What is B2B? (Business-to-Business)

B2B is selling your product to other companies rather than to individual people.

How does B2B work?

A committee buys, not a person. You run a sales motion with a champion inside the account, a budget holder above them, and security or legal in the way. Contracts are annual, prices are negotiated, and a single deal can be worth more than a thousand consumer signups.

Why does B2B matter?

It shapes everything downstream. Long cycles mean you need cash to survive the gap between pitch and payment. Concentrated revenue means losing one account can move the whole number. The upside is retention: companies churn far less than consumers once a tool is embedded in their workflow.

Where did B2B come from?

The term spread with the dot-com era, when online marketplaces needed a label to separate business buyers from shoppers, though the practice is as old as commerce itself.

How do you sell B2B well?

Pick a narrow buyer and learn their week. Sell the outcome the champion gets promoted for, not your feature list. Track annual contract value and pipeline, not signups. Expect procurement, because the last 10% of a deal is paperwork. And do not run a B2C playbook against a buying committee.

Bottom line: B2B trades speed for size, and the deal is closed by a committee that will never see your landing page.

For more startup terminology, visit startupdefinitions.com.