Converting Technology to Wealth Workshop Module 2 Market Research

1. Converting Technology to Wealth Workshop Module 2 Market Research

2. Define the Opportunity • You don’t know your customer as well as you think you do • Ready, fire, aim is a sure way to find surprises, usually not good surprises • Market validation is a continuous process based in direct connections to your customers and partners

3. Validate the Marketplace • Market validation • Know your customer • Know what is important to the customer • Explore the pain • Envision the solution • Find the quality influencers, get the product right • Establish credibility

4. Research Stages • Project definition • Project execution • Project analysis • Project results dissemination

5. Project Definition • Understand the internal dynamics of the stakeholders • Understand the goal of the research • Understand what decision is being made • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company • Understand the commercialization options

6. Project Definition Exercise (30 minutes) • Define the goals of the research • List key questions to be answered or key information that needs to be gathered • Try to guess who will know or where you will be able to find the information sought

7. From Lab To Business Market Research Methods

8. Gathering Information • Primary Research • Internal Primary Research • External Primary Research • Secondary Data Collection • Internal Sources • External Private Sources • External Government Sources

9. Primary Market Research • Creates data through interviews and other direct feedback mechanisms • Addresses the specific technology and information needs • Relies on the skill of the interviewer or questionnaire design • Delivers real-time feedback to the researcher

10. Listen to the Voice of the Customer • Understand what is really important • Understand customer motivations • Understand the buying cycle and how decisions are made • Provide a sanity check to the internal perceptions of the technology

11. Getting Feedback on Benefits • Expected level of quality of the product • Linear performance quality improvements may not be enough • Exciter qualities can be the real sellers • may not be the obvious ones to the technology developer • may become expected qualities over time

12. Internal Primary Sources • Interview the inventor or analogue • Brainstorm with other internal technical experts • Brainstorm with the sales staff that have direct interaction with customers • Beta test the technology with internal customers

13. Internal Primary Research • Benefits • Interviewees have a keen understanding of the technology and its possibilities • Research is fast and inexpensive • Researcher gains an understanding of how the technology fits into the internal goals and product mix • Drawbacks • Can be myopic and rely on unfounded market assumptions

14. External Primary Sources • Collecting data directly from the marketplace through: • Phone Surveys • Mail Surveys • E-mail and Newsgroups • Focus Groups • In-depth Customer Interviews

15. In-Depth Interview Advantages • Provides background data on the marketplace • Answers specific questions • Ensures the right experts are contacted • Examines corporate buying behavior • Identifies industry trends

16. In-Depth Interview Advantages • Follows a theme with one respondent from beginning to end • Has a flexible structure that can be modified as learning occurs • Topics can be expanded upon • Identifies other industry players to contact

17. Goals of In-Depth Interviewing • Use open ended questions and conversations to uncover: • perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes • Understand the motivating buying factors • Qualitative data that informs the quantitative research

18. Interviewer Qualities • Good interviewing skills • good listening, clear communication • An eye for detail without getting lost in the trees • Ability to appear genuinely interested • Interest in the subject and the interview results

19. Learn the Customer’s Language • Never assume you know what they are talking about • Question every nebulous term • Don’t be afraid of asking the obvious • They are the experts, acknowledge that and use it to your advantage

20. Types of Responders • Yeasayers - only tell you the good • Ask them to pin down why it is good • What would a benefit mean to them? • Naysayers - only tell you the bad • Ask why a benefit or feature is not important • Ask for suggestions on how to make it better • Use them to identify barriers and improvements to the technology

21. Telephone Interviewing • It can be the right tool when: • interviewing busy executives • your interview population is geographically dispersed • interviewing people for their knowledge • speed is important • You hear the voice of the customer

22. Primary Market Research Tips • Techniques to get responses • Emphasize benefit to responders of their input • Know who you want to talk to • Offer pre-market use of the technology • Offer beneficial items for responding • Allow time for the research to be done • Conversations are good

23. Ask Open-Ended Questions • Encourage speaker to talk at length rather than enable a “yes” or “no” answer • Who • What • When • Where • Why • Decrease the probability of asking leading questions

24. Summarize and Paraphrase • Briefly rephrase the information given by the speaker in the listener’s own words • Shows you are listening and that you understand what the speaker is saying • Helps you make sure you do understand • Allows speaker to expand, but does not suggest the listener agrees • Gives the listener time to comprehendwhat was said

25. Comparators: Better/Worst Under/Over Slow/Fast Early/Late Ahead/Behind Less/More Example: “Our software is better.” Response: “Better compared to what?” More Clarifying Needed!

