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.

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?

thanks!!

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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).