“The engineer’s grail is a product remarkable enough to ‘sell itself.’ But anyone who would actually say that about a real product would either be lying: they are either delusional (lying to themselves) or selling something (and thus contradicting themselves). The converse business cliché warns that ‘the best product doesn’t always win.’ Economists attribute this to ‘path dependence’: specific historical circumstances independent of objective quality can determine which products enjoy widespread adoption. That’s true, but it doesn’t mean that the operating systems we use and the keyboard layouts we type on were imposed by pure chance. It’s better to think of distribution as essential to the design of your product. If you’ve invented something new but haven’t invented crypto email list an effective way to sell it, you’ve got a bad business—no matter how good the product is .” — From Zero to One, Chapter 10 .
Well, so far we have talked a little about the ideology of competition, which despite its clear importance, should not dictate how you act. Thus, it is a metric that needs to be contextualized in the real scenario of your company. No product/service is exactly the same, although in some cases there are subtle or discrepant differences, such as the strength of the brand involved, distribution, design , and others.
All of this has a strong influence on the success of your business. In other words, with so many variables, there is no recipe that can be replicated countless times and that generates success for everyone who applies it.
Speaking of startups , more than 74% of them close in less than 5 years in Brazil. In other words, perhaps these entrepreneurs underestimated some characteristics of the market. Therefore, let's look at the main reasons raised by CB Insights in 2019 .
from zero to one 2
This data also deserves a deeper study, but in this "From Zero to One" analysis, I want to discuss this statement: “ Product or solution does not meet a real market need ”.
The real need of the market
Based on the insights from the book "From Zero to One", the first point may seem quite obvious, but this concept can be defined as an unexplored gap with great potential , due to the need presented by the people who move the market.
The second point requires a more complex response, as a real market need. The “ real ” is what makes all the difference, as we are used to presenting the simplest answer first, before exposing our real objections.