Struggling to Find New Clients? 2 Keys Startups Can't Afford to Ignore
2023 has been a challenging year for startups. Startups hungry for growth during the pandemic have been burning through cash under a cloud of market uncertainty, while the great leap forward in artificial intelligence has rewritten the rules of the game. Sho Chang, Executive Vice President of 5xRuby and a director of the Entrepreneurs Cross-Industry Exchange Association, says that startups can still gain a competitive edge in a volatile industry as long as they hold on to a few principles.
"At startups built on software technology, the founder is often an engineer as well. Running projects, finding clients and managing people all at once, it's hard to cover every base," Chang notes. Some founders with a technical background write code themselves when they take on projects. That isn't wrong in itself, but for a company to last, the founder's top priority should be growing the client base. Whether a company runs smoothly depends on more than just focusing on building the product.
"Service innovation" is easily overlooked in the early days. Markets keep changing, and a single set of services can rarely satisfy clients for long, so the services in a company's business model must adapt and evolve with the trends. Taking 5xRuby as an example, Chang says: "Although 5xRuby is the largest Ruby project company in Taiwan, we keep following trends and breaking new ground in our services. This year, for example, we launched the SOSI remote connection management system to meet our clients' new needs and deliver greater value and service." As a startup founder, beyond maintaining the company's existing business model, you also need to check whether your internal service lineup fits the changing market.
Besides service innovation, "cross-industry alliances" are one of the best ways to expand your client base. The days of going it alone are over, and many vendors now team up to serve clients together. "Every company has its own expertise. Like most startups, we prefer to focus on doing one thing well. Serving clients through cross-industry alliances lets us stay focused on the technologies we're good at, while also successfully expanding our client base and stabilizing cash flow," Chang explains. Building a profitable ecosystem through cross-industry alliances lets partners help one another while effectively delivering more complete services.
Chang also offers practical advice on promotion. Startups have limited marketing budgets early on, and spending big on advertising doesn't necessarily pay off. She recommends taking time to study market trends and, in the early stage, focusing on SEO so that consumers find the brand through search when they run into a problem. Combine this with growth hacking to collect leads and stay in touch with them consistently. If your brand has developed its own system to provide a service, you can also send out a limited number of invitation codes for a free trial to spread the word, and pair this with testimonials from customers or well-known figures to build brand awareness step by step.
"In the past, we have taken over projects that clients had originally entrusted to other vendors, and then moved to us because the clients were unhappy, or because the vendor lacked internal staff management or technical skills." This is why founders should put more weight on client development and managing their internal teams, rather than acting as the product PM themselves and neglecting the operation of stable services and cash flow. Chang says that to become a client's long-term partner, you must avoid being a founder who just keeps their head down and grinds, and instead take a holistic view.