This document summarizes a seminar on market and competitor research. The seminar is part of a 10-part series on entrepreneurship held monthly until summer 2016. This session covers topics such as industry and market analysis, market segmentation, consumer behavior, and competitor analysis. The next seminar will focus on financial planning for startups and will feature a guest speaker from an angel investment firm. Participants can receive a certificate for attending at least 70% of the sessions.

1. MARKET AND COMPETITOR RESEARCH
Dr. Joachim Behrendt

2. INTRODUCTION
StartNowHow
• Open seminar series for active and prospective entrepreneurs
• 10 sessions on monthly basis until summer 2016
• Covers relevant theoretical and practical aspects of entrepreneurship
• Based on lecture „entrepreneurship“ @Bogazici University
• Based on experiences of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and consultants
• Each session with guest speaker (entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, etc.)
• Language: English / Turkish
• Thursdays 17.15h – 19.30h
• Next session: Thu 11. February 2016
• Topic: Financial Planning for Startups
• Certificate provided for participants joining at least 70% of the sessions
• Early registration for each session required (eventbrite), limited capacity!
• Priority for regular participants
Startnowhow – Seminar 507.01.2016 2

3. INTRODUCTION
StartNowHow - Seminar Topics (preliminary)
1. Thu 1.10.15: The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Turkey
2. Thu 15.10.15. Entrepreneurship as a profession
3. Thu 12.11.15: Opportunity recognition and evaluation
4. Thu 10.12.15: Planning, developing and testing a business model
5. Thu 7.1.16: Market and competitor research
6. Thu 11.2.16: Financial planning for startups
7. Thu 10.3.16: Digital Marketing planning and control
8. Thu 14.4.16: Funding the startup – stage financing for ventures
9. Thu 12.5.16: The investment process – pitching, negotiations and termsheet
10. Thu 9.6.16: Success and failure as an entrepreneur
Startnowhow – Seminar 507.01.2016 3

4. OPPORTUNITYEVALUATION
Classification Guidelines for the VOS Indicator
07.01.2016 4Startnowhow – Seminar 5
Source: Leach / Melicher, Entrepreneurial Finance, p.55

5. OPPORTUNITYEVALUATION
Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Necessary: Resource bundle that is valuable, rare and inimitable
• Resources are all inputs to production process – land, raw materials, machinery, other
fixed assets, patents, licenses, employee skills, management skills, knowledge, ...
• Resource bundle is valuable when it enables the firm to pursue opportunities, neutralize
threats, and offer products and services that are valued by customer
• Resource bundle is rare when it is possessed by few, if any, (potential) competitors
• Resource bundle is inimitable when replication of this combination of resources would
be difficult and / or costly for (potential) competitors.
• Source: Hisrich / Peters / Shepherd, Entrepreneurship, pp.67-70
07.01.2016 5Startnowhow – Seminar 5

6. MARKETRESEARCH
Industry and Market Analysis
07.01.2016 6Startnowhow – Seminar 5
• Industry and Market Analysis
• Market growth
• Markets in infant stage with high growth means a more promising opportunity
• Market size
• Markets with high (future) size is more interesting
• Market structure
• Concentrated vs. fragmented market – fragmented market offers more opportunities
for future growth and for gaining market share
• Margin analysis
• Is typical gross margin high or low – high gross margin means more exciting
opportunity
• Demographic analyses may be useful
• Separation into general (national) and local / regional analysis may be useful if target
market is local / regional (see previous slide)
• Inability to define target market in established terms (e.g sector definitions according to
chambers of commerce) may mean „very innovative“ (not possible to define market, or
too many markets can be defined), but first impression for investors is „very risky“
• Sources of information: Public information, typically governmental statistics, statistics of
chambers of commerce and industry associations

7. MARKETRESEARCH
Market Information Needs - Example
07.01.2016 7Startnowhow – Seminar 5
Source: Hisrich / Peters / Shepherd, Entrepreneurship, p.196

8. MARKETRESEARCH
Market Segmentation and Customer Analysis
07.01.2016 8Startnowhow – Seminar 5
• Market segmentation
• How is the industry currently segmented?
• How will the market be segmented in the future?
• Problem with developing markets: assumpitons necessary about future market
segmentation (example: mobile phone market in early stage – forecast market
segmentation into smartphones vs. simple mobiles possible?)
• Analysis of market entry barriers
• Target groups
• B2C markets: Consumer behavior characteristics (demographic / psychographic /
geographic information) help separating target groups
• B2B markets: Knowledge of industry, size of firms, frequency of purchase, price
sensitivity, organizational contact
• The more details you know about your customer, the more promising the venture
• VC: „The most impressive entrepreneur is the one who comes to my office not only
knowing the customer in terms of demographics and psychographics, but can also
name who that customer is by address, phone number, and e-mail address.“
• Sources of information: More difficult, sometimes own market research necessary– but
avoid „paralysis by analysis“

9. MARKETRESEARCH
Consumer Behavior and Market Segmentation
07.01.2016 9Startnowhow – Seminar 5
Source: Kuratko, Entrepreneurship – Theory, Process, Practice, p.296

10. MARKETRESEARCH
Consumer Behavior and Market Segmentation
07.01.2016 10Startnowhow – Seminar 5
Source: Kuratko, Entrepreneurship – Theory, Process, Practice, p.298

11. MARKETRESEARCH
Competitor Analysis
07.01.2016 11Startnowhow – Seminar 5
• Necessary information about existing / potential competitors
• Current strategy of each primary competitor
• Products / services
• Pricing strategy
• Marketing and distribution strategies
• B2B: Key customers
• Sales, market share
• Possible reaction to new market entry
• Strenghts and weaknesses
• Established analysis tool: Porter‘s Five Forces Model
• Sources of information:
• Public information (incl. Web, newspaper, databases, published financial statements,
analyst reports)
• Market research, e.g. Contact to sources of public information
• Internal competitor information (example: job interviews with potential employees)

12. MARKETRESEARCH
Consumer Behavior and Market Segmentation
07.01.2016 12Startnowhow – Seminar 5
Source: Hisrich / Peters / Shepherd, Entrepreneurship, p.226

13. MARKETRESEARCH
Porter‘s Five Competitive Forces
07.01.2016 13Startnowhow – Seminar 5
Taken from: Volkmann / Tokarski / Grünhagen, Entrepreneurship in a European Perspective, p.132

14. OUTLOOK
StartNowHow - Outlook
• Today‘s materials will be made available to participants for downloading
• Next Seminar: „Financial Planning for Startups“
• Guest Speaker: Ebru Gürses (Partner, BIC Angel Investments)
• Thursday, 11.2.2016, 17.15 – 19.30h
• Don‘t forget to register early (eventbrite) - capacity 50 people!
• Priority for participants / registrants from today‘s session
• General rule: Allocation of seats according to participation
• Regular participation = certificate (70% participation)
Startnowhow – Seminar 507.01.2016 14

15. SUPPORT
StartNowHow – Looking for Help
Startnowhow – Seminar 507.01.2016 15

16. BIC ANGEL INVESTMENTS
Dr. Joachim Behrendt
Phone: +90 212 328 1939
Fax: +90 212 328 1933
www.bicangels.com
http:/twitter.com/joachimbehrendt
http://tr.linkedin.com/pub/joachim-behrendt/18/706/a7a
Email: j.behrendt@bicangels.com