How To Win Go-To-Market With Linear, Decagon And Browserbase

1,400 startup builders applied to hear Browserbase's Paul Klein IV, Decagon's Jesse Zhang and Linear's Cristina Cordova talk GTM at our latest Upstarts event. Their 6 best tips are below.

Sharing GTM gems at SF Tech Week. Credit: Kelly Kruger

“It’s quite boring if you don’t engage in public debate,” a leading startup CEO is telling the crowd. “I think you have to be a little fearless, and especially shameless.”

We’re at the exclusive San Francisco offices of a top VC firm earlier this month, where Upstarts has convened three outstanding startup leaders for a real-talk discussion on ‘The New GTM Playbook’.

Upstarts promised tactically helpful advice and a free lunch, thanks to our partners Mercury, Vanta and our venue host, Sequoia. Still, the response has blown us away: more than 1,400 startup builders have applied.

It’s all because of our standout expert speakers:

• Browserbase co-founder and CEO Paul Klein IV

• Decagon co-founder and CEO Jesse Zhang

• Linear COO Cristina Cordova

To bring you into the high-energy, high-value discussion that follows, including Klein’s opening salvo above, we’ve condensed the conversation into six tips for building startup GTM, directly showcasing their quotes and examples, below.

Upstarts plans to host a bunch more events like this in the future (our next is a small breakfast for AI founders in San Francisco this week) so be sure to subscribe for first word on future events.

---

Interested in partnering with Upstarts in 2026? We want to hear from you. Fill out our sponsorship interest form here.

---

Now, onto the tactical goodies — including how the GTM playbook is evolving; what these startup leaders really think about hype launch videos; and when to lean into everything from LinkedIn to head-to-head rivalries — in our playbook below.