Will superconductors bring a surge of new startups?

From the news: Will superconductors supply the next hype cycle?

Over the last week or so, X has been awash with talk of superconductors, specifically, a material dubbed LK-99. Some are skeptical; others are optimistic this could be the biggest breakthrough in a generation. And for startups, it could be big business.

What is a superconductor? — A superconductor is a material that has no electrical resistance, meaning you can transfer energy between point A to point B without any losses. Today’s superconductors have to be cooled to extremely low temperatures to work, which is expensive and complex.

What does the breakthrough mean? — The claim is that this superconductor works at room-temperature, which dramatically reduces costs and opens the door for opportunity and innovation. For instance, new startups could build quantum computers for a fraction of the cost or make devices like MRI scanners portable.

What happens next? — If (and still a big if) the breakthrough is genuine, the startup ecosystem will scramble to get involved, and VCs won’t be far behind. With crypto funding dried up, Web3 forgotten, and A.I. funding on the downturn, those heavy wallets will be looking for a new venture to fund.

The Push and Pull of Building Products

“It’s impossible to simultaneously please your existing customers and your potential ones.”

Any sustainable business must achieve two things: a way to attract and convert new customers to the product and a way to retain existing ones. Nir Zicherman, VP of Audiobooks at Spotify, believes you can’t achieve both. He calls this the ‘push and pull’ of product building and offers some stellar advice:

• Value means different things at different stages — All users go through a conversion funnel to cross the threshold where they agree to use or buy a product. Potential customers have not yet reached that point of conversion. Existing customers have already done the hardest thing of all: paid for it.

• You can’t predict the reaction — Once a product is out in the wild, there is a barrage of incoming contradictory signals for how to iterate. The sooner you ship, the sooner you learn why, the sooner you can course-correct.

• Your strategy changes depending on where you are on your journey — the closer you are to what existing customers want, the more you’re pushed toward the potential customers, and vice versa.

• These fluctuations are healthy — There may never be an equilibrium where everyone is satisfied. In business, that’s pretty much a guarantee. Most things must continually evolve with the needs of their audience. Otherwise, they’re quickly left behind.

👉️ Learn more about The Push and Pull of Building Products.

Recommended reads:

16 Lessons I Learned From Studying the $700M Brand Liquid Death — Entrepreneur’s Handbook founder Dave Schools deep dives into how founders and marketers can create a viral brand like Liquid Death.

Re-Storying: How to Keep Your Tech and Story Versions Up to Date — You constantly update your product. Storyteller and Pitch Alchemist for Startups Donna Griffit asks, when was the last time you updated your story?

Sweet Xeets

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