MaritimeVacation.ca was my first company.
In hindsight it should’ve been a huge success since it was a vacation rental website.
Yep, like AirBNB or VRBO.
And with the first mover advantage (I started it in 1999) I should’ve been primed for success.
But I wasn’t.
And 6 months later the project was dead.
So what did I do wrong?
I didn’t understand the market.
I just coded.
No research. No strategy.
Maybe you’ve made the same mistake.
The worst part is I didn’t learn my lesson after that company failed.
I did it again with NBHost.com – a web hosting company.
We spent $$$ buying servers and software with NO understanding of the market.
That shifted when I started Spheric Technologies, the company that eventually worked.
What changed?
I decided to hire a business student from a local university to help me conduct market research.
They told me EXACTLY where my ideal customers were located, and some of the major challenges they were currently facing.
That company grew by 150% year over year to over 30 employees before being acquired 4 years later.
So that’s what I want share in this weeks video…
… how to conduct world class market research at little to no cost, that’s not boring to read and is quick to act on.
In this video I go over 3 strategies to help you research your market faster so that you can move on to the fun stuff with greater clarity (pun intended)!
1. Leverage University Students
2. Hire Researchers Online
3. Past Failed/Successful Founders
Don’t make the same mistake so many founders – including myself – made when I first got started.
Learn who your ideal customer is, what the competitive set looks like and the ideal way to reach out to them.
Get some help!
Here’s to learning like a pro!
