Develop a Business Plan
1: Executive Summary, Company & Product Descriptions
2: Business and Management Structure
3: Seek Professional Assistance
4: Market Research
5: Financial Analysis and Projections
6: SBIR/STTR and Other Seed Funding
7: Venture Capital and Other Funding
8: Product Development and Marketing Plan
Market Research
Scenario
Reading
Challenge
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Market Research: What to Research Before Starting a Business
Learn about:
- Alternative solutions to the problem your product solves and how they compare in terms of costs and performance.
- The industry you will be in, including its risks and obstacles.
- Your customers, including their characteristics, the problem it solves for them, and why they would prefer your solution (Customer discovery).
- Market size, which is the percent of the total potential customers who are likely to adopt the product. The target market should be large enough to make a profit and/or rapidly growing.
- Other stakeholder requirements and motives, including the end user and payer, if different from the customer, and regulators (state/local/federal).
- Suppliers of each category of supplies, challenges involved, availability of alternative suppliers or materials if they become necessary.
- Competitors, including their market share. Describe similarities and differences in comparison to your product and business.
- Regulatory requirements, such as FDA approval.
Tip:
To learn about your competition, use the searchable database, NIH RePorter/Matchmaker. It helps you determine the extent of competitors’ overlap with your product, learn from their science, and learn their target customers.
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