Predevelopment Understanding

Putting the project to paper is a good way of evaluating critical understandings of what this project will require from the business/back-office throughout the development.

As a initial sketch to begin visualizing the project as a whole, one could use sections of a pitch deck format to evaluate if operationally the idea will pay itself and if it's worth proceeding with. Allow some points to be incomplete, as it is better than filling the voids with false or unknown information. When researching about what are the trends and tendencies of your market, it is important to be cautious of gathering information because it is not always accurate or available, it may turn out to be misleading. The processes of a technological journey is not standardized and varies between projects.

Market research

One of the wonders of technology is that it expand the business' SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market). What sets the boundaries into the SAM (service Available Market) and the TAM (Total Available Market) usually are things such as location, access to customers, and volume of operational handle. With that being said, blue oceans become red faster. When researching about other players, also consider how much can they grow and where can they be by the time one's new solution is up and running.

The diagram on the left represents a blue ocean market that does not count on technology to operate. It is harder to obtain a bigger market share because of the geographical barriers of providing a service or product. On the other hand, the diagram on the right represents a market that is dependend in technology or technological itself. Different products have different solutions for the same problem. The wider the search gets, the more alternative solutions or players will come across.

The market research should not only be about similar players or solutions, but also about other ways to solve the same problem your looking to eliminate. The first line of thought prior to beginning the search should be, in order to create a solution that will solve the problem, is fixing one step of the way enough or do I need to fix the whole path in order for the pain to really be solved. This will help you understand if little solutions combined will do your job if put together. As an example, just because you want to create an automated lock for homes, it doesn’t mean you need to create a solution for the residence car gate. Even though they seem like similar markets, different technologies come in play. It’s almost like you are creating two products. The problem one feels the need to address should be enough of a pain for a company/community/society, that enlarging the scope of the idea should not need to be done in order for one to believe the problem will be solved.

Trying to solve every single step of the way will enlarge the scope of the MVP will raise costs as well as potentially repel innovators and early adopters, as they are committing to a solution bigger than their need. A MVP that fails to test the product-market fit will likely take it's next steps blindfolded.

If researching for an internal solution, there is always a SWOT analysis to make when adopting an internal software that was developed on a white label model as seen on the example below:

Marketing

Internal

When marketing internally to employees, a onboarding should be done in order to train them how to use the software.

External

At the starting point, if the idea is being supported by technology the assumption is that the company/startup is already up and running and a marketing team most likely exists. This team doesn't necessarily need to market the technology, but rather what it is going to change for their user/client.

In the case of technology being built for an idea, the 7 P's of marketing should be a core knowledge. A rundown of the 7 P's of marketing should be carefully drawn out to validade the idea is worth building. If any of the 7 P's are unclear, it is in the best interest that they are redone and reevaluated as many times as it takes before taking the first step of the project.

Conclusion

Know your idea. Know exactly what you need in a business and operational standpoint. Before embarking onto the development phase, make sure you know give yourself enough time on. As soon as you commit into starting your project, stepbacks can cost you time and money. Standing on what you believe the final outcome will look like is important.