Successful founders create solutions that help their customers. Successful founders focus on their customers to solve their challenges, make their life easier and provide them value above the value returned to the company. In the quest to create a product or service, laser focus on the customer that will benefit from the outcome is a core requirement of entreprenuership.
As we maintain this singular customer focus, should we also consider who is hurt, disadvantaged or left behind with the growth of our solution?
I am not entirely sure how much time, effort and focus we should assign to this evaluation. I do believe it reveals critical insights that could impact your business in a negative or positive way. As you consider if this is an important exercise for your company, below are some example stakeholders with questions to make this evaluation meaningful.
Customers
Considering this question with customers in mind may sound counter-intuitutive. It's not. As you review all the potential customers you can serve with your solution, there will be a group of buyers you cannot reach. Reviewing the potential disadvantages for a targeted customer group should bring to light some challenges with your core customer base as well. Some questions to consider that may unlock insights include;
- Does the customer have people/teams that deliver a similar result to what my solution offers?
- Is the inefficiency in the alternative solution a benefit to a specific team/person in the customers' company (i.e. it enables them to retain their job)?
- What disadvantages would the customer list by implementing your solution in their organization?
- Would leaving out a specific user or partner with your solution hurt the customer's desired results?
- What would dis-incentivize this customer to scale my solution in their company?
Users
The users of your service or technology (who may be different than your customer) come first. Your ability to serve users with a better experience then their usual solution is the difference between winning and losing.
It is complicated to be laser focused on specific users while having to ignore others due to limited focus, resources and time. This is a strategic bet every founder makes and does not waver on. It is a default exercise to map out every potential user so that you have clarity on who is advantaged, who is left out and if you could ever support this user in the future. Some questions to consider that may unlock insights include;
- What specific users do not have a role in my solution?
- Which specific responsibilities or job roles does my solution partially or fully replace?
- Does my solution negatively impact a specific person's job, finances or credability?
- Should I clarify in my sales pitch that I don't serve a specific user today but plan to change that in the future?
- Am I leaving a key user behind that I would prefer to support with my solution?
Partners
You may have heard people say, "partnership is the only ship that doesn't sail." I have equally seen partnerhips (of all types) work and not work throughout my career. Working with partners is complex as aligning incentives sounds easy but is typically not. In order for your solution to be successful, it is highly likely you will need to find partners in your market.
Your partnerships will deliver the best results when a collective, integrated, less-frictioned outcome is made easily accessable to the customer. Some questions to consider that may unlock insights include;
- Does my solution compete with any component of a partner's solution?
- Would this partner consider me a compliment to their solution or a competitor?
- How long would it take for this partner to make a return on their costs to partner and add incremental revenue with our partnership?
- Would implementing my solution in a partnership decrease their pricing, sales or revenue in anyway?
- Would our joint offering weaken this partner's presence or market leadership with customers?
Competitors
I love challenging the current solution providers that I consider competitors. You should too as an entreprenuer. If your solution is relevant, you have competitors. Competitors make your sharper, market validate your solution and provide education on your best differentiators. Your solution should hurt, disadvantage and negatively impact your competitors. Some questions to consider that may unlock insights include;
- What does my competitor lose (i.e. sales, customers, marketshare, revenue, credibility, etc.) if they offer they exact same solution?
- How specifically does my solution highlight key issues and gaps in my competitor's solution?
- If I showed my solution's features versus my competitor's features in a side-by-side comparison, would the difference be significant enough to matter to a customer?
- Is my competitor unable to offer what I can because it will negatively impact their business?
- What is the liklihood my solution could partially or fully replace the solution offered by my competitor?
If you conduct this exercise and learn who you will hurt, disadvantage or leave behind, you have two (2) choices:
(1) You can accept that this is the reality of progress and business. There are winners and losers. The majority of winners do not win forever. Unfortunately, you cannot innovative and serve everyone right away at the same time. You have evaluated and continue to move forward with your strategy.
(2) You can re-work your solution, offering and/or sales pitch to serve this stakeholder. It will require more effort, time and resources to include this persona in your focus but you will now not leave them behind as you grow your company.
Please keep in mind that either choice includes strategic risk in your business. Conducting this analysis can provide you with insights that generate more clarity in your strategy. This level of clarity in your strategy will help you (and your customers) better understand who your solution serves and who it does not.
