The Purple Ocean Opportunity

Why the Red & Blue Oceans concept is a dangerous trap

Hey there, it’s been a while!

Today, we’ll tackle an old concept that drives maaaaany startups to crash by misleading founders’ ambition.

Also, I’ll make an announcement regarding my work, with a gift to you who subscribed to my (until now) inactive newsletter.

Let’s dive right in!

On the personal side, it’s been great - apart that I grew old and depressed as I hit 25yo - but I made a punchy post about it, and that gave me some peps.

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Introduction

The Red & Blue Ocean is a concept coined by Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne in 2005.

In short, Red Oceans represent bloody, competitive spaces, from which companies should escape as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, Blue Oceans represent the unknown, vast and abundant spaces with no competition, remaining to be explored, where the first arrived can establish leadership.

And that is totally flawed.

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Here is today’s program:

1. The Concept
   Escape the red competition - Rush to the blue goldmine

2. The Reality
   Blue is a myth - Red is the safest

3. The Opportunity
   Best of both world - The Purple Ocean

4. + Announcement and gift

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The Concept

Escape the red competition - Rush to the blue goldmine

As originally depicted, the Red Ocean is a bad thing.

It’s a competitive space, because the market already exists, where everyone fights to win over the limited demand.

This competition is focused on adding features and offering lower prices.

See how it represents, like, almost all markets?

This is the first part in selling the myth: insisting on how what you are currently doing is wasting your potential, but it’s not your fault, because…

…you’re just not in the right ocean. TUDUDUM!

The Blue Ocean is the land of opportunities (pun intended).

No one is there yet: it’s all yours to take!

So much unmet demand, all for yourself!

How can we go there? Simply by jumping into the unknown, and create a whole new market. Easy, right?

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The Reality

Blue is a myth - Red is the safest

Well… if no one is in the Blue Ocean… is there no reason why?

→ Because that’s where tons of startups perish.

They believe that to grow, they need to innovate, and invent something brand new.

So new, nobody ever heard of something even remotely close to it.

Just that.

But the hidden cost of educating customers, on what you do, why they should care, convince them to try it, change their habits so they keep using it….

…is enormous.

People resist change.

By aiming to create a new category, you risk not matching any demand, AND, facing the impossible task of creating some.

(no- demand generation isn’t demand invention)

So this Blue Ocean myth can mislead into an endless path of burning cash on trying to “educate the market.”

That’s a game lots of funded startups play - see how many win?

You’ve probably seen some of them:

• nobody understands what they sell

• they invent flashy product names

• they jump on every tech trend

After months of burning investor funds, promising they’re close to building a new category after having taught the market, they crash. Or rather, they sink.

They had been chasing a blue ocean mirage.

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In fact, is the Red Ocean really that bad?

To me, it sounds like a paradise:

• proven demand

• fully aware customers

• competitors paving the way

Yes, there are obstacles. Yes, growing there will be hard. But at least, you know it’s feasible - making it, IMHO, the safest path.

Because there’s nothing worse than seeing an entrepreneur’s years of hard work leading nowhere.

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Side note for a sec here:

I’m not blaming the concept, or at least how its authors use it - to push for innovation.

They also explain what I’m saying here. But I’m blaming how it’s marketed, influencing founders who’re left with this shiny blue ocean dream.

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The Opportunity

Best of both world - The Purple Ocean

So what can we take from this concept, to actually leverage it for business success?

The answer is within the connection of the Red and Blue Oceans:

Apply the Blue to an existing Red segment.

Let me explain:

Every single “innovation” is actually just a new alternative of an existing workflow.

• Booking a taxi? Uber is a new, better alternative.

But this alternative is only better for a specific use case.

• Looking for a place to stay? Airbnb is an alternative to hotels, IF you are looking for a casual experience, offered by a non-professional host.

Same thing for every new solution. Even in B2B:

• Salesforce is a better alternative to managing your list of clients on Google Sheet,
  IF you are looking for more advanced features.

• Google Sheet is a better alternative to managing your list of clients on Excel,
  IF you are looking for a collaborative space.

• Excel is a better alternative to managing your list of clients on paper,
  IF you are looking for an organized and scalable system.

You get the point.

So to find the “blue ocean” with actual potential, you need to look at current demand in a “red ocean.”

When you find the underserved segment in the red ocean, whom want/would prefer a better alternative, there’s your opportunity.

The Purple Ocean.

You might think, “but if I niche down, I’ll reduce my target market, so I’ll grow less.”

But if you keep a huge target audience, what are your chances?

Among hundreds of similar solutions, your odds of being buyers’ N°1 choice are slim.

Meaning to get enough sales, you’ll always need more volume, cycles will always get longer - and buyers will compare you to more solutions.

→ Prospects will never give you a “hell yes” straight away.

Whereas, if you’re the obvious solution:

• buyers see your value instantly

• they don’t compare you

• they buy faster

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

But this requires to have a clearly delimited target market.

If a product is for everyone, it’s special to no one.

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Announcement and Gift

What’s the best way to leverage this Purple Ocean opportunity?

It’s by marketing your difference (within a red ocean).

When you make your differentiation crystal-clear, your target customers perceive instantly why you’re a better alternative to what they’re used to.

This is the very best way to establish a strong positioning, become the reference solution, and grow exponentially.

But… it’s extremely though to do ourselves.

Why?

Because it’s hard to read the label from inside the bottle.

When you’re building your own business, you’re caught in your work, and your own experience makes you biased.

You need to take a step back to see the full picture.

And I want to help you to do so, successfully.

That’s why, I’m rebranding my solobusiness to PurpleOceans, and I’m launching:

The Differentiation Sprint

It’s a short consulting program for tech founders, looking to differentiate their SaaS and leverage its unique value for their Sales & Marketing.

We worked with a consultants before, but none were as engaged, concrete, reliable as Gaspard. From our work with him, we saw a 60% MRR growth in two months only. I'm nothing but grateful for Gaspard's help, and looking to work with him for many more years.

- George Gogidze, Founder @ Leadpipe

[Gaspard] managed to simplify our messages while making them much clearer for our target audience. He's not only super-professional, he's also a great listener and really understood our needs. I recommend him without hesitation, and I won't hesitate to call on him again in the future. Thanks again, Gaspard!

- Sabrina Akherraz, Marketing Manager @ Primelis & Cross-Brand

It's really the ICP part where we had to rack our brains. At a time when we're always overwhelmed and stucked thinking about "but who should we really be targeting?", Gaspard is bringing this external eye to our business that saves us this precious time.

- Paul Echaiz Guevara, Co-founder & COO @ Sypher

Thanks to Gaspard's expertise and pragmatic approach, our team has transformed its communications strategy, generating impactful content that translates into concrete results. His passion and dedication as a marketing consultant has inspired us and we highly recommend him.

- Eric Houvenaghel, Founder @ Ytria, Sapio365

I appreciate you being part of my newsletter!

I’m launching my new program early April, with a limited launch offer for the first 3 clients (originally 5 spots, but I accidentally sold 2 during early feedbacks).

As a thank-you for being here, I’ll add a $500 discount on top of it—just mention you saw this when we’ll chat.

→ If you're interested and want to secure your spot, send me a DM with the word “Program”, and I’ll share the landing page before it goes live.

Or, you can wait until I post about it.

I’m sooooo excited about the launch. Also, a bit stressed. But I can’t wait!

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That’s it for today, I hope you enjoyed this edition.

If you did, can you please leave a like, and share your feedback in the comments?

Thanks!

Have a great day,

Gaspard