We’re building a highly flexible monitoring solution for parents (and caretakers and pet owners… but that’s a different story). And obviously, heytaeg is a consumer product.
I believe in what we’re building. 100%. I see the need, I know the pain point, and I have zero doubt that our product will make a difference to the daily life of parents like us. It surely isn’t for everyone, but… what is anyways?
We now have a tiny team in place, all fired up and fully aligned. We share the passion, the motivation, and the belief that there’s great potential on the horizon. But sometimes, folks, sometime, … reality kicks in, and I get dragged into a rabbit hole of doubt.
The Market Reality Check
The deeper I dive into the startup world, the more I realize: everything is about deep tech, health tech, or AI. It’s all about those market sectors we’re not part of, no matter where you look–case studies of successful founders, funding programs, startup trade fairs or speakers networking events.
So, what about consumer tech? It feels like the black sheep of the startup family. And honestly? I get it. B2B is where the money is. It’s more scalable, customer acquisition costs are usually much lower, and repurchasing rates dramatically higher.
The golden cow of today’s startup world probably is a deep tech solution wrapped in an AI-based SaaS model that ensures MRR.
VCs love it. The market loves it. It makes sense from a numbers perspective.
And then there’s us.
We don’t have an AI-driven SaaS model with predictable monthly recurring revenue. We don’t have an enterprise sales funnel that allows us to land a few big B2B clients and scale rapidly. We have a physical product that requires manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and real-world adoption.
And that means? We’re playing on hard mode. Bummer.
And then there is the price & distribution nightmare. With a consumer product, you’re fighting on multiple fronts at once:
🛑 Competing on price – Because customers compare you to brands with way more money and production volume.
🛑 Retail margins eating into revenue – If we go through distributors, we have to accept brutal margins.
🛑 No stability – Unlike SaaS, where customers pay every month, a one-time purchase means we constantly need to generate new buyers.
It’s a volume game—we need to sell a lot to make this work.
And without an investor throwing millions at performance marketing, how do we get the reach we need?
Here’s the Struggle
It’s not just about building a great product and seamless user experience —it’s about convincing real people to spend their own hard earned money on it.
That means:
🔹 We can’t rely on a few big contracts—we need thousands of individual customers to consider our market launch a success.
🔹 We need serious marketing dollars to compete with established brands or a very disruptive, never-seen-or-heard-of-before marketing strategy (which often also requires resinous marketing budget).
🔹 We have to build trust from scratch, with no reputation or brand history.
And this is where my frustration really kicks in.
I’ve spent my entire career in PR & marketing—I know how to build a brand, position a product, and make people fall in love with it. BUT…. I’ve always done it for others, with big marketing budgets or for brands that already had a name.
Now? I find myself wondering:
👉 Can I actually build something from scratch that people will love and eventually buy?
👉 If I can’t even get my own LinkedIn network of almost 2,000 people and a bit over 200 newsletter subscribers engaged in my very straightforward, unfiltered POV on my startup journey, how can I assume I’ll successfully build a relevant community to launch a consumer brand from scratch?
That thought alone is paralyzing. It makes me question everything—whether I’m cut out for this, whether this idea can truly break through, whether I’m just fooling myself, and so on… doubting myself can easily be a never-ending story.
Here’s the Cure
And yet, every time I start spiraling, I try to get myself back to my very own set of self-affirmations–the world’s longest I-do-things-great-list:
🔥 I burn brightly for something I believe in, and I can get others fired up for it as well.
🔥 I do trust myself. I know my strength and my lacks; I know I can trust my own system.
🔥 I know how to market things. My core strengths—building things from scratch and strategy building—are two competences heytaeg needs right now.
🔥 I’ve built a social non-profit startup with MRR before.
🔥 I know I can deep dive into anything and hyper-focus on everything I need to get things moving.
🔥 I have an amazing network of inspiring, fascinating and powerful human beings like Shakira Payne , Sabrina Krim , Ninni Lindertz, Stefanie Fischer, Charlotte Robic, Tanja Liske, Dagmar Weinhold , Julia Bettina Aue , Huberta Unger , Carl Simon Taylor and Adin Mumma , Katarina Pedersen , Lucy Cripps 🖋 copyeditor, writer, proofreader , Sandra Schmidtner , Johanna Fink , Bea Grubenthal … and so many more, who I can always reach out to to ask for advice (and offer DACH PR & marketing support, coffee, love, and hugs in return).
🔥 And by now, I know how to manage my imposter syndrome, so… what can possibly go wrong? 😉
So, Black Sheep or Holy Grail?
Do we surrender and pivot to B2B—because that’s what the market and investors want?
Or do we stick with our conviction, bootstrap this thing, and launch a product we truly believe in—knowing full well that it’s the harder path?
At the end of the day, we have two options:
1️⃣ Follow the investor playbook and find a way to turn heytaeg into a B2B solution.
2️⃣ Stick with our belief in the product and prove that consumer hardware can be built successfully—even in a SaaS-obsessed world.
Well… hold my beer!
Anyone out there feeling the same tension? Let’s talk—drop your thoughts below
