Find your niche

Happy Monday!

Welcome to part three in my five-part series called Starting Up Now … lessons for starting a business right now. Not starting something new? These can still apply to you, whether you’re working entrepreneurially in a job or running a business that’s been around for a while (like me.)

Today’s email focus: Find your niche! (BTW, is it pronounced neesh or nitch?)

My friend Martin Roth taught me this lesson last year when I was in New Orleans. We were having a drink at the ACE, reflecting on how he built the sales operation he led at Levelset, which was acquired in 2021 for half a bil. We were discussing what might be next for him, as entrepreneurs do. He said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but if I do decide to start something, I do know how I’m going to do it.”

“I’m going to identify a niche, and build an audience through creating relevant content for them. Once I’ve built the audience, I just have to create a product to sell them.”

This is an incredibly powerful statement. It’s a genius way to build a company, and the exact opposite of the way most people do.

Most entrepreneurs come up with an idea for a product. They start writing content about its features and benefits, crossing their fingers it resonates with an audience. Too often, when asked, “Who is your customer?” we answer, “Everyone! Anyone could use this!” which often leads to no one buying it. If we’re fortunate to back into a target audience that our content resonates with, we realize our product is ideal for the niche we found. We back into our success.

Martin’s strategy is the same, but the order of operations is different. Working forwards instead of backing into it results in the right focus.

1. Niche 2. Audience 3. Content 4. Product

If you’ve heard the saying “Niche to win!” or “Niche down!” this is an excellent strategy for executing on finding your niche. Thanks, Martin.

Thanks for reading again this week. I’m back in California writing from the redwood grove again, the rains have stopped, and spring is here. I’d love to see you. Anne and I are hosting a music festival in May called Cosmico Fest. Come hang!

- Chris (more about me here)