One of my favorite phrases about successful startups came from a conversation with Jonathan Sides, former Daxko VP of Finance (now CFO with Fleetio), several years ago when he told me a bit about the Daxko story. He summarized their business strategy as “niche, dominate and repeat.”
I have seen a lot of strategic theories and there are plenty of books that talk about niching, but I had not heard that phrase used as a complete strategy before…I loved it.
I have seen a lot of strategic theories and there are plenty of books that talk about niching, but I had not heard that phrase used as a complete strategy before…I loved it.
“Niche, dominate and repeat” encapsulates a lot of good strategic thinking because “niching” forces a company to define exactly what they want to be and who they want to serve while “dominating” reinforces that niching process and encapsulates most of the strategic tools such as:
- product/service differentiation
- value proposition planning
- creating a minimum functional unit
- customer experience focus
- adoption planning
- etc.
“Repeat” is also a critically powerful tool because it implies both continued process improvement and new market growth.
A lot of business planning and strategy is cumbersome and somewhat clunky to use, with graphs and graduate level books to understand and it can be difficult for many entrepreneurs to actualize the theory. On the other hand “niche, dominate and repeat” is just four words and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what it means. With that kind of simple strategy, everyone on the team ought to easily be on the same page and what a powerful place to start. I don’t think it is a surprise that the guys at Daxko are getting it done.
If you are in an existing business or starting a new one…”niche, dominate and repeat” is not a bad place to start.
And if you wonder if it is a repeatable strategy, just ask Glenn and Doris Phillips with Lake Homes Realty…ranked the 8th fastest growing company in Birmingham for two years in a row.
