I’ve been in the sinking boat of bad initial startup market segmentation a few times before. One time we’ve gone way too broad with the customer pitch: Our product was meant to be used by every individual and company in the world! (In reality: nobody cared, really.) Another time, even after several years on the market, we didn’t really know who our ideal customer was. Or how to find them. All in all, it super sucked. Here’s how & why this happens way too often to B2B startups: 1. Lack of product focus: You chase product features, because your too broad prospect database keeps bringing in new, very different product ideas. You always believe the next feature, will be THE ONE. The one that suddenly convinces everyone to buy your product. 2. Lack of sales focus: Your sales initiatives are aimed very broadly, you contact way too many companies, get plenty of NOs and you end up blaming the (poor) product. 3. Lack of marketing focus: Your marketing isn’t focused, your sales website is vague and your copy could be slapped to every one of your 20 competitors. You end up getting unqualified inbound leads that only waste your time. 4. Sales pipeline inefficiencies: You or your sales team ends up chasing every possible lead that shows a tiny bit of interest. 5. Lack of investor interest: All of the above failures culminate in this one – nobody wants to invest in further development of your product. Please don’t let this happen to your company!