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A decade ago, Nvidia was a major graphics card maker, vying with competitors like AMD and Intel for dominance. Now it’s an AI giant with 70% to 95% of the market share for AI chips, and the brains of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It’s also the best-performing stock with the highest return in the past 25 years.

Why did Nvidia invest in AI chips over 10 years ago, ahead of the competition? CEO Jensen Huang and board member Mark Stevens, Nvidia’s two largest individual shareholders, talked to Sequoia Capital partner Roelof Botha to explain what Botha called “one of the most remarkable business pivots in history.”

Nvidia’s original product was 3D graphics cards for PC games, but company leaders noticed by the mid-2000s that the PC market was hitting a growth limit.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Turned Down a Merger Offer in the Company’s Early Days, According to Insiders. Here’s Why.

“We felt we were always gonna be boxed into the PC gaming market and always knocking heads with Intel if we didn’t develop a brand new market that nobody else was in,” Stevens explained.

^{Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia. Photographer: Lionel Ng/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

That need for a new market intersected with a product Nvidia already had on hand: its graphics processor unit, or GPU, which could be used to power tasks outside of gaming. Researchers at universities across the world began exploring the graphics cards, eventually building advanced computers with them.

Related: Is It Too Late to Buy Nvidia? Former Morgan Stanley Strategist Says ‘Buy High, Sell Higher.’

Huang recalled meeting a quantum chemist in Taiwan who showed him a closet with a “giant array” of Nvidia’s GPUs on its shelves; house fans were rotating to keep the system cool.

“He said, ‘I built my own personal supercomputer.’ And he said to me that because of our work… he’s able to do his work in his lifetime,” Huang said.

Other researchers, like Meta AI chief Yann LeCun in New York, began reaching out to Nvidia about the computing power of its chips. Nvidia began considering the AI market when AI had yet to enter the mainstream and was a “zero billion dollar market” or a market that had yet to materialize.

“There was no guarantee that AI would ever really emerge because, keep in mind, AI had had many stops and starts over the last 40 years,” Stevens said. “I mean, AI has been around as a computer science concept for decades. But it had never really taken off as a huge market opportunity.”

Related: Nvidia Is ‘Slowly Becoming the IBM of the AI Era,’ According to the Leader of a $2 Billion AI Startup

Huang and other company leaders still believed in AI and decided to invest billions in the tech in the 2010s.

“This was a giant pivot for our company,” Huang said. “The company’s focus was steered away from its core business.”

Huang highlighted the extra cost, talent, and skills Nvidia had to account for with the pivot, as it affected the entire company. It took 10 to 15 years of effort, but that business decision led to Nvidia powering the AI revolution with an early ChatGPT partnership.

“Every CEO’s job is supposed to look around corners,” Huang said. “You want to be the person who believes the company can achieve more than the company believes it can.”

Related: How to Be a Billionaire By 25, According to a College Dropout Turned CEO Worth $1.6 Billion

According to the U.S. Small Business Association, 99.9% of all U.S. firms are classified as small businesses. Of the more than 33 million small businesses, 27.1 million are solo ventures without staff. By 2027, an estimated 87.5 million freelancers will comprise 50.9% of the entire U.S. workforce. Meanwhile, Bank of America disclosed a 3.8% growth in customers receiving direct deposits from gig platforms in March 2024, exceeding the previous peak in 2022.

These figures indicate that more and more people are leaving traditional employment to pursue other income-generating means so they can live on their own terms with greater freedom. These are ordinary individuals making money out of their skills and passion in their own way. I call them the everyday entrepreneurs.

For those just starting out, you may wonder, “How do you compete in a market saturated with products and solutions to every imaginable problem? And how can you thrive and survive in such a highly competitive environment?”

My approach is to focus on a super niche and develop the required expertise to deeply understand and fulfill their specific needs. I built Fud, a social hustling community and app, to specifically help first-time hustlers and aspiring entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Currently, around 80% of Fud users are newbies.

The problem is many successful entrepreneurs today highlight their achievements on social media without truthfully sharing their struggles to reach that level of success. This trend turns their content into mere entertainment, and without knowing their full story, can discourage, mislead or overwhelm beginners.

That’s why at Fud, we promote transparency and honesty. We recognize the challenges and hard work of everyday entrepreneurs in starting and managing a business. At the same time, we believe that with the proper mindset, strong support system and the right tools, reaching your goals is achievable.

Related: 3 Ways to Stand Out from Competitors

Less is more profitable

The key in standing out is to dedicate your efforts to a super niche while intentionally avoiding other niches. This may seem counterintuitive. You may think, “Isn’t it more profitable to attract every potential customer out there? Wouldn’t you catch more fish by casting a wider net?”

Well, not everyone will be interested in what you offer, and that’s perfectly fine. Your focus is to find the right market whose needs align with your brand or who share your values. By targeting this smaller segment, you can provide more personalized services, create a stronger emotional connection and better meet their expectations, driving their most profitable behaviors.

