by: Sigurd Rinde
Don’t know if this is an effort to make own behaviour plausible, but so what…
When entering a market the GAMP (Generally Accepted Marketing Practices) has to be right, as in getting certain stuff right:
- Target market
- Price
- Packaging
- Channel
- Story
- And the rest of it
But one forgets, there are two ways to enter a market:
A. By GAMP
- Spend days and weeks in the boardroom trying to outguess your potential customers as to who, how, what and when they will use your product.
- Set the choices in stone, get the channel onboard, set the message and story, price it and colour your product.
- Go.
Result? Binary. Uncontrolled and rigid outcome. But fast. Success or crash and burn in the fast lane.
B. By EBP (Extreme Business Planning)
- Keep everything open with two exceptions; build your product so it can be changed and tweaked easily, ditto for your organisation and cash burn.
- Go.
- Let the potential customers decide who, how, what and when. Adjust accordingly.
Result? Analogue. Controlled and continuous movement. But slower. Slow and deliberate right hand lane driving.
Think I like B. better. Doable? But of course as long as you question the assumptions you do not know you’re making.
Bonus question: Which method would the time-constrained VC board members push for?
Original Post: http://thingamy.typepad.com/sigs_blog/2009/06/go-to-market-by-extreme-business-planning.html