B2B vs B2C

Selling to businesses versus consumers: different sales, pricing, metrics and pace.

Also known as: B2B vs B2C, B2B, B2C, business vs consumer

B2B sells to businesses; B2C sells to consumers. The letters hide how completely the games differ: B2B means fewer customers, larger contracts, longer sales cycles, rational buying committees and churn that kills; B2C means thousands of users, tiny prices, emotional decisions, viral potential — and the need for volume to matter.

B2B:   10 customers × $12k/year, 3-month cycle, founder sells, support is the moat
B2C:   100k users × $5/month, instant signup, product sells, retention is the moat

Everything downstream follows the choice: pricing (seats vs subscriptions), metrics (NRR and pipeline vs DAU and viral coefficient), fundraising story, even company culture. Founders who pick “both” usually serve neither — the motions conflict on almost every axis.

The classic mistakes:

B2C product with B2B economics hoped for. Consumer products need distribution luck or virality; bolting on an enterprise tier later rarely saves a consumer miss.
Enterprise sales motion for a $20/month tool. A three-month security review to close a $240/year contract loses money on every deal. Match the sales cost to the contract size.
Consumer growth tactics for enterprise. Viral loops and Product Hunt launches do not reach procurement committees. Enterprise sales is meetings, pilots, references and patience.
Ignoring who actually decides. In B2B the user, buyer and approver are often three different people with three different objections. Sell all three or lose to one.

Choose by evidence, not ambition: B2B suits founders with domain access and patience; B2C suits products with inherent virality and low friction. Pick one motion, build the company around it, and expand to the other only from strength.