In a race does the fastest car always win? Not always, if the other car has better driver. But if the faster car is 100 times faster, it is hard to make it up with better driver.
This is often times the situation in startups, at least in bootstrapped startups competing against funded ones. And in theory it might seem, it is almost impossible to win a race when you start a new startup, usually some competitors even have a huge lead.
The only real answer I can think off is changing the rules of the race or changing the race you are racing completely.
I think this is personally the most important point to keep in mind. I should try to optimize the speed, but that is not really that will make us win the race. The choice of what race we are racing and the rules of the race are the things that really make the difference.
So practically speaking I need to be solving a problem no-one else is solving or solving a problem in a way that is better than the way others are solving it.
The way I am solving it doesn’t have to be better for everyone, but just some people I seek to serve.
One thing I am quite sure about is that if you go with small resources, you shouldn’t try to solve many problems well. I would even argue that companies with very big resources fail to solve any of the problems they solve very well. They do have some other advantages that come from doing multiple things in one place.
So I should choose a segment that needs a solution for a specific problem and is underserved.
After I am able to make up my mind on the problem and the audience, I should first make sure it really is a problem for the audience, then seek to solve it well and after that worry about the customer acquisition.
If I am looking to scale internationally.
Obviously I should keep the customer acquisition already in mind when solving the problem, since finding the right solution for the problem is really part of the problem for the audience I am seeking to serve.
A product that would solve problems if someone would find it, doesn’t solve any problems after all.