A study published in Harvard Business Review revealed that customers who are fully connected with a brand are 52% more valuable than those who are just highly satisfied. Hence, building relationships, gaining the trust of a small community and aligning with their motivations result in more engaged and more profitable customers than serving a general audience.

Start by choosing a small, specific segment of the market that really sparks your interest. It should be something you’re genuinely passionate about because that passion will keep you going, especially when things get tough.

For me, it’s celebrating everyday entrepreneurship. I have always been intrigued and inspired by people who come up with interesting and uncommon ways to make money and succeed at it. It doesn’t have to be a seven-figure business or a worldwide phenomenon. Mastering your craft and excelling at any hustle is enough to be recognized and be an inspiration to others.

Related: How to Stand Out With Confidence and Achieve Your Potential

Invest in yourself

To master your chosen niche, you need to learn the skills that matter, use tools that work and maximize your resources. Don’t worry if you’re not yet an expert or have limited funds. Your willingness to learn and grow will guide you on the right path.

Fortunately, the vast range of online content about various topics and in different forms make learning more accessible and affordable to the average person. You can now attend live workshops, enroll in online courses and join virtual communities to master new skills and monetize them right away. Having said that, you should also be capable of distinguishing credible information from misleading content to avoid scams.

Be a painkiller

Immerse yourself in your super niche to understand what their pain is and find a solution to it. I do this by engaging with the Fud community, personally interviewing young business owners, side hustlers and parent entrepreneurs.

No journey is exactly the same, but by listening to their experiences, I notice common patterns. They share similar problems, questions and concerns. Most of them would have wanted to have a mentor when they were starting out to show them the ropes, motivate and hold them accountable, which would have saved them precious time and resources.

With Fud, users gain access to no-frills step-by-step guides, tips and resources from mentors, experts and fellow hustlers within the community. It’s this exchange of knowledge and insights that fosters growth, support and collaboration within the group.

Related: 4 Simple Tips for Standing Out in the Crowded Startup World

Share your journey

As a beginner, you can choose to document your journey and share it with your audience in real-time. Posting your experience on social media and letting others know your struggles and how you overcame them can connect you more deeply with your super niche and inspire them to start their own journey.

It doesn’t matter if you’re into content creation, digital marketing, gig work, freelancing or starting your own business. Whatever you are going through, there is an audience who can relate to it and want to learn from you. Just make sure you are creating relevant and genuine content.

When you focus all your energy and resources on mastering your craft and understanding your super niche market, you eventually become the best at it. You become better at identifying and solving problems, anticipating potential challenges and communicating with your customers effectively. Hence, you offer distinct value and personalized service to your audience, becoming your sustainable competitive advantage.

What if you invested in Nvidia 30 years ago, before it went public, and held on?

Venture capitalist Mark Stevens is currently one of Nvidia’s top individual shareholders, second only to CEO Jensen Huang. He invested in the AI chipmaker in 1993 as a new partner at Sequoia Capital. Stevens has been on Nvidia’s board for most of the company’s history, serving from 1993 to 2006, and then again from 2008 to the present. Nvidia went public in 1999.

Related: Is It Too Late to Buy Nvidia? Former Morgan Stanley Strategist Says ‘Buy High, Sell Higher.’

“There’s at least three times I can think of where we almost lost the company,” Stevens told Bloomberg. “Jensen has his famous saying of, ‘We’re 30 days away from going out of business,’ which is almost laughable today, but in the ’90s it was the reality.”

No one anticipated Nvidia going from a $8 million or $9 million Series A to a $3 trillion market cap today, Stevens said.

According to a Friday Bloomberg report, the over four million Nvidia shares Stevens owns are now worth about $4.7 billion and comprise over half of his $8.8 billion fortune. The rest of his net worth comes from his 6% ownership stake in the Golden State Warriors and other investments made throughout his venture capital career.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Turned Down a Merger Offer in the Company’s Early Days, According to Insiders. Here’s Why.

Though the AI boom has propelled Nvidia stock to new heights, Stevens says that it wasn’t easy to hold on in the early days. The chip market was crowded with competitors, and it was expensive to keep the best Silicon Valley talent.

^{Mark Stevens looking through a 360-degree display. Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images}

Nvidia currently leads the AI chip market, with tech leaders like Microsoft and Google believed to be among its biggest customers. Those clients could one day be Nvidia’s competitors, joining other chipmakers like Intel and AMD.

Huang said in June that Nvidia’s strategy in response to rising competition was to make AI chips with the “lowest total cost of ownership.” Tens of thousands of Nvidia’s chips are the brains of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Huang has the largest individual stake in the company, with 3.8% or over 934 million shares. He cashed in on $169 million worth of shares in June. Other Nvidia executives and directors have sold shares worth more than $700 million since the start of the year.

Nvidia has seen over 3,000% stock growth in the past five years, which has made early investors wealthy. Some long-term employees are reportedly in “semi-retirement” based on stock grants alone.

Related: Elon Musk Praises Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s Leadership Style: ‘Absolutely the Right Attitude’

As a former franchise owner and current franchise consultant, I am frequently asked about lessons learned both from personal experience and from working with more than 800 franchise candidates over the years.

