Henna Haroon
There’s a growing trend I’ve been watching in the age of AI agents and all-in-one SaaS products: the rise of the digital everythingburger. You've probably gotten a whiff of it: apps and platforms that proudly claim to do everything, for everyone, all at once.
Sounds impressive. But here’s the catch: it’s a nothingburger.
What Happens When You Try to Please Everyone?
The more these tools try to proclaim they cover every use case, speak to every possible user, and cram every feature into their headline, the less clear they are about who they’re actually helping and why. In their effort to capture everyone, they end up connecting with no one in particular.
This isn’t necessarily a product problem (although it certainly can be). It’s a messaging problem. Good marketing doesn’t start with the full menu. It starts with the individual people and their specific pain points; your customers. Even if your app/software product does help everyone, your marketing can’t be that oversimplified.
Who Gets It Right? Look at HubSpot
Let me give you an example of a company that does it right: HubSpot. HubSpot is a powerful, broad platform that can support a huge range of industries and company types—from scrappy startups to massive enterprises. But they don’t market themselves as “the tool for everyone.”
Hubspot segments clearly and has a wide web of blogs and articles that are not tied to their main menu (so they don’t clutter and confuse visitors) that work tirelessly to bring in customers at any stage of need. Their messaging speaks to early-stage founders trying to get a handle on their leads. It also speaks—differently—to enterprise teams looking to align sales and marketing at scale. Even though they appeal to a variety of different industries, they deal with specificity on various landing pages see Hubspot for Healthcare for an example. Each path is thoughtfully crafted and has a clear CTA. A prospect learns not about how the tool can solve every problem, but why it’s a great choice for his/her specific industry and company size.
Hubspot is not trying to be everything to everyone at once. Why? Because when you’re saying everything in general, you’re saying nothing in particular.
Why Do So Many Startups Fall Into This Trap?
This is the biggest trap I see founders and tech companies fall into, especially now at the early stages. They build something genuinely useful, with a lot of potential use cases—but when it comes time to go to market, the positioning gets watered down by the desire to please everyone. In today’s market, however, clarity and brevity are king.
Creating industry pages on your website is a great first and practical step. People want to know, quickly and confidently, “Is this built for me?” They don’t have time to figure it out on their own. If your messaging doesn’t make it obvious, they’ll move on.
How Can You Avoid Being a Nothingburger?
So here’s the challenge: Don’t try to be the hero of everyone’s story. Be the guide for the customer you understand best. Show them that you get their context, their pain points, their goals. Speak their language.
Bottom line: marketing is about your customer, and your customer isn’t a little bit of everything. So make sure you don't look like a whole lot of nothing.