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Do I have to develop for a niche market?

1 points by mynameblows ↗ HN
I've used a few web analytics packages over the years, and they've all been a pain to work with. I want to develop a system that's dead-simple to use/install. The issue, though, is that the more I read about forming a startup, the more I hear people say that I must develop for a niche market if I want to succeed.

Would you say that "really simple web analytics" has a much higher chance of failure than say something like "really simple web analytics for physical therapists"? Is it always the case that "X for everyone" will always have a much harder chance of becoming profitable as opposed to "X for Y profession"?

3 comments

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arkitaip
It's impossible to say how specialized your product should be, that's something you have to figure out very early in the startup phase. It could turn out that the niche market is far too small to be viable, or you could end up in a situation where niching is the most suitable course of action because the market is over-crowded.

Are you using professions as an example or actual market segmentation? Because I don't see how usage of a web analytics package could differ from one profession to another unless your product is very tightly integrated with the IT systems - web site, booking, planning, etc - that a profession sues.

Furthermore, are you sure that web analytics packages are difficult to work with? From my perspective, as an end-user, Google Web Analytics is incredibly easy to set up: just verify domain ownership and insert the tracking code. The problem that I have with Analytics is that I'm not sure how I can utilize all the data to 100%. So what if 30% of my visitors unexpectedly come from Spain? I would love a solution that was more problem-goal or business development oriented.

mynameblows
I was just using professions as an example. I don't know much about therapists or what they would use web analytics for. :)

What do you mean by a solution that's more business development oriented? Are we talking something like a tool-tip that pops up and says "hey, 30% of your customers are from Spain, so here are some links to Spanish SEO tips"? Would the application need to suggest what you should do to improve your site, or should it just present data in a way that makes it easier for you to make important decisions?

subpixel
The more closely coupled your product and market are, the more you paint yourself into a corner. (You can sell a dead-simple product to a physical therapist, but you can't sell a physical therapy product to anyone else, no matter how simple it is.)

Or, if you prefer a pun: "If you're having URL problems I feel bad for your son - I got 99 problems but a niche ain't one."