This is the #1 silent killer of climate tech startups. 😨
📈 Premature scaling.
Here’s what it means:
Premature scaling is when a startup tries to grow too fast, so they end up spending too much time and energy on tasks that are NOT critical for their current stage of growth.
After studying 3,200 tech startups, Startup Genome concluded that premature scaling was the most common reason for failure.
Of course, premature scaling can take many shapes, as startups skip vital steps across product development, team growth, and more.
In marketing, I’ve seen it look like this:
âš« Launching a product … even though they never performed customer research to validate the idea.
âš« Hiring 6 FT marketing specialists … even though they’re only in Seed stage.
âš« Spending thousands on trade shows … even though they don’t have any follow-up nurture campaigns set up.
âš« Hiring 3 people on sales … even though they have no content and resources to share with leads.
âš« Building a world-class brand … even though there’s no product yet.
âš« Expanding into new target segments … even though they’ve barely scratched the surface of the 1st segment.
âš« Running paid ad campaigns … even though they haven’t refined the UVP for the product.
As much as I advocate climate tech marketing, throwing too much into it at the wrong time won’t help, either.
Startups need a healthy approach to growth, not running in 4 directions at a breakneck pace.
If the founder and leadership team can consciously prioritize the critical work for their current stage of growth — then they’ll drastically increase their chances for success.
So what’s the right amount at the right time in the right direction for climate tech startup marketing?
Well, I’d need a lot more space than 1 LinkedIn post to answer that.
In fact, I just wrapped up my 151-page marketing playbook for climate tech startups so they don’t have to guess anymore.
Help your climate tech startup avoid premature scaling, and check out “Climate Tech Marketing: Your Startup’s Playbook for Advancing to the Next Stage of Growth.”