The year was 2014, and a little-known messaging app had just launched. Slack wasn’t the first workplace communication tool, but in just a few years, it became the default. It didn’t rely on a massive advertising budget, it just became known among the right people.
This is the secret of niche fame. Most companies don’t need global recognition to win. They need to own a specific audience so completely that, within that world, they are the only choice.
In school, being the most well-known person in your year brings a level of status that feels just as powerful as being a Hollywood celebrity. The same is true for businesses that crack their niche. Winning a niche is cheaper, faster, and often more profitable than trying to be known by everyone.
Some brands have perfected this – achieving near-total recognition within their specific communities while being virtually unknown to the general public. These companies enjoy all the benefits of fame without spending billions on mass-market advertising.
Article Overview
How Niche Fame Works
Famous brands win by becoming the easiest choice.
No one questions why a start-up uses Stripe for payments. No one asks why a designer works in Figma. These companies attract users who become part of a lasting community.
This is the key to niche dominance:
- Extreme awareness in the right circles – To their target audience, they are the only brand that matters.
- A strong identity and sense of belonging – Customers see these brands as part of their identity.
- A social proof loop – The more people use them, the more they become the default.
Some of the strongest examples of this are highly influential within their niche, even if they aren’t widely known.
Extreme Examples of Cult-Like Recognition
Hugging Face (AI & ML Engineers)
- Fame in Niche: Nearly 100% among machine learning developers.
- Fame in General Public: Below 5%.
- How It Happened: Hugging Face became the go-to platform for AI model sharing and collaboration by creating essential tools for the AI community.
You may be surprised if you got the Hugging Face LinkedIn page to see that they have almost 1 million followers. Around the same as Stripe!
Obsidian (Productivity & Knowledge Management Nerds)
- Fame in Niche: Nearly 100% among serious PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) users.
- Fame in General Public: Below 2%.
- How It Happened: Obsidian focused on deep engagement with its niche, thriving on word-of-mouth within productivity circles.
Liquid Death (Edgy Health-Conscious Millennials)
- Fame in Niche: Nearly 100% among alternative culture fans.
- Fame in General Public: Below 5%.
- How It Happened: A water brand that acts like a punk rock label, Liquid Death built a fanatical following without traditional marketing by branding water as rebellious.
These brands gained recognition without relying on Super Bowl ads. They became widely known within their social scene. The social proof effect snowballed, and they became the obvious choice for anyone entering the space.
Why Niche Fame Beats Mass Fame for Start-Ups
Getting famous among a specific audience has all the benefits of mainstream fame, without the cost. Here’s what it get you:
- Automatic trust – When everyone around you is using a product, people adopt it without hesitation.
- Lower customer acquisition costs – These brands let their niche audience do the marketing for them.
- Higher loyalty and evangelism – Users actively promote them.
Take Figma. Before Figma, Adobe ruled the design world. Instead of trying to outspend Adobe, Figma made itself indispensable to young, collaborative designers. By the time Adobe realised the threat, Figma was already the standard.
Or Shopify. It didn’t try to fight Amazon. It became the champion of small businesses. Today, when someone wants to start an independent online store, Shopify is the assumption.
How to Build Niche Fame
Winning brands aren’t necessarily the biggest; they are the ones that dominate conversations in the right circles.
- Find your social scene. Pick a community where you can be the most recognised name.
- Create a story that sticks. Every famous brand has a clear, repeatable narrative. Liquid Death is water that feels like beer. Figma is design in the cloud.
- Flood the niche. Get so embedded in your audience’s world that new entrants assume you’re the default. If you’re everywhere they look, the decision is made for them.
The goal is to become the most recognisable name with your customer segment.
The Endgame of Niche Fame
Successful start-ups focus on becoming widely recognised. They build communities and cultural relevance around their products.
As Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, once wrote: “It’s better to have 100 people who love you than a million who just sort of like you.”
Start-ups that achieve niche fame become impossible to ignore.
