business-plan, business-modelI have noticed that many small companies spin-off because they find some problems in other big companies and they offer a product to them. For example, i came into contact with a company that offers a software automation tool for banks in some data regards.
My assumption of them building that product is kinda being in contact with banks before and seeing how things work and then maybe a single bank asked them to build that solution for it and then they offered the product to other banks.
I would like to do the same thing. I would like to find a customer who has a problem then I seek to build a solution to them, then I offer the product to other similar customers. My only problem is that I don’t know how to execute that.
I can’t expect to just send random emails to customers, let’s say banks, and ask them if they have some IT/software problems that they would like to be solved. Has anybody done that before? or is that even possible?
I would assume people get into such deals with companies because they already know and deal with “big people” inside the company.
So yeah: how to find customers before building a product?
I can’t expect to just send random emails to customers, let’s say banks, and ask them if they have some IT/software problems that they would like to be solved.
That’s sort of how it’s done. You’d send emails to prospective users and ask for a moment of their time for a market study. Usually you’d do that with an idea of what you intend to solve for them and why it’ll benefit them already, and you’ll go in there to test your assumptions.
You’d then iterate on the idea and key selling points, and test things further, until someone pulls out their checkbook and tells you “shut up and take my money,” until you’ve several prospects lined up who are willing to sign a promise to purchase, or - less ideally - until you’ve many prospects who tell you they’re very interested. (That last case is most frequent in practice, but can lead you to think you’ve a product market fit when it reality your product will not be critical enough for your prospects to pay for it, so be wary about it.)
Prior to doing so, you’ll usually want to try to meet those prospective users offline in e.g. meetups in order to do the same type of probing. Making contact offline through networking is a lot easier than trying to get someone’s attention with cold emails. This pretty good TED video on networking might be helpful.
Either way, don’t forget to seek introductions and referrals when it feels appropriate (which is to say almost always): “By the way, might you know someone else who this might interest?”
Also, don’t forget to explore orthogonal-looking ideas, problem subsets and underlying problems that might turn out more promising in practice, etc.: better opportunities might be hiding behind your initial idea(s). Don’t let day to day problems or your initial ideas blind you to the point of missing the bigger picture. (Ford famously highlighted that, had he asked what his clients wanted, they’d have answered stronger horses.)
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