Today I had an intense discussion with a friend on business. I don’t want to go into details here. I just feel that many people know nothing about the business world, living in their idealistic “dream” world. A lot of people, especially technical people, emphasize well too much on the product, instead of the marketing and sales. I don’t have any experience myself, but from what I hear, from what I read, the opposite is correct. That is, marketing and sales are well more important than the actual product. The “best seller” has nothing to do with the “best quality”. I’ve seen so many people in entrepreneur email lists complaining that their products do not “sell”; their start ups fail; and their ideas not accepted…. Sad it is, they get to know the reality via hard and bitter experience.
It is so hard for people in one category to understand people in another. Just like what Robert said in “Cashflow Quadrants”. I idealistically wished to get to know the other side’s opinion and find the difference, and based on that, make the other side understand my position. It was a pure hope…. even though I did find out the difference, I could not convince the other side to think from another angle. Other people did not go through what I had gone through, did not read the books I read. How could I convince people in such a short period of time?
Some thoughts are fundamental. If the person does not wish to change, there is no way to change it.
And so be it.
p.s. I don’t plan to de-emphasize the importance of products, especially for start ups. It is another discussion, which I won’t go into details here.