#1 | ?? Why Early-Stage Startups Don't Need Traditional Marketing

Daniele Dellavalle - October 9th, 2023

While reviewing applications for our Accelerator Program, we often notice the substantial budgets some of the startups allocate for marketing expenses. We'd like to address this classic pitfall and offer insights on what has proven to be a successful approach,?drawing from our?interpretation of the ‘Startup Owner’s Manual’ by Blank/Dorf, one of the most authoritative how-to guides that details the process for building successful startups.?

Indeed,”a startup is not a smaller version of a large company”*: a startup's journey is unique and differs greatly from established enterprises. A notable difference is the role of marketing.?

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?? Early-stage Focus: Customer Discovery, Not Marketing?

In the early stages, it's about understanding your potential customer's pain points, needs, and desires. This phase is less about broadcasting your solution and more about listening and adapting to fit the market.?

Most startups operate on limited resources. Investing in broad-scale marketing campaigns before achieving product-market fit can drain these precious resources with little return.?

Startups should focus on developing an MVP and then iterate based on real-world feedback. Marketing a product that's still volatile can create confusion and misaligned expectations.?

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?? Learning Before Scaling?

Before delving into marketing, startups should be in a rapid iterative cycle of building, measuring, and learning. This approach allows for swift pivots free from the limitations set by prior marketing commitments.?

Only once you've iteratively refined your product to truly fit a market need, can you think of scaling and marketing. Achieving this fit should be the priority.?

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?? When Is Marketing Relevant??

Once there's confidence that the product aligns with the market need, startups can transition from the 'Search' mode to the 'Execute' mode. That's when marketing starts to play a more traditional role.?

For startups, marketing evolves from being a tool for exploration to a tool for growth. The shift happens once there's clarity about the target audience, value proposition, and product offering.?

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?? Timing Is Everything?

In the startup world, where agility and adaptability are the key, early-stage ventures benefit more from a prompt deep understanding of their potential market than from traditional marketing. It's about building the right thing before building it right. As Steve Blank's insights suggest, by recognizing when to shift gears from customer discovery to marketing, startups can set themselves up for enduring success.?

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* S. Blank and B. Dorf, “The startup owner’s manual”, 2012?