A post I made back in late 2017 talked figuratively about a cake. The cake being what the consumer tastes in their experience with a company. How the layers of cake shine through in the taste or maybe not. Fast forward 6 years and how has this changed?

To think about this, I align with the ends of the spectrum, startups and really big companies that have billions in revenue.

Start-ups often get know in a consumers mind for a single layer of the cake, in hardware world that tends to be the product layer – INNOVATION, in apparel world that can be the marketing layer due to fashion influences that set on trend or boom the BRAND.

The issue with startups is they can only rely on one layer of the cake for a short period of time. In order to keep going and grow they have to build the rest of the cake to keep some market advantage or even just keep the cash coming into keep the doors open. That’s if they realize it.

Do start up’s fail because they don’t realize to build the rest of the layers?

Equally I have seen many small startups focus too much on the communications layer first and don’t backup with the product promise. Often giving the consumer a hollow taste. We are all aware of some of these companies from the instagram adverts, they have nice graphics, a smooth website, reat social media…. but when you get the product / garment / software it leaves some to be desired.

Then onto big companies, established companies with millions in revenues have oven already built the cake. Over time the layers of the cake might have gotten thinner or thicker and changed the flavor (overall experience).
If we compare the consumer base of a small company with a large one, the large ones have established consumers with repeat buyers. A sutle layer change that affects the overall experience can tip thousands of existing consumers. the cake is sensitive!

What do you think?