B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
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B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
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Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#2I'm unsure the perception of B2B among VC's is as bad as commonly thought.
My last startup was pure B2B, and during our valley runs I found most potential partners / vc's / workers were very excited (in part because of the opportunity, in part because of perceived market movements, and in part because B2B can be fun) at the prospect of growing in B2B.
B2B companies may not spawn a media darling, but it doesn't make the business itself unsexy.
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#3Good stuff, and I agree with almost 100% of that. The only thing I take exception to is the (seemingly) implicit suggestion that "sexy" is defined by what college kids like:
And that’s true. B2B is unsexy in that I don’t build things that my college friends want to use.
Nah... if you're doing sexy technology, it's sexy even if not a single college kid has ever heard of it.
I'd encourage everyone to NOT buy into the HN echo chamber mentality... there is a LOT more to the business world than consumer facing geo-local-social-mobile-photo-sharing-cat-picture startups.
Do cool shit that solves problems for people, charge for it, and make money... that's not a half-bad formula.
(disclosure: I'm a founder of a very sexy B2B enterprise software startup).
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#4Good stuff, and I agree with almost 100% of that. The only thing I take exception to is the (seemingly) implicit suggestion that "sexy" is defined by what college kids like: And that’s true. B2B is unsexy in that I don’t build things that my college friends want to use. Nah... if you're doing sexy technology, it's sexy even if not a single college kid has ever heard of it. I'd encourage everyone to NOT buy into the H…
I agree with your point. I based my definition of sexy on what tends to get media coverage - which are generally ideas that college kids want to use. But I certainly agree that sexy companies exist that no college kid has ever heard of.
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#5I'm unsure the perception of B2B among VC's is as bad as commonly thought. My last startup was pure B2B, and during our valley runs I found most potential partners / vc's / workers were very excited (in part because of the opportunity, in part because of perceived market movements, and in part because B2B can be fun) at the prospect of growing in B2B. B2B companies may not spawn a media darling, but it doesn't make t…
The problem with B2B is that it doesn't follow the standard startup model.
In B2C, if you have 10,000 users, VCs will just start to look at you. In B2B, except in some specific instances, if you have 10,000 users you're already a million dollar company.
Thus, in B2C the risk/reward inflection point occurs much later chronologically than in B2B, and for a B2B business, I, personally, think that there is far too much ambiguity before that inflection point.
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#6We're a B2B shop and have been profitable from day one. Sometimes it takes a while to get paid from the big guys, but once you're in, cash flow is great. There are some downsides (control, last minute BS, corporate things)--but it seems to be easier to get companies to part with their cash than your neighbor or suite-mate.
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#7How does one enter the B2B market? Does B2B mean you're solving how two companies do business with each other?
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#8Well put. No one has heard of the company I work for, and we do some seriously cool B2B stuff. We're 100% employee owned and are #1 in certain segments of our customers.
No, we're not "sexy", we're not media darlings, and "social media" is really not in our genes. But our products are really awesome. :-)
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#9Lots of Jason Fried's influence in the subconscious, I should say. Two or three segments seem to be extracted verbatim from 'Getting Real' book. Nice text, congrats.
Re: B2B Is Unsexy, and I Know It
#10How does one enter the B2B market? Does B2B mean you're solving how two companies do business with each other?
> How does one enter the B2B market?
Create a product that solves a need that businesses have and sell it to them. Steve Blank's The Four Steps To The Epiphany is a great resource that is heavily focused on the B2B world.
> Does B2B mean you're solving how two companies do business with each other?
No, it just means that your business ("B") is selling "2" other businesses ("B"). So, when IBM sells WebSphere AS to other businesses, that's a B2B market.
B2C, conversely, is when you sell something to consumers. So, Wal-Mart is mainly B2C.
The lines aren't always clear, and there are other models that don't quite fit either definition.