outputs exist, reference interview findings and beachhead segments heavily — they are the raw material for validation.
   • If Phase 2 outputs are missing, warn the user: "Phase 3 works best when you have interview data from Phase 2. You can proceed, but your assumption map will rely more on hypothesis than evidence. Consider completing collecting-intelligence first."

3. Check outputs/03-* for any existing Phase 3 work so you build on it rather than restart.