Our participants learned several things before and during Traction Club that shine a light on why underrepresented founders sometimes struggle to get meaningful traction, highlighting the difference some founders might face between their expectations and reality. Here, we leave you with some first-hand words of wisdom from those who have completed the programme to date, to energise any lost founders, and educate any eager investors.

Research is royalty

Our founders have different B2B business models and varying structures. One thing they have in common is the realisation that better research produces better results. You need to know your market like the back of your hand. What is new? Why is it unique? Who are your competitors? And most of all, why should the customers invest in your idea? These questions will help you to get rid of any misconceptions that are clouding your judgment and think strategically about how to start getting traction. 

What did you think your problems getting traction would be before you started, if any? Did it turn out easier or harder to get traction than you thought it would?

“We originally assumed who our customers would be, but that turned out to be wrong.” Sohaib, Founder of &facts

Research takes time and switching your target market following an in-depth study can add to the timeline of launch. Nevertheless, the stress, money and resources saved through launching with the correct audience in mind will always be worth it.

“Before Traction Club, the biggest challenges were that I didn’t know how to ask questions, but even when I did, I wouldn’t know how to ask the right ones. This kind of thing didn’t come naturally to me.” Prudence, Founder of Manje Health

Prudence highlights a key challenge for underrepresented founders: many of us don’t know how to ‘talk the talk’. According to the BBC, code-switching is when “a person in a minority group tones down some of the most obvious elements that associates them with their community in order to fit into a more mainstream group.” In a market that speaks its own language, initiatives like the Traction Club offer support to know who to speak to and how to speak to them. We aimed to help founders speak to those potential clients in the way they need to be spoken to, while remaining authentic.

The first customer is the hardest

The early days are tough. Testing your product to the first few customers puts not only your future on the line, but your ego too. This is hard, important work, because the feedback you receive from testing in the initial rounds will help you refine your product and carve your position in the market. You can then work to build a repeatable strategy for more passive sales.

What were your challenges with getting your first customer?

“In our space, we need to go up the ladder of the most relevant people to speak to, so our challenge has been knowing those right people and doing lots of waiting around.” Janu, Founder of CareIQ

“There isn’t much on sales in the B2B space for early-stage founders. This has been a really interesting few weeks [on Traction Club] because we’ve been able to speak to people who know how to overcome these exact issues.” Mandeep, Founder of Bendi

B2B sales is often about who you know at first; you need to convince the budget holder before anything can progress. So, our founders have learned the hard way to put themselves in the shoes of that customer, to learn how to speak to them, and then graft until one finally says yes!

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

A good business gets off the ground. A great business stays off the ground. A final standout reason our participants sometimes struggled to get traction is because they had an initial product which wasn’t quite right, or which they were struggling to communicate. And there is the argument to make that underrepresented founders are less likely to know how to do this, if they’re less likely to have networks that would teach this kind of communication growing up.

“When the first product didn’t work, we kept on a big team that ran us into the ground.” Mandeep, Founder of Bendi

However, at this point in their journeys our cohort have learned how to overcome this barrier themselves.

“Go and speak to customers. Learn how to sell to them, and to investors, all without building anything.” Aaron, Founder of bsktPay

Words of wisdom – to investors

Even after learning to put themselves in others’ shoes and build skills investors need, our participants still felt there was a gap where investors could be supporting early-stage underrepresented founders better.

“Take a chance with someone you wouldn’t normally. [You] shouldn’t be looking just at ‘ex-big brand’ company founders.” Sohaib, Founder of &facts

“Underrepresented founders need just enough just to start; they don’t always need big fundraising rounds in pre-seed.” Audrey, Founder of Kweevo

Here are a couple of their thoughts, but how do you feel? Is there anything else you would add?

If you would like to learn more about this new programme, click here to learn about what we did. As a non-profit, we greatly appreciate support from our friends at Forward Partners, LocalGlobe, and more for helping us support underrepresented founders through this pilot. If you would like to learn more about what we have coming up next and stay on top of updates for how we help founders, join our community and our mailing list through our website.