Do Not Try to Serve Everyone: Target a Specific Audience and Use Case

Originally published 2024-09-24Robin’s commentary (as of September 2024)

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English translation of the Chinese post originally published 2024-09-24. Translated 2026-11-04 with AI assistance. Historical figures and claims have not been updated or independently verified. 中文原文

Reading guide

Robin argues that you do not need to serve everyone. A solution clearly aimed at a particular audience, use case, and need can still become a large business. GoPro initially addressed surfers’ photography needs; DJI opened a huge market by shifting its focus from professional applications to photography enthusiasts. Customer positioning is one task; making a good product is another. Listening to a Chinese podcast about DJI’s Pocket series, Robin highlights the need for clear product positioning, market segmentation, and continual feature pruning and refinement.

Key points

Do not try to serve everyone; target a particular audience and use case.
GoPro and DJI illustrate the importance of customer positioning.
Innovation can lie in the customer group you choose to serve.
Products need clear positioning and continual feature pruning and refinement.

One clear path continues into the distance among several branching routes, suggesting choice and focus. — Entrepreneurship & strategyThematic illustration · AI generated

Full text — English translation

Do not expect to do business with everyone. A solution clearly aimed at a particular group, in a particular setting, with a particular need can also become a large business. GoPro, for example, began as a product addressing surfers’ photography needs. Another example is DJI, today’s leader in multirotor drones. Your innovation can lie in the customer group you choose to serve. In their early days, drones were mainly used in professional fields such as aerial surveying, military reconnaissance, and film and television production. DJI shifted its customer focus to ordinary photography enthusiasts, successfully opening a huge market. ---- Customer positioning is one thing. Making a good product is another. I recently listened to a Chinese podcast discussing how much work went into refining DJI’s Pocket handheld camera series. It starts with clear product positioning and market segmentation—including its distinction from smartphones—and requires continually pruning and refining features to arrive at the right product. After listening, I even went online to look up the DJI Pocket 3 myself. Haha!

These articles are personal notes, book excerpts, and collected reprints. Figures and events reflect the time of the original publication, are not current information, and do not constitute investment advice.

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