The post was originally published in Polish on Szymon’s LinkedIn profile. Szymon kindly agreed to republish what we think is of great value to our readers.
A surprising number of companies are still failing today because their products don’t make sense.
History repeats itself every now and then. A company that has created something “innovative.” A team that believes that “the market needs it.” An owner is convinced that “if people only saw it, they would buy it right away.”. And then comes a clash with reality.
The product is ready, the campaign is starting, and the sales? There aren’t any. After a few weeks, the frustration grows. The company begins to look for the guilty. Maybe customers are not ready? Maybe the market has changed? Maybe the competition “spoils prices”?
Szymon Janiak, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Czysta3.VC
Instead of thinking about what actually went wrong, more excuses are made.
Over the years, I’ve seen hundreds of such cases. Companies with huge ambition and empty coffers. Companies with “the best offer on the market,” that nobody wanted. Entrepreneurs in love with their product, disregarding the needs of their customers.
And almost always the problem was the same. Customers don’t pay for your product. They pay to solve their problem.
If they nobody buys something, it means that:
- they don’t understand what they get from it
- they don’t see its value
- their problem isn’t that big
- they don’t feel like changing status quo
None of this is their problem, this is a challenge for the managers.
Companies that understand this don’t ask “Why isn’t anyone buying?” They ask: “How do I make sure that the customer is 100% convinced that they need it?”
And this is the nuance that separates those who sell something from those who are only trying.
The comment section had to add:
Building a company/product is fun, then customers come and spoil everything or they don’t come and they also spoil everything.
– Mateusz Ozimek, Lead DevSecOps Engineer at Oodit Riskplan
There is another problem: Many companies still go bankrupt, even when their product makes a lot of sense.
An example of not bankruptcy but hindered Poland:
There’s an AI startup started in Poland and operating in the USA. Another AI startup operates only in Poland. Convincing Polish companies about AI takes much longer than in the US, on average 8-9 months, to be specific. When they present the solution in NY, the answer is often “OK, let’s try.” In Poland, they will more often hear excuses like “We don’t have a budget now.” This gives food for thought, because good use of AI remains and will remain a competitive advantage.
– Witold Kowalski, Founder at WK Profit Consulting
The Polish market expects quick returns where it’s best when a startup generates EBITA in the second year after an investment of PLN 1M or USD 250K. The truth is that it’s no longer an advantage when the service is cheaper or better. Another SaaS for project management or a pet food store is not an innovation. Today, innovation requires Deep Tech, and Deep Tech means years of development and more years of looking for the market fit. Polish investors are not ready for it, neither mentally nor financially. As a result, it is better to go to work for a corporation than to develop your own startup.
– Mark Friedman, Partner and Chief Growth Officer at Samurai Labs
Aren’t there cases where companies and products get created only to get a few rounds of financing and disappear?
– Tomasz Czech, Sales Director at Air-Com
Szymon Janiak is an investor and a business-driven Managing Director at czysta3.vc, a Venture Capital fund located in Poland. He has over 10 years of experience in the technology sector. Szymon is also a Member of the Supervisory Board at stockbroker Grupa Trinity S.A.
