When the market changes the meaning of your business
An existing product can become valuable for a different reason. The challenge is recognising the shift without losing your focus.
Sometimes the market changes the meaning of your company before you do.
You build capabilities to solve one set of problems. Then the market moves, and those same capabilities become relevant to something bigger. The technology may be familiar. The reason customers care about it has changed.
Recognise what customers are buying
At Colateral, our work on store-level data, campaign execution, ordering, stock and compliance gave us foundations that became increasingly relevant to store-first retail media. What began as capabilities for delivering retail marketing also had a role in helping retailers organise and activate their physical media.
For me, the useful lesson is that a business can be understood differently by its customers before it has learned to describe itself differently. You can keep explaining the original product while customers are trying to buy the answer to a newer problem.
Look for evidence before changing the story
A new category can make almost any product sound more exciting. That alone is a poor reason to change direction. I would start with the customer: what are they asking for, who owns the problem, and what are they prepared to pay to resolve it?
Repeated requests, buying decisions and actual use tell you more than enthusiasm in a meeting. An opportunity becomes more convincing when it draws on capabilities you already have and solves a problem customers already recognise.
Separate the opportunity from the distraction
For an early-stage business, every new interpretation of the product can lead to another roadmap. That is where judgement matters. Does the opportunity strengthen your core proposition? Can you serve it without building an entirely different business? What will you stop doing to make room for it?
Sometimes the right response is clearer positioning. Sometimes it is a different buyer or commercial model. Sometimes the product itself needs to change. It helps to work out which decision you are actually making before you commit the team.
A question worth asking
If a customer discovered your product for the first time today, what would they think it was for?
Their answer may be more useful than the description you have been using for years.