If you work in SaaS, you know “go to market” isn’t just a slide deck—it’s a mess of spreadsheets, meetings, and guessing games. You’re expected to align sales, marketing, product, and CS, and somehow turn that chaos into revenue. There’s a new breed of software trying to untangle this: GTM tools that promise to give you a real process, not just a prettier dashboard.
This review digs into Gradual, one of the more talked-about B2B GTM tools. I’ll lay out what it actually does, where it shines, where it falls short, and who should bother. If you’re tired of hype and want to know if this thing will actually help your SaaS team, keep reading.
What Is Gradual, Really?
Let’s skip the marketing fluff. Gradual is a platform built to help SaaS companies run their go-to-market (GTM) process in a more structured way. It’s not a CRM, not a marketing automation tool, and definitely not another dashboard with vanity metrics.
Core idea: Gradual tries to give your team a shared workspace for planning, tracking, and iterating on GTM motions—product launches, campaigns, sales plays, partnerships, and more. It aims to replace scattered Google Docs, endless Slack threads, and tribal knowledge with a single source of truth for GTM efforts.
Who’s it for? - B2B SaaS companies (mostly Series A and up, but scrappy teams can get value) - GTM teams: Product marketing, demand gen, sales enablement, and anyone who owns a launch or campaign
What does it look like in real life? - Centralized playbooks and checklists for launches - Pre-built templates for common GTM motions - Kanban-style tracking for campaign progress - Collaboration features (comments, assignments, notifications) - Reporting on which plays actually move the needle
What it’s not: - A replacement for your CRM or marketing automation - A silver bullet for alignment (still requires humans to communicate) - A one-size-fits-all solution
Gradual’s Key Features (and What Actually Matters)
Let’s break down the main features, but with an eye for what’s genuinely useful—not just what demos well.
1. Shared GTM Playbooks
Gradual comes with a library of playbooks for things like product launches, ABM campaigns, and sales enablement. You can use theirs or make your own.
What works: - No more reinventing the wheel: New campaign? Start with a proven template instead of a blank doc. - Customizable: You can tweak the steps, owners, and timelines.
What doesn’t: - Quality varies: Some templates are great, some are generic. Don’t expect instant magic for your exact niche. - Still needs buy-in: Templates don’t enforce process. Your team still has to use them.
Pro tip: Use the playbooks as a starting point, but ruthlessly trim anything that isn’t relevant to your business.
2. Kanban-Style Project Tracking
This is where Gradual feels familiar—think Trello, but for GTM. You can move tasks through stages, assign owners, and add notes.
What works: - Visibility: Everyone sees what’s in-flight, what’s blocked, and who’s on the hook. - Accountability: No more “I thought marketing had that” moments.
What doesn’t: - Another board to manage: If you’re already using Notion, Asana, or Jira, this might feel redundant. - Can get messy: Without someone actively maintaining the board, things fall through the cracks—just like anywhere else.
Pro tip: Set a recurring calendar reminder for a quick “board clean-up” every Friday. Otherwise, it’ll turn into another graveyard.
3. Collaboration Tools
Gradual bakes in comments, @mentions, and notifications so teams can (in theory) work together in context.
What works: - Centralizes chatter: No more hunting through Slack, email, and docs for feedback. - Keeps things in context: Comments attach right to the task or playbook step.
What doesn’t: - Yet another notification channel: Teams already drowning in pings may ignore these too. - No magic alignment: You still need to nudge people to actually use it for real communication.
Pro tip: Align on where different types of discussions should happen (e.g., high-level in Slack, tactical in Gradual). Otherwise, things get fragmented fast.
4. Reporting & Analytics
You get basic reporting on which GTM plays are running, their status, and some performance metrics (e.g., campaign completion rates, tasks overdue).
What works: - Good for retros: After a launch, it’s easy to see what got done, what slipped, and where the bottlenecks were. - Surface-level insights: Quick snapshots for leadership.
What doesn’t: - Not deep analytics: Don’t expect “revenue influence” or attribution that ties directly into Salesforce. This isn’t a BI tool. - Manual data entry: If people aren’t updating tasks, your reports will be garbage.
Pro tip: Use reporting for process improvement, not for measuring ROI. It’s about how you go to market, not whether the market wants what you’re selling.
How to Actually Use Gradual: A Realistic GTM Workflow
Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of how a SaaS GTM team could use Gradual to get a product launch out the door—without getting lost in feature bloat.
1. Pick Your Launch Type and Start with a Playbook
- Log in and choose a launch template that’s close to your real scenario (e.g., “Feature Launch”).
- Trim steps that don’t fit your process. Add anything critical that’s missing.
- Assign leads for each section (marketing, product, sales, etc.).
2. Set Up the Timeline and Owners
- Plug in your actual launch date.
- Work backwards and assign deadlines for each step.
- Make sure every task has a real owner, not “TBD” or “team.”
3. Run Weekly Standups in Gradual
- Use the Kanban board to run your GTM meetings. Go down the list: What’s done? What’s blocked? Who needs help?
- Comment directly on the tasks instead of in chat or email.
- Mark tasks “done” as you go—don’t let them pile up.
4. Capture Learnings as You Go
- When things slip (and they will), use comments to note what broke down.
- After launch, run a quick retro in Gradual: Which steps worked? Which were a waste of time?
- Adjust your playbook for next time. Rinse, repeat.
5. Use Reporting to Spot Bottlenecks
- Don’t obsess over completion rates, but do look for patterns (e.g., “Sales enablement materials always late”).
- Use this as ammo to get buy-in for more resources or to simplify your process.
What Gradual Gets Right
- Structure beats chaos: If your GTM process is a mess of docs and gut feeling, Gradual gives you a framework to start from.
- Templates save time: Especially for newer teams, the playbooks help you avoid rookie mistakes.
- Visibility and accountability: You can see who’s doing what, and where things are stuck.
Where Gradual Falls Short
- Another tool to adopt: If your team isn’t bought in, it’s just more work. Adoption is everything.
- Doesn’t integrate deeply: It won’t plug into every system you already use, so you’ll still have some double-entry.
- Not for tiny teams: If you’re five people in a room, this is probably overkill.
What To Ignore (and What To Double Down On)
Ignore: - The promise of “fully automated GTM.” No tool replaces leadership, communication, or judgment. - Overly broad templates. Cut what you don’t need, or you’ll just add busywork.
Double down on: - Regularly updating and improving your playbooks after each launch. - Using the tool as a forcing function for better habits—not just a fancy checklist.
Should You Use Gradual?
If your GTM process feels like herding cats, and launches always go sideways, Gradual is worth a serious look. It won’t hand you a perfect launch, but it can help you stop making the same mistakes twice. Just remember—it’s only as good as your team’s willingness to use it.
Keep your process simple. Start with the basics, skip the fluff, and don’t let the tool become the process. Iterate as you learn, and you’ll get more value from Gradual—and from your team.