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There are hundreds of companies pitching some variation of this product. That includes startups with a narrow focus and also large companies like Microsoft who

There are hundreds of companies pitching some variation of this product. That includes startups with a narrow focus and also large companies like Microsoft who are integrating CoPilot directly into their Office 365 offerings. The issue is not the idea, which is about as obvious as “b2b spreadsheets” would have been in 1981. The value of the pitched product is self evident, if it works. But why should anyone choose to try it over the many relatively mature alternatives? If you want to win any slice of the pie, you’re going to need to find some way to differentiate, and some kind of growth hack or flywheel to systematically expand. Preferably you can identify one vertical and use case where you can offer features that are sufficiently specialized for buyers to choose your product over generic solutions. In other words: don’t try to be everything for everyone. Instead of wasting your time building pipelines for 1000 sources that nobody will use, pick a cluster of them and hitch your wagon to that. Go deep on that use case, and if you find success, only then begin to expand “wide,” deliberately and methodically. I admire your ambition, but personally I’d consider attacking the problem from a different angle. This is a crowded space with well-funded competitors.

namanyayg 2y ago
Thanks for the advice, what you've said makes sense and is a much needed reality check. I'll try to figure out some ways to further niche it down. If you have any advice on what angles pass this check I'd be happy to hear more about that.
- chatmasta 2y ago
  Off the top of my head, maybe look for industries that are highly regulated and rely on specialized software that isn’t part of the same “Google Docs / Notion / Slack” combination supported by every RAG provider. Then your story can be that you’re an on-premises intelligence layer on top of these specialized data sources. Industries like law, healthcare, architecture, construction, finance, might all be suitable candidates. I suggest you research those industries and make a list of their most used specialized software, which is unlikely to be connected already to a generic RAG solution. Then map out the industry size and participants: can you find some 10-50 employee companies to sell to? Locate their technology leaders (e.g. CTO or CIO) and ask them if you can do some user research for a product you think could help them (offer to compensate with a gift card). Prepare a list of questions, both specific and open-ended, and be prepared to have a discussion where you actively listen to them and probe deeper on their pain points. After the interview, ask to stay in touch and if they’d be interested in another session when you’ve developed a prototype they can play with. Take this as hard earned advice from someone who spent five years paying for the mistake of “do everything for everyone:” DO USER RESEARCH. Everybody says it, hardly anyone does it. It’s tempting to think you know better, but trust me, you do not. It is the absolute best way to spend your time now, to figure out who you can sell to and what exactly to build for them, so you do not waste time building features and connectors that nobody will ever use. Also, if you do it right, those user research subjects could eventually become your first customers.
  - namanyayg 2y ago
    Thank you for the extremely valuable advice. I forgot to reply but I have been working on exactly this the last few days.

namanyayg 2y ago

Thanks for the advice, what you've said makes sense and is a much needed reality check. I'll try to figure out some ways to further niche it down. If you have any advice on what angles pass this check I'd be happy to hear more about that.

chatmasta 2y ago
Off the top of my head, maybe look for industries that are highly regulated and rely on specialized software that isn’t part of the same “Google Docs / Notion / Slack” combination supported by every RAG provider. Then your story can be that you’re an on-premises intelligence layer on top of these specialized data sources. Industries like law, healthcare, architecture, construction, finance, might all be suitable candidates. I suggest you research those industries and make a list of their most used specialized software, which is unlikely to be connected already to a generic RAG solution. Then map out the industry size and participants: can you find some 10-50 employee companies to sell to? Locate their technology leaders (e.g. CTO or CIO) and ask them if you can do some user research for a product you think could help them (offer to compensate with a gift card). Prepare a list of questions, both specific and open-ended, and be prepared to have a discussion where you actively listen to them and probe deeper on their pain points. After the interview, ask to stay in touch and if they’d be interested in another session when you’ve developed a prototype they can play with. Take this as hard earned advice from someone who spent five years paying for the mistake of “do everything for everyone:” DO USER RESEARCH. Everybody says it, hardly anyone does it. It’s tempting to think you know better, but trust me, you do not. It is the absolute best way to spend your time now, to figure out who you can sell to and what exactly to build for them, so you do not waste time building features and connectors that nobody will ever use. Also, if you do it right, those user research subjects could eventually become your first customers.
- namanyayg 2y ago
  Thank you for the extremely valuable advice. I forgot to reply but I have been working on exactly this the last few days.