Ignition GTM Tool Review

Table of Contents

• Connecting Product Teams to GTM Strategies

  • Product strategy and go to market

  • Product discovery

  • Roadmap

  • Prioritization

  • Planning

• Summary

Connecting Product Teams to GTM Strategies

When I first looked at Ignition GTM, it looked like a tool only dedicated to Product Marketing Management (PMM) teams. Unlike other product apps jumping into the scene, Ignition is filling a real gap. Most PM tools I’ve used, usually start with the roadmap, user research or development sides, but Ignition comes from the market-facing side, which is quite interesting. With this tool, they're all about streamlining the go-to-market/launch process for new products and features. Wearing my PM hat, I'd call it an 'Outside-In' strategy.

I will review the tool from the product management standpoint and go through the key PM skills.

Let's dig in.

Product strategy and go to market

Ignition GTM really shakes things up as a Go-to-Market (GTM) platform, bringing a fresh perspective to product launches and streamlined processes. Unlike those other product management tools that kick off with engineering alignment around roadmaps or product discovery, Ignition started with a focus on helping product teams better connect with their GTM teams.

What caught my eye is how it's a game-changer in standardizing processes and acting as a central hub for all things GTM. The Mission Control dashboard is a real winner, giving a bird's-eye view of launch progress, making it way easier to track timelines, milestones, and performance metrics. No more juggling data exports between different tools, PowerPoint, and Excel (which is what I’m doing right now)– it's all right there.

And let's talk about the "Copilot" assistant – it's like having a sidekick for creating personalized GTM plans. A real plus for user support.

While some tools struggle to keep tabs on product vision and strategy progress, Ignition GTM nails it with a well-organized approach. I like how it aligns marketing efforts, optimizes resources, and sharpens the focus on post-launch product strategy and adoption.

This is a real standout compared to the usual product tools out there.

Now, about collaboration and transparency – senior stakeholders really dig how Ignition lets them share info via Slack and email, making the whole launch process more transparent and collaborative. It's a common theme in other tools, but Ignition brings in consistency, repeatability, and visibility, especially in fast-paced environments like Financial Services, Fintech, or E-commerce.

Not much cons in that department.

Product discovery

Pros:
Ignition, with "GTM" in its name, lives up to expectations for market-facing activities. The standout feature is the "Ideas/backlog" in the Build section – a versatile backlog allowing easy filtering and display of valuable information. 

Ignition's simple views for presenting ideas by revenue impact, votes, or custom fields provide flexibility. Adding insights is seamless, sourced from various places, and CRM integration streamlines idea prioritization and notification to sales reps upon feature shipment. 

The OKR tracking offers neat execution visibility, while the voice of the customer section, coupled with Copilot, accelerates time to value significantly.

Accelerated Competitive Intelligence:
Ignition's tool excels in speeding up competitive intelligence processes and battlecard creation/updating. The integration of generative AI for battlecards and competitor review compilation is a standout feature, though it requires input from GTM teams for unique intel. The integration of Battle card, SEO, and review functions in one place is a favorite.

Cons:
On the downside, Ignition lacks options to specify supporting product goals, NSMs, and identify key segments impacted. Additionally, linking items to an idea for illustrating dependencies or establishing a hierarchy, like an opportunity solution tree, isn't supported.

Roadmap

Pros:
Ignition's Roadmap feature is a powerhouse – it's simple yet packs a punch with a quick overview provided in a table summary. Right from the start, you get a straightforward table-style roadmap with the flexibility to link any attributes such as Ideas and GTM plans for easy reference.

In terms of details, switching tabs between ideas, OKRs, and development tasks is a breeze – all under the same screen. This allows for deep dives into specific areas effortlessly.

Sharing the roadmap is where Ignition shines. You can easily share it across teams or generate a public URL, surpassing many other product tools in this aspect. This is great for alignment, and we all know how important this is for senior leaders.

Cons:
On the flip side, it's a bit of a personal preference matter – multiple roadmap views would be handy. Different strokes for different folks, right? Views like "Now/Next/Later" or Kanban, with options for detail, could cater to diverse user preferences.

Prioritization

Pros:
Ignition's default approach to prioritization revolves around impact vs. effort, a smart take on the value/effort balance. The "Impact vs. effort" calculation, summarized in a view, turbocharges your prioritization process. This feature allows for quick estimations of potential impacts on defined goals, and the SWOT analysis adds a handy market perspective to your roadmap execution.

The "Impact vs. effort" graph takes the visualization game up a notch, making backlog decisions a breeze. Powerful filters across various views and the ability to customize fields provide flexibility. You can save and easily share every view with your colleagues.

Cons:
On the downside, having an "Impact assessment" graph could enhance the toolkit, providing an additional layer of insight. Furthermore, it wouldn't hurt to introduce more built-in prioritization frameworks for users seeking diverse methodologies.

Planning

Pros:
Ignition GTM really stands out when it comes to planning, especially from a Go-to-Market (GTM) perspective. The mission control tab, available by default, is a powerful tool that you can tailor to your needs. With a bit of setup, you can plan your work for specific time periods, teams, defined objectives, or any other way that suits your business.

As a Product Manager working with the Product Marketing team, the Mission Control Dashboard is a breath of fresh air. Still today in my organization, we've been managing this on Excel and emails – it works, but it's not exactly optimal. Ignition's approach is a game-changer.

Cons:
The default setup does lack insight into the capacity of your delivery teams, which is a bit of a downer. You could work around it by creating a custom field, but some might find that a bit challenging.

Summary

I'm thinking Ignition might be onto something with the trend of having Product Managers wearing the Product Marketing hat, it’s definitely the case in my team. 

And I can’t stop thinking about Airbnb CEO Chesky, who recently “got rid of “the traditional product function claiming that PMs must know how to sell their products too – who knows where the PM world is heading, but it's clearly making waves.

Departing from the common GTM-centric approach, Ignition takes an 'Outside-In' strategy in tackling the product management workflow.

In my experience, product management comes in various flavors, influenced by philosophies, cultures, and the nature of the products they handle. Ignition could excel in teams where GTM is influential or in product teams with a prevalent market-facing culture. I'm considering companies known for those traits like Salesforce, Adobe, Oracle, and HubSpot, where I have personal connections.