By Wisam Costandi

You ever walk into a store for a pair of socks and somehow leave with a full tuxedo? That’s what it feels like when vendors force products on you that you didn’t ask for and definitely don’t need. This phenomenon isn’t just annoying; it’s a real problem, especially when a company rather than solving a customer’s problem,promotes oversized, feature-laden solutions, leaving clients with capabilities they never wanted and won’t use.

Building Products for People vs. Shareholders 

When a young company starts out, there’s this undeniable excitement. It’s all about solving real problems. You’re trying to find that sweet spot—product-market fit—where your solution doesn’t just work; it becomes indispensable. You’re innovating, adapting, and constantly tweaking because the goal is clear: solve the customer’s problem. 

But then something happens. You grow, gain traction, and before you know it, you’re a big, mature company. At this stage, the drive to innovate often takes a back seat to the need to hit revenue targets and satisfy shareholders. It’s like the company shifts from being an inventor to a peddler—focusing less on “what does the market need?” and more on “how much can we sell this quarter?

The Vacuum Problem 

The worst-case scenario? The vendor builds a product in a vacuum. They think they know what the client needs. They assume the solution they came up with in their boardroom will fix problems across the industry. Then, it happens—the sales team is unleashed. And let’s be honest, salespeople are fantastic at pushing products. It’s their job. But when the product isn’t something, the customer truly needs, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Rather than focusing on solving real issues, the vendor is now aggressively selling something that’s just “good enough.” Clients start feeling more like numbers in a spreadsheet than partners in innovation. 

The Innovation S-Curve

And let’s not forget about the mature companies—those legacy giants who stopped innovating a long time ago. They’ve traded their agile, problem-solving roots for bureaucracy and sales goals. The innovation pipeline dries up, and the focus shifts to protecting market share and making quarterly earnings look good.  You can see this in the innovation S-curve, where adoption starts slow, accelerates rapidly, and then tapers off as it saturates the market.   
However, companies can sustain growth by continuously innovating, instead of relying on outdated products. Each S-curve shows the typical cycle of slow adoption, rapid growth, and eventual saturation. The key is to introduce new solutions before the previous ones lose steam, ensuring clients always get fresh, relevant offerings rather than having outdated products pushed on them. 

Legacy companies are no longer in the game to transform industries; they’re here to satisfy shareholders. As a result, the products stop being about what customers actually need and instead become about how much can be sold. 

Innovation Isn’t Dead—It’s Just Buried 

But here’s the thing—clients aren’t stupid. We know when we’re being sold something unnecessary. As companies grow, they need to resist the urge to become complacent, to stop solving problems and start shoving out products that barely scratch the surface of what the customer actually needs. 
So, what’s the solution? It comes back to product-market fit. Even if you’re a legacy company, that doesn’t mean you can’t innovate. But it requires focusing less on what makes shareholders happy and more on delivering real value to your customers.
Because let’s be real, a satisfied customer is a long-term customer. And long-term customers are what ultimately keep companies afloat.