The Startup Velocity Question: Selling Pieces of a Company

I once worked on a company that was #4 in its market. 

The market itself was actually two different markets, one smaller, and one very large.

The Startup Velocity Question: Market Shifts Derail Companies

Let’s take a most obvious example: BPO companies offering large numbers of customer support agents to other businesses.

Enter AI.

The Startup Velocity Question: What CANNOT be Fixed?

Within the runway of a venture-funded startup, it is excruciatingly difficult to fix core technology problems. 

The Startup Velocity Question: What CAN be Fixed?

The lowest hanging fruit in terms of what CAN be fixed in a B-to-B SaaS venture is Positioning.

Even in B-to-C, Positioning can be fixed.

Sometimes, we switch from B-to-C to B-to-B.

If you are facing velocity challenges in a venture funded startup, look closely at your Positioning.

The Startup Velocity Question: Is it Positioning?

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 Startup Velocity Question: Is it the Sales Team?

When things are not going right, especially in B-to-B SaaS, the blame falls on the sales team.

As a company switches from Founder-led Sales to a Repeatable Sales Process, often, sales do falter.

Velocity cannot be achieved without a repeatable sales process.

The Startup Velocity Question: Is it the Product?

Product and Technology are not the same. 

While technology failures are difficult to recover from, product issues can be addressed.

Often, once a startup starts to engage with the market, it develops a more sophisticated understanding of the market’s needs. Features, functions, integrations, APIs – a lot of input comes into the company through customer immersion.

The Startup Velocity Question: Is it Technology?

At the heart of most tech companies is, of course, technology. Today, the market is particularly frothy around Artificial Intelligence. AI is a technology that is notorious for not working as envisioned.