Below I’ve included a few practical insights that offer actionable ways to help you on your franchise journey.

1. Key in on necessary general manager skills

Traditionally, as a general manager — or as I like to call it, the OEO (Only Executive Officer) — you are a jack of all trades. You’ll need to know upfront whether you (the franchise owner) plan to take on the role of general manager or if you are going to hire someone to run day-to-day operations.

Note: The necessary skills for a general manager vary depending on what type (location-based brand or service-based brand) of franchise you own.

Location-based brands:

When I was running a boutique fitness franchise, I discovered some important indicators that looked great on paper, but didn’t translate to sales.

As a fitness business, we attracted people who were great instructors and passionate about fitness. However, we soon discovered that this passion didn’t translate to sales. Additionally, after working with one general manager who had a great personality and worked hard, we discovered that he did not have a great deal of foresight. If nothing was wrong, he didn’t know how to plan or look ahead to develop future opportunities for success.

In turn, we had to define that the ideal general manager was someone who lived and breathed sales and had excellent marketing savvy, plus a passion for fitness. Defining these critical skills for success allowed us to hire more effectively. Generally, the operations for location-based brands are very checklisted, leaving the critical skill for your general manager as marketing and sales.

Service brands:

In general, service-based brands are more hands-on and are more likely to follow an owner-operator model. (As opposed to my location-based boutique fitness brand, consider a home-service brand like painting.)

In years past, these franchise owners would not only perform skilled labor and manage customer requests/ticketing, but also manage marketing and sales projects. Fortunately, about 5-10 years ago, advancements in technology streamlined service-based sales needs. Now, these owners have robust operations software that is structured for marketing, ticketing and sales. In turn, those brands have become more semi-absentee and managers don’t have to be sales and marketing geniuses.

Thus, for service-based brands, rather than worrying about getting customers, their necessary skills must center on the delivery/execution of services and managing employees.

Related: Which Franchise Model is Right For You? Here’s How to Choose.

2. Prioritize the right location

It seems obvious: Choose a location in a populated area. However, it’s not quite that simple. When I first started out, I failed to appreciate the importance of density for location.

The goal: You need a high density of your profile customers.

As a general rule of thumb: The more frequent the customer, the more convenient it needs to be to their home (the more density you need within a 10-minute driving radius.) If people are coming to you once a month or once every two months, they are going to be a little less sensitive to location.

As a franchisee, you have a major leg up in site selection because of the relationship with your franchisor. For example, your franchisor should have access to a demographic profile of their customer which includes household income, age ranges, etc. Beyond traditional demographics, many also use psychographics that indicate how people spend their money (lifestyle characteristics), what their flexibility may be (traveling empty nesters, for example) and some of their economic capabilities (Dual Income No Kids or “DINKS”).

Note: While some of these tools can be very sophisticated, it isn’t the only thing to consider. You need local real estate expertise and your own gut check. Don’t blindly rely on the franchisor — they should green-light it, but you need to triangulate.

Related: Thinking of Franchising Your Business? This Franchise Consultant Shares His Most Essential Advice After 20 Years in the Industry

3. Invest in effective tools

It’s important to invest in tools that will give you the best bang for your buck. For example, in my fitness franchise, we invested in an inexpensive scheduling software that was highly effective.

First, we defined three basic job roles: manager, shift leader and staff.

By cross-training, we ensured that a manager could perform their duties and the duties for a shift leader or a staff worker, a shift leader could perform their duties and those of a staff worker, and a staff worker could only perform within their defined role. Anyone above could work any role. If anyone had to miss a shift, they could offer their shift to anyone trained in their role and it automatically made it available for another person to take.

This tool saved us time and managerial headaches while empowering our employees to determine their schedules. Take the time to research effective tools for your brand — you’ll thank yourself later.

4. Ensure you have enough working capital

At the end of the day, you are running a business and must have enough startup capital.

One major cause of failure in young franchises isn’t that franchise owners don’t have a good business, but that they may be undercapitalized and don’t allow for enough margin for error. Maybe a pandemic hits, maybe their general manager quits, etc. People tend to underestimate the value of having “extra” capital.

Item 7 of FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) outlines the “Estimated Initial Investment” that a new franchisee will be required to have before getting started. This document will have a breakdown showing a low column and a high column (ex: vehicles, equipment, etc). The law requires a minimum of 90 days liquid capital.

Related: Is Franchise Ownership Your Next Wealth Move? Here’s How It Compares to Four Other Income Streams

The reality is that few new businesses will be cash-flowing (earning money) in 90 days — even though that’s the requirement, it’s not realistic. Make sure that you are giving yourself a little more wiggle room than you think you’ll actually need.

There is no way to side-step all the obstacles that come with franchise ownership, but it’s important to learn from people who have experience in franchising before diving in.

Kicking off hours after an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate, the Republican National Convention took on heightened significance this year. In my role as President and CEO of the International Franchise Association (IFA), I traveled to Milwaukee for a policy roundtable entitled “Franchising, the American Dream,” with U.S. Representative Kevin Hern (R-OK), who is the co-chair of the congressional franchise caucus, McDonald’s franchisee Jimmy Williams, and hotelier Jyoti Sarolia.

