Disruptive is the new Basic.
In the land of B2B/C SaaS where tech companies struggle to find unique differentiators and clear positioning statements to stand out from their 10-15 similar peers, many resort to overly complex, or ambiguous descriptors of what their technology does or what their company does. Have you ever noticed how companies often rely on the term "disruptive" or variations of it to emphasize their impact? The prevalence of such claims, where numerous companies assert their disruption in XYZ industry, actually contradicts the notion of differentiation.
Hard truth: your audience doesn’t care about how disruptive your offering is.
Somewhere along the way, a marketing genius determined that using this word generated buzz and wowed the masses. More importantly, it attracted larger investments and thus was the positioning statement of the decade. Fast-forward to 2023 and it's going to take a lot more than being a self-proclaimed disruptor to get peoples’ attention. The thing is, no one cares about how disruptive your company or offering is because it doesn’t translate. It’s not a universally accepted term, or remains objective in any way. We’re simply in a time where what’s deemed disruptive is in the eye of the beholder.
There is nothing more basic than using the word disruptive as a differentiator.
If you’re still with me, you’re probably coming to agree that this term is old news and does not convey differentiation. It does not convey value either. It’s a marketing-invented buzzword used in pitch decks long ago to secure seed funding. Founders and their boards then latched onto this term in an effort to justify lofty R&D and T&E expenditures. Simply put, being disruptive is no longer cutting it.
We don’t need advanced finance degrees to understand that in the current interest rate environment, money is no longer free, employees are no longer wowed by another SaaS company claiming its disruptiveness, and in this environment, companies can no longer afford to be another basic, self-proclaimed disruptor. Let's put an end to the jargon that is the driving force behind this word.
But wait, there are disruptors out there!
There sure are. From a long time ago when the conditions were right. Consider this:
Over the last 20 years since the dot com boom, how many truly disruptive companies come to mind that have changed your life or how you engage with the world?
Are they B2B or B2C models?
Do they have an associated cost?
Uber came on the market in 2010 as a solution to help wealthy people secure limousines. It was a niche offering marketed and sold to the ‘uber’ elite (no pun intended!) at a time when the rest of us were hailing cabs and calling a taxi line’s 800 number for airport pickups. Uber disrupted the transportation marketplace as we know it all via an intuitive app.
There are a few others that come to mind from the early-mid 2000’s:
Amazon was an online bookstore marketplace and evolved within a couple of years to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company” where one could buy anything via an app or desktop site.
Netflix evolved from a snail-mail DVD delivery service to on-demand streaming through their smart-TV app. In an instant, the home entertainment industry had forever changed.
Instacart helped working parents prioritize family and meal plans for the week without having to run to the grocery store. The grocery industry had been disrupted via on-demand delivery…you guessed it, via a convenient and accessible app.
DoorDash saved us all during the 2020 lockdowns - everything from bandaids to flowers to 5-star meals were dispatched within the hour to our doorstep, all via a seamless app.
These companies are disruptors. What they have in common is simple:
Each has offerings that transcend the status quo and evolved entire industries to take an extremely customer-centric approach.
Real, addressable opportunities in the market to make things better, and easier, for customers to consume were captured.
The products, or offerings, sold themselves through engaging tech where the end user could capture within moments the value proposition; time back and incredible convenience.
They did this by putting the user, or customer, at the very heart of their operating model and leveraged a product-led strategy powered by intuitive applications that enabled the customer to drive their engagement and monetize usage for the company. They created a you win, we win model for doing business. They also allowed the customer to engage with the offering directly, absent of salespeople and demos.
Don’t tell us how disruptive your product or company is. Show us.
Aside from airtight messaging and positioning to your target audience, value propositions must be anchored in psychological value and clearly articulate problems solved. As humans in the present day, we all have the same problems for the most part. There isn’t enough time in the day, we want to retire at some point, and we want to know we belong. This is not overly complex and the messaging needs to be about them - not your company. So you’re disruptive, to what exactly? This is why the product, if truly disruptive, should speak for itself. This is the essence of product-led growth (PLG).
By now you’re probably figuring out my stance on sales-led or product-led strategy as the way forward. I’m calling it here: the future of SaaS, whether it’s B2B or B2C, is product-led growth.
If the product or offering is valuable, the market will dictate that by engaging and using experiential learning to validate that assumption. Product-led growth is the big bet. For any company claiming its offerings are disruptive, product-led growth should be at the forefront of the company’s strategy.
(This blog is about claiming to be disruptive, so I’ll cover PLG and supporting tactics in-depth in the next blog.)
Parting thoughts: find a new value proposition.
The people are done with the 'disruptive’ jargon. Employees are tired of seeing it in job descriptions only to find out once onboard, the product strategy is non-existent and the so-called-disruptive technology often falls flat.
The market, or the people, will decide how disruptive and life-changing your offering is through engaging with your product via an experiential free trial or first-hand experience. They will hear from their friends and colleagues how needed your offering is to give them time back and make their lives easier - and they will make this determination within minutes of visiting your website or reading third-party reviews.
When constructing messaging and aligning to personas, consider the value of time and how your offering fits into that narrative. A great way to start is capturing value in real time with product-led tactics and going back to basics when constructing value propositions forward.
Lastly, the only thing your audience really cares about is how your product will save them precious time. It all comes down to time - the greatest asset we all have.
