B2B SaaS and the California Roll
Why evolution is better than revolution in B2B SaaS narratives.
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Nearly every first-time founder I’ve worked with believes their new product is a total gamechanger, a completely new, never-been-done-before innovation that’s going to create a category and spark a new market.
But when I work with second-time founders or career CEOs, their new products are nearly always positioned as a step-change to an existing category.
When we look at new products, new categories, or new methodologies that pop up every day, they could all have exponential potential to change your customers life.
But introducing them as truly revolutionary isn’t always the best approach.
The California Roll
In this article, Nir Eyal talks about how Japanese restaurants introduced sushi to the American public in the 1970’s. In a market where fish was cooked, not raw, and seaweed was strictly something found on a beach and not eaten, how could they convince consumers to try something completely foreign to them?
The answer? The California Roll. Rice, avocado, cucumber, sesame seeds, and crab meat - with a small sliver of nori seaweed holding it together.
In a perfect example of new product innovation, sushi restaurateurs combined an existing product concept with the taste preferences of a new market - reducing barriers to entry and serving as an entry point into the world of sushi.
But early-stage first-time founders usually don’t want to create and sell a California roll - it’s not as exciting.
Instead, they create their own version of fugu: confusing, weird, off-putting, even dangerous.
In these scenarios, at a minimum you risk confusing potential customers and failing. At worst, you alienate them and get a bad reputation.
In B2B SaaS however, most likely prospects probably just won’t believe what you’re selling can help them.
Surely, if they have a discrete problem, then they need a tool that solves that - not something completely new that helps them achieve something they’ve never experienced?
So how do you create a narrative that blends ingenuity and innovation with familiarity and comfort? By designing your product pitch around the concept of evolution, not revolution.
Andy Raskin has posted before about how category creation must be based on a new game that your customers see others playing - not just assumptions or wishful thinking.
Instead of a complete revolution to an existing market, can you create and test a narrative around your product as an evolution of an existing process, category, or belief system?
Anchoring
Hubspot did this with inbound marketing: the old way doesn’t work, the new way does. Zuora did this with the subscription economy: people don’t want to buy anymore, they want to rent. Drift did this with conversational marketing: people don’t want to fill out forms, they want to talk to companies.
By anchoring to existing formats, you’re reducing the cognitive load on the customer. You’re connecting the dots for them, rather than hoping they’ll make the connection themselves.
Educate on life with and life without
Can you help prospects understand where they are today - what they’re missing out on, what their real expenses are, and where their problems will be if they don’t fix something?
And can you present an example of where they could be - their gains achieved, pains solved, costs reduced, money made, free of problems and worries?
Andy Raskin calls this the promised land - the state your customer will exist in after they have made their journey. This is never just as simple as a problem solved - it’s a new way of being.
Monsters
When presenting an evolution message, how do you make sure that people can only get there with you? By promoting the monsters and enemies that prevent prospects from achieving their promised land.
This might be anything from the existing processes they work with, their organization’s change environment, and the systems they use, to the beliefs they have. Limitations, boundaries, blockers - find the most effective narrative that helps prospects who want to improve realize they are incapable of doing so without you.
NIHITO
Nothing important happens in the office.
You might have your finger on the pulse, have all the relevant domain experience, and be super tuned into the market - but still miss out on potential interesting angles because of your bias.
It’s crucial get out of your head and into the mind of your customer. Positioning by assumption doesn’t work. Learning from your customers does.
Evolution is the natural selection of what works
We know enough about evolution from biology to know that natural selection rewards those who test, who adapt, who build on top of existing concepts.
An evolutionary narrative doesn’t restrict you from innovation or experimenting - but it does require you always think back to your customer’s view of the world, and how to bring them along the journey.
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Fantastic article - thanks!