MAKE SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT

@mengwong + @propellerfish 20101019 What market are you pursuing? Is the target market big enough? Is it growing or shrinking? What are the other characteristics of your market, and why do you care? How do you find data on your market? How do you define your competitors? What are inexpensive tactics to do custom market research, such as surveys? How can you determine if you can win in your target market, and when do you decide to walk away? 

Just your average dorky programmer entrepreneur angel investor incubator founder and Paleo Diet dude specializing in sous vide lamb shoulder beef roast and eggs at 65°C 

ALEX MARQUEZ
Propellerfish 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled 

MNC resources

Your   resources 

MNC resourcefulness

Your   resourcefulness 

YOUR JOB 

MAKE SOME NEW THING PEOPLE WANT

INNOVATION

But if it's new, how do I know people want it? 

I'M SCRATCHING MY OWN ITCH
• Hey, at • Linux • Apache • Firefox • MySQL

least I want it 

MY SALIVA TASTES BETTER THAN YOURS
Artist • Guided by heart • Broke Graphic Designer • Guided by client • Not Broke 

WHAT KIND ARE YOU?

• Opportunistic: I • Visionary:

detect untapped profit potential

argh wtf brb omg ftw 

OOPS, I MADE AN ART PROJECT 

OOPS, I REINVENTED THE WHEEL
I blame academia 

CROSSING THE CHASM

• Geoffrey • Learn

Moore

to “pivot” 

GETTING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

• Peter • John

Christy

Katsaros 

DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
Fundamental Science Technical Innovation Productization User Manual White Paper Sales Brochure Ad Campaign First Customer 

SECRET SAUCE, PLEASE
• Industry • Domain •I •I •I

Experience ++ Expertise ++

have a PhD + – have an MBA – – dropped out of college ++ 

COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
• Crunchbase.com. ListIO.com. LMGTFY.com. • Don’t

skate to where the puck is. Skate to where the puck will be. invention must make sense in the world in which it is completed, not the world in which it was begun.

• An 

WHY YOU? WHY NOW?
• Are

you riding some sort of disruptive wave? 

WHY YOU? WHY NOW?

• Why

didn’t somebody try this and succeed three years ago? they did, and they FAILED.

• Maybe 

WE HAVE NO COMPETITION 

DO IT BACKWARDS
Traditional Model
• Build • Sell

The Epiphany

the Product, v1
• Sell

the Product, v1. No sales. to the Drawing Board the Product, v2.

the Product, v1. No sales. to the Drawing Board

• Back • Build

• Back • Sell

the Product, v2 the Product, v2

• Build • Fail. • Win. 

CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT

• See

also Eric Ries, www.startuplessonslearned.com 

bit.ly/cVYDeH 

THEY WOULD HAVE SAID

WHAT THEY WANTED,

IF I HAD ASKED MY CUSTOMERS

HORSE
HENRY FORD

A FASTER 

ACTUALLY, MY SALIVA DOES TASTE BETTER THAN YOURS

http://www.cultofmac.com/john-sculley-on-steve-jobs-the-full-interview-transcript/63295 

SOMETIMES YOU DO HAVE TO BUILD IT
• Show, Don’t Tell; Paper • Business • Does • To

Prototyping only goes so far

as Science Experiment

a Market Exist?

Build the Minimum Viable Product, Lean Startup Methodology

• Follow 

OBVIOUS CHECKPOINTS
• Is

the market… or small? or shrinking?

• big

• growing • rich

or poor? or unwilling to buy?

• eager 

ONE LAST THING
•!

∀ User = Customer use pay

• Users

• Customers • If

you’re not the customer, you might be the product 

THINK BIG
“best in class” vs “in a class of our own”
new class best

worst 

What is your market?

Everyone  with  an  iphone

Ehm…  That’s  probably  not  the  case. 

In the words of Bill Cosby

“I don’t know the secret to success but I do know the secret to failure is trying to please everybody.”
- Bill Cosby 

The cheater’s guide to opportunity development

A  homework  assignment  for  you  to  work  on  between  now  and  next  Tuesday 

1. Focus yourself with a few questions
Everybody Who’s  going  to  hate  this  thing? Who’s  going  to  use  it  most  oEen? Who’s  going  to  tell  their  friends  about  it? Who’s  most  likely  to  pay  for  it? Opera&ng  down  here  means  you’re… …creaFng  products  with  a  disFnct  user  in  mind …targeFng  your  limited  markeFng  $  more  effecFvely …more  likely  to  create  a  great  product  for  a  small  group  of   people  rather  than  an  alright  product  for  a  lot  of  people …most  likely  to  be  talked  about,  shared,  etc.

Your  target  market 

2. Reach out to these people and talk to them about this space

This  doesn’t  need  to  be  expensive… Skype,  Surveymonkey,  Facebook,  email,  stopping  people  on  the  street,  talking  to  friends   of  friends  of  friends,  camping  out  in  retail,  interviewing  people  who  use  your  would  be   compeFtors…    All  of  these  are  fair  game  in  terms  of  market  research 

3. Define your target user based on what you hear

Demographic

Who are they?
Psychographic

Men between the ages of 25-35 with above average income

What do they think?
Behavioral

Who are sick and tired of Apple and see the Iphone as a cliché.

What do they do?

They are looking for a new phone and probably visit Gizmodo and Inventorspot on a daily basis. 

4. Define the issue in their life you intend to solve

Our  target  user,  an  Independent  minded  techie,  is  looking  for  a  cool   gadget  that  isn’t  a  part  of  the  mainstream  cult  of  Apple. 

5. Land your positioning in a single line

We  are  to  Apple  in  2010 what  Apple  was  to  IBM  in  1984. 

6. Come to the next session with 100 things that exemplify that idea outside of your category

the  ideas  are  allowed  to  be  bad

How  do  you  have  a  few  good  ideas? By  having  a  lot  of  bad  ideas. 

7. And 20 starting names for your venture

Flickr  –  photos. Lanyrd  –  conferences. Mint  –  personal  finance. Gameplan  –  organizing  sports.