This is my second post in a series based on our Building The Business Case. Building the Business Case is a high-level snapshot/checklist/workbook to provide a little guidance and direction for entrepreneurs.
Last week, I covered the first thee points. The next three items are:
Describe the market(s) for your product / technology / service (e.g. medical device, consumer, industrial):
Make sure you understand the type of market your product will be useful to. In the long run, this will save you a lot of time and effort. For instance, you wouldn’t want to waste your time trying to sell a circus elephant to a Wall Street stock broker. That just doesn’t make any sense.
Who will use your product / technology / service?:
This would be your end user, not necessarily the person purchasing your product/technology/service. Although you may not be selling your product directly to this person, you certainly have to consider their needs.
Who will purchase your product / technology / service?:
This is the actual person purchasing your product/technology/service, who may very well be buying the product for a customer’s use and may not actually be the one using the product. This is the person you have to appeal to.
I am reminded of the above two items every time I go to the grocery store with my children. Any box that has Lightning McQueen, Mario, or Buzz Lightyear on it attracts their attention and leads to pleas of “Please Mommy, can we get this? We’ll eat it, we promise!” Ever the diligent mother, I carefully read the label and assure myself that the product does, in fact, have some sound nutritional value before I deem if it is worthy of my purchase. In this scenario, I am the “purchaser” and my children are the “users”.
Next week I will be covering the next three points in Building The Business Case.