26. External Primary Market Research • Benefits • Tailored to company needs • Real time feedback • Answers specific questions • Feedback on specific products/services • Drawbacks • Can be expensive and time consuming • Strategy/product direction may be publicized

27. Secondary Market Research • Collects information that already exists • Provides comprehensive data that can be further analyzed • Provides industry quantitative data • Provides general industry data rather than data specific to the technology or business proposition being researched • Provides historical or trending data

28. Internal Secondary Sources • Mine past internal research reports • Collect secondary sources that are already in-house • purchased reports and subscription data • customer lists and contacts • collected competitor information • reports and directories of associations that the company belongs to

29. Internal Secondary Research • Benefits • Fast and inexpensive • Internal secondary sources could uncover good internal primary sources • Information may already be tailored to the company or product line • Drawbacks • Data may be out of date • Sole reliance on past reports may compound past biases

30. External Secondary Private Sources • Collect research reports that already exist on the web or in libraries • Purchase existing research reports from market research firms • Gather compiled company data, e.g. Dunn&Bradstreet (US and Europe) • Gather trade group compiled data • Visit competitor Web sites • Mine university libraries for sources

31. Fee Databases • General sources can provide clearinghouses • Dialog, www.dialog.com • OneSource, www.onesource.com • Specific industry sources can provide difficult to find or unique information • www.vlsiresearch.com • www.imshealth.com

32. Web Surfing Shortcuts • Use compiled Web resource lists from universities • Use compiled Web resource lists from organizations • http://computer.org/internet/links.htm • Use private search tools • http://www.delphion.com

33. External Secondary Private Research • Benefits • May be inexpensive • Accumulates quantitative data • Gives a macro view of the market • May give insight into competitors’ market and financial positions • May answer specific questions about market share, demographics, and buying habits

34. External Secondary Private Research • Drawbacks • Data can be out of date • Data categories may be overly broad • Information usually cannot address specific technology questions • The most interesting data can be expensive

35. Surfing Tips • Develop a search plan • Who else would be interested in the information • If an agency regulates it, they probably collect information on it • If you think the information should exist, it probably does

36. Searching Tips • Slow down and read what you find • Go to the source when you find interesting information • Pick up on new buzzwords and phrases and search using them • Bookmark when you find good sources

37. External Secondary Government Sources • Trade bureaus for international trade assistance • Census Bureau for business and company demographic information • Federal agencies for data and reports on relevant industries • Patent databases for competitive technology information

38. Trade Bureau Secondary Data • US International Trade Administration • Excellent source of industry information from across the globe • Country and region primers on business practices and opportunities • http://www.ita.doc.gov/

39. Departments of Statistics • Source for demographic and business statistical information • Source for hundreds of compiled industry reports • Business reports are more prevalent than population reports • Most publications are free and on the Internet

40. Individual Agencies • More than 70 US federal agencies collect data and issue reports in relevant industries • Identify agency interest areas and search the agency sites • Use the US federal clearinghouse site of http://www.fedstats.gov/

41. Patent Office • Search for competitive technologies using advanced search capabilities • Download full text patents with pictures • Search the trademark database • Link to other nations’ patent sites • Link to international patent treaties

42. Government Secondary Data • Benefits • Data can be trusted and pedigree is clear • Data is usually free and Internet available • Data may be very detailed • Data can be found for most industries in most countries or regions • Drawbacks • Data can be out of date • Data categories may be overly broad

43. The Internet Factor • Access to secondary information has become much easier and cheaper with the explosion of the internet • The old paradigm was library research with paper reports and books • The new paradigm is electronic library research • Learn by surfing, find sites, techniques, and information that is critical to you

44. Examples of Local Information Sources • What has been useful to you?

45. From Lab To Business .

46. Sub-Processes: Building the Value of a New Technology Venture Analysis Tech Assessment Business Plan 5. Demonstrate contextually in products and processes 3. Incubate define Commercializ-ability 7. Promote adoption 9. Sustain commercialization 1. Imagine the dual (techno-market) insight 8. Mobilize complimentary assets for delivery 2. Mobilize Interest and endorse-ment 4. Mobilize resource for Demo 6. Mobilize market consti-tuents Bridges: Mobilizing the Stakeholders Source: Jolly, Vijay. 1997. From Mind to Market. Going Global – Parallels each stage/process in the model Vijay Jolly’s Model of Technology Commercialization

47. Arriving at a Techno-Market Insight Parallel activities • Technology exploration • Generating new understanding • Arriving at a good model or proof of principle • Market exploration • Preliminary need • Need to be explored for commercialization .

48. How to Arrive at the Dual Insight Context of the research • Idea for a future new product • Solving a customer’s problem • Reaction to competitor moves • Exploring new principles to build a general capability All paths can lead to commercially viable products .

49. Build the Research Environment for Commercially Viable Products Customer driven does not mean customers are sole source of ideas • Pursue problems deeply • Be prepared for serendipity • Alternate between push and pull • Curiosity driven research in the right market context .

50. Speeding Up the Dual Insight Commercialization is a willful act • Accelerate the rate of experimentation • Working on known problems • Not just short term problem solving but problem solving in depth • Greater contacts between researchers and the market .