How Can Startups Compete with Tech Giants in 2022

By Guest Author | competition | December 29, 2021

From recruiting employees to creating a customer base, It can be challenging for a startup to compete against giant tech companies. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants offer lucrative salaries and other benefits. But there are various reasons why people choose to work at a startup beyond the paycheck.

By STEVE VALENTOR

One of the biggest worries of startup entrepreneurs is how they will compete against the competition from big billion-dollar companies. Most of the time, startups clash with tech giants, the tech giants win. It is not due to startups not offering quality services or products but because the tech giants have a better benefits, brand image and established customer base that works in their favor. But not all battles are won by tech giants. Some startups change games with innovative business plans, digital transformation, and strategies.Affordable mobile app development and cost-effective servers prompt entrepreneurs to launch digital products effectively. 

1. Understand Your Advantages

According to Kate Khalimonchuk, Marketing Specialist at Fulcrum Rocks “The very first step to successfully launching, growing, and scaling a tech startup in a market dominated by one or more of the four horsemen (or a similarly gigantic company) is to make sure that you understand the unique advantages that you have as a small startup as compared to big tech giants.”

Reach out to the student as early as you can is an advantage. It allows you to build your recruiting brand on campus and establish relationships with candidates.

Startups offer more originality than big businesses, and people are always looking for newness and Fresh services. The point is that when your company and products are not well known, it makes you interesting, more surprising, and more valuable to your target customers.

In the initial stage, startups are formless and agile. On the other hand, the decisions taken by tech giants are forced by the teams they work with, which makes them less versatile to the market. Since big companies already have a good customer base, they are slower when responding to market needs and technological changes to keep their current customers happy.

2. Avoid Direct Competition

When tech giants directly compete with your niche, you should step aside to avoid a direct collision. Big companies have more financial and workforce power that can pull your business apart, and it will be challenging to beat them. Though that does not mean you give up and close your business. Instead, you can work on products and services in a sub-niche where the competition is low. Most startups have followed this strategy that avoids direct competition against big companies and succeeds.

According to Mike Sims, Entrepreneur and Startup Consultant “If a tech company intrudes on the market where your startup works, then you will avoid going toe-to-toe with such a big business. Because in most cases, when a small company tries to give direct competition to a big company it will lose badly.”

As a startup, the wise thing to do when a major competitor enters your niche is to work hard to discover a suitable sub-niche to which you can change the direction of your company.

3. Offer Unparalleled Customer Service

If you want to run your startup, you have to design and deliver world-class customer service to every one of your customers.

Because you might have to start to compete with giant tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. 

Quality customer service is one of the important keys to the success of the new business. During the initial stage, outstanding customer service can be a great tool to success for startups as customers share their business experience with their friends and family that will market your business.

There is no question how big giants like Amazon or Apple keep offering the best customer service to their clients. But due to the huge customer base, it will be difficult for them to provide a one-to-one customer service experience.

Read More: 6 Strategies for Startups to Solidify Their Pandemic Comebacks in 2022

4. Develop Strong Back-End Services

Your startup may have an attractive app that serves as a powerful interface for your business, but that is not enough. Efficient backend support also plays a key role in the successful delivery of services and product to your clients. Some of the backend services a startup must offer are support, chatbot, syncing, sharing, messaging, and other web-based features available 24/7.

Nowadays, if you want to run a successful business, an app must be much more than just what’s shown on a smartphone’s screen. App companies should provide well-functional, design, dependable, and extensive backend services such as chat, sharing, syncing, and other web-based features into the app.

According to Piyush Jain Founder of Simpalm, Startup app development company, “Startups must provide users with a fully digital experience of their product and services. So they get the most out of your app, continue using it into the future, and thereby reject leaving you for the newly arrived giant fish.”

5. Be Open to Strategic Partnership When The Offer Comes

When new startups collaborate with tech giants, everyone wins. Strategic collaboration with tech giants carries several benefits as the competition between businesses is reduced, and startups are likely to achieve market recognition and gain new business. The new strategic relationship improves the success of both startups and big companies.

Sometimes the most beneficial decision for a startup is to partner with a big business and start working in its niche, i.e., work with that dominant business.

Startups are most useful at making successful proof of concepts, and tech giants are good at scaling proof of concepts. Startups are good at opening latent demand but don’t have the required resources and knowledge to scale the new concept. So it will be a smart move if a startup is open to making a strategic partnership offered by tech giants..

Other Benefits

  1. Greater cash flow
  2. Increased revenue
  3. Access to a large customer base
  4. Access to important resources
  5. Access to different distribution channels