Why Most Entrepreneurs Are Collecting the Wrong Data (And Missing the Real Opportunity)

Someone posted about having "incredible conversations with coaches and business owners around the AI ecosystem" - the big thing that keeps coming up is "we've got data but no idea how to use it." This observation sparked something crucial about data prioritization.

My response: What data are they speaking of? Marketing positioning? Product iteration to feedback? Or is it data about new tools and idea bucketlists? The prioritized data should be for market positioning and product iteration to feedback - the rest comes down to establishing primitive systems that work for you.

Here's the strategic insight: If you really think about it - market positioning gives you the audience and the demand, and iterating product to feedback gives you insight on what the people want, not what you want. This is the Henry Ford principle: when people were asking for a faster horse, he invented the car.

The nuanced approach: Product iteration to feedback gets confused a lot of the time. It's your job to come up with the vehicle to nuanced feedback. Your proprietary data will put you ahead of the competition, especially if you have a decently sized customer base with a community centric approach.

The critical distinction: It's not about having the most data, it's about having the right data. A lot of people get the data, but don't have the audience - this results in cold acquisition being the only way, and sometimes you're unable to get access to the market you're trying to target.

The conclusion: It's very important to build an audience, especially for online solutions. Data without distribution is just information. The smart entrepreneurs focus on audience-first, then let the data from that audience guide product decisions. This is working forwards, not backwards.

Hope you found this valuable! :)

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