Lean Startup and other business practice books teach you to find what you're looking for but often lack the mechanics to see the answers. Here is a short discussion on how to do cost-effective market research.

1. Conducting Cost-Effective
Market Research
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for International Development (USAID). The contents of this presentation are the sole responsibility of
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Government.

2. Market Research
• Every investor asks the questions:
– How big is this market?
– Who else is participating?
– Can you be a dominant player?
• Determine what customers need and want
• In line with the Steve Blank and Lean Startup
methodologies

3. Market Research Outcomes
• Know the Market Size:
– TAM
– SAM
– SOM
• Create “A day in the life” of your customers
- What they need
- What they care about
- How would they use your type of product/service
- Why should they care about you

4. Four Diagrams..
Segmentation
Business
Model
Market Size
Competitive
Map

5. Conducting Market Research
• Use methods such as
• Surveys
• Talking to people
• Group sessions…
• In order to discover:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who is interested in my product or service?
How many such people are there?
Why do the need me?
Why will they buy from me?
How many can we reach easily?
Where are they looking?

6. Methods for Market Research
Number of
people
being
researched
Online Surveys
Focus Groups
Interviews
Validating
adaptability
Validating
solution stack
Validating
unmet need

7. Questions that provide clarity
• Customers:
– Who are the customers?
– Who will pay me money?
– How many such people exist?
– Who will use this product? What are they looking for? How badly do they
need it?
•
Purchase process
–
–
–
–
–
–
•
Why will they buy from me?
What is the buying process and who needs to approve this purchase?
What are their selection criteria?
At what price point will they select to buy?
Why would they not buy?
Why have they not bought this solution from someone else until now?
Who will be my initial target given my marketing budget?

8. Resources & Techniques
Understand
Needs
Validate
Solution
Interviews and Surveys
Lean Startup
Size the
Market
Public and
Private Sources
Who is the
Customer?
Business
Model
Interviews and Surveys
Build, Measure, Learn

9. Startup Workshop
Free Sizing Data: www.census.gov

10. Public Data: Associations
They want to
speak with you
This is the value
they give to their
client

11. The Planning Shop
Associations
http://www.planningshop.com/associations/

12. SEC Reports
• Public companies must file disclosure
reports
– Annual: 10K
– Quarterly: 10Q
– Includes market risk and competitive threats
• Companies going public
– File S-1 registration statements
– Current products and strategies
– Market data, market risk

13. Conducting online research
Find
Association
members
listing
Member
company
website
Create
email list
of
executives
Send emailTell them
Value Prop &
Link to take
survey
Zoomerang.com
SurveyMonkey.com
constantcontact.com
aweber.com
Survey
Online
Collect
content

14. Run a Google Adwords Campaign
Sites.Google.com
Drive traffic to
landing page
• Google Adwords
• Facebook Ads
• Emails to targets
Landing Page
Tell them Value Prop &
Link to take survey
Zoomerang.com
SurveyMonkey.com
Survey
Online
Collect
content
constantcontact.com
aweber.com

15. LinkedIn search and results

16. All rights reserved © Naeem
Zafar
Startup Workshop
Write & Ask
16

17. Questions
• Problem
and
Solu/on:
–
–
–
–
Is
there
a
real
unmet
need
in
this
area
(where
your
products
address
the
problem)?
How
does
he/she
want
to
see
this
problem
solved?
Why
have
they
not
solved
this
un/l
now
–
what
issues
are
preven/ng
the
problem
from
being
solved?
If
a
solu/on
(or
a
product)
existed,
what
would
it
look
like?
• Customers:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Who
will
use
this
product
(or
service)
–
what
are
these
users
looking
for?
How
badly
do
they
want
it?
What
is
the
buying
process
(in
other
words,
who
needs
to
approve
this
purchase)?
What
are
usually
the
selec/on
criteria?
What
price
point
will
make
this
decision
a
no-­‐brainer?
At
what
price
point
are
we
likely
to
find
resistance?
What
are
the
reasons
somebody
would
decide
not
to
buy?
Why
hasn’t
the
customer
bought
this
solu/on
from
someone
else
un/l
now?
• Environment:
–
–
Who
else
may
be
interested
in
solving
this
problem?
Who
in
the
organiza/on
is
the
most
likely
to
champion
solving
this
problem
–
can
I
get
an
introduc/on
to
them?

18. All rights reserved © Naeem
Zafar
Startup Workshop
Analytics
18

19. Summary
• Understanding the unmet user need is key
• Start with a common set of questions
• Come back, examine what you found, iterate with
new questions
• Understand a day in the life of a customer!