The 3 Axes of Startup Difficulty
Depending on who you’re talking to the word ‘startup’ can mean many different things. So, right upfront, I’m writing about Bootstrapped Technical Startups (BTS)— new businesses that involve some degree of writing code and are intent on making a profit sooner rather than later.
In trying to come to grips with my next BTS and talking to lots of others in a similar place, I’ve developed a framework for quickly assessing the general difficulty in executing on a BTS concept: the 3 Axes Framework.
I chose the word ‘difficulty’ deliberately as if you had infinite amounts of time, money, or market conditions you could make almost anything work. A good idea you can’t execute on isn’t a good idea.
Axis One: Target Market
From Consumer (B2C) to Business (B2B)
Businesses are easier to sell to than consumers as they’ll spend money to make their problems go away. You need fewer of them to make a decent amount of revenue, they are more willing to spend money to make problems go away and they are easier to reach.
Axis Two: Tools vs Solutions
From DIY to Done For You (DFY)
This is the difference between selling a shovel to a farmer vs digging holes in an acre of land for them. DFY solutions are a much easier sell as they involve less work for the customer.
They don’t have to learn a new tool, change their processes, get more buy in from other people, they are buying results.
Axis Three: Level of Pain
From Needs a Vitamin to Bleeding from the Neck.
Emergency Rooms use a 1–10 pain scale chart whose gradations match surprisingly well to situations outside the Hospital.
You will find it hard going to be successful if you’re not solving a pain (as makers of mobile games will attest). Conversely, solve a large enough pain and buyers will seek you out.
