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Navigating the Traction Gap: How Wildcat’s Framework Can Help Startups Succeed in the Go-to-Market Phase

ConsumerGeniuses

ConsumerGeniuses

Startups are known for their innovative ideas, but taking those ideas from conception to market can be a challenge. The go-to-market phase, also known as the Traction Gap, is a critical period that destroys the vast majority of startups. This phase is where companies must demonstrate market acceptance and prove that their product can generate traction. However, many startups struggle during this period due to a lack of market engineering expertise. Without proper planning and execution, startups may face lower valuations, significant financing risks, and suboptimal outcomes.

Wildcat, a venture capital firm, has developed a framework called the Traction Gap to help entrepreneurs navigate this critical period. The Traction Gap is the period between a startup’s initial product release and the product’s ability to generate traction in the market. To successfully navigate the Traction Gap, startups must reach a series of increasing value inflection points along the Traction Gap Framework path. These value inflection points represent critical moments in time for a startup, where they substantially increase in value because they have demonstrated a certain amount of market acceptance and risk reduction.

Wildcat has identified four core architectural pillars to help startups successfully navigate the Traction Gap:

  1. Market Validation Categories (MVC): This is where a startup defines or redefines a category, develops powerful positioning, and performs in-depth market research to confirm or reject proposed products and features.
  2. Initial Product Release (IPR): This is when a startup first makes its product available to the public. The team seeks customer validation metrics to demonstrate it is on the path to developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
  3. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): This is the most pared-down version of a product that will be purchased or used by customers. Before declaring MVP, market engineering tasks associated with MVC should be completed.
  4. Minimum Viable Repeatability (MVR): This is the smallest amount of repeatability a startup can execute to demonstrate its business model feasibility and reach what Wildcat calls “market/product” fit.

The final value inflection point is Minimum Viable Traction (MVT), which signals a company’s exit from the Traction Gap. To reach MVT, a startup must build upon the lessons it learned achieving MVR and demonstrate successively increasing traction quarter over quarter for the next 12–18 months.

Investors play a crucial role in a startup’s success, and they compare startups against other startups that have made a similar journey and gone on to success. When making an investment decision, investors look at how much time and capital a startup has taken to reach its current state and how much capital it will require to reach a new value inflection point. A startup must have enough capital to ensure it does not falter and fall short of reaching the next Traction Gap value inflection point.

In conclusion, the Traction Gap framework can help startups successfully navigate the critical period between a startup’s initial product release and the product’s ability to generate traction in the market. With proper planning and execution, startups can reach successive value inflection points, increase their value, and demonstrate market acceptance. However, startups must also have enough capital to ensure they do not falter and fall short of reaching the next Traction Gap value inflection point. Investors play a critical role in a startup’s success, and they compare startups against other startups that have made a similar journey and gone on to success.

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