The Gotab Guide to Bottom-Up Market Education: Transforming Industry Skeptics into Power Users
How do you convince an industry to adopt technology it actively resists? In 2018, when Gotab introduced QR ordering to restaurants, the response was clear: absolutely not. Fast forward to today, and they’re powering operations for Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake’s new New York City venue.
In a recent Category Visionaries episode, co-founder Tim McLaughlin revealed how they transformed industry skeptics into advocates through a combination of market education, operational excellence, and strategic timing.
Understanding the Resistance
The challenge wasn’t technology – it was culture. As Tim explains, “Restaurant tours frequently believe that the guests come to talk to them.” This fundamental assumption shaped how operators viewed technology adoption, even when it contradicted customer preferences.
The reality was different: “The reality is a lot of guests come to talk to their friends and eat the food and drink that is offered there.” This misalignment between operator assumptions and customer behavior became central to Gotab’s market education strategy.
Starting with Success Stories
Rather than trying to convert the entire industry at once, Gotab focused on proving their concept in controlled environments. Tim recalls testing their QR ordering system in his second restaurant in 2018, where they discovered “consumers really liked it. And were really kind of surprised.”
This validation became crucial, but it also revealed new challenges. As Tim notes, “We would actually take more orders than they’d ever taken before at the same time… we created a ton of problems in the bars and the kitchens.”
Turning Problems into Solutions
Instead of seeing these operational challenges as setbacks, Gotab used them to expand their value proposition. Tim explains they “ended up becoming an operational tool to fulfill the… keeping the promises that we already made to the guests.”
This evolution led to remarkable results. While “restaurants typically try to stay under 30% of their revenue is spent on labor,” Tim notes that “our restaurants, on average, have a 22% labor cost, which is basically 25% below the industry norm.”
The Catalyst Moment
Sometimes market education requires an external catalyst. For Gotab, COVID-19 transformed their market overnight. As Tim recalls, “All the people who told us this is the dumbest thing I ever thought I ever heard in 2019, called us back in 2020.”
This shift “accelerated the US adoption of QR by probably three to five years, virtually overnight.” But being ready to capitalize on this moment required maintaining their vision through years of resistance.
Lessons for Founders
Gotab’s experience offers valuable insights for founders facing similar market education challenges:
- Validate with customers first, even if operators resist
- Turn operational challenges into expanded value propositions
- Build proof points through controlled deployments
- Be ready to scale when market conditions shift
Their approach also demonstrates the importance of maintaining perspective during market education. As Tim reflects, “We want to look forward and kind of work our way backward into how restaurants should operate. Like, fast forward ten years, how should they operate? And then say, okay, well, how do we adapt that to how people want to or already do operate?”
For B2B founders introducing transformative technology to traditional industries, Gotab’s journey shows that market education isn’t just about explaining your solution – it’s about helping an industry reimagine its future while solving its present challenges.
The key is balancing vision with pragmatism, using each success to build credibility, and being ready to accelerate when the market catches up to your vision. Sometimes the best market education strategy is simply surviving long enough for the market to recognize what your early adopters already know.
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