Recently, I was chatting with my friend about starting a business, and my friend also wanted to do a ToB project. When talking about the cold start of the project, my friend's idea was to be an MVP of a ToB product, and then quickly get the verification of the market; I made several ToB products When I was in operation, I suddenly realized that the MVP of B-side products is classified.
MVP is a concept value proposed in "Lean Startup", translated in Chinese is the minimum feasible version; that is, after determining the business and product direction, do not pursue a perfect product, and publish it through the minimum feasible version. In the market, it is up to the user to decide whether the product can meet the needs, and then determine whether the product is worth investing more effort and resources.
My friend's entrepreneurial conversation suddenly woke me up. I seem to be reflecting on what should the MVP of the ToB project do? I thought for a long time, searched a lot of information combined with my current work and the experience of following up with customers, and found that - ToB's products can not fully apply the MVP theory.
1. The demands of users
The user demands of ToB are completely different from those of ToC. ToB users expect a complete solution, and the larger the company, the more they expect a complete solution.
After the epidemic this year, after users were educated on online products, everyone's awareness of the use of SaaS products has improved; however, many users do not have a deep understanding of the concept of SaaS products and the problems that can be solved, and they are still looking forward to passing the Products solve a company's problems.
In this case, it is difficult to promote the MVP version for a slightly larger-scale product; in fact, customers buy not only products, not only services, but complete methodology and complete solutions; customers have problems and look forward to Solve personal problems by learning from the experience of the industry and the country email list service records of other friends.
Based on the above demands, the MVP version is recommended to the customer, and the customer also needs to pay a certain cost to help the service provider create a solution together; this matter can still make progress in the case of a strong business relationship, but if there is a little relationship In place, or the applicable population has a great decision-making power, then the possibility of this matter going forward is very small.
In ToB's products, we should not only pay attention to the concerns of decision-makers, but also pay attention to the feelings of users.
Especially in the case of sufficient products now, customers can choose a lot of content, and basically they are PaaS after experiencing the product.
On the contrary, some small customers, whose own needs are not so standardized, and the products on the market are difficult to meet their needs, can accept this solution; but how much value does this solution have for the company to create industry solutions? Its value is still up for debate.
2. Market environment
After 2015 was called the first year of SaaS, various companies are making efforts on the B-side, including old-fashioned traditional enterprises, such as UFIDA, Sales Easy, Salesforce, etc.; there are also projects from C-side to B-side, such as Ali, Tencent, Byte Other traditional Internet giants; there are also original consulting companies that have begun to make ToB products, such as: Blue Cursor, etc., and some rising stars have begun to make efforts in the market.
It seems that the B-end market is still in the era of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, and it will take some time for the Three Kingdoms to stand up. The terminal has made a big move, and began to expand its moat on the B terminal through investment, holding, acquisition, etc.
And each company will have a mature solution for each product. This solution is not overnight, but a long-term industry accumulation.
Launching MVP products in such a fiercely competitive environment cannot meet the needs of customers, it is difficult to compete with mature and established companies in the market, there is no way to acquire users, and there is no way to form their own moat.