the stuff that really needs you is the stuff you don't want

an investor said something to me this week that i have not been able to put down.

we were going through his portfolio, working out which companies could use help with pipeline. he got to the end of the list and said: tools like yours are a cherry on top of something that is already working. the stuff that really needs you is the stuff you don't want.

that is the whole business in one sentence.

the companies that are easy to help are already growing. you add ten percent to a machine that was going to win anyway, everyone calls it a win, and nobody finds out how good you are. the companies that actually need help have a founder who cannot tell the story, a five hundred thousand dollar ticket price, and relationships that take literal years to build. that is where you would earn the money. that is the work nobody bids on.

the same guy told me he spent thirty thousand dollars going to a conference and came home with ten email addresses. one converted, if he was lucky.

so the market is not short of demand. it is short of people willing to take the hard version of the job.

which customer are you quietly avoiding because they would actually need you?