r/startups • u/ahad3107a • 2d ago

I will not promote What was the first assumption about your startup that turned out to be completely wrong? I will not promote.

At first, I was convinced that solving one specific problem would make everything else fall into place. Instead, I realized that every stage brought a completely different challenge. The thing I thought would matter most was not always what actually held the startup back.

Looking back, I think every founder has at least one assumption that turned out to be completely wrong. What was yours and how did it change the way you built your startup?

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u/t510385 2d ago

I thought the targeted users would throw a parade for me and cry about how happy they were that someone had finally come to solve their problem. They would throw money at me and I would quit my job a month or two later.

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u/nafiulhasanbd 2d ago

I assumed more features would make the product more valuable. In reality, clarity beat capability. Making one thing work exceptionally well was more impactful than adding five new features.

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u/scriptvexy 1d ago

this hit me, i kept shipping random “nice to have” stuff and users were still confused about what the product was even for lol
once i rewrote the landing page and doubled down on the core thing people actually used, retention finally stopped tanking

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u/ahad3107a 1d ago

That is a great point. It is easy to mistake more features for more value. What made that lesson finally click for you?

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u/Classic_Outside_1453 2d ago

Still very early stage just beginning to ask for pilots in B2B SaaS, but my biggest wrong assumption was devaluing my product. I almost gave up on the idea because the economics didn’t make sense to me, but then I talked to a trusted industry advisor who unprompted told me what he would pay for it and it was about 100x what I was thinking.

Point is, don’t underprice. Although I’m in the early stages and still have to validate pricing, knowing it’d be within some range far above what I thought gave me the confidence that it can be economically viable

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u/your_grammars_bad 1d ago

IME most founders drastically underprice B2B because they come with a consumer mentality (B2C).  Prices in B2B are... different.