Make the Market Work for You: Pick an Industry, Not a Job

Make Market Realities Work for You

No matter how much heart and hard work you throw into something, no matter how good your intentions, no matter how strong your convictions—if real customers don’t want what you’re offering, you’ll go out of business. In the immortal words of Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross, “Third prize is you’re fired.” The same applies to careers.

We believe there’s not enough tough love in career literature. There’s too much focus on passion and values and not enough on the market-based realities in which you must operate. Because no matter how special you think your skills are, or how inspirational your values, they won’t give you a big enough competitive edge unless they meet the needs of a paying market.

Good entrepreneurs are realists. They don’t start on Day 1 with a moon shot. They’re firmly grounded in what customers will pay for right now. The best entrepreneurs cultivate both being practical and idealistic. It’s not easy to dream and be realistic–to aim for the stars and yet also regularly peer down at your footing to make sure you’re walking on terra firma.

Even the most daring entrepreneurial dreamers spend vast amounts of energy trying to figure out what customers will pay for. In turn, the success of all professionals—of the startup of you—depends on employers and clients and partners choosing to buy your time.

Entrepreneurs and investors are always on the lookout for industries, sectors, and product categories that seem poised for unstoppable growth. Similarly, at any given point in time, there are certain industries, places, people, and companies that can generate career momentum. Making the market realities—natural waves of momentum—work for you and not against you is key to achieving breakout professional success.

What are some examples of current waves? To tick off just a few at random: the economies of China and India, artificial intelligence, crypto and blockchain, environmentally friendly consumer products, cloud computing technology, biotechnology—though some of them may seem out of date before too long. A hallmark of a wave that hasn’t yet crested is that the original inventors of the technology are still alive and active. Mark Zuckerberg is alive; social networking technology is a huge wave and will be for some time. In contrast, George Eastman of Eastman Kodak has long since passed, and so has the mass market for print photography and non-digital cameras.

The amazing thing about momentum is that it can make up for a lot of other weaknesses. Some startups may deliver a mediocre product developed by a mediocre team (we won’t name names), but they do so in a white-hot market—and achieve great success. The market pulls success out of them. A strong market can overcome almost any deficiency in a startup, at least for a time.

This is why we sometimes tell people, “Pick an industry, not a job.” Which is to say, focus on working in a sector that’s hot. Then, once you get to know that industry a bit, pick a company. And from there pick whatever job inside that company is available and roughly in line with your skills and aspirations.

Your specific job doesn’t matter nearly as much as the company growth trajectory. Working at a hot company can extend your personal brand and endow you with legitimacy, or just increase the odds of strategic serendipity. And even a modestly impressive company that operates in a hot industry is going to be a source of opportunity.

—

Please share in the comments section: How might you learn about growth markets? (Maybe by attending a conference on climate tech, or signing up for a software programming course.)

Some text adapted from my book with Ben Casnocha: The Startup of You: Adapt, Take Risks, Grow Your Network, and Transform Your Career (Currency, an imprint of Random House, 2022).