The formula for startups… and the problem I had to reconsider a few times over the last few months.

For someone who absolutely hates meetings, I’ve been chatting with every VC, valuable customer, and founder willing to learn about Snack Prompt and offer feedback. Building a company and raising funds means having these discussions with anyone open to listening.

During a conversation that I had with a founder this week, we identified the importance of addressing this foundational issue correctly—something many of us initially get wrong. The startup formula…

The Startup Formula:

Market Needs + Financial Commitment

It’s not just about identifying a problem; it’s crucial to ensure that you’ve personally felt that problem deeply. And the problem is big enough that there’s a wallet ready to open at the solution you’re pitching.

Market Needs: We target real, palpable problems — not assumptions. This means having a product that addresses issues you’ve personally lived through and can solve better than anyone else. You are the guy to tackle this on.

Financial Willingness: It’s pivotal to align your solutions with not just needs but also the financial readiness of the customers to embrace your solution (money willing to be spent).

Snack Prompt… Won’t Solve Your Problems

I set out to build a product that fixes everyone’s problem, including stay-at-home moms, CFOs and everyone in between, but realized I wouldn’t be able to sell it if I positioned Snack Prompt as a solution for everyone.

I quickly realized the importance of a targeted approach for effective market penetration and investor interest.

To investors, it’s easier to sell a product geared towards solving a problem for a niche market than to sell a product that solve everyone’s problem.

I decided to sell to agencies first. Let me explain…

Choosing to focus first on agencies is a strategic move—much like Facebook’s initial focus on Harvard students. Helping students connect with each-other before expanding to becoming a social tool for everyone.

Every major company started by fixing a problem of a very very niche customer base.

By solving the specific needs of a niche market, we can perfect our product and prepare for broader challenges. This isn’t about limiting our reach but ensuring our foundation is solid and scalable.

We want to perfect our product in a familiar territory to ensure we can scale effectively.

Before Snack Prompt built a name in AI integration, I was grinding through the agency world for nearly a decade, identifying numerous inefficiencies that hindered creativity and profitability.

While Agencies is the Start, Moms & Everyone Else is Next…

While agencies are our starting point, Snack Prompt’s vision is to transform workflow integration across all sectors. Our initial focus is a stepping stone to a broader application, where individuals from various fields, including CFOs and stay-at-home moms, can utilize AI effortlessly.

Building a Strong Foundation with Niche Targeting

The goal is still to build a platform that will enhance AI productivity. Our platform will boost productivity by up to 30% and save an average of 23+ hours/month per user on repetitive typing.

As we continue to develop Snack Prompt, our roadmap is filled with expansions and enhancements that promise to drastically improve how you interact with AI.

So, if you are building a startup: identifying a niche market with a proven willingness to pay is key. While serving a broad audience is the ultimate goal, focusing on a well-defined group initially allows you to refine your product and build a strong foundation that opens up opportunities for the future.

Eder
Founder | The Daily Bite & Snack Prompt

P.S. I included a Short Demo of the Platform Bellow

The Team Allowed me to a Video of Our Prototype

Watch a Short Demo

End-to-End AI Workflow Platform