If You Build It Will They Come: Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity

226 Pages·2010·1.4 MB·English

by  Rob Adams

$24.95 USA / $29.95 CAN
Praise for IF YOU BUILD IT WILL THEY COME? ADAMS
Why do 65 percent of new products fail? In today’s
“This book will force any entrepreneur or intrapreneur to take a brutally honest look at their planned hyper-competitive market, companies too often
product development and launch—before it’s too late.” BUILD IT misjudge demand. They either perform too little of
—Curt Jackson, Director, Global Technology & Capital Management, the necessary market research, misuse the data they
Toppan Photomasks, Inc. I do collect, or neglect to integrate their research into
F
product development. Amazingly, many companies
“Taking an idea or product to market is expensive and prone to failure. When we had to reconstruct get their market insights during or after their
Y
?
our business, we rigorously adhered to Rob Adams’s Market Validation process to test our new
product’s failure. It doesn’t have to be this way!
ideas. We avoided organization-killing mistakes and created products and services that our clients O
need, value, and are willing to pay for. The process outlined in this book will save you immeasurable
U If You Build It Will They Come lays out a complete
amounts of time, money, and wasted effort.”
system for objectively assessing a market before you

—Eliza Evans, President and CEO, InCenter B develop a product or any business idea. Whether
U you’re in a tiny startup or a major corporation,
“Whether you’re sitting in your garage trying to be the next Google, or trying to extend your Fortune
venture capitalist and business professor Rob
1000 company’s product line, this book will show you how to develop products that customers
I
actually want.” L Adams’s proven Market Validation process enables
you to maximize your investment dollars while
—Mark McLain, CEO and cofounder, Sailpoint D
minimizing your risks.

“Lots of people launch new products; few earn meaningful revenues. What do those few have in
I
common? The clear focus and discipline it takes to excel at something truly diffi cult. If You Build It T If You Build It Will They Come helps you execute
ROB ADAMS is a strategy consultant and venture
Will They Come? lays out the not-so-obvious basics of market-focused product development Three Steps to Test and Validate the essential actions for any new product offering.
capitalist, and on the faculty of The University of
and launches.” W Using this book’s “Ready, Aim, Fire” framework,
Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. He
—Bruce Roberson, retired director, McKinsey & Company you’ll:
has been a founder, founding investor, or involved Any Market Opportunity
I
with the IPO or merger and acquisition of more L (cid:129) Evaluate product ideas
“I’ve been helping companies for twenty years with the kinds of Market Validation programs described
(cid:129) Gather the right information on competitors
than forty companies, involving the launch of more in If You Build It, Will They Come? Adams understands the power of market guidance and the practical L
(cid:129) Find and understand your target audience
than 100 new products, representing more than aspects of collecting market input. This book will give you a competitive advantage during the

a billion dollars of investment. He is the author product design phase, when it has the most impact, while avoiding costly mistakes.” T (cid:129) Match product features to market demand
(cid:129) Determine pricing
of A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for —Peter Simon, President, Simon Management H
(cid:129) Utilize experts and data
Entrepreneurs. He has been covered in BusinessWeek,
E
Forbes, Fortune, Money, the New York Times, the Wall “Adams has assembled the collective wisdom of countless product launches, executive interviews, and (cid:129) Prepare the market for your product
Street Journal, and the Washington Post, as well as on venture capital perspectives on how companies can effi ciently deliver market-oriented products. His Y (cid:129) Bring your product to market
conclusions are compelling, but obvious; yet few companies actually do it.”
Bloomberg Radio, Public Television, and National
Public Radio’s Marketplace program. —John Sibley Butler, Director, The Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship C Successful product launches often look easy in
and The Institute for Innovation, Creativity, and Capital, The University of Texas at Austin O retrospect when they actually require a phenomenal
For more information, please visit
amount of effort and planning—and you usually
www.drrobadams.com M
don’t read about the many failures. Filled with real-
Jacket Images: Bull’s-Eye © iStock;
E life examples, case studies, and practical tips, If You
Crowd © Jupiter Images
Author Photo: © John Langford Build It Will They Come gives you tested tools to
?
ensure that your work ends in a successful launch.
So before you build it, get this book—and watch
customers come running!
ROB ADAMS
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E1FFIRS Date:Feb19,2010 Time:2:15pm
E1FFIRS Date:Feb19,2010 Time:2:15pm
IF YOU
BUILD IT
WILL THEY COME?
E1FFIRS Date:Feb19,2010 Time:2:15pm
E1FFIRS Date:Feb19,2010 Time:2:15pm
IF YOU
BUILD IT
WILL THEY COME?
Three Steps to Test and Validate
Any Market Opportunity
ROB ADAMS
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
E1FFIRS Date:Feb19,2010 Time:2:15pm
Copyright©2010byRobertJ.Adams,Jr.Allrightsreserved.
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
E1FTOC Date:Feb17,2010 Time:11:22am
CONTENTS
Introduction
Market Validation: Why Ready, Aim,
Fire Beats Ready, Fire, Fire, Fire, Aim 1
STEP 1
Ready—Could This Idea Fly?
Chapter One
Ready: The Overview 35
Chapter Two
Domain Knowledge: Where Did You Get
Your Idea? 39
Chapter Three
The Market: How Big Is It, and How Fast Is
It Growing? 45
Chapter Four
Lifecycles and Trends: How Are These Affecting
Your Market? 51
Chapter Five
Your Competitors: What Are They Doing? 71
Chapter Six
The Experts: What Do They Say? 81
v
E1FTOC Date:Feb17,2010 Time:11:22am
vi CONTENTS
Chapter Seven
The Ready Checklist 89
STEP 2
Aim—What Do Your Future
Customers Think?
Chapter Eight
Aim: The Overview 95
Chapter Nine
Research: Learning What You Really Need
to Know 99
Chapter Ten
Interviews: Getting to the Market Pain 113
Chapter Eleven
Who Are You After? Finding Your Target
Audience 127
Chapter Twelve
Turning Data into Results: How to Practically
Apply All That You’ve Learned 137
Chapter Thirteen
Outside Help: Using Research Professionals 143
Chapter Fourteen
Countdown: Preparing the Market for Your
Product 145
Chapter Fifteen
The Aim Checklist 147
STEP 3
Fire—Blasting into the Market
Chapter Sixteen
Fire: The Overview 153
E1FTOC Date:Feb17,2010 Time:11:22am
Contents vii
Chapter Seventeen
Sales and Marketing: Budget for It 159
Chapter Eighteen
The Details: Write Product Specs and Schedules 163
Chapter Nineteen
Fast to Market: Get a Market-Oriented Product
Out Quickly 171
Chapter Twenty
Early Customers: Recruit Design Partners
and Advisory Boards 179
Chapter Twenty-One
Showtime: Launch, Market, and Sell the
Product 189
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Fire Checklist 195
About the Author 199
Index 201
E1FTOC Date:Feb17,2010 Time:11:22am