IS IT A GO? Engineer's Dream or Saleable Solution?

 You’ve just designed the greatest thing since sliced bread. You see a million different applications and, in your opinion, “everyone” will want one. The Prof at the local university thinks it’s great, too, but how do you really know anyone is interested in buying it? Specifically, do you know who will buy it? … and for what price? Through which channels? And with what bells and whistles?

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THE ANSWER: MARKET RESEARCH

We've worked with enough technology developers to understand the prevailing opinion: Market research is something that you put off until you are ready to go to market. However, if you read “Who’s going to buy the darn thing?” from our guest contributor, Ralph Grabowski, you’ll see that market research should be done even before the ink is dry on your CAD-cam drawing.  (If you need a copy of Adobe reader to open Ralph's article, click on the link at the bottom of the page).

Being the good engineer that he is, Ralph has developed a real metric. He calls it the “Marketing: Engineering ratio” or M/E. It correlates dollars spent on getting to know your customer (and yes, sweat equity counts) to dollars spent on RD&E.

M/E = $ early stage market research/$ RD&E

The results are provocative. Ralph has spent over a decade painstakingly collecting M:E ratios from all sorts of companies across many different disciplines, but the results are always the same. Technology-driven companies typically fall into two camps: those who spend less than a dime on early stage market research to every RD&E dollar versus those who spend at least $1 Market:$1 Engineering. Don’t invest in getting to know your customer and your company will fail. … and the breakover point is $1 market research: $1 RD&E.

We know: “It wasn’t in the budget.” However, if you think that market research is too expensive and that you don’t have money to do it now, balance that cost against the price of failure.

WHY SHOULD YOU DO EARLY STAGE MARKET RESEARCH?

• To reveal costly technology fallacies, reducing the risk that you will build an engineer's dream that is a technological delight but won't sell,

• To stream line commercialization,

• To speed time to market,

• To save money and resources, and

• To attract investment.  In Ralph's own words, "VC's invest in validated business opportunities, not in technology."  Early stage market research provides that validation. 

HOW DO MOST COMPANIES DO THIS EARLY STAGE MARKET RESEARCH?

Most technology–driven companies take one of two directions: they either talk to a few gurus or they send their salesmen out to talk to a few customers. While both are good starting points, they are just that. The problem is that the pool is just too small and the results are too inconsistent. This approach doesn’t provide the solid statistics on which you confidently make decisions to build a solid business.

HOW CAN MME HELP?

For nearly 20 years, MME has been finding answers the answers that help our customers understand their customers. Using MME data, they've lowered risk, engineered more saleable products, and confidently built better business plans. We've published over 60 off-the-shelf reports and conducted an equal number of proprietary studies, all focused specifically on microscopy and related imaging.

WHY ARE WE SUCCESSFUL?

WE BRING YOU EXPERIENCE. Our team leader, Barbara Foster, has been in the industry for over 25 years, working directly for big companies like Zeiss and Cambridge Instruments (now part of Leica), small start-ups or spin-offs like Unitron and Sarastro, and as a consultant for companies of all sizes, from start-ups like Aetos, Optical Insights and Media Cybernetics (the latter two now part of Roper) to the big guys like Nikon, Hitachi, Kodak, Polaroid, and Zygo. She's an expert microscopist in her own right (light microsopy, microinterferometry, microspectroscopy, image analysis, and confocal), bringing our clients a unique mix of strategic marketing and technical experience which embraces the industry. THE MIP's market research and new product launches have successfully propelled microarray scanners into biotech, and microscopes (Confocal, AFM, and SWLI), software, cameras, and accessories (from optical filters and beam splitters to microwaves and plasmon resonance slides) into everything from routine materials science to the most advanced nanotechnology. But the success of our clients speaks more eloquently than we can.

WE'RE EXPERT IN RESEARCHING MARKETS THAT DON'T EXIST YET. We know how to write the short, concise questions that zero in on the kind of information you need to know: practical, actionable information. After all, we're not just researchers, we're also strategic consultants. We know how the information we collect will be used to drive engineering, marketing, business development, and sales.

WE KNOW YOUR TECHNOLOGY AND YOUR AUDIENCE. We are practicing microscopists and imaging specialists ...and we know which email lists to use to accurately reflect your potential customer base.

WE GUARANTEE CONSISTENCY. Hundreds of people, asked the same questions, extactly  the same way. Thousands of answers, to tell you where the trends are, where and how you should go in the market, with what bells and whistles, and for what price.

Do you have a saleable solution?

• If you haven’t already, read Ralph’s article, “Who’s going to buy the darn thing?”
• Evaluate the graphic results of the M/E ratio. See where your company fits with its current project. 
• If you need capital, call us about “1-2-3: Attracting Investors”
• If you are ready to launch, read  ”Ready-Aim-Launch!”
• Or, if need further information on how MME might help you, call us at (972)972-5310 or email Barbara Foster at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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