What do you think is the biggest hurdle for SMBs to overcome in order to achieve success?

Question

Looking to create a platform that reduces the friction that small businesses have, and would love to hear your thoughts so that I make sure these pain points are not ignored. Really appreciate any feedback you guys can offer.

Accepted Answer

One of the biggest hurdles for small and medium-sized businesses to overcome in order to achieve success is the lack of resources, including financial, technological, and human capital, which can limit their ability to compete with larger established companies.

Matthias Strafinger · Answer

@mpaine Biggest hurdles is also a big topic.

Overall, they mostly do not focus on a certain channel (you do not have the budget to focus on several ones), then for most channels, you need high-quality creatives (they believe creatives from canva will work, most likely they do not but can help you reduce your workload). Then It also gets to the point where they don't know their customers.

The biggest difference is that digital companies are 100% dependent on online traffic whereas brick-and-mortar is not.

Janine N · Answer

Reaching their target group cost-effectively and get their message across.. It sounds very basic, but if you can't reach who you want to talk to and if you can't talk to them in a way they understand there is not much hope. Then of course the product needs to solve a problem for them or must be useful somehow.

Magic Mike Paine · Answer

@janine_nitz I agree completely. Many business are created based on their passion and don't understand how to market to others. Thanks for the feedback.

Matthias Strafinger · Answer

Hi Mike,

that's a very broad topic. What kind of small businesses? Digital native businesses like start ups or more traditional ones? etc.

--> in most cases and pretty general: capital and know-how beyond their core product

Magic Mike Paine · Answer

@kellydgd5 Great insight! In your experience what do you think the best solution to these problems might be?

Ruslan.D · Answer

@janine_nitz @mpaine Yes, still ... it's hard to get a really good product without founder's passion

Magic Mike Paine · Answer

@matthias_strafinger what do you think the biggest hurdles the people you’ve worked with had to overcome? How different are the challenges between the two?

Magic Mike Paine · Answer

@matthias_strafinger Yes, it is pretty broad, and every business is different. I was just trying to get a feel in general and not pigeon hole one industry. Many tech startups have different pains than a brick and mortar restaurant our boutique, but they both have to generate sustainable revenue to survive. Have you dealt with both, or do you have more experience in one?

Matthias Strafinger · Answer

@mpaine I have more experience with tech-savvy founders but also some with classic brick-and-mortar businesses.

What do you think is the biggest hurdle for SMBs to overcome in order to achieve success?

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