The Life Cycle of a Business – And Your Role Within It: Feedback
The Market Speaks – Sales, Feedback, and Adaptation
Your Product Isn’t What You Sell. It’s What People Experience.
Every Business Is a Conversation
Up until now, you've been shaping your business from the inside.
In this phase, the outside world starts shaping it back.
This is when the market speaks.
And the question isn’t, “Do they get it?”
It’s:
“Am I listening?”
This is the moment where vision meets reality — where your idea, your culture, your systems are tested by how they land out there.
Sales Is Feedback in Disguise
Too many entrepreneurs see sales as performance — when it’s actually intelligence gathering.
Every “no” holds information.
Every “yes” reveals alignment.
The marketplace will tell you:
If your message makes sense
If your offer creates urgency
If your audience actually exists
But you can only hear it if your ego doesn’t get in the way.
The Danger of Falling in Love with the Wrong Thing
Many founders fall in love with:
Their product
Their original vision
Their preferred audience
The market doesn’t care about your preferences. It responds to value.
“Don’t fall in love with your solution. Fall in love with the problem you’re solving.” — Ash Maurya
Adaptability is a business superpower. Stubbornness in the wrong season is a death sentence.
Your Product Is the Story People Tell Themselves
People don’t just buy what a product does.
They buy how it makes them feel.
They buy what it says about them.
In This Is Marketing, Seth Godin writes:
“People like us do things like this.”
That’s what you’re selling: a belonging cue. A solution with meaning.
Great businesses:
Know who they serve
Know how those people see themselves
Craft their offer to match that identity
Feedback Loops Create Evolution — Or Entropy
Smart companies don’t just accept feedback. They design for it.
Ask:
How do customers tell us what’s not working?
How do we close the loop when they do?
How often do we test new directions?
Adaptation is not a one-time pivot.
It’s a posture — of humility, curiosity and courage.
Market Fit Is Emotional Before It’s Technical
Product-market fit isn’t just about metrics.
It’s about resonance.
If customers aren’t:
Repeating your name
Referring your service
Talking about your work when you’re not in the room...
Then you don’t have fit. You have friction.
Fit feels like ease. Momentum. Word-of-mouth.
And that only happens when what you’re offering solves a felt problem in a human way.
Reflection Prompt
What’s the last piece of customer feedback you ignored?
What might change if you treated it as a map instead of a threat?
References & Resources
Godin, S. This Is Marketing
Maurya, A. Running Lean
Ries, E. The Lean Startup
Christensen, C. The Innovator’s Dilemma
Next in Series:
Blog 7: Mastery – When a Business Becomes a Living Ecosystem
How to evolve from founder to steward — and scale without losing your soul.