Matt Haller and Jyoti Sarolia Credit: Matt Haller

To be clear, IFA is non-partisan and does not take sides in presidential campaigns. We will be in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention in August, and we work with anyone from any party who champions our priorities and fights for our franchise small business owners. That’s also why we partnered with POLITICO and CNN with Milwaukee-based Batteries+. We created a brand activation at the POLITICO/CNN Grill, where over four days we gave away wireless battery chargers to over a thousand attendees, communicating the economic benefits of franchising to convention-goers, with a QR-code that linked to IFA’s Open for Opportunity campaign.

Related: Check out the 2024 Franchise 500 Ranking

Political conventions are always exciting, and this year was no different, especially after COVID-19 curtailed the in-person festivities in 2020. The buzz and energy were palpable. In my conversations with various stakeholders from all walks of life, certain commonalities emerged. Here are four of them.

1. Unions and franchising are not incompatible

The fiery speech from Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, got people’s attention. It marked the first time a teamster addressed the RNC in its 121-year history. The Wall Street Journal headline read, “Trump Courts the Union Vote.” The GOP is not used to speakers at their convention railing about “economic terrorism.” But as O’Brien pointed out, the Teamsters have supported Republican candidates before, including Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

For the franchise community, O’Brien’s presence served as a reminder that we have a compelling story to tell and we need to tell it.

First of all, our model provides nearly 9 million direct jobs, and not a single one is being outsourced overseas. Second, jobs in franchising pay up to 3.4 percent higher wages and provide higher rates of paid leave and other benefits than those at non-franchises, according to data from Oxford Economics. Third, franchises ARE small businesses, and that is the benefit of our business model.

Related: 7 Ways The Expanded Joint Employer Rule Would Hurt Franchises — And Your Wallet

While we are not going to agree with the Teamsters or other unions on much, one thing we do agree on is that policymakers should be focused on creating good jobs right here in America, and that’s what the franchising community is doing. Even when our brands open new franchises overseas, we are bringing money back ashore to the U.S. via the royalty stream paid to operate a U.S. brand abroad, creating a net-trade benefit to the U.S. economy.

We must push back on the idea that the franchise model and unions are incompatible. It’s false. We can and do have both. It is true that the union’s top policy agenda, the PRO Act and an expanded definition of joint employer, and franchising cannot co-exist, but unions are not inherently an opponent. It’s their history of policy priorities that would bring down franchising that we oppose.

2. Franchising is re-aligning party lines

Second, the traditional political and party lines are re-aligning, creating another golden opportunity to expand the franchise tent. For example, public polls have shown former President Donald Trump receiving as high as 30 percent of the Black vote — nearly three times higher than the 12 percent he earned in 2020.

Here again, franchising has an important role to play. Franchising has higher rates of business ownership among women, veterans and minorities. In fact, more than one-quarter (26 percent) of franchises are owned by people of color, compared to 17 percent of non-franchised businesses.

Paul Calkins (IFA), House Speaker Mike Johnson and Matt Haller (IFA) Credit: Matt Haller

As Clement Troutman, an IFA member, U.S. Navy veteran, author, and Maryland-based Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchisee, wrote in a column for the Washington Times observing Juneteenth, “the last few years have been challenging for Black entrepreneurs. From challenges accessing capital to a disproportionate impact stemming from the pandemic, Black small business owners face major obstacles.”

Clement noted, “Franchising can help, but only if elected leaders do their part in creating the right business environment.” These are wise words and lessons that all candidates should take to heart if they want to expand their political base of supporters.

3. J.D. Vance has sided with franchising in the past

There was a lot of scrutiny on Senator J.D. Vance after his selection as the vice-presidential nominee, and nearly every conversation I had with members of Congress and others in Milwaukee centered around what to make of Senator Vance’s selection. In the event of a Trump victory, many view him as the natural GOP standard-bearer in 2028. Throughout his two years in the Senate, Vance has raised eyebrows by deviating from traditional Republican orthodoxy. For example, he has marched on union picket lines and famously praised Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan as “one of the few people in the Biden administration who I think is doing a pretty good job.” Yet when it came to franchise issues, particularly joint employer, Senator Vance sided with franchising. When the stakes were the highest during this spring’s repeal of the joint employer rule, Vance stood with us, and that is telling.

4. The next president will have a huge impact on franchising

Members of the franchise community — like all voters — are assessing their presidential choices through the prism of past policies. We have a sense of what a second Trump and Biden administration could look like by evaluating their previous time in office. Certainly, IFA is focused much more on economic and regulatory visions than we do on political ideology. What is the plan for job creators?

Related: Decoding the Massive Impact of the NLRB’s Joint Employer Rule

For example, the individual tax provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) are set to expire next year. The law significantly restructured numerous aspects of the federal tax system for small businesses, including reductions in individual and corporate tax rates, a new 20% deduction for income from pass-through businesses, 100% bonus depreciation for capital investments, and a new limitation on the deductibility of business interest. The GOP platform expressly calls for tax cuts and many Ways and Means Committee members who will write the next tax law, including Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri, Vern Buchanan of Florida, and Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, have all highlighted the importance of ensuring pass-through businesses like most franchises are treated fairly in the next round of tax reform.

