I just got back from CES 2025, and while the tech was cool, my biggest takeaway was: there are a lot of companies in the world.

I often think this when a stranger adds me on LinkedIn. I think, “Hmm where does this person work? I’ve never heard of this company. Oh, they have 10,000 employees and 500,000 followers. This company is clearly a big deal in their niche.”

This is how I felt the entire time walking around CES.

Sure, there was Samsung, Nikon, LG, and some household names, but I didn’t recognize 95% of companies with booths. There were *entire industries and categories* I didn’t even know existed. All thriving, all with their mini ecosystems.

This is what Seth Godin calls being "famous to the family":

"Famous to the family is precisely the goal of just about all marketing now. You don't need to be Nike or Apple or GE. You need to be famous to the small circle of people you are hoping will admire and trust you."

Translation:

You don't have to be "famous" to everyone.

You don’t have to attract everyone.

You don’t have to sell to everyone.

The world is a big place. This was a consumer tech conference, so you could say it's quite specialized already. Beyond tech, there are dozens of conferences for every sub-category of every industry.

If you are only "famous" to your little corner of the world, you're golden.