MIT-CHIEF Training Session 1: Know your Market and Customers
•
3 likes•1,400 views
Have a startup idea? What’s your beachhead market? What’s the total addressable market (TAM)? Have you created a customer persona? These are key concepts that you must address thoroughly before moving ahead with prototyping. Based on a rigorous and structured framework for entrepreneurship from Bill Aulet, the managing director of Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, this interactive workshop will provide you insights on how to conduct effective market research and identify target customers. It is the first part of MIT-CHIEF’s Disciplined Entrepreneurship Training Series - “Building bricks for the Great Wall”, which teaches you all you need to know about how to build an innovation-driven startup.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to MIT-CHIEF Training Session 1: Know your Market and Customers
Similar to MIT-CHIEF Training Session 1: Know your Market and Customers (20)
More from Elaine Chen
More from Elaine Chen (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
MIT-CHIEF Training Session 1: Know your Market and Customers
- 1. DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING SERIES Know your Market and Customers April 2016 Elaine Chen
- 2. What we are going to do in this session 0. Talk amongst yourselves 1. Disciplined Entrepreneurship Overview 2. Who is your customer 3. Primary market research (PMR) 2
- 3. 0. Talk amongst yourselves • Pair up 1x1 with someone you don’t know • Ask each other these 3 q’s (5 minutes) – Name, affiliation, and what you are looking to get out of this program – Sector interest (e.g. Consumer electronics, Wearables, Healthcare, Education, Food, Arts, Industrial automation, Machine Learning, AR/VR applications, Social networks… whatever you are interested in) – One embarrassing thing about yourself • Do it again with someone new (5 minutes) • Do it one more time with a third person (5 minutes) 3
- 4. Sharing! 4
- 6. 6 Being an entrepreneur is the new “cool” thing. As a result, demand for entrepreneurship is blowing up!
- 7. 7 But is there sufficient understanding of the topic? Hmmm….
- 8. 8 Spirit + Skills Successful Entrepreneurship Successful entrepreneurship requires people willing to work hard and work smart.
- 9. DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEURSHIP • Framework • Highly iterative • Toolbox 9 Provides a common language:
- 11. Six themes / 24 steps 11
- 12. 12 Planning to launch a startup Who said disciplined entrepreneurship was easy?
- 13. 13 Planning to launch a startup Effort and resources needed to launch a successful new venture Who said disciplined entrepreneurship was easy?
- 14. You could just build the product in secret then unveil it with a BIG BANG! 14 This cost over $100M R&D over 10 years. Don’t make this mistake!
- 15. This is what we want to help you do. A little thinking up front can save years and millions of $$
- 16. 2. Who is your customer 16
- 18. 18
- 19. 19
- 20. Example team: ProForm Fitness 20
- 21. Step 1: Segmentation 21 Chain Gyms (Discount/Mains tream) Chain Gyms (High end) Varsity Athletic Weight Rooms (College) Professional Weight Rooms Home Gyms Rehab Facilities Apartment/Hotel / Offices Olympic Training Facilities High End Non Chain Gyms Examples • YMCA, Gold’s Gym, Anytime Fitness, Planet Fitness, etc • Equinox, LA Fitness, David Barton, New York Sports Club • School Facilities • Team Facilities • Home Gyms • Private Training Facilities • Home Gym • Joint Ventures (etc), Brigham Young Women’s Hospital (etc) • Finance/Consultin g Offices • High end apartments/hotels • Training complex in CO, NC, etc • Velocity sports performanc e, etc Pros • Market size • Expand to other locations • Prioritize top of the line • Expand to other locations • More money • Care about athlete improvement, health, and safety • Easier to expand to follow on markets • Care about athlete improvement, health, and safety • Easier to expand to follow on markets • Prioritize safety • Wealthy • Large market • Expand to other locations • Prioritize safety and patient improvement • Progress tracking is huge • Some not supervised – safety is important • Expand to other locations • Care about athlete improvement, health, and safety • Easier to expand to other markets • Care about athlete improveme nt, health and safety. Cons • Value Proposition • Limited funds • Value Proposition • Limited funds • Contacts • Difficult to expand to other colleges • Contacts • Difficult to expand to other facilities • Want things for free • Difficult to expand • Funds may be limited • Patients do not typically lift heavy weights • Not a main part of business • More serious