Beyond tax issues, the next president will choose their own FTC chair, who can in turn update the Franchise Rule, something that hasn’t happened since 2007 — the same year the first iPhone was introduced — and will make appointments to the NLRB, including the general counsel, who is arguably the most powerful position at that agency.

The stakes are high for franchisors and franchisees alike. We do not vote as a monolith or along strict party lines. But one thing is clear, the list of issues facing franchising is long, and the importance of having a seat at the table is more important than ever. Thanks to the support of so many IFA members, and what our brands, franchisees and suppliers do every day, I’m confident that whatever November brings, franchising will continue to thrive and IFA will be at the forefront fighting for the best interest of franchising.

Discover the top 5 AI tools for marketing and content creation that every marketer needs to know! As AI transforms the business landscape, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. In this video, I dive deep into essential AI marketing tools that can revolutionize your workflow and boost productivity.

Download the free ‘AI Success Kit‘ (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from Ben’s brand new book, ‘The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.’

If you hope to establish your startup in your industry, you must find a product-market fit.

Product-market fit is the point where a product seamlessly aligns with the needs and desires of its target audience. Identifying, measuring, and adapting to achieve this fit in highly competitive markets can be the difference between thriving and barely surviving — especially if you hope to raise capital from investors.

I can’t stress enough how essential of a foundation this is for long-term success. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many companies with highly functional, well-designed products or services fail because they never paid attention to their customer’s needs. So many startups with meteoric potential die because they tell customers what they need rather than solve the problem.

As a founder of numerous startups and a venture capitalist who invests in them, I’ll explain the complexities of product-market fit, providing you with a handy blueprint for navigating this crucial aspect of business development.

Related: You’ve Got to Rethink Product-Market Fit to Stand Out

Understanding product-market fit

Product-market fit is more than having a market for a product; it’s creating a product or service that resonates so deeply with your audience that it becomes an indispensable solution for them.

Achieving this pivotal milestone for startups marks a transition from uncertainty to a sustainable growth trajectory. It’s the moment when a product’s value proposition is so compelling that it captures the market’s attention and generates widespread customer satisfaction. I typically see this result in a positive step forward in a company’s valuation.

Without product-market fit, even the most innovative and well-designed products may struggle to gain traction in the market.

Too often, I see founders try to build an ecommerce company by making minor changes to an existing product and charging a premium because it’s “innovative.” In reality, no one values the innovation vs. the baseline product, and they don’t sell. Early in-market sales testing with actual consumers is the easiest way to avoid this.

Identifying your target market

Defining your target market is the first step toward product-market fit.

You risk casting too wide a net without clearly understanding your target market. This dilutes your brand’s message and fails to resonate with potential customers. Conducting thorough market research helps you gain insights into customer needs and preferences. Understanding their demographic data, psychographic information and behavioral patterns allows you to create a comprehensive profile of your ideal customer.

At the same time, you want to conduct market testing. Develop a thesis on your target market during market research, test it at a bench scale (marketing, client acquisition, client feedback), revisit the thesis and adjust accordingly.

Surveys, interviews and focus groups can collect valuable qualitative data, providing more specific perspectives on what drives consumer decisions. Leveraging quantitative methods such as online surveys and data analytics allows for a more systematic analysis of trends and preferences within the target market.

Recently, one of our SaaS companies launched a comprehensive marketing campaign across many outlets and sectors to see what would come back to them. They thought clients would use the platform to generate new sales directly, but the feedback showed customers were using it as a client retention tool. This exercise helped them realize their target market’s pain points rather than forcing a problem onto them.

Related: 10 Questions to Ask Before Determining Your Target Market

Ways to determine target market

Our most successful ventures have one thing in common — they take a data-driven approach to pursuing and refining their target markets. They constantly collect data and tweak their marketing strategies accordingly.

One of the best ways to quantitatively measure the value of your target market fit is to compare the customers’ lifetime value to the average cost to acquire a customer. While this ratio varies by industry, the higher, the better. It’s a leading indicator of product market fit.

In the startup phase, you’ll have to guess lifetime value by looking at competitors in the industry or peripheral markets. Customer acquisition cost is more straightforward, as it involves how much marketing money is required to get a client signed and generate revenue.

Developing your product

Creating a product or service that resonates with the needs of your target market involves a strategic approach that goes beyond the initial concept.

By actively listening to your target market, you can gain valuable insights to help you develop and deploy a product that meets their expectations. Iteration allows for constant refinement based on real-world usage and user feedback.

This agile approach ensures that the product evolves organically, addressing shortcomings and adapting to changing market dynamics. Early releases, prototypes and beta testing phases are invaluable, allowing users to provide feedback that directly informs your next iterations.

