The current template for a startup goes something like this:
- See a problem in the world.
- Realize that many people want this problem solved.
- Create a product or service that solves that problem.
- Ask the people who want the problem solved if they like your solution.
- Change it based on feedback.
- Repeat until they buy it.
This model has a new challenger. I do not like it one bit.
There has been some recent buzz about the idea of a new type of business. I am sure you have heard of B2C (business to consumer) or B2B (business to business) or maybe even B2G (business to government)… but have you heard of B2X?
B2X has been making the rounds recently as the new way to do business. Conceptually, it is terrible. (For startups at least)
Let me explain.
B2X can be briefly defined as,
“an agnostic approach to who you’re selling to. But it means more than just deciding to offer your product to anyone; it requires developing a product and devising a sales strategy that can conform to multiple requirements and use cases.” – Builtin
This is the best definition I have found so far because it includes the flexibility that B2X is trying to represent, but admits that it takes a more involved approach than offering to everyone.
At first, glance, building a model that fits a wide variety of customer types seems like a no-brainer. Of course, this is how we should be doing business, right?
Transitioning an established business to a more B2X model could be advantageous. However, I fear that this mindset is leaking into the startup world.
For the vast majority of startups, B2X is a bad call.
Here’s why:
Appealing to the masses
Remember Crispy Rice Cereal? Remember Reason news? Remember Tim Kane’s Policies?
No?
Me neither.
When something is built for everyone, to please everybody, it becomes forgettable.
There is nothing primed for failure than a forgettable startup.
When building an MVP, marketing message, and customer personas, it is imperative to understand whose problem you are solving. Who are they? Where do they live? How do they spend their time?
By answering these questions, you begin to build a picture of your audience. This picture allows you to test a product while gaining valuable feedback from the people who might actually buy it someday.
If your preliminary product or service is not built around the customer, but instead the masses, it losses any chance of resonating.
The method of appealing to the masses only works once you are big enough to carve out a significant chunk of your ideal demographic first. After you have that market share, then push into other areas. Become a master of pleasing a single group of customers before trying to advertise to the masses.
But B2X claims to be much more than simply an agnostic approach to identifying a niche. It works as a whole system of business built around appealing to everyone.
Often paired with B2X is the phrase ‘customer agnostic’. This pushes the idea that good marketing does not require a customer persona. It claims that if marketing and your product is appealing enough, anyone would buy it.
The biggest current example of a B2X unicorn is Zoom, a company that has obviously dominated the video call space across industries. Startups, grandma’s, large corporations, and everyone in between use Zoom. But Zoom did not start this way.
They floundered for years in the shadow of skype and google meets until circumstance (Corona) catapulted them to the forefront of video meetings. This sort of circumstantial business explosion should not be used to base a concept on.
Zoom is an enigma, not a poster child for B2X success.
Rigid by design
Startups are at a severe disadvantage to their larger corporate counterparts. They have less talent, resources, connections, and brand recognition.
What they do have is flexibility.
Pursuing a B2X model severely hamstrings a startup’s ability to pivot by providing insufficient customer data.
B2X muddies up the water when it comes to customer feedback. The feedback phase becomes increasingly convoluted. In the end, instead of building a tool that a few people love, the result becomes a homogenized amoeba of half-baked ideas that have no chance of calling a customer to action.
As the data becomes less clear, startups will be less inclined to pivot into the arms of their customer, giving up their only advantage.
This model, to be fair, is not in itself a bad idea. However in the startup world, staying lean, addressing a single problem at a time, and clearly resonating with a well-defined group of potential customers, makes or breaks the success of the business.
An established business claiming they are a B2X company makes sense. A startup saying the same is a red flag waving at investors, telling them they do not have a clear direction.
I will wrap up my rant with this:
A new term like ‘B2X’ does not necessarily mean that it is some new groundbreaking method of running a business.
The startup world tends to jump on new trends faster than just about any other space because they are forced to innovate so quickly. Be careful with new trends, especially when it comes to how you describe your business. At first glance, something like B2X may sound exciting or even revolutionary, but that does not mean it does, or should, apply to your business.
Best of luck out there,
JP
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