Gen Z isn’t waiting for your customer journey

While you're perfecting your customer service surveys, Gen Z is building businesses on TikTok. While you're optimizing your onboarding flow, they're already three side hustles deep and comparing you to apps that actually get it.

‍
The brutal truth? Most companies are fighting yesterday's war with tomorrow's customers.

At a recent Inspiration Day curated by nexxworks on serving a new generation of business leaders, industry leaders faced an uncomfortable reality check. The companies winning aren't the ones with perfect strategies—they're the ones gutsy enough to admit their current approach is probably broken.

The question that cut deepest: Are we meeting customers where they are, or where we think they should be?

Plot twist: Your customer journey started without you

Forget everything you know about customer acquisition. That entrepreneurial customer you're trying to court? Their journey didn't start when they filled out your form. It started months ago in a Discord server, evolved through YouTube tutorials and crystallized during a 2 AM brainstorming session with their phone.

‍
By the time they knock on your digital door, they've already made 80% of their decision. You're not guiding their journey—you're auditioning for the final scene.

This insight should terrify traditional businesses and energize the smart ones. There's a massive opportunity hiding in those early, messy, experimental moments where real relationships are forged.

Gen Z isn't lazy. They're navigating smartly through a broken system.

Stop calling them entitled. Stop blaming their "short attention spans." Gen Z (in business) are running circles around traditional career paths and here's why that matters for business.
YoungOnes' Davey Helmer broke it down with data that should make every traditional employer sweat:

‍
The new reality:
• They work with 7 different employers per year on average
• They're digital natives who spot fake authenticity from a mile away
• They want autonomy and purpose, not your (grand)father's job security

‍
These aren't lazy kids job-hopping for fun. They're entrepreneurs in disguise, managing clients, finances and admin long before anyone calls them "business owners." Freelancing isn't a fringe behavior anymore—it's an entrepreneurial mindset that's reshaping the entire economy.

‍
They're your future B2B customers, and they're already more sophisticated than half your current client base.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast (And Gen Z for lunch)

Pieterjan Verhaeghen from Bolt dropped some truth bombs about what actually moves younger customers. Spoiler: it's not your product features.

‍
Bolt doesn't just sell renewable energy, they sell belonging. Through radical transparency, local community ownership and what Pieterjan calls "activism with a smile," they've cracked the code on values-driven commerce.

‍
The kicker? Culture isn't marketing fluff anymore. It's your competitive advantage. Gen Z customers don't just buy products; they join movements. If your brand doesn't stand for something they can get behind, they'll find one that does.

One browser bug = 50% revenue drop (Enter the unforgiving economy)

Nicolas Maes from Liantis learned this lesson the hard way. A single Safari browser glitch tanked their conversion rate by 50%.

‍

But instead of just fixing the bug, they fixed their entire approach:
• Created a Gen Z Board with actual veto power over campaigns
• Put real entrepreneurs in their ads instead of stock photo models
• Obsessed over speed and authenticity in every touchpoint

‍
The result? Real market share growth. Not from bigger ad budgets, but from actually listening to the people they wanted to serve.

‍

The lesson stings: Gen Z has zero tolerance for friction. Your "good enough" is their deal-breaker.

You're not in a specific industry anymore. You're in the attention economy.

Opening speaker Martijn Aslander probably delivered the day's most uncomfortable truth: traditional businesses are lying to themselves about what industry they're actually in.
‍

You think you're in a specific business? Wrong. You're in information. You think you're in products? Wrong. You're in trust. You think you're in services? Wrong. You're in attention.
‍

His challenge hit like a cold shower: "If you're still working in documents, in silos and in email, you're already irrelevant to the networked professional."

‍
While companies debate digital transformation, individuals are using AI and personal knowledge systems to bypass traditional institutions entirely. The question isn't whether you'll adapt—it's whether you'll still be relevant when you do.

The uncomfortable questions smart companies are finally asking

The day's energy was raw and honest. No sugar-coating, no corporate speak.

Just leaders finally voicing what keeps them up at night:

• Are we moving fast enough? (Probably not)
• Do our values actually align with what the next generation expects? (Maybe, maybe not)
• Can we compete with startups that ship features faster than we hold meetings? (mic drop)

‍
These aren't signs of weakness. They're signs of companies finally ready to evolve instead of just talking about it.

The bottom line: Your next customer isn't coming to you

The most successful companies tomorrow will be the ones who understand this shift today: customer loyalty is won or lost before prospects ever see your logo.

‍
Your future customer is building their business on platforms you've never heard of, using tools you don't understand, with values you might not share. They're not going to adapt to your world—you need to show up in theirs.

‍
The defining question: Are you already there when your next customer starts their journey? Or are you still waiting for them to find you?

‍
Because here's the truth nobody wants to say out loud: they might not be looking.klh

if you’re interested in designing a tailor-made program for your leadership team,

👉 Reach out and we’ll figure out what that could look like, together.

‍

‍