Staying agile and responsive to market changes is essential during product development. One of our most successful property tech ventures began as a platform addressing a different issue in the same industry. Over time, they noticed an emerging opportunity in a peripheral part of the real estate industry and pivoted accordingly. They remained flexible and nimble and, most importantly, listened to what the market was telling them.

Regularly reassessing market dynamics, staying attuned to customer feedback and swiftly adjusting the product roadmap helps you maintain relevance and competitiveness in the market.

Related: This Is the Framework to Make Your Product a Smash Success

Testing and validation

Once your target market is established and you have a minimum viable product, it’s time to test your product on a larger scale and with a bigger budget.

This is the pivotal step in product-market fit, as it provides valuable feedback that will help you refine your product and ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of your target audience. Startups should use both internal assessments and real-world user feedback. Early testing helps identify issues, understand user reactions and validate the product concept.

Some of our most successful ventures prioritize client relationships and internal communication, allowing them to spot and address issues proactively. By improving these relationships, companies can avoid losing productive time.

Evaluating customer satisfaction

Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches helps your startup develop a holistic understanding of how your product is perceived in the market, shining a new light on areas for improvement and optimization.

Surveys, user interviews and usability testing are practical tools for gaining qualitative insights. Additionally, quantitative metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction surveys provide measurable data to gauge overall satisfaction levels.

With this data, you can adopt an agile development approach to respond immediately to user insights and implement necessary changes. You should consistently:

• Analyze user feedback
• Identify recurring themes or pain points
• Prioritize product or service updates accordingly

This iterative cycle fine-tunes the product and fosters a responsive and customer-centric culture. Embracing a continuous improvement mindset ensures your product remains aligned with evolving customer expectations, increasing the likelihood of achieving and sustaining product-market fit.

Related: How to Easily Measure Customer Satisfaction

Scaling your business

Let’s say you’ve finally achieved your goal of product-market fit where customers are delighted and advocating for your company. What’s next?

Now, your focus naturally shifts to scaling your business for sustained growth. Expanding into new markets or verticals is usually the next step in scaling your businesses. However, this requires careful consideration of market nuances, cultural differences and unique challenges.

Some of our successful companies have run pilot campaigns in new markets. Even if they lose money, they gain confidence in the consumer fit for their product in the new market.

But we’ve also seen some catastrophic failures of companies scaling before they’re ready. It’s common for businesses to expand into adjacent countries, thinking they are similar and that what worked in their home country will work in another Competition, marketing spending and set-up costs are often underestimated, leading to companies missing expectations.

Again, conducting extensive market research, adapting your strategies based on these insights and quickly responding to feedback are crucial aspects of successful expansion. Approach new markets with the same due diligence and customer focus that led to your initial product-market fit.

Maintaining product-market fit as your business grows demands a careful balance between innovation and preservation. While evolving and adapting to market changes is necessary, staying true to your audience, your business and the core elements contributing to the initial success is equally important.

Posting regular web content is a fantastic way to ensure that your business receives traffic and produces leads. However, when this content paints a poor picture of your company, it’s easy to feel great despair.

We live in a digital era where your online reputation can make or break your business. When Google determines that your content is not good enough for the top spots in search engine results pages (SERPs), the good news is that all is not lost.

Why you need to suppress negative search results

Before we discuss how to do it, let’s briefly discuss why maintaining a positive online reputation is important.

Statistics from Advanced Web Rankings show that more than 30% of users click on the first result, which goes down to 2% for the 10th result. Pushing down negative search results on Google is essential for proper online reputation management.

When search engines rank bad articles highly, the following can occur:

• Your business will lose its reputation.
• No one will trust you.
• You could lose crucial opportunities.
• Your company won’t generate as many leads.
• Business sales will drop.

Let’s look at an example to help you understand this a little better.

Suppose you own a restaurant and a waiter makes a mistake that is captured by a patron and plastered all over the internet in negative reviews. This could have a poor reflection on your company’s reputation. However, by raising positive content, it becomes possible to push bad content.

Related: How to Remove Negative Reviews Online and Protect Your Online Reputation

How to push negative search results

Now that you understand why suppressing negative articles is essential, let’s discuss key personal and professional success strategies.

Focus on positive content

Burying negative search results starts with publishing positive content, such as news articles, blog posts and more. Use search engine optimization to ensure that your new or existing content appears on the first page of the SERPs.

Ensure your content is optimized for relevant keywords and contains engaging material, such as videos, infographics, images and more.

Remain patient. It could take time for search engines to rank your new content highly and push down negative results.

Make enhancements to your website or social media accounts

Another great strategy is to look closely at your website to see whether there is room for improvement. Check that all pages are mobile-friendly and have a low loading time.

Look at the orientation of menus and other features on your site to ensure they are user-friendly. Update your company information to ensure you provide potential customers with the necessary information.

It’s also a good idea to use backlinks on these pages, as Google uses backlinks as a ranking factor. If you have old blog posts that contain outdated information, consider updating them to improve your website’s search rankings.

One area where many businesses struggle is dealing with bad reviews. People searching for your brand or product are much less likely to partner with you if they see negative Google search results.

