5 Go-to-Market Lessons from Vev’s Journey in Transforming Web Development
When you’re building a product that doesn’t fit neatly into existing categories, conventional wisdom often falls short. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Vev founder Tine Karlsen shared insights from building a web creation platform that bridges the gap between headless CMS and traditional website builders. Here are five key go-to-market lessons from their journey.
- Turn Market Constraints into Strategic Advantages
Being an underdog in the global tech landscape can actually sharpen your competitive edge. As Tine explains, “We have always thought of ourselves as underdogs… So I feel like coming from Norway, you always have to have that mindset that you’re competing with the big dogs, but you are miles behind in having access to the same sort of resources when it comes to money, but also talent.”
Rather than viewing these limitations as obstacles, Vev used them to develop a more focused, efficient approach to product development and market entry.
- Start with a Specific, High-Impact Market Segment
Instead of targeting everyone who builds websites, Vev identified a specific segment where they could demonstrate dramatic value. They focused initially on media companies producing custom content at scale. The results spoke for themselves: “They actually reduced the time to market for these types of sites with over 90% from three weeks down to now being 30 minutes.”
This targeted approach provided both a proving ground for their technology and compelling case studies for expansion into other markets.
- Build Your Product Strategy Around Multi-Stakeholder Value
One of Vev’s most successful strategies was recognizing that enterprise software needs to serve multiple stakeholders while maintaining clear boundaries. “We cater to teams, so we have to get through to both the designer, the developer, and other stakeholders on the team. And that makes the task incredibly complex,” Tine shares.
Their solution was creating differentiated access levels that protect design while enabling content changes: “If a designer sets up something in Vev, for example, a template for a blog post, a marketer can access that template without having the right to change design, but only change content.”
- Simplify Your Market Communication
When introducing innovative products, there’s often a temptation to overcomplicate the messaging. Vev discovered that the opposite approach works better. “What led me to that aha moment is actually sort of less bullshit and less marketing swagger when it comes to our communication,” Tine explains. “We have tried a lot of nice ways to communicate what Vev does, which ends up as more concepts, more than just saying directly what we do.”
- Transform Categories Rather Than Creating New Ones
Instead of trying to create an entirely new product category, Vev focused on transforming existing workflows. “I would say that we are more transforming an existing category… The unique point with Vev is the workflow behind getting to the end result, because the workflow is faster without compromise.”
This approach makes it easier for potential customers to understand and adopt the solution, as it builds on familiar concepts rather than requiring them to learn entirely new ones.
For founders building innovative products that challenge traditional categories, Vev’s experience offers valuable insights about market positioning, stakeholder management, and clear communication. Their journey shows that success often comes not from following conventional playbooks, but from turning apparent constraints into strategic advantages.
The key is to remain focused on solving real problems for specific users, while maintaining the flexibility to expand based on demonstrated success. As Tine puts it, “The biggest challenge that we’ve had is I go back to communication, like how to sell such a big concept with few words.” By staying grounded in concrete value delivery while maintaining a broader vision, Vev has created a path to market that other innovative companies can learn from.
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