For a business or company to be truly successful, it must be market-driven. Market research involves observing, engaging with and listening to the market, which validates and informs planning, strategy, product and marketing. To make the critical decisions associated with building a new business, entrepreneurs require a solid understanding of the market and customer needs. This lecture will outline the effective use of existing information intelligence, and explain how to solicit and leverage customer input to make better business decisions.

1. Usha
Srinivasan
Ph.D,
VP
–
Learning
and
Insights

3. How
many
of
you
are
working
on
a
Startup
right
now
or
thinking
of
star@ng
one
?
How
many
of
you
have
been
speaking
with
customers
?
How
many
of
you
have
spoken
with
10
or
more
customers
?
CONGRATULATIONS
!!!
You
have
truly
embarked
on
your
market
and
customer
discovery
journey

5. Market
and
Customer
Discovery
What
does
it
all
mean
?

6. Market
and
customer
intelligence
can
help
you
de-­‐risk
and
translate
your
assump@ons
to
facts
!!!
…with
unclear
Clear
Pathways
direc@ons

7. Quan@ta@ve
Secondary
60%
Qualita@ve
Primary
40%
Pg 7

8. Is
this
journey
worth
it
?
a.k.a
Is
this
Market
BIG
enough
?
FIND
OUT
by
-­‐
Effec@ve
use
of
Secondary
published
sources
Or
Do
it
yourself

9.
1. Consult
market
reports
from
mul@ple
vendors
2. Be
clear
about
the
“defini@on”
used
3. Sizing
the
market
in
publicly
traded
space
can
be
easier
than
with
privately
held
companies:
a. Bodom
up
method
–
Based
on
Revenues
or
Unit
price
and
volume
of
sale
b. Sizing
based
on
poten@al
buyers
–
e.g.,
no.
of
hospitals,
no.
of
people
viewing
a
par@cular
website,
no.
of
u@li@es
etc.-­‐
Stats
Canada
c. Look
at
annual
reports,
tax
filings,
press
releases,
Tech
blogs,
product
brochures
etc.
d. Quick
and
Dirty
-­‐
Set
up
a
website
or
Share
and
adver@se
it
4. Market
sizing
at
regional
levels
is
more
logical
–
NA,
EU,
Asia,
Middle
East
5. Ul@mately
make
realis@c
assump@ons!!

10. Has
someone
already
been
on
this
journey
?
a.k.a
Which
Market
Type
do
I
fit
into
?
Exis@ng
Re-­‐segmented
(low
cost/
specific
need)
New
Clone

11. Who
else
am
I
going
to
bump
into
–
a.k.a
Who
am
I
compe@ng
with
?
Knowing
your
market
type
is
key
to
understand
your
compe@tors

12.
1. Consider
patent
or
prior
art
searches
–
Public
databases
like
USPTO
or
WIPO,
or
paid
databases
like
Delphion
or
Total
Patents
2. Compare
product/technology
capability/
claims:
use
product
brochures
from
trade
shows
or
product
claims
from
websites
3. Iden@fy
and
monitor
relevant
news
sources
(e.g.,
MobiHealth
News)
–
search
keywords,
set
up
alerts
4. MaRS
Startup
Library’s
“How
do
I
iden@fy
compe@tors?”
–
CrunchBase,
Techvibes,
Startup
north,
Industry
Canada
etc.
5. Syndicated
research
by
Frost
&
Sullivan,
Gartner,
BCC
research
etc.
that
publish
compe@tor
informa@on

15. Is
the
map
you
have
enough
to
get
to
point
B
?
i.e.,
To
get
to
a
place
to
understand
your
customers
needs
?
You
need
to
GET
OUT
OF
THE
CAR
!!!

16. -­‐Geographic
informa@on
(Regula@ons,
Partners,
Poli@cal)
-­‐Demographic
informa@on
(age,
income,
occupa@on,
etc.)
-­‐Psychographic
informa@on
(personality,
values,
interests,
lifestyle,
etc.)
-­‐Industry
informa@on
(Regula@ons,
investments,
needs)
1. Use
already
published
primary
research
data
by
marke@ng
research
firms
-­‐
Omnibus
studies
–
Forrester,
ComScore,
IMSHealth,
JD
Power,
ACNeilsen,
Frost
&
Sullivan
2. Industry
Associa@ons
are
a
great
source
3. Tap
into
Canadian
Trade
Commissioners
office
(DFAIT)
in
other
countries
–
understanding
local
dynamics/
connec@ons
4. In
house
primary
research
–
Online
and
direct
interviews

17. Online
tools
Direct
Interviews
• Mock
website
–
Google
site/Weebly
• Surveys
-­‐
Beware
of
respondent
quality
-­‐
Examples
sites
–
Survey
Monkey,
Google
consumer
survey,
Addpoll,
Fluidsurveys
etc.
• Listservs
&
Specific
interest
groups
• Social
media
• Crowdfunding
plaqorms
• Leverage
Friends
and
Family
• Low
cost
Focus
groups
–
your
sport
team,
associa@on
members
• Telephone
interviews
• Face
to
Face
interviews

18. Nothing is better than a face to face interviews to get
the best customer insight.
Top 10 things to remember:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Understand your customer persona
Always ask for a referral
Set up a time and expectation for the interview
Prepare your questions & use a template to record
PAUSE after every question
Record the answers right after the interview
Respect their time
Ask for other referrals
Score your qualitative responses to quantify &
evaluate the insights
10. Refine your questions and try again !!

19. Understand
customer
needs
Solu@on
to
solve
it
Channel
to
reach
them
Business
model
to
make
money
CONGRATULATIONS
!!!
You
used
Market
&
Customer
Intelligence
to
find
a
viable
business
opportunity

20. Usha Srinivasan PhD
Vice President
Learning and Insights
MaRS Discovery District
T 416-673-8144
E usrinivasan@marsdd.com
W www.marsdd.com
pg 20