Businesses Should Own Their Customers
Platforms should strengthen customer relationships, not sit in the middle of them.
One of the strangest things happening in software is businesses willingly handing over their customer relationships to platforms.
A business spends years building trust.
They advertise. They answer emails. They provide great service. They earn recommendations.
Then they hand the relationship to a third party.
The platform controls communication.
The platform controls discovery.
Sometimes the platform even promotes competitors to those same customers.
That never sat right with me.
If a business brings the customer, the business should own the relationship.
Software should strengthen the connection between a business and its customers, not sit in the middle of it.
Platforms are useful. They can help businesses get started. They can reduce friction. They can handle complicated infrastructure.
But there's a line.
The moment a platform starts treating your customers as its product, it's time to leave.
Small businesses deserve direct relationships.
Email lists.
Customer histories.
Conversations.
Trust.
Those things should belong to the business that earned them.
Platforms should be tools.
Not landlords.