Welcome back to The Agent GTM Newsletter where we share actionable tips, free AI tools, and market insights every Friday. |
Hey there,
In my last email, I told you about a "GTM Brain" that I'm building for solopreneurs (don't forget, you can try it out for free at brain.agentgtm.ai). Technically, this is a "harness", and today, I'm going to share more about the value of a harness and how it compares to using ChatGPT, Claude, or other LLM directly.
So, what is a harness? Many people have written about this, so I'll share this definition that I like from Aishwarya Ashok's post.
A harness is the surrounding execution environment that gives the model hands, it intercepts model-generated tool calls, routes them through a permission layer, executes them in a controlled environment, and feeds structured results back into the model’s context.
ChatGPT is a general-purpose harness for thinking. Claude Code is a harness for software work. YouSpot is a harness for running a solo CRM. People are building harnesses around an individual job-to-be-done.
For you, why is it worth using a harness like the GTM Brain vs. just providing the same context to your daily driver LLM? See the example below from the GTM Brain.
You're still chatting with an LLM, but you'll notice a few things:
- It's a guided decision system, not an open-ended prompt box. It takes you through the few GTM decisions that matter, one by one.
- It turns thinking into an operating artifact. The output is a living, navigable strategy map users can revisit, refine, and feeds all other aspects of the brain (including asset creation, strategy refinement, and more)
- It is opinionated by design. It is designed to help a user make coherent, connected GTM choices without needing to know what to ask next.
Try it out yourself, and let me know what you think.
Also, I realize the downside to a separate harness is that it creates a new place you need to go in order to do your work. I'm noodling on portability (MCP or ability to download skills) and meeting users where they are (potentially via email). If you have preferences or have seen anyone execute this well, please reply and let me know!
— Shaalin