Company Context

Northstar Analytics is a B2B SaaS company that sells a cloud-based customer intelligence platform to mid-market retail and consumer brands. The product helps marketing teams unify customer data, segment audiences, and improve campaign ROI. Northstar has $18M ARR, serves 140 clients, and has historically grown through referrals and founder-led sales. The company now wants a repeatable process for identifying and approaching brand-new clients in adjacent verticals, starting with health and beauty brands in the US.

Strategic Situation

Growth has slowed from 42% YoY to 19% YoY over the last 12 months, and the board wants management to build a more systematic outbound go-to-market motion. The CEO has asked you, as Head of Strategy, to design a process for identifying the most attractive new clients and approaching them efficiently. The immediate question is not whether to enter a new geography or launch a new product; it is how to prioritize target accounts, define the right outreach motion, and allocate limited sales resources to win new logos over the next 12 months.

Northstar believes health and beauty is attractive because these brands have high repeat purchase behavior, rising digital ad costs, and growing demand for first-party customer data. However, the company has limited brand recognition in this segment and faces established competitors.

Data Points

Additional market facts

• US health and beauty market includes approximately 1,200 brands with estimated annual revenue above $20M.
• Northstar estimates 450 brands fit its ideal customer profile based on digital maturity, DTC/e-commerce mix, and marketing team size.
• Typical sales cycle in current verticals is 4 months; management expects 5-6 months in a new vertical.
• Win rate on qualified opportunities in existing markets is 22%; management assumes 12-15% initially in health and beauty.
• Main competitors include two larger customer data platforms with stronger brand awareness and one niche agency-led analytics provider.

Deliverables

1. Define a structured process for identifying and prioritizing brand-new clients in the health and beauty segment.
2. Size the realistic opportunity over the next 12 months and estimate how many target accounts Northstar should pursue.
3. Recommend an approach strategy, including segmentation, messaging, and channel mix for outbound acquisition.
4. Assess competitive dynamics and explain how Northstar should differentiate in early conversations.
5. Propose a practical 12-month plan with milestones, metrics, and resource implications.

Constraints

• Budget for incremental go-to-market investment is capped at $1.5M this year.
• The company cannot hire more than 2 additional AEs in the next 6 months.
• Product roadmap capacity is limited; only light vertical customization is feasible.
• The board expects visible pipeline improvement within 2 quarters and measurable ARR impact within 12 months.