The Startup Blindspot; stop pitching and start listening

So you finally kickstarted your startup, raised or looking for seed funding and gained some initial traction? Join the club.

You passed the easy part, now things are getting real. Your cashflow runway is shrinking each day, the first users are churning and you just had your first team struggles. Nothing that can’t be solved, but you need to step up your game. Today…

Since I spend most of my week days advising and working directly with startup founders, I started to notice a pattern amongst many of them. Of course I can’t blame founders for being overwhelmed about their own business ideas, thus I won’t.

What I can and will do though, is warn for common pitfalls and to help them to prick their own bubbles. Often during these meetings, I refer to this as ‘The Startup Blindspot’.

The Startup Blindspot

The typical startup founder is thinking ‘round the clock about their business and how to grow it sustainable for the long term. What they often forget is their (core) users. They either pitch the product/service from a technical point of view or they stop listening once they start talking. The most ‘dumb’, expensive and common mistake founders can possible make is to pitch to your users while you should actually shut your mouth and open your ears.

This is what I like to call ‘The Startup Blindspot’. Founders are in love with their own idea(s) and have a blurred view of reality. The reality is exactly that what your users are saying, asking and/or begging you to build. You can’t fake nor escape reality. You’re either user-driven or you aren’t driven at all..