A wedge is the narrow first market you can actually serve — one job, one kind of customer, often one city. It is not your ambition. It is the door you fit through.
“All SMEs” is not a wedge. You cannot sell to everyone on day one, and you should not try. The wedge is the group for whom your product is obviously the right next step, not a maybe.
#Make it embarrassingly specific
Write one sentence: this person, this job, this constraint.
Examples of a wedge vs a slogan:
- Slogan: invoicing for Vietnamese businesses
- Wedge: limited-liability agencies in HCMC whose founder still waits days for a VAT invoice after the work is done
- Slogan: help accountants and founders collaborate
- Wedge: founders who already have an accountant, but the invoices live in Zalo and the owner cannot see paid vs unpaid
If you cannot name ten companies that match the sentence, the wedge is still a mood.
#Why narrow wins
A narrow customer repeats the same conversation. You learn the words they use, the file they hate, the moment they would pay. A wide market gives you polite interest and no urgency.
Once that group is happy, you expand along a path they already understand — the next job, the next size of company — not by adding “and also everyone else” to the homepage.
#What to refuse
Say no to custom work that only one customer wants, and to industries that need licenses you do not have. A wedge is a filter. If a lead does not match, they are a later chapter, not a reason to rebuild the product.
#Next
- Evaluate ideas — check the idea still holds in this smaller market
- Company name — name the company once you know who it is for