Most artists are known for one song.

It’s no different for B2B businesses.

Wheatus: “Teenage Dirtbag”

Fountains of Wayne: “Stacy’s Mom”

Daniel Powter: “Bad Day”

You can do the same for software companies:

Stripe: Payments

Salesforce: CRM

Oracle: databases

You can try this with ChatGPT:

pick any B2B software company and ask “in 1-2 words, what is _____ most known for?”

The interesting thing is that the “hit” isn’t always a product, but sometimes a specific feature, functionality, or use case.

Do it with Slack, and it says “team messaging.”

(that’s probably exactly what you thought it would say — unless you are Slack’s executive team and and hoped it would say: “AI Work Management”)

Like artists, most founders HATE their hit.

They are constantly trying to convince the world that they have so much more to offer than the thing everyone knows (and loves) them for.

And often in their desire to change the audience’s perception, they lose their core fanbase.

(For example, the founder of Arc Browser — an app loved by millions — will no longer get updates because they are focused on launching a new “AI browser” called Dia)

But this is the great mistake.

Having a “hit “doesn’t limit you — it’s what fuels your growth in the first place.

It is so unbelievably hard to be remembered by anyone for anything… let alone MULTIPLE things.

The smartest companies (and artists) embrace their hit.

It provides them a permanent place in people’s minds.

So don’t fight it (Stripe doesn’t).

Use it to launch the rest of the catalog.