We recommend encouraging existing customers to write positive reviews and testimonials to turn the tide. This will help users see that although you may have messed up in the past, you have cleaned up your act and your business is ready to deliver excellent service.

These actions can help boost your website’s authority and ensure you get more visibility and attention from search engines.

Here are a few tools we use at my SEO company to help with our online reputation management (ORM) strategy:

• Google Analytics
• Backlink Checker
• Google Search Console
• AnswerThePublic
• Ahrefs
• Semrush

Related: Here’s the SEO Combination You Need to Win Google’s Algorithm

Explore legal measures

If someone films your company illegally or posts slanderous content about your business, you can turn to the law to remove negative search results. You can enlist the help of an advocate to file a cease-and-desist letter or take action under copyright or infringement acts.

It may even be possible to contact the owners of third-party sites directly and ask them to remove the content.

Obsidian Finance Group filed a lawsuit against an independent investigative blogger named Crystal Cox. She wrote multiple blog posts containing negative content criticizing the company and Kevin Padrick, its co-founder, for misconduct and fraud. The corporation received a great deal of bad press as a result of these posts, affecting its reputation. In response, it filed a defamation case, and the defamatory posts were removed.

Publish content on high-authority sites

As mentioned, backlinks are essential for ensuring search engines view your site as authoritative. To obtain these backlinks, you can post on high-authority domains. If you create content eventually published on these sites, Google and other search engines will also see your website as relevant and authoritative.

Here are some practical examples of sites we’ve used to help push down negative content:

• Medium
• LinkedIn
• HuffPost
• Quora
• WikiHow

Address the issue head-on

The truth is that we all make mistakes. No one is perfect, so when bad things happen and your company messes up, it’s best to tackle the issue head-on. By posting a public apology, you can help to regain your lost reputation and work on rebuilding it.

Taking ownership shows customers and potential clients that your business is responsible and trustworthy. We also recommend discussing the corrective actions you have taken and showcasing any positive changes you have made to prevent a repeat of the same incident or performance.

In 2017, United Airlines faced backlash after the news that a passenger was forcibly removed from a flight went viral. Rather than backing down or ignoring the issue, the company issued a public apology. They also conducted an internal investigation and implemented corrective measures to regain public trust.

Related: 5 Steps to Getting Started with Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM)

Final thoughts

If you are struggling with the effects of harmful content, then the good news is that there is hope. You can recover your company’s reputation by exploring the key strategies mentioned above.

True story: Recently, my daughter was at a major brand car dealership with her boyfriend, intending to purchase a pre-owned car. Note I made up the numbers for the sake of my daughter’s financial privacy, but the takeaways are still the same.

The dealership asked for, let’s say, $26,000 “all in” for the car, but my daughter had already decided that $20,000 was the most she would pay. There was a lot of ground to cover to actually make a deal happen. After some discussion, the salesperson did his best, dropping the price to $25,000. But that still left a big gap, so he told her, “Let me go check with my manager and see if he has any ideas.”

After five minutes, the salesperson and his manager entered the room together. The manager explained that at $25,000, this was a great price; it was already well below their MSRP, and the deal was “very thin” as it was for him. He then used the famous line, “Okay, here’s what I’m going to do to get you into this car today.” The manager pulled out a piece of paper with revised numbers that showed his price now at $23,995. He explained to my daughter that this was the absolute best possible price. He was “all in;” this was his “best offer,” and he told her to take it or leave it. For the grand finale — keeping in mind that this is a 100% true story — the manager took out a big red ink stamp and smacked it down on the paper. The stamp read “FINAL” in bold red ink. $23,995. FINAL.

My daughter responded, “Thanks, but I’m sorry; it looks like it’s not going to work out.” Without hesitation, he immediately blurted out, “How about $22,500?”

When my daughter told me the story, I had a wonderful laugh. After the big show, the manager held his price for a full six seconds. And the idea of the red final stamp just made the story even better. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there’s actually quite a lot to unpack here regarding sales tactics, psychology and effectiveness.

Related: 3 Unconventional Sales Tactics That Will Close More Deals

I’m not in the car business, and I’ve never sold cars, but I can see some familiar sales tactics (and mistakes) playing out here:

Playing the waiting game

All this went down after my daughter had spent hours on the lot. It was getting late in the day on a Saturday, and the manager knew she was hoping to get it done. At some level, the manager was wearing her down and playing out the clock, playing the “waiting game.” It didn’t work in this case, but often, this notion of using time as a weapon can be very effective. Utilizing time as a strategic element in the negotiation process can be effective, but it must be used carefully and respectfully. Pushing too hard on time constraints can backfire.

Closing the deal by changing the sales lineup

When the salesperson reached his personal negotiation line or felt he would lose her, he brought in his manager. In addition to adding some time to the clock, this step created a new opportunity for a new dynamic. The dealership never really wants a potential buyer to walk out the door, so if one person doesn’t get the job done, it’s always worth trying someone else. Involving a manager or company administrator in the negotiation process can create new dynamics and opportunities for closing a deal.

