Superteams with a North Star – Column by Jürgen Ingels

I see a profound change in the way technology companies operate and set up their business model. This will have a major impact. Not only on jobs but also on how we should organize our future society. It will change entire industries.

Let me clarify this.

Building a technology company used to always follow a more or less similar pattern. You start with an idea, find a few developers who make an initial viable product and then hire your first sales person. If everything goes well, you quickly add more developers, more sales and presales people and a lot of support functions like HR, Finance and Legal. You built your company to 10 million euros in sales with 100 people over a period of 10 years to eventually achieve a profitability on sales of 20%.

Modern technology companies increasingly focus on a so-called “North Star” where they fanatically focus on solving a specific problem. Around the problem they build a small team of people who are exceptionally good at what they do. Often they have worked with these experts before and know their qualities well. Only the very best are allowed on that team, and usually you can count the number of people on both hands.

In addition, there is an unparalleled focus on the customer. Modern technology companies understand that their success depends entirely on their ability to meet customer needs. This means that the customer comes before everything else. Every decision, from product development to customer service, is made with the customer in mind. This ensures strong customer satisfaction and loyalty. After all, a satisfied customer is the best ambassador for a product, leading to its natural and viral spread.

This viral spread allows new technology companies to efficiently reach their target audience without traditional marketing strategies. Instead of investing in expensive advertising, expensive marketing campaigns and even more expensive sales people, they rely on product quality and customer satisfaction to spread their message. They also usually do not have a website worthy of a name and make full use of the power of social media and influencers.

In addition, these companies make maximum use of AI in just about every area. Not only does this partially demystify the technical skills of programmers, but you need a lot less programmers to build your product. Moreover, AI provides a gigantic gain in time and ditto efficiency.

Another crucial element in the new business model of technology companies is the extensive automation of the back office. By automating as many processes as possible, these companies can significantly reduce their operational costs. Instead of large HR departments, they use software to automate personnel management, from hiring to payroll. The same goes for accounting and legal departments. This approach reduces costs and increases both efficiency and accuracy.

The result of this innovative business model is high profitability and rapid growth. By focusing on a clearly defined problem, operating in a customer-centric way, using AI to the fullest, automating back office and using viral sales strategies, technology companies can achieve impressive sales and, more importantly, profit margins within a few years. Achieving sales of 10 million euros within 3 years with a profitability of 70% is no exception.

Models and changes that start in the technology sector usually trickle down to global industry a few years later. This trend will change the entire industry at lightning speed. In time, companies will even emerge without people.

It will become super important how we as a region, society and company prepare for this evolution. In doing so, we must not be afraid or naive and must fully embrace this evolution. We must focus from education on quality and creativity and not be shy to train top people. People who can hold their own in tomorrow’s world by bringing out the best in their employees, who are critical and can make connections. We need to ensure that knowledge of AI is a given. We also need to motivate people to pursue their North Star so that more of these super teams and companies can be formed that can ultimately add tremendous value to the region.

It will not be an evolution but a revolution….