Article
Beachhead Market
d-eship.com
Quoted on this wiki
Every place a page here uses this source, in the order the words come in it.
“Choose a single market segment to pursue; then, keep segmenting until you have a well-defined and homogenous market opportunity that meets the three conditions of a market.” Content will be published as it becomes available.
First, ask yourself: Are the markets from your Market Segmentation in Step 1 well-defined enough and small enough to attack successfully and not only conquer but dominate? You will compare each market against the three conditions that define a market, which I have refined from Disciplined Entrepreneurship and focused on the end-user: “Same product: The end users will all use the same product. If you have to make slightly different products to appeal to the different end users in your market, it’s too broad of a market.” Same sales process: The sales process to the end users will be the same, meaning interchangeable language, value proposition, sales channels, etc. If your salespeople have to change tactics from one end user to the next, your markets are not targeted enough!
Same product: The end users will all use the same product. If you have to make slightly different products to appeal to the different end users in your market, it’s too broad of a market. “Same sales process: The sales process to the end users will be the same, meaning interchangeable language, value proposition, sales channels, etc. If your salespeople have to change tactics from one end user to the next, your markets are not targeted enough!” Word of mouth: There is strong word of mouth between end users in this community. If your end users don’t talk to each other—if they are separated by large distances, for example—you’re going to have a hard time building up sales across the full group of end users. Refine it!
Same sales process: The sales process to the end users will be the same, meaning interchangeable language, value proposition, sales channels, etc. If your salespeople have to change tactics from one end user to the next, your markets are not targeted enough! “Word of mouth: There is strong word of mouth between end users in this community. If your end users don’t talk to each other—if they are separated by large distances, for example—you’re going to have a hard time building up sales across the full group of end users. Refine it!” Use the Market Segmentation Certification worksheet at the end of this chapter to analyze the markets from your Market Segmentation, then go back and refine your markets if necessary—it’s almost always a requirement to further segment your markets.
Once your Market Segmentation is sufficiently refined, it’s time to choose your Beachhead Market. A few tips: “Involve the whole founding team.” Avoid “analysis paralysis.” There is almost always more than one path to success. Your goal is to eliminate the paths with the lowest odds of success and choose one path with relatively good odds. Then, take your chosen path and pursue it without thinking about “what could’ve been”—burn the boats! Pursue it until it proves not to work or is much less attractive than originally anticipated.
Once your Market Segmentation is sufficiently refined, it’s time to choose your Beachhead Market. A few tips: “You also want to identify and address any team dynamics issues.” Avoid “analysis paralysis.” There is almost always more than one path to success. Your goal is to eliminate the paths with the lowest odds of success and choose one path with relatively good odds. Then, take your chosen path and pursue it without thinking about “what could’ve been”—burn the boats! Pursue it until it proves not to work or is much less attractive than originally anticipated.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a beachhead as “a beach on an enemy’s shore that an invading army takes and controls to prepare for the arrival of more soldiers and supplies.” The analogy for entrepreneurs is that to optimize your chances of success on time, you will employ the same game plan, choosing a small market segment you can control until your company has sufficient resources to enter other markets. “Are the markets from your Market Segmentation in Step 1 well-defined enough and small enough to attack successfully and not only conquer but dominate?” Same product: The end users will all use the same product. If you have to make slightly different products to appeal to the different end users in your market, it’s too broad of a market.
Use the Market Segmentation Certification worksheet at the end of this chapter to analyze the markets from your Market Segmentation, then go back and refine your markets if necessary—it’s almost always a requirement to further segment your markets. “Once your Market Segmentation is sufficiently refined, it’s time to choose your Beachhead Market.” Involve the whole founding team. Presumably, you’ve already refined the composition of your team somewhat in Step 1; continue to do so here. You want to finish this step with increased cohesion on your team. You also want to identify and address any team dynamics issues. You haven’t worked together much, so you’ll likely have some issues. Be honest about them, and recognize and address them professionally. If you don’t do it now, you’ll pay a steeper and steeper price as time goes on—in my experience, failure to address team issues upfront is the number one reason companies fail. The hardest part of a startup is not technology or strategy, it’s people.
Once your Market Segmentation is sufficiently refined, it’s time to choose your Beachhead Market. A few tips: “You haven’t worked together much, so you’ll likely have some issues.” Avoid “analysis paralysis.” There is almost always more than one path to success. Your goal is to eliminate the paths with the lowest odds of success and choose one path with relatively good odds. Then, take your chosen path and pursue it without thinking about “what could’ve been”—burn the boats! Pursue it until it proves not to work or is much less attractive than originally anticipated.
Is the target customer well-funded? “Is the target customer readily accessible to your sales force?” Does the target customer have a compelling reason to buy?