The Startup Velocity Question - Is it the Positioning?
Sramana Mitra
Founder and CEO of One Million by the One Million (1Mby1M) Global Virtual Accelerator
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We are in 2024. Almost every market is super crowded.
Most often, the problem is not with the sales team, nor with the technology.
The problem is with Product Positioning.
The tech startup world is full of marketing people who can run campaigns. The industry dramatically lacks strategic marketing expertise.
Add to that the issue that entrepreneurs often come from a technical background. They have no understanding of the nuances of sophisticated Positioning.
Yet, if you can find the right positioning, product-market fit can snap in gear. Inbound leads can be engineered to flow. Sales cycles can become shorter.
In my consulting career, the bulk of the successful turnaround work I have done has been around fixing Positioning problems.
In 1Mby1M, we have made laser-sharp Positioning a critical element of how we train entrepreneurs to think about their ventures. Do not spray and pray has become the 1Mby1M mantra. We live by these principles.
Segment. Look for the gap. Look for pain extraction questions against that gap. Design a repeatable sales process to execute to a precise positioning. Find a business model and a pricing model that is backed up by precise ROI analysis. Make sure there is enough of a bottom-up TAM to build a sizable business. Understand the sales cycle. 18-month high-touch sales cycles are unsustainable. Understand the buyer. Smart or dumb? Understand how budget items are prioritized. Mission critical or Nice to have?
The good news: in a lot of cases, Positioning is fixable.
In our work with 1Mby1M, we have legitimized Bootstrapped Entrepreneurship, raising its profile and importance in the startup world. Nonetheless, many startups have sought financing and many VCs have funded them. As of December 2023, 54,000 venture-funded startups exist in the United States alone. Globally, the number is likely to be higher.
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The vast majority of these funded ventures are not gaining velocity.
In this series, we are discussing the nuances of the velocity question.
If your startup is facing Positioning challenges and you need help, please reach out to me through one of the following channels.
(2) In-Person Rendezvous in Silicon Valley
(4) Send an email explaining your situation to request private consulting
You can read the entire series, The Startup Velocity Question, here .
Photo by Kamil Pietrzak on Unsplash