Is tight positioning limiting?

For some founders (and often investors!) the idea of focusing on a very small market seems risky. It also seems limitting. But we are not starting a lifestyle business! We are going to be the next Snowflake!

First of all, you do not have to be a $1 billion company that goes public to have had a ‘successful’ startup.

Second, you a probably not currently as large as {insert name of company you want to beat}. You have two sales people and three marketers if you include your intern. You do not have the resources to conquer the whole world.

If you want to get your first couple customers — which will then allow you to get more customers, which will then allow you to hire some more people and get more customers — you need to focus your limitted resources on the types of buyers that will get the most value out of your product. Doing so is the only way to create word-of-mouth (people do talk, but they don’t talk to people they don’t know. If you’re very focused, you’ll generate word of mouth because you’ll be working with people who know each other). It’s the only way to get early traction.

Positioning is not set in stone. You can always change it in the future, and positioning into adjacent markets is the surest way to grow. Tight positioning when you’re small is what will allow you to get big in the future. And become the next Snowflake.