Early-stage Startups Should Better Start From a Narrow Focus
Hi all, this is Morgan from Gemoo. 
Starting a business is an exciting and challenging endeavor for me. I believe many early-stage startup founders like me are often faced with the challenge of deciding where to focus their efforts. With limited resources and a desire to make an impact, it can be tempting to try to tackle multiple market segments or product offerings at once.
Early-stage Startups Should Better Start From a Narrow Focus
However, this approach can lead to a lack of focus and direction, which is also the mistake I made. Instead, It would be better to think big but start small, focusing on the “narrow and deep” to increase the chances of success.
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Why Startups Should Start From a Narrow Focus
Why Startups Should Start From a Narrow Focus
Everybody will tell you that if you are starting a business, you should make sure that your market is big enough. Otherwise, even if you dominate the whole market, you might not be making enough money to build a big and successful one.
Having a large market is undoubtedly important. However, a large market often translates to intense competition. It’s crucial to recognize that new startups face significant challenges when trying to cover all target groups and compete with established players in the market. Instead of trying to compete with the big guys in the market, new startups should focus on identifying a specific market segment that they can serve better than their competitors.
Starting from a narrow focus can help you in several ways 🚩
First, it allows you to define your target audience and tailor the products to meet their specific needs. This can help your product stand out from competitors and build a loyal customer base.
Second, starting from a narrow focus can help you establish a strong foundation for growth. You can build a reputation for expertise and credibility by doing so, which can help you expand into new markets and industries in the future.
Last but not the least, from the perspective of financial economics, it saves time and money. Early-stage startups usually don’t have the “power” to reach and appeal to everyone. By focusing on a specific area, you can optimize your resources and develop effective strategies to succeed in your target market.
What Could Happen If You Don’t
Take me as an example, Gemoo is aiming at online communication and collaboration, which is a huge market with a wide range of potential customers, this sounds good but actually causes me big trouble.
Gemoo was initially designed for almost everybody who has a need for online communication. Therefore, in the design stage, we did not design functions and scenarios that are more suitable for a certain group of people. When the product was ready, we soon realized that we don’t know where to start pitching because it’s too broad to nail down a specific focus.
Having a product that is widely applicable and appeals to a large audience can be advantageous during the growth stage, but may not necessarily be beneficial in the early stages. On the contrary, it could bring you troubles 🔎
- Lack of clarity: You may struggle to define your target audience and value proposition, which can make it difficult to communicate your message effectively and differentiate yourself from competitors. You can’t be all things to all people, when you try to appeal to everyone, you normally end up appealing to no one.
- Resource drain: Trying to do too much at once can lead to a drain on resources, including time, money, and manpower, and may even lead to failure. Without a clear focus, startups may end up investing resources in areas that don’t align with their core mission or goals.
- Difficulty in scaling: You may struggle to scale your operations as you grow. Without a clear focus, it can be difficult to maintain consistency and quality as the business expands.
How to Start From a Narrow Focus
- Identify a specific area: Focusing on a specific area that aligns with your core mission and goals. This could be a particular industry, market segment, or customer demographic.
- Conduct market research: Understanding the needs, pain points, and preferences of your target audience. This helps you to tailor your products to meet their specific needs.
- Segment your market and deliver the message: Divide your target market into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, such as demographics or behaviors. Then deliver marketing messages that speak directly to each segment of your target market, addressing their specific needs and interests.
- Test and refine your approach: Continuously monitor and evaluate your marketing efforts to see what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments as needed.
If you are a startup founder with limited resources, your path will be easier if you go after a problem for a narrowly defined audience, and then expand to broader audiences after you have some initial traction. It took me several months to comprehend this strategy, and I am now adjusting my approach accordingly. Shoot me a message via MorganKung7 if you have better ideas!
