We've worked with over 50 horizontal startupsâŠ
đ And many of them make this mistake with their marketing.
Whatâs the mistake?
â They market the new technology
âł âItâs a whole new way to Xâ
Instead ofâŠ.
â Marketing the new capability.
âł âHere is the new thing it lets you doâ
Why doesnât this work?
đ„đ„ Because customers primarily care about what product lets them do.
And donât get me wrong, they do eventually need to understand how the product worksâŠ
But this is AFTER they buy in to your offer.
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Here is what this looks like in their messaging â using Uber as an example.
𫱠Uber selling âthe new technologyâ
âImagine if you could combine smart phones with cellular networks in order to connect drivers to people who need a rideâ.
This message only works for 2 audiences:
â Investors evaluating your potential impact
â Employees buying into your visionđąÂ
It does NOT help a prospect understand or evaluate your new product.
𫱠Here is Uber selling âthe new capabilityâ
âImagine if you could press a button on your phone and a car picked you up almost instantlyâ.
In this message, the prospects hearâs whatâs in it for herâŠ
đ€ And can start to evaluate where it fits into her world.
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There are 2 reasons why founders fall into the trap of marketing the new technology:
1ïžâŁ Desire to explain their hard work
Founding teams spend thousands of hours figuring out how to make âthe new technologyâ actually work.
Who wouldnât want to tell people about it?
It can be easy to forget that the customer ONLY cares about the capability.
2ïžâŁ âthe new technologyâ message worked with VCs
You just raised 5-15 million dollars by explaining âthe new technologyâ.
VCs love new technology that might replace old technology.Â
This can trick founders into thinking that the same message is going to work in market.
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Check out the additional examples shown for Loom and Stripe.
And ask yourselfâŠ
đȘ Are you messaging on your capabilities?
đ Or trying to explain the new technology youâre building?
Ben Wilentz
Founder, Stealth Startup