The New Business Road Test, 4th Edition

11

How to learn what you don’t know you don’t know¹

Despite your confidence in your nascent opportunity, there are – if you’ll admit it – a few things you know you don’t know about your idea and the customers who, if you are successful, will buy it.

What you know you don’t know

What do you know you don’t know about your idea and about the customers’ likely response? You probably know you don’t really know at least a few important things:

• whether customers, or enough customers, will buy what you propose to offer;
• whether they will pay the price you think they will pay;
• whether you’ve designed your goods or services in the best way to maximize their appeal, whether you had got the offering just right;
• which target market is the most promising ...