Monday, 8:00 AM: You’re writing a LinkedIn post. At 10:00 AM, you have an initial consultation, at 1:00 PM a proposal to send, and at 4:00 PM a support request from an existing client. In the evening, you’re still working on the invoice for your latest project. In larger companies, four departments handle this, but for you, it all falls on one person: you.
As a solopreneur, you can still manage marketing, sales, and customer service: keep all customer data in one central place, define clear next steps, and follow a consistent weekly routine. HubSpot Starter seamlessly connects these tasks. This way, you spend less time switching between tools and have more room to grow your business.
This guide shows you how to master your go-to-market activities in a structured way using a realistic weekly schedule and a connected CRM system.
What does go-to-market mean for a one-person team?
Go-to-market, or GTM for short, describes everything that happens from the moment a stranger becomes a paying, repeat customer: getting found, starting conversations, selling, and providing support. As a team of one, you are responsible for every one of these stages. The most important task is to reliably organize the handoffs between these stages.
In a larger team, marketing hands a lead over to sales, and sales hands the new customer over to support. These handoffs are clearly defined, often with forms and checklists. When you do everything yourself, you’re handing off to yourself, and that’s exactly where things most often fall through the cracks.
The three handoffs where solo founders lose customers
From prospect to conversation. Someone downloads your whitepaper or writes to you via your website. You want to get back to them, but you’re in the middle of a project. Two weeks later, the lead has gone cold.
From proposal to customer. The proposal has been sent, there’s no response, and following up gets pushed back week after week.
From customer to repeat business. The project is finished, everyone is happy, and then you never hear from them again. Yet, follow-up projects and referrals are usually the path of least resistance.
The same thing helps at all three stages: every contact needs a status and a next step that isn't just stored in your head.
A realistic week as a team of one
To ensure every stage of your go-to-market strategy gets regular attention, fixed time blocks have proven to be effective:
That might sound like very little time, but that’s exactly the point. The rest of the week belongs to the actual work for your clients. We show you in detail how to build demand with just two hours a week in Marketing without a marketing team.
One system for everything: Why solo founders don't need five different tools
Many founders start with a newsletter tool, an Excel spreadsheet for customer data, a calendar app, and a separate inbox for support. Before you know it, you’re spending half your day just copying data from one tool to the next - and you still don't have a holistic view of your customers.
AI prompts can't fix fragmented tools: "An AI assistant can only brief you effectively on Monday morning if it doesn't have to pull from five disconnected apps. A single CRM foundation is what makes chat-based workflows viable for a solo founder." — Jens Bohse, Co-Founder
HubSpot keeps you on top of things: customer conversations, deals, and support tickets all come together in one central place, so you always know exactly what’s next. The free CRM helps you keep your contacts, deals, and tickets neatly organized. And if you want to spend even less time on manual follow-ups or meeting notes, HubSpot Starter adds smart automation and the Notetaker, which automatically captures meeting details and to-dos for you.
Anything HubSpot doesn't cover itself can be connected via the App Marketplace App Marketplace. According to their official pricing page, HubSpot syncs data with dozens of apps in both directions - even in the free version.
Especially exciting for solo founders is the integration with ChatGPT or Claude: you can simply ask the chat for your weekly briefing on Monday mornings: "Which deals have tasks due this week, which customers have an open ticket, and which new contacts came in over the weekend?" Just like that, you get a ready-made overview to start your week, without having to click through three different dashboards.
What you should intentionally skip as a team of one
You can't do everything a full marketing and sales team does on your own. It’s best to cut these things without a second thought:
- Five social media channels: One channel where your customers are actually active is enough. For B2B, that’s usually LinkedIn.
- Elaborate reports: Three numbers are enough: new contacts, open deals, and monthly revenue won.
- The perfect setup: Start with one pipeline and one form. Build everything else only when you really need it.
- Cold mass emails: A few personal messages to the right contacts usually achieve more than large lists.
HubSpot helps you get set up with a guided onboarding process that walks you through the first steps. The free courses from the HubSpot Academy HubSpot Academy are open to all users, even in the free version.
When a team of one becomes a real team
There comes a point when you need support. These signs will tell you when:
- You’re constantly pushing follow-ups on proposals to the following week.
- Support requests from existing customers are eating up more than a day a week.
- You’re turning down leads because you don’t have time for initial discovery calls.
When you finally hire your first team member, having all your data in the CRM really pays off. Your new colleague can immediately see the full history for every customer without you having to spend hours briefing them. As your team continues to grow, you can simply add more paid seats to your HubSpot Starter plan. And if you need more complex features later on, you can seamlessly upgrade to Professional - without ever having to switch platforms.
What HubSpot Starter offers solo founders
As of October 2026, according to the German pricing page, Starter costs 7 euros per license per month when billed annually, as part of a limited-time offer with a 65 percent discount. For a solo founder with one license, that’s a very manageable amount. It also includes 500 HubSpot credits per month for AI features like the Data Agent, as well as support via email and in-app chat. You don’t need to purchase onboarding for Starter.
Bottom line: Going to market alone requires rhythm and a system
As a team of one, you win customers primarily by ensuring none of the three handoffs fall through the cracks: from prospect to conversation, from proposal to customer, and from customer to repeat buyer. Setting aside fixed time blocks each week ensures every stage gets the attention it needs. A CRM like HubSpot helps you keep track of everything, even if you’re out of commission for a week.
The best way to get started: Block out fixed times for marketing, sales, and customer follow-ups for next week. Then, organize your existing contacts and deals in the free HubSpot CRM. As soon as you want to spend less time documenting meetings, tracking customer conversations, and trying to remember to-dos, HubSpot Starter keeps all those threads together for you in one central system. Discover HubSpot Starter now.
FAQ: Frequently asked questions about going to market as a team of one
What does go-to-market mean?
Go-to-market describes the process a company uses to acquire and retain customers: getting found, starting conversations, selling, and providing support. For small businesses, this primarily means organizing these stages into a fixed workflow so that no contact is lost.
Can a founder handle marketing and sales alone?
Yes, by using fixed time blocks and a system that tracks handoffs between marketing, sales, and customer support. The key is to consciously cut out what isn’t working, such as too many channels or overly complex reporting.
Which CRM is suitable for a one-person business?
A CRM that is quick to set up, requires no admin, and grows with you. HubSpot is a great fit: the free version covers contacts, deals, and tickets, while Starter adds website chat, email campaigns, and simple automation.
Can I connect HubSpot with ChatGPT or Claude?
Yes. You can connect HubSpot to ChatGPT and Claude using a connector. This lets you query your CRM data directly in the chat, for example, to see which deals are due this week or which customers have an open ticket.
How much does HubSpot Starter cost?
As of October 2026, the Starter plan costs 7 euros per license per month when billed annually, as part of a limited-time offer with a 65 percent discount. This includes 500 HubSpot credits per month. You can find the current pricing on the HubSpot pricing page.
Posted by:
Jens is the co-founder of bakedwith, a boutique consultancy firm specialising in smart automation and AI. He helps medium-sized companies and corporations to optimise processes, reduce manual work and achieve growth through efficient workflows. Previously, he was Growth Lead at OMR and worked as a freelancer, helping numerous companies optimise their CRM and automation systems. Jens is passionate about combining growth and efficiency to enable teams to focus on what matters most.
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