5 Critical Go-to-Market Lessons from LogicSource’s Journey to Enterprise Success
Building a successful enterprise company rarely follows a linear path. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, LogicSource founder David Pennino shared how identifying fundamental flaws in the traditional consulting model led to building a company that’s grown 40-60% annually. Here are the key go-to-market lessons that emerged from their journey:
- Challenge Industry Assumptions to Find Your Edge
Sometimes the biggest opportunity lies in challenging how an entire industry operates. LogicSource built its go-to-market strategy around a fundamental critique of the consulting model. As David explains, “Having been one, consultants have two fatal flaws as it pertains to buying things. One, they don’t buy anything, they don’t bring leverage, and two, they don’t do anything. So they tend to sell really expensive PowerPoint.”
This insight led them to build an execution-focused model rather than following the traditional consulting-to-services evolution path. The result? They’ve maintained long-term relationships with their first customers from 2010, including Michael’s Stores and GSK.
- Resist the Temptation to Expand Too Broadly
One of the most challenging aspects of scaling is maintaining focus when new opportunities arise. David emphasizes their disciplined approach: “We only do indirect procurement. We’ve only done it in US and Canada. We’ve stayed in consumer businesses, so consumer health, consumer retail, consumer packaged goods.”
When faced with potential expansion opportunities, they stayed focused. “When you start a business from scratch, you get a lot of shiny objects coming…hey, there’s an opportunity in France. Hey, there’s an opportunity in a different industry. And we’ve been very disciplined about that focus.”
- Build Your Foundation Before Scaling Marketing
Rather than pursuing aggressive growth from day one, LogicSource focused on perfecting their execution. “We got really good at making sure we could deliver it first, and we sold it kind of organically, and now we’re going to pour gas on the fire,” David shares. Until 2023, they operated with just one person handling all marketing efforts.
- Create an Ownership Structure That Drives Accountability
Unlike many founders who maintain tight control, LogicSource built accountability into their structure from day one. “I think a lot of founders make the mistake of wanting to own a lot of a little. I wanted a little of a lot. I knew I didn’t know what I was doing in many categories. I wanted a professional board. I knew that meant I could be fired.”
This philosophy extends throughout the organization: “I can’t fire my CFO. I can’t fire my head of customer operations. The team would have to agree with me. Not just my board, the team. We treat each other like partners.”
- Solve Real Problems, Not Perceived Ones
LogicSource’s success came from addressing a widespread but often unacknowledged problem in enterprise companies. “It is stunning to me how many corporations, I’m talking 10-20 billion publicly traded don’t know what they buy, who they buy it from, who buys it, why they buy it, how much they pay for it, let alone is it contracted.”
This insight has guided their expansion into new verticals like healthcare, where David notes, “They can’t raise price the way everybody else can, and the only way they can cost is without a firm like us is staff, which means your services, means your oncology department, means your orthopedic department.”
These lessons underscore a crucial truth about building enterprise companies: success often comes not from following conventional wisdom, but from identifying fundamental problems in how industries operate and building solutions that directly address them. For founders building tech-enabled services companies, the key is maintaining unwavering focus on your core value proposition while creating an organizational structure that drives accountability at all levels.