Targeting doesn’t have to be complicated…
Unless you decide to ignore it for good.
🧑🎓 Here are 3 successful brands that started small and expanded once they reached PMF:
1. Canva 🖼️
Canva launched as a yearbook design business in 2006.
Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht launched a website for students to design their profile pages and articles.
It’s now one of the best go-to tools for designing charts, profile covers, infographics, social post templates, presentation slides.
They raised in 2021 at a $40 billion valuation.
2. Starbucks ☕
In 1971, Starbucks started as a boutique place selling Arabica coffee beans and equipment at premium prices.
Coffee in the US was available in diners and fast-food chains, low-quality Robusta beans, poor production and terrible taste.
Supermarket shelf beans were canned and going stale due to low interest and longer delivery times.
This niche connoisseur brand for coffee lovers exploded in interest (took them over a decade) into a mass-produced franchise for everyone, including teas, frappes, lattes, and everything in-between (plus fast-food).
3. Amazon 📚
The dominant marketplace that accumulated $574.8 billion in net sales in 2023 started as an online bookstore.
Its current impact on the global commerce economy is undisputed.
Fun fact: the first Amazon sale ever happened thanks to a fellow Bulgarian paying cash by sending a floppy disk via email with dollar banknotes hidden within the disk itself.
Compared to the evolution of online sales less than 30 years after, it’s a primer on what bootstrapping represents and how every niche sale counts.
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❌ Pitching everyone is selling to no one.
Every consumer needs unique features and specific options tailored to their taste.
➡️ Sports cars are faster, lighter, louder.
➡️ Gaming laptops have crazy video cards and poor battery life, but incredible graphics and high FPS.
➡️ The CRM market niched down to real estate CRMs, agency CRMs, and other verticals catering to specific markets.
If your offer is too broad, launch very niche landing pages and tailor the product to a tiny market that fully resonates.
It makes a world of difference.
