SGFI 2 Fall 2010 - Startup Research (Meng & Alex) Oct 19 2010

8/8/2019 SGFI 2 Fall 2010 - Startup Research (Meng & Alex) Oct 19 2010

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MAKE SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT

What market are you pursuing? Is the target market bigenough? Is it growing or shrinking? What are the other characteristics of your market, and why do you care?How do you find data on your market? How do you

define your competitors? What are inexpensive tactics

to do custom market research, such as surveys? Howcan you determine if you can win in your targetmarket, and when do you decide to walk away?

@mengwong + @propellerfish20101019





ALEX MARQUEZPropellerfish





ENTREPRENEURSHIP the pursuit of opportunity without regard to

resources currently controlled



MNC

resources

Your

resources



MNC

resourcefulness

Your

resourcefulness



YOUR JOB





MAKESOME

NEWTHING

PEOPLE WANT

INNOVATION

But if it's new, how

do I know people

want it?



I'M SCRATCHING MY OWN ITCH

• Hey, at least I want it

• Linux

• Apache

• Firefox

• MySQL



MY SALIVA TASTES BETTER THAN YOURS

Artist• Guided by heart

• Broke

Graphic Designer• Guided by client

• Not Broke



WHAT KIND ARE YOU?

• Opportunistic: I detect untapped profit potential

• Visionary: argh wtf brb omg ftw



OOPS, I MADE AN ART PROJECT



OOPS, I REINVENTED THE WHEEL

I blame academia



CROSSING THE CHASM

• Geoffrey Moore

• Learn to “pivot”



• Peter Christy

• John Katsaros

GETTING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME



DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE

Fundamental Science

Technical Innovation

ProductizationUser Manual

White Paper

Sales BrochureAd Campaign

First Customer



SECRET SAUCE, PLEASE

• Industry Experience ++

• Domain Expertise ++

• I have a PhD + –

• I have an MBA – –

• I dropped out of college ++



COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

• Crunchbase.com. ListIO.com. LMGTFY.com.

• Don’t skate to where the puck is.Skate to where the puck will be.

• An invention must make sense in the world in which it iscompleted, not the world in which it was begun.



WHY YOU? WHY NOW?

• Are you riding somesort of disruptive wave?



WHY YOU? WHY NOW?

• Why didn’t somebody try this and succeed three years ago?

• Maybe they did, and they FAILED.



WE HAVE NO COMPETITION WE HAVE NO COMPETITION



DO IT BACKWARDS

Traditional Model

• Build the Product, v1

• Sell the Product, v1. No sales.

• Back to the Drawing Board

• Build the Product, v2.

•Fail.

The Epiphany

• Sell the Product, v1. No sales.

• Back to the Drawing Board

• Sell the Product, v2

• Build the Product, v2

• Win.



CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT

• See also Eric Ries,www.startuplessonslearned.com

http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/







HENRY FORD

IF I HAD ASKED MY CUSTOMERS

WHAT THEY WANTED,THEY WOULD HAVE SAID

A FASTER HORSE



ACTUALLY, MY SALIVA DOES

TASTE BETTER THAN YOURS

http://www.cultofmac.com/john-sculley-on-steve-jobs-the-full-interview-transcript/63295





SOMETIMES

YOU DO HAVE TO BUILD IT

• Show, Don’t Tell; Paper Prototyping only goes so far

• Business as Science Experiment

• Does a Market Exist?

• To Build the Minimum Viable Product,

• Follow Lean Startup Methodology



OBVIOUS CHECKPOINTS

• Is the market…

• big or small?

• growing or shrinking?

• rich or poor?

• eager or unwilling to buy?



ONE LAST THING

• ! ∀ User = Customer

• Users use

• Customers pay

• If you’re not the customer, you might be the product



THINK BIG

“best in class” vs “in a class of our own”

best

worst

new class



What is your market?

Everyonewithaniphone

Ehm…That’sprobablynotthecase.



In the words of Bill Cosby

“I don’t know the secret to

success but I do know the

secret to failure is trying to

please everybody.”

- Bill Cosby



The cheater’s guide to opportunity development

AhomeworkassignmentforyoutoworkonbetweennowandnextTuesday



1. Focus yourself with a few questions

Who’sgoingtohatethisthing?

Who’sgoingtouseitmostoen?

Who’sgoingtotelltheirfriendsaboutit?

Who’smostlikelytopayforit?

Yourtargetmarket

Everybody

Opera&ngdownheremeansyou’re…

…creaFngproductswithadisFnctuserinmind

…targeFngyourlimitedmarkeFng$moreeffecFvely

…morelikelytocreateagreatproductforasmallgroupof

peopleratherthananalrightproductforalotofpeople

…mostlikelytobetalkedabout,shared,etc.



2. Reach out to these people and talk to them about this

space

Thisdoesn’tneedtobeexpensive…

Skype,Surveymonkey,acebook,email,stoppingpeopleonthestreet,talkingtofriends

offriendsoffriends,campingoutinretail,interviewingpeoplewhouseyourwouldbe

compeFtors…Allofthesearefairgameintermsofmarketresearch



3. Define your target user based on what you hear

Psychographic

What do they

think?

Who are sick and tired of Apple and

see the Iphone as a cliché.

Demographic

Who are

the ?

Men between the ages of 25-35

with above average income

Behavioral

What do they

do?

They are looking for a new phone

and probably visit Gizmodo and

Inventorspot on a daily basis.



4. Define the issue in their life you intend to solve

Ourtargetuser,anIndependentmindedtechie,islookingforacoolgadgetthatisn’tapartofthemainstreamcultofApple.



5. Land your positioning in a single line

WearetoApplein2010

whatApplewastoIBMin1984.



6. Come to the next session with 100 things that exemplify

that idea outside of your category

theideasareallowedtobebad

Howdoyouhaveafewgoodideas?

Byhavingalotofbadideas.



7. And 20 starting names for your venture

lickr–photos.

Lanyrd–conferences.

Mint–personalfinance.

Gameplan–organizingsports.

Documents

SGFI 2 Fall 2010 - Startup Research (Meng & Alex) Oct 19 2010