Many founders I speak with aim to “go horizontal,” meaning they want to serve a wide range of customer types with various use cases. They often draw inspiration from companies like Airtable and Zapier.
The allure is understandable — large markets, diverse customers and products used daily, leading to multi-billion-dollar valuations.
However, the hidden truth about horizontal companies is that a small handful of use cases, driven by one or two key personas, account for over 75% of their revenue. For instance, Airtable’s core users are marketing teams, while Zapier's primary use cases are sales workflows.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Bobby Pinero, co-founder and CEO of Equals, shared his hard-earned insights on the challenges of taking a horizontal product to market:
"Here's something it took me way too long to figure out. Taking a horizontal product to market is hard. Equals is about as horizontal as it gets … When we started, we marketed Equals as a next-generation spreadsheet. That meant a WHOLE lot of things to a whole LOT of people … It hasn't been until we got really clear on WHO should use Equals and FOR WHAT ... that we've seen many of these problems go away and we've seen a step function change in growth. Many told us this would be a challenge with Equals, but I didn't quite understand it until we lived it."
Bobby’s company, Equals, is backed by A16Z and Craft, and his team has ambitious plans to build a next-gen spreadsheet and initially pursued a horizontal strategy. Through learned experience, Bobby is convinced that focus leads to success.
He is now sharing his insights with the founder community, urging them to narrow their focus to achieve repeatable and scalable growth.
Taking a focused approach to product-market fit
What does it mean to focus? Founders can concentrate on a few areas to find product-market fit (PMF):
- Focus on a specific company type and size.
- Identify a particular persona (e.g., the head of marketing) within that company.
- Understand that persona’s most pressing pain points and problems.
- Tailor the product positioning to catch the attention of this persona.
- Design the product experience to highlight features that address the most urgent pain points. For every new feature you add, remove 1.5 old features.
- Align the team around a specific, well-defined go-to-market strategy.
The challenge of pivoting from horizontal to focused
Transitioning from a horizontal to a focused strategy is a daunting task for many companies. One of the primary challenges is the risk of alienating existing customers who have come to rely on features or use cases that may be deprioritized or eliminated. This can lead to customer churn and potential damage to the company's reputation.
Narrowing your focus might mean voluntarily ceding market share in certain segments, which can be psychologically difficult for you, and potentially concerning for investors who initially bought into a broader vision.
You can successfully navigate this transition by adopting a carefully planned approach. Clear communication with existing customers is crucial. Explain the rationale behind the shift and how it will ultimately lead to a better product experience. To help retain goodwill, offer migration paths or partnerships for discontinued features
Make sure to align your internal team around the new focus — this might involve difficult decisions about resource allocation and team composition.
Why narrowing your target is the key to startup success
Be honest with yourself and your team — are you focused enough? For most early-stage startups, the answer is likely no.
The path to success lies in narrowing your focus, deeply understanding your core users and solving their most pressing problems better than anyone else. This approach leads to stronger product-market fit and creates a solid foundation for future growth.
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