“Cool” does not sell. I have both been an entrepreneur and worked with many throughout my career. So many - particularly those without much revenue - want to talk about how innovative their product is. How cool it is. How clever the building process was.
And they are rewarded when “building in public” for all these traits! First, fellow entrepreneurs and technologists cheer the innovations and the Big Idea. Then, mail signups follow. Hooray! We have a market signal!
Then the wall. The signups have only a slight return on active users and even slimmer on customers. Potential customers seldom say no - they say “not now.” Taken at face value, this is a false signal for the entrepreneur. Companies are expressing interest before release or a demo quiet. What is wrong? How do you break through the wall?
I keep hearing “this market isn’t ready for change” from frustrated founders. Then the market pivot: a different customer segment should be more responsive to one’s pitch. We have the right idea; let’s talk to someone who will listen. It seems like this is very often a “return to the tribe.” I’ll sell to people like the various tech startup mavens who loved my building in public!
And then they don’t buy either. Your tribe often has a higher probability of engaging the talk with likes and replies. But come game time, they have a lower willingness to pay. You’re a cheapskate - you don’t think your fellow entrepreneurs are too?
But my inner ear hears, “this market adapting itself to my correct concept.” The founder, prideful of their creation and Big Idea, wants the market to accept it and follow. Embrace change! Feel the burn! The emotion of this rejection reminds me of Jeb Bush in 2015: “Please clap.”
Markets want to be served, not revolutionized. “Cool” means new, and new means untested, unreliable. Innovative means I have to change what I am doing - who wants that?
Even the market thought leaders have to sell that change in their teams and institutions: hard work. This willingness to toil and take risks is why they are “thought leaders.” And right there is a market space for you.
The job of an entrepreneur is to make innovation supremely easy to buy. That has two parts. The problem you are solving must be an existential risk. Then, the solution must be the most obvious, simple path out of this disaster.
First, the risk must be severe for those leaders who agree there is an existential problem. Fear strikes at a “why” of a person or business in the Golden Circle. According to Sinek, one cannot persuade toward a “why,” only discover it. That’s a matter of market discovery and segmentation. Who has a severe need?
The canon of customer discovery is so helpful on this front! The email signups and Twitter hearts clapping at your innovation are more likely to agree with your thesis. Hooray! You have a segment to engage! But they’re still not buying.
The second job of the entrepreneur is to de-risk the solution. The keys to de-risking are status, expertise, and calm. Status and expertise are how you get in the room for a pitch. Calm is how you close the deal.
Calm means that instead of marketing a spicy taco (hot!), one gives plain vanilla. Plain vanilla means the simplest, most obvious way of solving the problem. You probably would have done it this way yourself if you had the time and money, but thankfully we did it for you! Fulfill their Golden Circle “why” in a manner compatible with their “how” list. For them, this is calm and easy. They should believe that the founder knows their stuff. Hiring this service is the easiest of all possible ways we could move forward.
Plain vanilla is contextual to the customer. It comes from a deep knowledge of the parties involved. Nobody wants to hear how it can help some broader segment - they want to know how it will help them. Nobody wants constant shipping - they want a commitment to stability and quality.
Package your extraordinary innovation that solves an existential problem with calm. Sell plain vanilla, and the world beats a path to your door.