Defining the market

defining_the_market.txt

Defining the market
 - what are you?
   - entering existing market - higher performance
   - creating new market
   - re-segment market as low cost player - low end customers
	you need to have a plan on how to scale
   - resegment market as niche player - go after core profitable segment

Defining your market
	what are their benefits?
	who is it for?
	who are your competitors?
	how are they using it?
	what is their demographics?
	analyze top of the pyramid users/buyers?
	who are you competing?

Sizing the market (TAM) Total addressable market
	what is the actual market size?
	traditional  research - idc, garter, forrester
	google seaerch, wikipedia, slideshare
	customer surveys
	SEC filings - read risks
	whitepapers
 - Build up competitor share & growth
	sales per person, presence, financial stability
	pricing(ARPU, avg order size & frequency)
	talk to key people in industry
	SEC filing, annual reports
	Quantcast, Compete
 - New markets:
	Talk to people in industry, Linked, VCs
	Quick Surveys
	talk to customer visionaries
		find potential active visionary customers
	Survey Monkey
	Targeted surveys on FB
	Develop a lead list: Splash page with email, signup, minimal Adwords, wordpress microsite, A/B test creatives
	Fivesecondtest.com, Google Form
	Create a very basic splash page

ToDo's
	create your hypothesis(need, advantage, why you?), price, rough GTM
	test hypothesis talk to actual customers - is it a real pain point?
	iterate (as many times as needed)
	size market coming at multiple angles - analyze major differences, H/M/L scenarios with real risks
	Microsite to validate - make measureable
	[email protected]

STARTUP RESEARCH (Chak Kong Soon, Managing Partner Stream Global)
Overall life cycle
	From idea to plan
		business idea/career decision
		business plan
		team and company creation
	Research these:
	- product or service demand
	- product or service finalisation
	- pricing research(non-linear pricing) "be creative"
	- business model research
		where do you get the money
		who's going to pay
	- competitor research
		what do they do?
		how they are doing it?
	- location research
		if you have a retail option
	- market size research
	- serviceable market research
		acknowledge the source
	From plan to action
	From action to results
	[email protected]

Design Pitfalls
	I Competing Elements
		Rules of Thumb
			No more than 3 levels of priority
			Use rscale achanges alignment and visual intensity
	II Column Soup
		be careful with grids
	III Font Anxiety
	Stick with simple font choices

Researching about your business is a perpetual task
Need to know where you are going or how big you can be
Sales vs Product Oriented Businesses
Limited amout of capital Singapore (750k SGD)
Always assume idea will not work/morph/change. Hence, research have to be done repeatedly
Even if you have remote success, you are not there yet

Competition
	Idea: New or Differentiated?
	Competition: Direct? Indirect? Startups or Big Corps? Stealth?
	Have they launched? Traction? Pivoting/Dying? Raised financing? Team?
	Have you tried their product/service? met their team?
	Keep them in view if they are mediocre

Geography
	Mindset to stay put or to go
	Regional(MESEA), China or India
	Global(USA)
	Start from where? Then which country next? ANd where else next?
	ASEAN is harder(fragmented)
	Homogenous markets are easier if you know what you are doing

Market Size
	Target customers/users top down then bottom up
	List Assumptions
	Test assumptions through customer development
	Assum assumptions are still wrong
	Go to Market Strategy
	Customer Acquisition vs. Life Time Value of a customer
		http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/how-to-estimate-lifetime-value/
		http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/how-can-you-improve-ltv-and-cac/
	Forecasting (P&L - Cashflow)

Books
	The Lean Startup
9 Deadliest Startup Sins
	Assuming you know what the customer wants
	The "I know what features to build" flaw
	Focusing on the launch date
	Emphasizing eecution instead of testing, learning, and iteration
	Writing a business plan that doesn't allow for trial and error
	Consufing traditional job titles with a startups' needs
	Executing on a sales and marketing plan
	Prematurely scaling your company based on a presumption of success
	Management by crisis, which leads to a death spiral