💰 $27 billion was invested in tech startups that died in 2023. 💰
✔ They had lots of good ideas.
✔ They had lots of good products.
✔ They had lots of good investors.
What went wrong?
❌ They didn’t have lots of good customers.
Otherwise, they would have made enough money on their own to stay afloat.
Now, I haven’t interviewed every failed startup founder to ask where things went downhill. But I’ve seen trends among climate tech startups that I’m guessing may be shared in the larger tech space:
They spend the first few years doing nothing but building the product. 🔧
The mindset is, “If we make the best product on the market, then finding customers will be easy!”
Then, when they get the product ready, they’re starting their sales and marketing program from scratch, sometimes already in a dire financial situation.
That’s when it becomes clear:
Finding customers is actually NOT easy. 🤦♂️
I talk to climate tech marketing leaders every week who are scratching their heads because what used to work with efforts like cold email isn’t working anymore in 2023.
📆 They also tell me the B2B buying cycle is getting longer — 6, 12, 18 months.
So directing all your startup’s money, time, and efforts into developing a great product first and THEN building a sales team using an outbound approach and THEN adding on a marketer or two as an afterthought to try to save the day won’t work anymore (not that it ever did).
Here’s what will work for tech startups just setting up, in my opinion:
1️⃣ Start by talking with people in similar roles in a specific industry. Lots of them.
2️⃣ Ask them about the problems that frustrate them most in their work.
3️⃣ Once you notice a trend, then and only then develop a product idea that directly addresses one of the most common problems.
4️⃣ Circle back to the target customers to gauge feedback and interest in your product idea. Don’t be afraid to ask them point blank, “If we made this product, would you be interested in buying it?”
5️⃣ If and only if you hear adamant yeses 80% of the time, then start building your product WHILE continuing to build relationships with the target market by keeping the dialogue going, providing helpful resources, and incorporating their input into business decisions.
(By the way, all of this is marketing.)
In general, tech startups seem to worry about spending on marketing too early.
But the truth is, marketing comes into play right from the beginning.
Because it’s the ONLY way to guarantee you earn the trust, dollars, and loyalty of lots of good customers. 👩💼 👨💼