Needs Vs. Wants

Do you know what your audience is after?

Hello friend,

How are you? I hope you’re doing well.

When I mentor startup founders I often start by asking them what is the core problem they’re trying to solve.

Yep! There is a pitch deck slide for it.

Sometimes I get a very clear answer that tightly ties a clear burning pain point to a distinct customer persona.

Yet, often founders tend to describe more than one problem that is good for many customer segments.

The stakes are high.

CBInsights reports that 70% of VC-backed startups are failing. Correct! I refer to those ventures that managed to persuade investors.

And guess what, the #1 reason for failing is - “no market need.”

Translation: founders went to market with a nice-to-have problem that was not properly validated.

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This issue also comes up when I work with brands that need to tell compelling stories as part of their ongoing marketing.

As you may know to tell a good story you need to know what is the true conflict your customer experiences in real life.

Otherwise, you lose the reliability aspect.

Furthermore, with the rise of deep-fake technologies and disinformation, people are looking today more than ever for more truthful narratives.

Diving deeper to better define the customer problem, another confusion is around the difference between customer’s wants vs. needs.

Long ago The Rolling Stones aptly put it:

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometime,

You might find you get what you need.

Learn more about the difference, and the storytelling implications to your ongoing marketing and hey, even your career journey.