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Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

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Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#91

Post by mr_o47 »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #89

My best advice is to research competing products and what people have to say about them. If it's a physical product, Amazon reviews are an incredible resource. If it's a digital/software product, use Google to search for "Alternatives to X", and then research each alternative. Again, look at what people are saying about the product. What you're looking for is a gap in the market that your product can serve. If everyo…

This is great advice and i love this idea and one thing that scares me the most is that what if it’s already done before then i change my perspective i think its good to compete as its healthy for business

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#92

Post by nickelcitymario »

mr_o47 wrote: post #91
nickelcitymario wrote: post #89

My best advice is to research competing products and what people have to say about them. If it's a physical product, Amazon reviews are an incredible resource. If it's a digital/software product, use Google to search for "Alternatives to X", and then research each alternative. Again, look at what people are saying about the product. What you're looking for is a gap in the market that your product can serve. If everyo…

This is great advice and i love this idea and one thing that scares me the most is that what if it’s already done before then i change my perspective i think its good to compete as its healthy for business

Absolutely. As long as you're doing something that solves some problem better than the competition.

For example, some might argue that Apple products are the best. Others might say Dell or LG or whatever.

But there's no product out there that solves everybody's problem perfectly.

Even if Apple really did make the best computers, we can probably agree there's room in the market for cheaper products.

But if you're trying to sell a product that isn't better in some way, you're going to have a hard go of it. Your product needs to be the best solution for some segment of the market, even if it's a niche slice of the market.

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#93

Post by moneywoes »

tlogan wrote: post #76

I've built several products for restaurants, all of which have failed. I came to the conclusion that restaurant owners are so burdened with "big challenges" like food and staffing that they don't have time even to think to consider resolving other issues. Furthermore, they're not fond of deliveries, as the majority of their income comes from alcohol sales. One recommendation I have is to try manually providing this s…

have you found smb success elsewhere? i can't seem to find smb to be able to pay enough attention to software solutions.

have ruled out enterprise and mid market as I'm bootstrapping with no clout.

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#94

Post by moneywoes »

scarface_74 wrote: post #36
jensneuse wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An example would be if you target enterprise but know that enterprises would never buy from you because you're too small or not trustworthy, you need a way to overcome this hurdle. Or, you're targeting individuals but there's a competitor with $300M funding who owns all marketing channels. You might not be heard in the noise.

I once was the dev lead working for a mid size non tech company. The company found the perfect product to meet their needs. It was built by an Indy developer. If we signed the contract with him, we would represent 60% of his revenue. The director of IT and CTO were reticent to base their entire data capture system that was going to be rolled out to thousands of field workers to him. I suggested that they only sign th…

What marketing channel did they use to find the dev?

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#95

Post by mr_o47 »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #92
mr_o47 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is great advice and i love this idea and one thing that scares me the most is that what if it’s already done before then i change my perspective i think its good to compete as its healthy for business

Absolutely. As long as you're doing something that solves some problem better than the competition. For example, some might argue that Apple products are the best. Others might say Dell or LG or whatever. But there's no product out there that solves everybody's problem perfectly. Even if Apple really did make the best computers, we can probably agree there's room in the market for cheaper products. But if you're tryi…

100 % agreed with you on that

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#96

Post by moneywoes »

xgb84j wrote: post #27

Here what has worked for us: Talk to potential customers and use very open ended questions. Be upfront that you are doing market research about delivery app usage in restaurants. Start with something like "How is using delivery apps going for you?" The opener the question the better. Most people love to complain. So your hope is that they rant about their biggest problem. If they don't ask about other areas until the…

Can you talk about the dichotomy for B2C? I ask since the small businesses like restaurants seem reminiscent of B2C.

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#97

Post by moneywoes »

LeonB wrote: post #10

Others have mentioned the mom test - I would like to mention Amy Hoy, “stacking the bricks” and in particular “the sales safari” method of qualitative research that she’s devised. Some further reading/viewing on it here - https://stackingthebricks.com/video-sales-safari-in-action/ (I’ve written a book on the topic but I’d promote those others ahead of mine, any day.)

Could you me email me your book ( email in bio)

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#98

Post by moneywoes »

carlossouza wrote: post #61

If the restaurant's idea is your idea, it is a good business. But the real money is not on the monthly fee you will charge restaurants to update their menus. That you can give for free. The money is in automating their purchases and delivery of ingredients they need to run their restaurants. If you already know what they serve and have a system running their backend, it's easy to do that. And everyone in this busines…

Would these be fully SaaS considering the operational difficulties? Or do 3rd parties handle the logistics.

Would really appreciate if you could share some of these Brazilian companies as English google did not yield any results.

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#99

Post by scarface_74 »

moneywoes wrote: post #94
scarface_74 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once was the dev lead working for a mid size non tech company. The company found the perfect product to meet their needs. It was built by an Indy developer. If we signed the contract with him, we would represent 60% of his revenue. The director of IT and CTO were reticent to base their entire data capture system that was going to be rolled out to thousands of field workers to him. I suggested that they only sign th…

What marketing channel did they use to find the dev?

He wasn’t a consultant. He wrote software that made it easy to develop data capture forms on iOS and Android. They had already done the initial contract before I got there.

I was brought in as the dev lead for the next phase, integrations as we acquired companies, migrations, etc.

I don’t know how they original found the software. But it became much more crucial as they expanded and the company I was working for was aiming to go public.

Re: Ask HN: How to do market research for product?

#100

Post by scarface_74 »

germinalphrase wrote: post #69
scarface_74 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once was the dev lead working for a mid size non tech company. The company found the perfect product to meet their needs. It was built by an Indy developer. If we signed the contract with him, we would represent 60% of his revenue. The director of IT and CTO were reticent to base their entire data capture system that was going to be rolled out to thousands of field workers to him. I suggested that they only sign th…

Did this arrangement work out for everyone?

They gave him a shit ton of money and he started focusing more on the company’s needs.

I had the idea from being on the other side. I worked for a small struggling startup 3 companies before then where our major customer had us do the same.

When we were bought for scraps, the customer exercised the right to the escrow and the customer negotiated the rights from the acquiring company to let me work for them under contract.

I made out like a bandit. I was one of the only three people in the world who knew how to compile and maintain the proprietary VB like mobile development platform - an SDK, a VM (something akin to the JVM)

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