From Boardrooms to App Stores: Lessons from Moving B2B to B2C
By Nicky Wake, Founder of Chapter 2 Dating, WidowsFire and SoberLove
After two decades growing a successful B2B business, I thought I knew how to build a brand. I’d taken Don’t Panic Events, my corporate events agency, from a spare bedroom operation to a £3 million turnover company employing 20 staff. Growth was steady, strategic, and largely organic. We built relationships over months and years, using a mix of networking, LinkedIn, Google research and reputation.
Then I made the leap to B2C and had to start all over again.
I launched Chapter 2 Dating in 2022, followed by WidowsFire and SoberLove, all part of a new niche dating ecosystem supporting people through life’s second chances, whether that’s dating after bereavement, dating while sober, and everything in between. These were brands rooted in personal experience and emotion. But what I quickly learned was that the skills and strategies I’d perfected in B2B didn’t easily translate. The transition was not only humbling, but it was also a crash course in an entirely different kind of business.
If you’re considering making a similar move from B2B into B2C, particularly in tech or consumer-facing platforms, here’s what I wish I’d known at the start.
You will need significantly more capital, earlier than you think
In B2B, I grew organically with very little upfront investment. That isn’t an option in B2C. If you’re launching a consumer-facing brand, particularly a tech product, visibility costs money and lots of it. Consumers don’t find new apps or products through word-of-mouth alone; they find them through paid media, PR, influencer partnerships, and visibility across multiple channels, all of which require a serious marketing budget.
We raised £60,000 initially just to get the basics in place, such as app development, PR, and paid ads. Since then, we’ve completed two additional rounds and raised a total of £250,000. We’re currently raising another £150,000 to fund the next stage of our growth and acquire our own tech platform. Without that runway, we would not have survived the first year.
It’s important to plan to raise capital early and raise more than you think you'll need. Without investment, you won’t have the reach to compete, no matter how strong your idea is.
Organic growth takes time and won’t be enough on its own
Coming from a B2B background, I was used to slower, relationship-led growth. In B2C, particularly in tech, you’re playing a different game. Growth expectations are faster, and users need immediate reasons to trust and engage with you. The reality is that organic acquisition is both slow and expensive in terms of effort. It’s useful long-term, but not sustainable at launch.
We initially tried every channel available: TV, radio, print, social, PR. Not everything worked. In fact, many of our early marketing efforts missed the mark. Over time, we identified the channels that brought meaningful conversions and stopped wasting time (and money) on the ones that didn’t.
So, my advice would be not to rely on organic marketing alone. Be prepared for a long process of trial and error. Track everything. Accept that some campaigns will fail and learn quickly what works.
Good PR is worth its weight in gold
One of the most effective tools we’ve had is press coverage. Whenever a media outlet tells my story, whether it's about bereavement, launching a startup, or finding love again, we see a sharp spike in user registrations. Consumers respond to authenticity and storytelling. A press mention doesn’t just create awareness; it builds trust, credibility and connection, especially for sensitive, emotionally driven platforms like ours.
Invest in PR early and focus on storytelling. If you’re a founder with a personal reason for what you're doing, use it. B2C is emotional; people buy into people before they buy into products.
Community matters, even if it’s not scalable at first
One of the most powerful strategies we’ve used is hosting live events - free, open gatherings that bring members of our dating communities together in person. These aren’t huge money-makers, but they serve a critical role: they humanise our brand, create word-of-mouth advocacy, and provide a space for feedback and connection. They’ve been a lifeline for users and for us.
Don’t underestimate the value of real-world connections. Build a community alongside your product. It might not be scalable in the short term, but it will deepen engagement and loyalty long term.
Prepare to relearn everything you thought you knew about business
In B2B, you can often get away with focusing on operations, delivery and reputation. In B2C, particularly in tech, the landscape is constantly shifting. You’ll need to get familiar with user experience design, digital funnels, retention data, app store optimisation, paid ad algorithms, and the finer points of mobile conversion rates. The learning curve is steep, but necessary.
Therefore, it’s important to surround yourself with people who know what you don’t. Learn quickly, and don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know. B2C growth is a digital sport, and you need to play by new rules.
Moving from B2B to B2C is not a pivot but more of a reinvention. It will stretch every assumption you’ve held about how to build and grow a business. But if you’re willing to commit, to fund properly, and to keep learning, it can also be the most meaningful, high-impact work of your life.
In my case, I didn’t just build an app; I built a support system for people rebuilding their lives. And that, to me, is worth every challenge that’s come with it.
If you're preparing to take the leap, don’t just think like a founder, think like your future customer. Because in B2C, it’s not the product that speaks first. It’s the story, the emotion, and the trust.
