Product Academy:

HOW TO CONDUCT MARKET

RESEARCH
@ProductDave
 VALIDATIION WITH
MARKET RESEARCH
Mindset
FOUR AREAS OF MARKET RESEARCH

Market Research

Market Competitive Customer

Market Size Research Research
Dynamics
LET’S DIVE DEEPER INTO
EACH OF THESE AREAS
 MARKET DYNAMICS
Mindset
MARKET DYNAMICS ARE THE
MARCRO FACTORS YOU DON’T
HAVE CONTROL OVER
BUT IT CAN MAKE OR BREAK
YOUR PRODUCT
UNDERSTANDING THESE FACTORS WILL HELP
YOU DE-RISK YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
1) SWITCHING COST 2) BUYING POWER 3) MARKET COMPETITION

4) MARKET GROWTH 5) TECHNOLOGY DEPENDENCIES 6) REGULATORY / STAKEHOLDERS

HOW DO I DO THAT? 🤔
 HOW TO GET INSIGHTS ON
MARKET DYNAMICS

Tools
OUR GOOD OLD FRIEND = GOOGLE
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING TOOLS
COMEPTITOR WEBSITES & ANNUAL REPORTS

• Look at market leaders with the highest %

market share

Source: Aug 2020 Uber Investor Report

RESEARCH OR GOVRNMENT SITES
 EXAMPLE: MARKET DYNAMICS FOR PM
COURSES
Role is growing and in high demand Sold out classes on competitor websites

Search Marketing increased by 300% in the past 12 months

 MARKET SIZE FOR
Mindset
PRODUCTS
A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO ESTIMATE MARKET SIZE

TAM
Total Addressable Market

SAM
Serviceable Addressable
Market

SOM
Serviceable
Obtainable
Market
MARKET SIZE OF YOUR PRODUCT ≠
MARKET SIZE OF YOUR BUSINESS
TAM
Global Travel
Market Size
$1.5trillion
SAM
Global
Accommodation
Market Size SOM
$801BN Global Hotels Market
Size
$601BN
PRODUCT MARKET SIZE =
$ PORTION OF YOUR SERVICABLE OBTAINABLE MARKET
TAM
Global Travel
Market Size
$1.5trillion
SAM SOM Hotel Rooms Product
Estimated $xx BN
Global Global Hotels Market Size
$601BN
Accommodation
Market Size Shared Rooms Product
Estimated $xx BN
$801BN

Entire Rooms Product

Estimated $xx BN
YOUR COMPANY CAN ALSO GET INTO OTHER
MARKETS – E.G. TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
TAM
Global Travel
Market Size
$1.5trillion
SAM SOM
Global Travel Global tours market
Activities Market size
$xxx BN
Size Local Tours Product
Estimated $xx BN
$183BN
Entertainment product
Estimated $xx BN
TWO APPROACHES YOU CAN TAKE
Top-Down Bottom-Up
Good for new products where you don’t Good for product features or a new product
have a customer base to start from based existing product

Based on competitor data, market data, and Mostly based on internal data
industry trends Sometimes can combine with external data

Pros: Great for quick estimates and new Pros: More accurate estimation since there
concepts are less assumptions

Cons: Less accurate that bottom up Cons: Can be slower to gather data and
approach build model
 COMPETITOR RESEARCH
Mindset
“IF YOU KNOW YOURSELF AND YOUR
ENEMIES YOU’LL WIN ALL YOUR
BATTLES”
SUN TSU, ART OF WAR
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN ASSESSING
COMPETITORS?

You Direct Competitor Substitute Alternative

Similar solution and Not ideal but good Solves the problem but in
business model enough a completely different
way
DURING THE VALIDATION PHASE, YOU MIGHT HAVE
TO KILL OFF AN IDEA IF THE RISK IS TOO HIGH
Pivot?
Persevere?
Stop?
 IN SUMMARY:
MARKET RESEARCH
Mindset

Process

Tools
IN SUMMARY: MARKET RESEARCH
Market research A PM’s job in the
Don’t be afraid to kill
should be based on validation phase is to
off an idea of it has no
your product de-risk decision
market
assumptions making

Market Competitive Customer

Market Size Research Research
Dynamics

Feature Gap Analysis Switching interview

TAM
SAM
SOM
JOIN OUR SLACK CHANNE:
http://slack.productacademy.io/

- Slides / Q&A / Future Events

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