A Mentor Series Session Recap from M Accelerator
When you think of a startup’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy, you probably picture product demos, outbound marketing, and partnerships. But what if learning—traditionally seen as a support function—was actually one of your most powerful GTM levers?
That was the focus of our recent Mentor Series session at M Accelerator, featuring Natalia Iragorri, Go-To-Market strategist, learning architect, and founder of Tessellate. Drawing on her work with platforms like YouTube, Google, Twitter, and Walmart, Natalia explored how Learning & Development (L&D) can help startups drive product adoption, customer engagement, and long-term growth.
Table of Contents
The Power of Learning in Go-To-Market
In her opening remarks, Natalia made it clear: learning should no longer be siloed as a post-sale function. In fact, when designed well, learning experiences can shorten time to value, reduce churn, and even generate pipeline.
“Education isn’t just about informing users—done right, it converts them,” Natalia explained.
She emphasized that learning is not just what you tell your customers—it’s how you listen. When embedded into the customer journey, L&D becomes a feedback loop, helping founders refine their products, identify friction points, and tailor their messaging.
How Learning Drives Product Adoption and Engagement
Natalia shared examples from her work designing educational programs for global tech brands. These initiatives weren’t just about instruction—they were tools for testing concepts, collecting user insights, and scaling adoption.
For instance, YouTube’s Creator Academy and Twitter’s Flight School weren’t just courses. They were strategic tools to onboard creators and advertisers while uncovering what users didn’t understand. Based on these learnings, teams could refine UX, messaging, and product offerings.
“Learning touchpoints should function like support tickets—they surface what’s broken and validate what’s working.”
Measuring ROI: What Learning Programs Should Unlock
Founders often hesitate to invest in education because it’s difficult to measure short-term ROI. Natalia addressed this head-on.
For large companies, ROI might include:
- Increased adoption of new features
- Higher retention post-training
- Sales leads generated from workshops or webinars
But for startups, the key question is simpler:
“What action should this unlock?”
It could be:
- A clearer customer persona
- Higher conversion after onboarding
- User-generated content that drives community
Startups don’t need massive budgets or dedicated L&D teams. A single learning initiative—if aligned with a strategic goal—can reveal gaps in product-market fit or unlock new growth channels.
Stage-Specific Learning Strategies
Natalia outlined how learning evolves as a startup grows:
- Pre-seed: Use learning to validate assumptions. Educational content becomes part of your discovery process.
- Seed stage: Focus on reducing friction. Use scalable onboarding and help content to streamline user activation.
- Series A: At this point, learning becomes part of your brand. It supports retention and builds long-term value through community and thought leadership.
“At every stage, learning has a role to play—not just in teaching, but in listening, testing, and building brand trust.”
Creating Your Learning Stack: Hero, Hub, Help
To help founders structure their content, Natalia introduced a proven framework adopted by YouTube:
- Hero: Big, splashy content—product launches, campaign videos, major training events.
- Hub: Regular episodic content—webinars, newsletters, recurring workshops.
- Help: Evergreen, searchable content—FAQs, tutorials, onboarding guides.
Startups can begin lean: test a blog post, record a quick tutorial, or run a one-hour Q&A. What matters is starting conversations—and measuring how those conversations move the needle.
Turning Learners into Advocates (and Teachers)
Another advanced strategy Natalia discussed was building creator ecosystems and centers of excellence. By training users to teach others, startups can expand their reach and build powerful brand advocates.
In her work with Twitter, she helped design a “train-the-trainer” program where 350 certified instructors delivered global workshops—extending Twitter’s educational reach while building loyalty.
Natalia recommends a lighter version for startups: recruit early users, create an “advisory board,” and provide tools, guidance, and recognition. Keep it rotating to ensure fresh perspectives and sustained engagement.
Lessons from the Field: Real Startup Applications
Natalia also highlighted several grassroots learning initiatives that worked for startups:
- A branding agency in Latin America tested positioning by hosting monthly “brand breakfasts” with startups to better understand how people defined brand concepts.
- A management consultancy ran internal workshops to align their team’s messaging, using surveys to identify where they were losing clients—and why.
In both cases, learning initiatives uncovered strategic insights that reshaped their GTM approach.
Not Every Problem is a Knowledge Gap
A critical insight from Natalia’s talk: more content isn’t always the answer. Sometimes confusion stems from weak UX, unclear positioning, or even product flaws—not a lack of knowledge.
“Don’t assume every friction point needs a course. Maybe what your users really need is a better interface—or just a clearer message.”
Start with conversations, then scale. Use surveys, FAQs, live demos, or casual meetups. Every learning experience should be intentional and aligned with a specific growth goal.
Practical Steps for Founders
If you’re considering integrating learning into your GTM strategy, start here:
- Identify key moments of friction or drop-off.
- Design simple learning experiences—onboarding checklists, live walkthroughs, or user-generated FAQs.
- Test and measure. Does it reduce churn? Improve satisfaction? Lead to follow-ups?
- Recruit power users to co-create content and support others.
- Build pathways. Consider tiers like beginner, power user, or advocate—each with rewards and responsibilities.
Final Thoughts: Learning Is Growth
This session was a timely reminder that education isn’t a luxury—it’s a growth strategy. Especially in early-stage companies, your ability to teach and learn with your users may be what sets you apart.
“Learning is how you scale trust,” Natalia concluded. “And trust is how you scale everything else.”
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This session was hosted by M Accelerator as part of our ongoing Mentor Series, where founders learn directly from world-class operators, strategists, and educators.
