The GTM Machine I’m Building for Notis (Creators, Templates, and Relentless Follow-ups)

I used to think “GTM” meant big decks, bigger spreadsheets, and a calendar full of meetings where everyone agrees that the plan is… to make another plan. Building Notis forced me to unlearn that. If you’re an early-stage founder, GTM is not a document. It’s a machine you assemble while it’s already running.

The GTM problem founders underestimate

Most founders I talk to over-index on the product and under-index on the path the product takes to reach a person who will care. That path is distribution, yes, but it’s also proof. In 2026, people don’t adopt because you shipped something impressive. They adopt because someone they already trust tells them, “This is worth your time.”

That’s why our first real GTM focus for Notis wasn’t “run ads” or “do SEO.” It was creators.

Project #1: A Notion creator campaign that scales beyond hustle

The premise is simple: Notion creators already have the audience we want to serve. They’re the ones teaching workflows, building templates, and shaping what “good productivity” looks like for thousands of people. If Notis can make their audience’s life easier, they can become a distribution channel and a trust bridge.

At the time of writing, we had already sent 189 emails. We identified 290 creators via Product Hunt alone, and the total reachable list is closer to a thousand once you include team members and adjacent contributors.

The offer is intentionally two-tier.

Creators with 1000+ followers get the product for free. That removes friction and gives us the best chance of real usage instead of polite interest.

Everyone else gets the standard affiliate deal: 40% commission. I like aggressive affiliate splits early because you’re not “giving away margin,” you’re buying speed. When you don’t have a brand yet, speed is survival.

The part that actually matters: validation and industrialization

Outreach is the easy part. The hard part is learning whether it works and then scaling it without losing the human touch.

So the next steps are not glamorous, but they’re the difference between “a campaign” and “a machine.” We’re setting up a scraper to continuously find Notion creators. We’re tracking creators across Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, because creators are multi-platform by default and your list is only as good as your ability to stay current.

Then we validate two things, relentlessly.

First, do we get real reviews? Not “sure, I’ll check it out,” but actual content that shows someone using Notis.

Second, do those reviews convert? Do they drive affiliate signups and usage that sticks? If the answer is no, the campaign is just noise.

Once we have signal, we industrialize. That means the process produces consistent output even when I’m not personally pushing it forward every day.

Project #2: Templates are not content. They’re distribution.

The template economy is a strange corner of the internet: incredibly high intent, extremely practical, and often underestimated by founders who live in feature land.

If you sell a Notion template, your customers are already in “I want a better system” mode. That’s the same moment when Notis becomes obvious: capture intent, automate the boring parts, and keep your workspace clean.

So we’re building a template store strategy with rules that make it mutually reinforcing.

A template must be optimized for Notis. It needs an “Optimized for Notis” badge so the buyer immediately understands there’s an extra layer of value. It must include referral links and it must ship with a tutorial or documentation, because a template without onboarding is just a pretty screenshot.

For creators, the value is equally direct: featured placement on the marketplace, 40% commission on Notis sales, revenue from template sales themselves, and exposure through the broader Notion ecosystem.

Project #3: The “Notion Everything” wedge

There’s a second creator segment that’s even more interesting: people who already sell templates in established marketplaces like Notion Everything.

Here the message flips. Instead of “here’s a tool,” it becomes: why pay X when you can earn Y?

We’re targeting the top 50 creators first. It’s a small enough list that manual outreach is not only acceptable, it’s an advantage. You can tailor the message, reference their work, and make it clear you’re trying to build something with them, not extract value from their audience.

The numbers I care about (and why)

When people ask for campaign benchmarks, they often want vanity metrics. I want thresholds that tell me whether a system is healthy.

An open rate around 50% tells me the list and the subject lines are not broken. A click rate around 30% tells me the pitch is coherent and the landing experience is doing its job. A response rate around 5% tells me the offer is strong enough to trigger action, not just curiosity.

Those numbers aren’t magical. They’re just operational guardrails. If we’re below them, something is off: targeting, message, offer, or the product story.

The follow-up system that keeps you honest

If you only send one email, you’re not doing outreach. You’re doing hope.

Our follow-up system is strict because it forces learning. We send three to five emails per person. If there’s no response, we switch contacts, often to another team member, and we do it sequentially so the outreach feels coordinated instead of spammy. If the team goes cold, we cool down for six months.

The key detail most people miss is referencing previous attempts. Not as a guilt trip, but as context. It signals you’re persistent and organized, not random.

Why SEO is deprioritized (for now)

Yes, we want to publish five posts per week focused on Notion templates. Content is a compounding asset.

But early GTM is about feedback loops. Creators give you fast loops. Templates give you fast loops. Manual outreach gives you fast loops.

SEO is slower. It’s amazing when you already know what converts and you have clarity on positioning. It’s dangerous when you don’t, because you can spend months creating content that beautifully explains a message nobody actually buys.

What I want you to steal from this

If you’re building something early, don’t start with a channel. Start with a system.

A system has a clear segment, a real offer, measurable targets, and a follow-up process that produces learning. Then you scale it.

That’s the real GTM work: not the deck, not the brainstorm, not the tweets. The boring machine that keeps running when your motivation doesn’t.