

Ask HN: B2B vs B2C idea? which one to chose for first startup? - vishalzone2002

Hi All,
  I work full time as an employee. But like most HN readers, I aspire to be a successful entrepreneur one day and hence me and my friend are working on 
www.salesmoto.com and www.community.salesmoto.com
But this idea is in B2B space, we experience very slow growth and a lot of struggle to compete with big guys. 
Obviously, a b2b idea doesnt catch up like an app or like other b2c ideas.<p>I need your suggestions. Do you think its better to start with a B2C idea for your first venture? What kind of ideas are relatively easier?<p>thanks!!
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argonaut
I hate to say this, but I agree with orangethirty.

1\. The auto-rotating slideshow is terrible because it autorotates before I've
even finished reading the first slide.

2\. Maybe it's just because I'm not your target market, but the marketing is
filled with jargon that I don't understand. "IT Solutions Providers"? Could it
be any more vague? "Enterprise Solution Discovery. B2B Meeting Place for IT
Leaders and Enterprise Vendors." Again, I have no idea what that even means.

3\. Stop capitalizing everything. Github's tag line is: "Build software
better, together," not "Build Software Better, Together."

4\. Fix your typos. Seriously, proofread.

This is all based on your front page. I clicked "How It Works," and I sort of
get the idea that this is marketplace for enterprise. But again, what's your
niche? You can't target _all_ enterprise services. There are way too many, and
you're better off targeting a niche at first, because then you can get buyers
and sellers on your site through direct contacts and tailored marketing.

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orangethirty
Your landing page is confusing. Very, very confusing. I don't have a clue as
to what is it that you do. Do you expect people to buy without knowing what is
it that you offer? I hate to be this blunt, but you need to re-do all your
marketing. Just from looking at that page, I can assume that everything else
is as bad as it. Don't take this the wrong way. But the issue most startups
fail is because they never manage to send the right message out.

To make it clear, you are failing because your are sabotaging your success
with crummy marketing. You have a good brand name, good domain, seem to have a
good understanding of design, and it looks to be a good service. But you won't
sell much if people don't understand what it is, what it does, and it is for,
and how to use it.

Any other idea you might implement that suffers from such bad marketing is
doomed to fail.

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mindcrime
I don't know that either one is inherently _easier_ than the other. You could
have competition in either case, and in either case the existence of
competition is both good and bad... on the one hand, the fact that there is
competition suggests that there is actually a market for the thing you're
doing. If there are no competitors, you have to ask if there is - or ever will
be - a market at all.

Also, where there are already competitors, you have the option to adopt a
"fast follower" strategy, or you can look into resegmenting the market. I
highly suggest reading _The Four Steps To The Epiphany_ by @sgblank, and/or
his other book _The Startup Owner's Manual_ and give a lot of thought to his
approach. Use "Customer Development" to explore your ideas, whether they are
B2B or B2C and then evaluate which to pour your energy into...

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goofygrin
The benefit of b2b is that companies are used to spending money and have
budgets. B2c tends to be "give it away for free and make money on volume" (aka
collect underpants).

That said... B2b means you'll have to provide better support (contracts etc).

