Consulting Services
Marketing & Sales
Market Definition & Dynamics
Developing an accurate, comprehensive understanding of market sizes, segmentation and dynamics for products that a company develops (or plans to develop) may seem intuitive and straightforward. However, many early and mid-stage companies lack the resources, experience and expertise required to conduct the research and analysis needed to develop these insights.
Creating a baseline market overview is just the starting point. This data and information needs to be consistently updated, expanded and evaluated as most nascent markets adapt and change at a rapid pace. Utilizing market data to help inform product, sales and marketing strategy is a practice that is too often overlooked or omitted based on competing priorities.
Establishing a process and focusing on tying strategy “back to the data” helps accelerate learning that enables strategy modification, growth and the ultimate success of the company.
Product Requirements & Development
“Build it and they will come (or buy)” is a high risk product development strategy. Who are "they" and why will they buy? Establishing answers to those two questions by engaging potential customers, developers of complimentary products/technologies and other market influencers through interactive market research activities takes a lot of the guess work out of the equation.
Technology markets are competitive and can change overnight. Creating product requirements and developing technologies in a vacuum without continuously gathering input from the market can burn precious time, capital and resources. In many cases, this approach also yields a product that does not end up meeting customer needs by the time it is ready to launch.
Most of the information you need to gather from the market can be obtained for free – it just requires time and commitment. The impacts of incorporating this data into product development strategy can be substantial so merit the dedication of resources and focus of the organization.
Go-to-Market Planning & Execution
Determining go-to-market and channel strategy is one of the most critical decisions that early and mid-stage companies make. The overall business model, economics, internal team and company resources need to be aligned to facilitate execution against this strategy so making major changes or revamping the approach entirely can be extremely difficult and in some cases, impossible (due to time and capital constraints).
Creating and testing initial hypotheses with potential target customers and partners is a useful exercise to help validate and solidify go-to-market strategy.
Developing product launch plans, budgets, collateral, content and other supporting materials required to equip the direct sales force as well as partners for success is a complex, resource intensive task. Taking an initiative + budget allocation-based approach can help identify where to prioritize focus and spend based on expected outcomes and pre-established success metrics.
