how to find out if i have a market...

**scheisskopf** · 02-18-2007 10:25 AM

ok, i have a product idea. i won't cost much to develop, as it's mostly software and that's why i do for a living. The thing is, it will take up most of my precious spare time, i have done stuff in the past like this which didn't work out.

How can i test whether i have a market or not? surely there must be some fairly well developed ways of doing this?

thanks!

**akula** · 02-18-2007 10:58 AM

good heavens, what a great question!

three cheers for a rational founder thinking like a shareholder

**jasaunders** · 02-18-2007 11:02 AM

Research, research, research ! Find any and all information you can on your market. Read the internet, newspapers, magazines, ask firends, family, people you don't know. Run a survey and ask random people or your targeted demographic about their interest.

I recently ran a survey for a new product I am developing and it worked extremely well. We had a 20 question survey and offered respondents $10 gift certificates. Not only did we receive quality responses about our product, we also have a solid base of contact info for people interested in our product once we do open.

**DJ Samson** · 02-18-2007 11:33 AM

The best way is to survey people. Try to find a message board that concerns your topic and make a poll.

good luck

**The Stealthy One** · 02-18-2007 01:50 PM

True market research must be conducted on a large scale. Do you have the funds to employ the services of a marketing firm?

**akula** · 02-18-2007 08:44 PM

bump.............

**harrymcwealth** · 02-18-2007 08:46 PM

Just do it for god-sakes.

**Deejay** · 02-18-2007 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by harrymcwealth

Just do it for god-sakes.

wtf..... Just imagaine him using up his spare time for months/years, then suddenly be like 'oh, there is no market for this'

Research, research, research.

**akula** · 02-19-2007 06:36 AM

this thread should be bumped to eternity

too bad scheisskopf disappeared

research is an inefficient risk manager

it's subject to home/confirmation bias, statistically insignificant data sets and random error

there are more effective alternatives for managing exposure to uncertainty

this is a critical topic for all custodians of 1st hand and 3rd party capital (i.e. YOU)

**Antdizzle** · 02-19-2007 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by akula

this thread should be bumped to eternity

too bad scheisskopf disappeared

research is an inefficient risk manager

it's subject to home/confirmation bias, statistically insignificant data sets and random error

there are more effective alternatives for managing exposure to uncertainty

this is a critical topic for all custodians of 1st hand and 3rd party capital (i.e. YOU)

What are the more effective alternatives for managing exposure to uncertainty?

**jesterx** · 02-19-2007 05:36 PM

to find a hot market ask around....search around forums like this.

See if people are really having serious problems that your software will fix.

but you should also go over to the keywords tool and see what keywords people are searching for...make sure it is related to your product. If there is plenty of searches and you know there can be some traffic taken from places like adwords (with little competition) you will have a winner.

good luck with this one

**akula** · 02-19-2007 08:12 PM

very good point

demand is related to distribution

a survey might show that 90% of respondents plan to buy widget over next 3 months, but won't show that they only want to buy the widget in a face to face transaction through an agent (i.e. real estate)

in this case even though the survey result is positive, the founder will fail in selling the widget over the net, all whilst trying to comprehend why the survey results were wrong

of course, the results weren't wrong. it was the questionnaire that was incomplete.

Originally Posted by jesterx

to find a hot market ask around....search around forums like this.

See if people are really having serious problems that your software will fix.

but you should also go over to the keywords tool and see what keywords people are searching for...make sure it is related to your product. If there is plenty of searches and you know there can be some traffic taken from places like adwords (with little competition) you will have a winner.

good luck with this one

**Nigami Enterprise** · 02-19-2007 08:25 PM

Surveys do nothing and mean nothing. Just go with your gut. Just because someone says they will buy sometihng doesnt mean tehy will. Your best bet is to turn your idea from a WANT into a NEED.

**akula** · 02-19-2007 08:49 PM

another very important point

the marketability of a product is related to the products problem solving properties

if the product solves an unimportant (i.e. an unquantifiable) problem , the product will enjoy less certain demand than a product that solves an important (i.e. quantifiable) problem for a specific set of customers. It's the old adage of having to ask whether the founder is selling vitamins, aspirin or antibiotics.

the quality (not just the quantity) of demand is an important variable to whether the product will sell at a higher than average growth rate

**DrMoney** · 02-20-2007 12:47 AM

I am with Nagami on this

Surveys do nothing and mean nothing. Just go with your gut. Just because someone says they will buy sometihng doesnt mean tehy will. Your best bet is to turn your idea from a WANT into a NEED.

but its all you really can do.