athletes do not frequent these locations • Contacts • Market size • Difficult to expand to other locations • Trainers usually there to spot and track Motivations (for economic buyer) • Money – bringing in new customers, retaining old ones • Money – bringing in new customers, retaining old ones • Image • Athlete Improvement • Recruiting athletes • Athlete Improvement • Safety • Athlete Improvement • Money • Athlete improvement • Less time spent monitoring and tracking patients • Money – Attracting customers or employees • Happiness/well being of employees • Athlete Improvement • Money – Attracting new customers • Athlete Improveme nt Regulatory Climate • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated • Regulated Competitive Environment • Highly Competitive • Highly Competitive • Highly Competitive • Highly Competitive • Highly Competitive • Less competitive • Highly Competitive • Highly Competitive • Highly Competitiv e Early Adopters • No • Yes • Yes • Yes • Varies • No • No • Yes • Yes BHM
- 22. Step 2: Beachhead Market 22 • High End Chain Gyms – Pros • Less concerned with equipment price • More concerned with image • Easier to expand into other locations • Easier to expand into follow on markets • Large Market Size – Cons • Current lack of contacts • Equipment will have to be extremely good quality/high end • Value proposition – improving athletes isn’t their main motivation • Other Potential Markets – Varsity Athletics Programs/Professional Programs – Home Gyms – Mainstream/Budget Gyms
- 23. Step 3: End user profile: Chris 23 • Full-Time Structural Engineer • 25 Years Old • Previous High School Athlete • Lifts at least 4 times per week • Brings notepad to gym
- 24. Step 4: TAM 24
- 25. Step 5: Primary Market Research / Persona 25
- 26. Be careful who you interview and what personas you build • For B2C, the economic buyer is often the same as the end user – 1 set of interviews can yield tremendous data • For B2B, you often have to interview multiple personas before you can get a clear picture of the needs and wants for the company and for each persona. Embrace complexity. • Either way: Recruit carefully! Qualitative research requires laser-focused targeting. 26
- 27. 3. PMR / Interviews 27
- 28. versus Qualitative Quantitative Primary Market Research: A Bird’s Eye View
- 29. 4 go-to PMR techniques 29 Detailed Interviews Observation Immersion Digital Experimentation
- 30. Sausage making: The actual interview 30
- 31. Technique cheat sheet • Establish rapport before you begin • Ask short, open ended questions • Let the subject lead • Use active listening techniques • Talk less – listen well • Pay attention to non-verbal cues 31 Remember: The goal is to listen and observe – not to sell!
- 32. Simulation: Bluesmart PMR 32 Imagine this is your idea. Your mom says she likes it. You made some progress, and now you have to decide whether to quit your day job and raise $ to start this company. And these are some possible engineering features. Questions: • Is there a market need for this product? • Who might buy this product? • Are these good features? • Which features are “more equal” than others?
- 33. Simulation • Goal of the interview: To validate market interest in a smart rollerboard for frequent business travelers. – Figure out what are the biggest pain points experienced by your interview partner – See if any of your proposed solutions solve those pain points 33 • Rules of engagement: Stick to these words. – “Tell me about the last time you…” – “Tell me about how you…” – “You said xxx. Tell me more?” – “Why?” – “Why not?” – Beware confirmation bias!
- 34. Sharing! 34
- 35. PMR, Procter and Gamble style • Expensive (hundreds of thousands of $ and up) • Long (3-9 months) • Often done in conjunction with an agency => High quality insights at a high price 35
- 36. PMR, startup style • Cheap • Fast • DIY. NOT rocket science. You can do it. => Scrappy, but helps you iterate in real time! 36
- 37. Step by step guide to startup style PMR • Articulate 3-5 hypotheses to be tested • Define characteristics of research subjects • Make a list of 10 people to call • Ask for 10-15 minutes of their time • Face to face if possible, video chat/phone if not • Interpret results, adjust hypotheses • Rinse and repeat
- 38. Summary • Not rocket science • Practice makes perfect • Do it!
- 39. Handouts • “Talking to Humans” E-book - Giff Constable • PMR Primer - Elaine Chen • Templates and samples – Elaine Chen – Research protocol template – Sample discussion guide – Sample recruitment questionnaire – Sample photo release form – Interview notes template – Persona template – Example persona project – “The Science of Clean” (15.S16, 2H 2012) 39