
Does anyone care about your new product? - revorad
http://andrewchenblog.com/2011/06/14/does-anyone-care-about-your-new-product-conducting-market-research-with-googles-keyword-tool/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AndrewChensBlog+%28Andrew+Chen+%28%40andrewchen%29%29
======
6ren
This post grapples with some interesting issues, especially conceptual
confusion about terminology, and how to classify specific situations.

New market or pre-existing category: I agree an mp3 player was a pre-existing
category - but what about iTunes? It is more like Edison creating a power-
station and network along with the light-bulb; or Birdseye establishing
freezers in the supermarket, along with actually freezing food.

The iPhone is interesting: sure, it's a phone, and sure, smart-phones were a
pre-existing category. But the iPhone (a) included new technology (touch-
screen) that revolutionized user interaction with phones (does that make it a
new category?); (b) it wasn't really a phone, nor really a smart-phone, but a
platform for apps - like a PC; (c) the innovation of the appstore, to
facilitate that platform.

And let us remember that, historically, Apple invented the PC.

\---

Is a new sub-category (of a pre-existing category) a new market or a pre-
existing category? And, more importantly, what difference does it make - i.e.
for what tasks is this distinction relevant? (how is it used)

Target an existing need (Christensen says _customers 'hire' products to do
jobs they want to get done_ ): I agree this is a good way to go - but it is
much broader than "pre-existing category". Let's be clear though: there's
needs that exist that people are aware of (enough to search on), and needs
that exist that people aren't consciously aware of. And that's where we truly
get into "new": not just a new category, but _new need_.

I agree that new markets are much harder to target, but also much more fun.
Andrew, I'd be interested to hear you elaborate on " 'blank-slate' ideas"
being _superficially innovative, riskier and “first mover advantage” being
wildly overrated_. Can you give examples? (I don't quite understand what you
mean).

\---

Re: "marketplace" abstract terms: Reminds me of annual report terms like
_caffeinated beverages_ and _baked confectionery_ \- a cool, elevated god-like
view that no-one can relate to.

A horseless carriage is a carriage that doesn't go - unless you already know
about cars.

\---

PS: despite all my complaints, I find it a very interesting submission - and
I've been playing with the <https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer>
and it's a very revealing and powerful tool.

~~~
larrik
"But the iPhone (a) included new technology (touch-screen) that revolutionized
user interaction with phones (does that make it a new category?); (b) it
wasn't really a phone, nor really a smart-phone, but a platform for apps -
like a PC; (c) the innovation of the appstore, to facilitate that platform."

a) Touchscreens had been available on smart phones for QUITE some time. They
just were designed for styluses. They WERE pretty awesome, though.

b) The original iPhone was most certainly not a platform for apps. Yet, it was
still very popular.

But really, why bring up Apple at all? For a company, Apple is _weird_ and
opaque. Trying to use their actions or success to justify your start-up is
foolish, since you don't really understand how and why Apple got to where they
are. No, really. You don't. (Not nearly well enough to duplicate or otherwise
replicate it) Bringing them up is an unnecessary and unhelpful complication.

EDIT: Yeesh, I guess I skimmed right over the part of the article where this
is brought up, for my last paragraph.

~~~
6ren
I was commenting on the article, which discusses apple products starting at
"The reference example of this is Apple..."

------
reasonattlm
As a general rule, one should expect no-one to care about anything new you
happen to be working on. Consider: if people cared, it would be done already.
The only worthwhile, achievable things that aren't already done are the things
that people don't care about - through ignorance, or some other barrier that
can be eliminated by persuasion and demonstration (usually much more the
former than the latter).

Take my latest side-project:

<https://www.opencures.org>

From a sympathetic audience of thousands who read my other related work,
persuading even a handful of people to help Open Cures in any way is real
challenge. This is the way of the world: if people cared and agreed and were
up for it at first glance, it would be done already.

So expect the long uphill fight. It says nothing about the merits of what
you're doing; it just is.

~~~
dodo53
>As a general rule, one should expect no-one to care about anything new you
happen to be working on. Consider: if people cared, it would be done already

I think that's a bit of a jump! There's plenty of things that people care
about but don't personally think they could achieve. If you do a startup to
end world hunger, people would be interested as soon as you proved your
credibility in actually achieving it.

Also - Interesting side-project! What's your background (are you a software
dev? biotech scientist?)

~~~
reasonattlm
I'm a software tech, with a few years of experience in writing about the life
science field - this would be a lot easier to bootstrap if I had actual
biotechnology skills and deep knowledge there as well.

There are people working credibly on ending world hunger, and all sorts of
other even more important projects (such as ending aging, which kills far more
people and causes far more harm in the developing world) and they have the
same uphill struggle and lack of interest. I submit that we're using different
reflexive definitions of the word "care", which might be expanded out as (a)
"care in the abstract sense" and (b) "care enough to actually do something".

------
ecaradec
I keep seeing this advice that you can find market by looking at adwords tool.
I love the idea, but I've never seen a real example that end up as a real
product, only the general tip and I tried but never got interesting results ?
Does someone has a real credible example ?

~~~
geekfactor
I can't speak for the other advice you're seeing, but the article isn't really
suggesting that you can go to the adwords tool with a blank slate and _find_ a
market. Rather that you can use the adwords tool to validate that a market
exists based on search volume.

~~~
jamesbritt
The book Start Small, Stay Small, gives examples of this, as well as ideas on
finding niche markets.

Interesting and useful stuff. You may locate a niche market, find that there
is genuine interest in it as reflected in ad words, and also get a sense for
what the existing market is like (e.g., is there already a highly-dominate
player, and is it cost-effective to try to move into this niche).

