‘Go deep’ first before you ‘go broad’. Don’t let your depth limit your scope.

Should a value proposition go broad or go deep?

‘Go broad’ means this value proposition is to serve as many diversified customer groups as possible, and ‘go deep’ means this value proposition is to serve a select few customer groups as thoroughly as possible.

Which one would you choose?

The common wisdom suggests that you can’t go deep if you go broad, and you can’t go broad if you go deep. You are limited in what you can do given your limited resources.

The underlying assumption is that ‘go broad’ and ‘go deep’ are mutually exclusive. You cannot have both. Between the ‘either’ and ‘or’, you have to make your pick.

This assumption certainly has a grain of truth in it. But does it embrace the whole truth?

Not really.

Disruptive innovations

If you carefully examine how disruptive innovations evolve, you may realize that the dynamic between ‘go broad’ and ‘go deep’ is far more complicated than it appears to be.

Disruptive innovations start small. They begin with a marginalized customer group. In customizing their value proposition to this customer group, they make themselves indispensable. But for the general population, they remain largely irrelevant. They are doing this not because they want to remain irrelevant to the general population, but because they are too customized to this specific customer group.

But how do they do that? They drill into one or a few specific customer needs with a laser focus, while bypassing most of the generic customer needs. They know they cannot be everything for everyone. Their best bet is to become the best of ‘something’ for someone.

In doing so, they make their value propositions indispensable to the target customer group.

Once their indispensability takes roots in this target customer group, they will start to upgrade and scale their value propositions.

Guess what will happen next?

They will go broad. They will tap into more generic customer needs in drawing attention from a broader audience. As the attention accrues, more resources will flow into the initiative, which enables them to further scale their value proposition for a broader audience.

The dynamic between ‘go broad’ and ‘go deep’

So back to the basic question, what is the dynamic between ‘go broad’ and ‘go deep’?

Well, the dynamic is a function of both competition and complementation.

Between the two, competition prevails most of the time. But that’s not because competition is the dominant force, but because, most firms do not go deep first. They are not willing to take time and effort in building a solid foundation. They are eager for fruits but have no patience for roots.

So here comes the moment of truth:

Deep roots are required for complementation to kick in. How deep you go determines how broad you can expand.

The key to triggering the positive dynamics between ‘go broad’ and ‘go deep’?

‘Go deep’ first before ‘go broad’. Start with a point and then expand.

Most importantly: don’t ever let your depth limit your scope.