Geographic Business Decay

Shaan Puri shares an observation about how business success often correlates with geographic proximity to the target market, using examples from entrepreneurs he's met and his own experiences.

Key Points:

• Geographic Success Pattern

  • The further away from your core market, the harder it is to explain and sell to customers
  • Companies tend to be most successful in their local markets first

• Real-World Example: Oil & Gas Entrepreneur

  • Met an entrepreneur (Evan Anderson) who moved to Oklahoma to be close to oil/gas customers
  • Built successful "big data" company for oil and gas industry
  • Sales Process:
    • Would spend 6 months courting key decision-makers
    • Built personal relationships with executives and their families
    • Once relationship established, deals worth millions over time
    • High customer retention due to deep integration

• Business Strategy Insights

  • Being physically close to customers:
    • Enables better understanding of their problems
    • Allows for building stronger relationships
    • Creates opportunities for deep industry knowledge
  • Value of "eating shit":
    • Willingness to go outside comfort zone
    • Relocating to where customers are
    • Taking time to understand industry-specific problems
    • Building solutions specifically for that market

• Long-term Benefits

  • Higher defensibility of business
  • Clearer value proposition
  • More substantial deal sizes
  • Better customer retention
  • Deeper industry integration

• Contrast with Consumer Tech

  • Different from typical Silicon Valley approach
  • Requires more patience and relationship building
  • Focus on understanding specific industry problems
  • Building trust over immediate scale