Ask HN: Is every company this disfunctional?
1. Identify a painful problem for a group of people
2. Create a product they love
3. Sell that product to more people like them
4. Grow
At all the B2B SaaS companies I've worked at, it looks like this: 1. Identify a painful problem for a group of people
2. Create a product that slightly annoys them
3. Try to sell that product to more people
4. Get rejected
5. Miss sales projections
6. Chase new customer segments
7. It doesn't work because you don't solve their problems either
8. Neglect your core customers until they threaten to churn
9. Fire some people
10. Hire some experienced directors / VPs who bring a little bit of sanity
11. Try to become profitable so you don't have to rely on VC money when your runway ends
12. Continue to flounder because your product doesn't solve your customer's problems
What has your experience been? Is it like this everywhere? Or is the idea that you can grow your company by making your customers happy just some fantasy that sells a lot of business books?
I love working in tech but I'm tired of unnecessary fire drills, lack of strategy, angry customers and burnt out coworkers.
For context: -10 years at multiple B2B SaaS companies (Pre-A through post C) in sales-adjacent, BizOps, and product roles (some IC and some management)