Incredibly Narrow to Start
Last week, I was catching up with some entrepreneurs who are off to a fast start. They’ve cobbled together a solution using a mix of off-the-shelf technology, proprietary technology, and human-in-the-
Last week, I was catching up with some entrepreneurs who are off to a fast start. They’ve cobbled together a solution using a mix of off-the-shelf technology, proprietary technology, and human-in-the-loop services. However, the leads coming in have been for a variety of different use cases and ideas.
It’s a high-class problem to have—clearly, the market wants what they’re offering. But as entrepreneurs with limited resources, it’s critical to focus on the most acute pain in the market. There’s an old adage in startup land: more startups die from indigestion than starvation. This means that startups often fail not from a lack of opportunity but from trying to do too many different things for too many different customers, ultimately taking on more than they can handle.
So, how do you figure out where to focus when you’ve found an unmet need in the market? Here are a few ideas:
- Quantify the value. How much are prospects willing to pay? Which ones have the most urgent need?
- Timeline. Who can roll out the technology the fastest? This can also serve as a proxy for urgency and value.
- Size of market segment. Looking beyond these initial leads, which market opportunity has the most long-term potential? Getting a wedge into a small but fast-growing market that will eventually be large is one of the best ways to build a business.
- Customer-funded development. Is a potential customer willing to fund new features and solutions to address their needs? In an ideal scenario, customer pain aligns with the entrepreneur’s vision, and development is funded by the customer.
- Willingness to partner. Is the prospect interested in joining a customer advisory board and influencing future development? Some people enjoy being influencers, even for B2B products. These individuals are incredibly valuable to startups as they provide testimonials and answer reference calls—don’t underestimate the importance of having a customer who cares.
Ultimately, it benefits the entrepreneur to zoom in and focus on the use case that both fits their vision and has the potential to build the foundation of a business that matches their ambition. Entrepreneurs would do well to start unbelievably narrow, nail it, and then expand. Starting small is the way to go big.