For any entrepreneur, identifying the right market is a crucial step in establishing their path to success. In order to do so, they must engage in rigorous market research to identify customer needs, supply chain mechanics, pricing and demand dynamics and work towards creating a product that is scalable. The issue with this exercise is that its results are not static. Therefore, entrepreneurs must constantly evaluate the market and its dynamics to ensure that they keep solving problems with a scalable, sustainable and profitable business model.
In our experience of dealing with hundreds of startups, we have seen that founders get very attached to their initial idea, understanding of the market or even the needs of the customer. The ever evolving nature of the market results in such behavior to become counterproductive to an entrepreneur’s vision of success.
We find that stubbornness in execution and lack of strategic planning can result in the startup not serving the right market. This stubbornness can come from cognitive or emotional sources. A founder may be too attached to their initial research that may have shaped the idea, or too attached to the customer they were once trying to serve. They may not realize that their customers and the business environment may have evolved and the outcome of not being able to serve the appropriate market is likely to cost the company heavily.
This problem is faced by all entrepreneurs at some point in their business journey, but it is one that can be mitigated. Having an objective view of your financial metrics is the first step in identifying whether the problem exists or not. Secondly, continuous and rigorous market scoping and documentation of the resultant analysis allows the company to stay on top of all market trends and arm them towards recognizing the right market and continue serving it.