CLASS 35
A consultancy working with industry leaders across the full product lifecycle, from shaping and validating ideas to delivering and growing them to commercial success. Combining a deep understanding of customers, the market and business models Class 35 defines and validates new services and products at pace to grow new opportunities.
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“Second album syndrome is a phenomenon in pop music that acknowledges a band or artist’s first album as a manifestation of a lifetime of experience and experimentation encapsulated in twelve tracks. When things go well, the act gets signed and all eyes and ears are on them as they’re anticipated to repeat their success to deliver once again. Usually whilst they’re on the road touring. It’s a hamster-wheel from one-hit-wonder to enduring superstar. The venture-backed software business experience is no far cry from this.
A business catches fire by serving a segment in a market with a simple but well-timed product, and possibly a dash of tech-hype. It may take several million pounds to get there, but at some point as these software companies progress through the alphabet of investment rounds, penetration of the core market is not enough. Their potential must convert into success.
Backers want new products, new markets and new customer types to grab new revenues. You may have started off selling to UK SMEs, but now you’re selling to German enterprise clients. And this journey, encapsulated by the second album analogy is particularly tough because the same experiences, hunger and myopic customer focus that made the first product so compelling, now elude founders. You never really stop making your first album in software product development terms. Just to really stretch the analogy.….”
