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I am working for startup in Norway that has seen extreme growth in just 2 years. We are in the chatbot/virtual assistance space and our biggest competitors are
by olavgg 8y ago
I am working for startup in Norway that has seen extreme growth in just 2 years. We are in the chatbot/virtual assistance space and our biggest competitors are big multi-billions US companies.
When it comes to european languages, we are at least an order of magnitude better in understanding natural language and delivery speed(from start to production) than these big companies. But oh boy how many times EU companies pick one of these big players over us and fail. Today we have a range of HUGE clients, half of them who has even failed with a competitor. We have a really good story to sell. Still it is impossible to convince 1 of 2 companies to go with us first. They really want to fail hard before giving us a chance. I just can't understand why it is like this. The trust in US companies with a strong name over decades is really huge here in EU.
- Gravityloss 8y agoI wonder if the competition in EU is hard enough, if companies always choose the "safe" or "good enough" solution?
- tormeh 8y agoMe too. I've heard an observation from a Belgian customer: Once a Belgian customer has signed a contract with a supplier, they're married, and will put up with all kinds of shitty product. Presumably, I speculate, because cancelling the contract is seen as an admission of failure for the buyer. Completely crazy. Entire countries never cancelling no matter how shitty the product turns out to be.
- umichguy 8y agoSounds a bit like IBM back in the day. There's an anecdote that you never got fired as a manger for choosing an IBM product/ solution. It's the safe choice, no one could really fault you for going with it, even if it didn't meet all your reqts.