Download Dan Olszewski

Market Research for Start-ups
WARF Gilson Bootstrapping
Series
April 5, 2011
Panelists
• Dan Olszewski, Director, Weinert Center
for Entrepreneurship, Wisconsin School of
Business [email protected]
• Bud Gayhart, Director, Center for
Innovation & Business Development, UWWhitewater [email protected]
• Michael Enyart, Director, Business Library,
Wisconsin School of Business
[email protected]
Basic Goal of any Start-up
• Figure out the answers to your market,
technical and economic model questions
before you run out of money
Common Reasons that Startups Fail
• Poor Management Strategy & Skill
– Lack of Customers
– Market is too small
– Technology doesn’t work
Goals for Early Stage Primary
Research
• Understand customer
– Needs (problem being solved)
– Willingness to pay
– Who makes the buying decision
• Tailor product and message
• Size of the opportunity (Market Size)
Types of Market Research
• Primary
– In-house(Entrepreneur/Company)
– Outsourced
• Secondary
Primary Market Research by
Entrepreneurs
• In-person/phone
• Clear & unbiased description of product benefits
& costs
• Determination customer interest & degree of
passion (willingness to write a check)
• Learning experience
– Find the customer segment where your fit is strong
– Determine the roadblocks & overcome them via
product design or marketing
Scott Cook at Intuit-Example
• 1982 start of Quicken Software
– Wife complained about writing checks
– Called random people in Palo Alto, CA and Winnetka,
IL phone books
• Likely owners of PCs in 1982
• Found clear customer need and it wasn’t being satisfied by
current offerings. 46 existing personal accounting programs.
– Hired a market researcher to do a larger survey
– Key insight was to develop a personal finance
program not written for an accountant
Contact Information for UW
projects
• E-ship class projects during fall/spring
semesters (SBDC & Weinert Center)
http://www.bus.wisc.edu/weinertcenter
• Hire a Marketing Research MBA for a
semester@$9500. Kristin Branch, Director
of the A.C. Nielsen Center, at
[email protected]