Starting a Startup - Easy ends there. Scaling it - That's the real game!!!

As we know, it is way easier to start a startup these days, that too a technology startup.

But, it is extremely hard to sell the product/solution and scale the business and reach what we call the Minimum Viable Repeatability (MVR). MVR is the other extreme of the oft-used term in Product evolution roadmap, MVP

Public cloud, virtually free Wi-Fi, and gadgets help product and tech talent to ideate and build solutions within a very short period huddling in a café or the proverbial “garage”. Hence, starting a company has never been easier and so is getting funded in most cases.

If the product is focused on the Enterprise, then a buyer is overwhelmed more than ever. They are bombarded with overlapping products from startups, while the software giants promise everything under the sun on their all-you-can-eat Platforms.

So making your startup product stand out in the Enterprise world is super-hard and impossible, unless the founders seek external advice.

It is typical and inevitable for Tech Founders to look at every prospect via the lens of the product and why they should buy their solution. This is unavoidable bias as the founders live and breathe their product and may exhibit, if I may say so, a tunnel vision of how the world should operate. Interestingly, for any problem that a Customer has, their product becomes the panacea.

This would repel an Enterprise buyer…for good. We have seen quite a few of these in my experience and the lessons from those are price and timeless, because the issues are fundamental.

The ability of Founders and GTM team to adapt their product features and value proposition to the Customer’s business paradigm is sacrosanct. And it is critical to focus on the Customer and their LTV, and not look at them as one-off transactions.

We have seen, not just startup founders but also leaders of large companies, engaging with prospects from the lens of their solution. That is a golden opportunity missed by not looking at the Customer’s challenges in its context, empathizing and eventually earning the right to build solutions.

This is a very specialized expertise of converting a product’s value proposition and custom-messaging it for each industry/lead/geography/stakeholder.

Founders and leaders may have to invest in and seek GTM Advisors to inculcate and build the right culture, mindset, strategy and organization. This would help them approach the market with the right strategy, team and mindset, while they focus on the Product and give them exponential returns on the investment

We passionately call it the “Iconic Mindset” – and this mindset should permeate from the core GTM strategy to ground tactics that Founders/Sales leaders could embrace and execute everyday on the field.

Would love to hear your thoughts and challenges on your journey so far and the road-ahead!

Best Wishes,

The Iconic Crew

(AJ, Naidu, Soon and Anand)