Lessons For Scaleups
'You win people over, one person at a time. It's hand-to-hand combat''
Why having 100 people who love your product is better than 1 million who just 'sort of like it'...
''Seek out die-hard fans who can't live without your product. Look for early signs of love from users, pattern match on history and data sets and build on that'' - Reed Hoffman
A Case Study From Dominic Ansel, Inventor Of The Cronut, Soho in New York
Dominic Ansel was a small bakery owner and chef in Soho, New York. He was considered a bit of a PT Barnum and with typical French flair for food, he innovated. There was no marketing strategy; his neighbourhood bakery in Soho decided to bake a fresh batch of cronuts (half croissant and half donut) He obsessed over the fermentation and flakiness and the technical details of his product, with a singular focus on making the best product.
A food blogger picked up the product and overnight Dominic's operation was under increased pressure with customers piling up outside Dominic's little bakery. Hugely loyal customers who loved the local business queued outside and staff were inundated with orders. Since then Cronuts have become available in trendy coffee shops from London to Pretoria.
The story of Dominic Ansel is mirrored in every episode of Chefs Table, where Chefs lay out their values and align these with their own personal stories. I've written about this in previous blogs.
''You win people over, one person at a time'' - Audrey Pagano, Co-Founder and CEO of Bow and Drape, a fashion line that let's customers personalise the design and fit of any piece of clothing. '
''It's hand-to-hand combat'', fighting for early followers. You grow the brand through 'word-of-mouth' which is integral to most early success stories.
Spanks Founder Sara Blakely, worth an estimated $1 billion, ran her underwear brand from her apartment since its launch in 2000, and started Spanks with $5000 budget and a handful of people. ''I didn't know how to raise funds'' says Sarah, who has never had an advertising or marketing budget. She recruited an all volunteer salesforce, enlisting the help of department store clerks. Powered with energy and enthusiasm, she stood in the entrance of department stores with her own little booth, creating a loyal salesforce at Nordstrom and other department stores, honing in on heavy hitters; the store sales people, to drive traffic.
The number one step in scaling is getting a great product. People tend to stick with products that they 'love'. Organic scaling helps recruit new users with a natural love for a product.
''You've got to find someone, a small narrow wedge, users who use your product and help you scale.'' - Sam Altman, Y Combinator.
People who can use the product and get value from it, helping you to bootstrap and grow.
Facebook, LinkedIn, these all started with a small group of customers who loved the product, in order to build critical mass.
Customer love is hard-wired into experiences, and products. From building online experiences for insurance companies to running a goat yoga studio and even developing artificially intelligent robo-advisors, the disciplines of building customer love are common to all.
Start with the right mindset and story that galvanises your team and culture (tribe), build an MVP, experiment within your community, listen, iterate, learn.
''I have more fear in my life by not maximising on the opportunity than messing something up and the business goes badly'' - Mark Zuckerberg.
Inspired by Reed Hoffman, Master Of Scale
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