Depth Before Breadth
Vertical software looks narrow by definition. If you sell to schools, clinics or law firms, the temptation is to serve everyone at once. Small market, so you can’t afford to exclude anyone — right?
Wrong. Chasing all ends of the market from day one spreads you thin. The paradox is that even in a niche, you still need an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Focused depth first — then breadth.
The false comfort of “serving all”
I’ve watched teams try to design for the small player, the enterprise giant and the international client simultaneously. Sales sprays effort, support bends in ten directions, product roadmaps bloat.
The result isn’t coverage — it’s mediocrity. In trying to please all, you serve none particularly well.
Find the beachhead
Even inside a vertical, sub-segments behave differently. Geography, size, adoption profile — they shape how customers buy and how they stick.
A beachhead ICP forces clarity:
- Who: which persona makes the call?
- Where: which tier or sub-sector is most receptive?
- What pain: which problem is urgent and costly enough to act on now?
Win here and you gain proof points, references and feedback loops you can’t get by spreading wide.
Map the halo
Vertical TAM does mean eventual breadth. The trick is sequencing. Around any ICP sits a halo of neighbours who overlap just enough to buy, though they may need an extra proof point.
Serve the core perfectly and adjacent customers will see themselves in the story. Focus acts like gravity: get the centre right and the edges follow with less effort.
Sequence the expansion
Yes, the endgame is high share across the category. But breadth comes step by step.
Validate your beachhead. Then pick one adjacency at a time — new tier, new sub-vertical, new geography. Test it small and reversible: a tailored page, a dozen calls, a single pilot. If it works, scale. If not, stop.
That beats the false “balance” of chasing every segment at once.
Vertical markets are not an excuse to blur focus. They are where focus matters most.
Depth before breadth: win a corner, then grow out. That’s how you turn a narrow start into category leadership.
Related: Context Beats Category · Real Choices · Reading Guide