You had a great idea, but you saw it hit the market while you were still in preparation.
Now you feel like your entrepreneurial journey has ended before it even begins. Read on and find out how to turn the disappointment into a thriving business.
Being the Best is More Important than Being First
Although seeing someone else beat you to the market with your idea can be a nightmare, this doesn’t mean you should give up on your dream: Facebook, Google, Starbucks, and Spotify are good examples of that. They were not the first to get to market, but they are the best in their industry. They saw what was happening in the marketplace, came out to the market, and did it better.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re first to market. It matters how you attack that marketplace.” – Fred Cary, Co-founder of IdeaPros
It is all a matter of perspective. If you are determined to achieve your goals, having a competitor in the market can be a huge advantage. Simply put, if you have someone already educating the customer base about the PROBLEM that exists, then you can focus your time and energy on what makes you so unique.
Understand the Market
To be able to attack the market, you need to understand it first. That is why one of the first things we do at IdeasPro is RESEARCH.
You shouldn’t build your app or even make a business plan before you have done some serious research. Though its value is immeasurable, A research report can be costly, but it can also be done on a smaller negotiated budget too.
When you analyze your market, you want to answer these questions:
- Who are your major competitors?
- How do they go about their business?
- What sales channels do they use?
- How do they grow their customer base?
On our blog, you can find quite a few topics about ways to do research that will give the results you want.
Understand the Consumer
After you have learned who your customers are, you will want to know more about what they want. At IdeaPros, we always recommend customer surveys as the next step. As long as you have 100 – 200 people from around the country, that’s enough to give you a legitimate look at the potential marketplace.
You will get feedback, and you then can see what you need to do to make something that your consumers will love. Don’t forget to look at the bad reviews that your competitors have because it will help you offer something better.
“There were thousands and thousands of coffee shops before Starbucks came around, and they all had coffee, beans, and water. So Starbucks found the consumers’ demand that created something besides coffee — people don’t go to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks, they go to Starbucks.” – Fred Cary, Co-founder of IdeaPros
Test Market Validity
At IdeaPros, we use the LaunchPad to test the marketability of a product and gauge public reaction to new products. When a partner is ready to go to market, we put them on the Ideapros LaunchPad.
You can’t buy anything there YET, but you can give your opinion about the products/apps, secure discounts when the time comes to buy, and help other entrepreneurs just like you to understand their consumers better. You can win some cool prizes, too!
Pivot Your Product
Before you’ve done the research report and consumer surveys, you had an idea what your potential consumers want. Now you KNOW what they want. The next step is to use that knowledge and adjust your product to their expectations and make it better.
Find the sweet spot, offer something your competitors didn’t, and correct the mistakes they may have made. If you want your product to succeed, you will have to be flexible and change your message to the one that inspires action in your customers.
“Don’t just go out and buy a bunch of stuff. Test the market, collect email addresses, starting with the roots and when you’re ready to go live, make sure you have 50,000 email addresses or more so that when you do go live, it’s going to be a great opening day.” – Fred Cary, Co-founder of IdeaPros
If you have any questions or doubts about getting your idea to market, we will be happy to help. We only accept 1% of the applications we receive, but we do want all the entrepreneurs out there to succeed. Read more on IdeaPros blog or fill out the application form, and we will get back to you soon.
IdeaPros is a Super Venture Partner™ who has the resources, experience, and tools to help you at this step or any step in the entrepreneurial journey.
We partner with entrepreneurs at any stage and who are ready to invest in their idea. Apply for an interview and let’s explore partnering together.