TLDR Founders · STRATEGIES & TACTICS

YOUR TARGET MARKET ISN'T DEMOGRAPHIC

longform.asmartbear.com4 min read

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

It's tempting to define your market as "small businesses in the UK" or "females 19-29," but that misses who actually buys - individual teams at Google purchase the same $50/month tools designed for solo founders, swiping credit cards like any small business would. The author discovered this at WP Engine when Fortune 500 companies started buying their WordPress hosting built for small businesses. A bank used it for branch websites, a fast-food chain for local social content. The common thread wasn't company size but specific needs. The real market dimensions are urgency of problem, tolerance for new vendors, whether they buy individually or in a committee, and how they measure success. Stop asking "what size company buys this?" and start asking "who recognizes themselves in our customer stories?" That recognition, not firmographics, defines your market.