Doubling down on a narrow niche is the fastest way to create a $5 million – $10 million ARR (revenue) software company that can create life-changing wealth for practical founders.
But only after you get started, try many things, and find out what works best and what doesn’t.
The focus thing is hard to see when you are starting out. It’s hard to see when you have big ambitions. It’s almost impossible to see if you raise big VC funding.
How can we get big unless we sell everything to everyone? That’s the trap.
This week on the Practical Founders Podcast, three-time software entrepreneur Charlie Alsmiller discusses the focus game in his latest venture, APIWORX.
APIWORX is an integration platform for mid-market e-commerce companies. It started by connecting various e-commerce platforms with various accounting and shipping software.
Then they got much more traction in one platform with a very large installed base. Now they are focusing in on that one vendor to differentiate their product and build credibility faster. Growth is picking up fast.
The more they focus, the faster they grow. It’s an old lesson that Charlie has learned the hard way.
His next goal is $10 million in annual revenue, which they can hit fastest by focusing on just two vendor ecosystems where they can get a small amount of traction and sell hundreds more customers—faster and cheaper.
The fastest way to $10 million in SaaS revenue is focusing in on the thing you do best in your business where you can make the most progress.
This also works for Charlie in his changing role from do-it-all founder to focused CEO.
He stopped doing things he isn’t good at to do more of what he does amazingly well.
“As a startup founder, you need to really know yourself. Know your personality type, know your skills, and know your superpower. Focus on what you do best and where you add the most value.
“I have the superpower of whacking the machete to start new things, clearing the brush away in new markets, and figuring it out. And I’m pretty good at recruiting people who can do the things I don’t do well. Now my team tells me, Charlie, don’t do that, we’ll do it and you go do that thing over there.
“As an early-stage founder, you start by taking out the trash, doing software development, doing marketing, and everything else. As soon as you can scrape together the pennies to outsource or hire those other things you’re not good at, you should do it because it allows you to double down and grow faster. That’s the game changer for your growth.“
It’s the same focus principle: find your highest leverage with the most results and focus in on that to grow faster.
Focus creates more efficiency in the business and better results.
Listen to more hard-earned wisdom from Charlie Alsmiller on the Practical Founders Podcast. It’s a great episode.