Proposing your best and final offer

Although I laughed hysterically when I heard about the red stamp, I soon realized it was actually a smart move. Once upon a time, I’m guessing some sales and marketing people sat in a room, and someone said, “I have an idea — let’s make a red stamp that says final and use that during negotiations.” Everyone probably laughed, and they would have said, “No, I’m serious!” And then everyone thought about it and agreed, as funny of an idea as it was, it actually made sense. It’s one thing to tell someone something verbally, but when it’s “official” and in red ink on paper, it’s human nature to believe it and take it as indisputable. Using psychological sales tactics to create a Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) effect, such as a “Final Offer” stamp, can be effective in conveying seriousness and finality, but you have to honor your word, or you will likely lose credibility.

All the tactics I outlined above were smart, but here’s where I think the dealership dropped the ball:

Trying a shutdown move too soon

The manager came in cold, and rather than take some time (again, time is on their side) to talk about the value, create some alignment, and build some rapport, he went straight for the kill. That tactic may work, but I felt it was too aggressive. He would have been better off discussing the pain points and goals concerning the product, coming up with some extra incentives, etc. Understanding the customer’s needs, discussing the product’s value and building rapport and trust can be crucial in successful sales.

Related: How to Master Your Sales Success — Why Every Answer and Rejection Matters

Putting an out-of-reach offer on the table

The manager decided to go for the close in a fairly aggressive way. In some cases, that tactic makes sense. But he played it all wrong with the numbers. He knew they were a full $5,000 or 20% off, and he decided to put it all on the line at $23,995. Obviously, given how fast he dropped another thousand, he had plenty more room. If he was going for the hard close and “FINAL” offer, he should have made it more compelling. By putting on the big show and then immediately dropping his price, he completely lost credibility and lowered the odds of closing. In this case, he lost my daughter’s trust and the sale. In negotiation, it’s important to understand the other party’s budget and limits before making an offer. Being aware of their constraints will increase the likelihood of closing a deal.

Saying your offer is “final” when it’s not

If you offer something of value at a good price and tell them it’s “final” (which I personally don’t recommend as a sales tactic), then stand by it and mean it. Your word has to mean something. Once he realized his “final” price was not going to work, rather than lower it, he could have thrown in some additional valuable incentive, perhaps some amount of free service or some kind of special financing. If a “final offer” is presented, standing by it as your final word is essential. If adjustments are needed, they should include additional incentives or value to maintain trust and credibility.

Sales is an art, no doubt about that. A great salesperson builds a relationship, asks questions and listens, understands the client’s pain points, is honest and transparent, and operates with integrity. Of course, strategies, techniques, incentives, and a lot of human emotion and psychology are at play, but all of them can happen successfully without losing your credibility.

So, the overall moral of my story? Choose wisely before using the big red stamp!

Apple entered the AI game last month with Apple Intelligence, a suite of new features designed to bring AI straight to iPhone, iPad, and Mac screens. Apple’s AI has a catch though: it only works on the newest iPhones and it could be the reason why millions of iPhone users with older models seriously think about upgrading, say Morgan Stanley analysts.

Morgan Stanley analysts named Apple a top-pick stock on Monday, after which Apple shares jumped to an all-time high, per Bloomberg. Apple Intelligence is a “clear catalyst” for iPhone upgrades and will enable Apple to sell nearly half a billion iPhones in the next two years, analyst Eric Woodring stated.

Apple Intelligence is expected to come out this fall for the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max — older iPhones will not have access to Apple’s AI. The update offers AI-generated emojis, a smarter Siri, and direct access to ChatGPT, though some anticipated Siri AI upgrades may arrive next year.

Related: Apple Is Expanding What The iPhone Can Do. Here’s What’s Changing Right Away.

“We believe that there is record level of pent-up demand entering the iPhone 16 cycle later this year,” Woodring noted, adding that Apple Intelligence delivers “unique-to-the-Apple-ecosystem” value.

Morgan Stanley previously forecasted that Apple would sell around 230 million iPhones in the same time frame, making the new prediction more than double the previous one.

Apple is also uniquely positioned to be the AI “base camp” for its customers, “just as it has done for digital content (iPod) and social media (iPhone),” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Ananda Baruah.

^{Apple CEO Tim Cook waves to customers before they enter Apple’s 5th Avenue store. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)}

Other analysts at different firms have made similar predictions. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told Reuters in June that more than 15% of existing iPhone users could buy the new iPhone Apple is expected to release this fall.

Related: Apple Labels These 3 Iconic Products ‘Vintage,’ and Soon-to-Be ‘Obsolete’

Ives estimated that 270 million iPhone users have not bought a new model in the past four years.

More than half of Apple’s overall revenue in the second quarter of 2024 came from iPhones; Apple has the majority of the market share for smartphones in the U.S.

At the time of writing, Apple was the largest company in the world with a $3.584 trillion market cap. Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, and Amazon followed.

Related: Warren Buffett Had to Work From His iPhone After Telephone Lines Went Down at Berkshire Hathaway: ‘I’m Glad We Didn’t Sell All of Our Apple’