Product or market; which do you build first?

Here’s a way of looking at things; when selling a product, there are two routes to market:
- Develop a product, then go out and try to find a market to buy it
- Develop a market, then try to find products to sell to them
The first route is straight–forward.
It’s linear; it seems clear enough.
It’s also potentially very narrow and may well lead to a dead–end; what if the market doesn’t want what you’ve built?
The second route is more ambiguous.
It’s difficult to see the path.
You’ve got to have a lot of faith that you’re going in the right direction – that you are actually travelling in any direction at all!
But the potential return is much bigger; you create bespoke products that have perfect market fit.
Moreover, you already have a market, you have their interest; you have an audience.
Building an audience requires you building your own platform; you need your own stage from which to communicate and transact with them.
In whatever industry you are in, at whatever stage of business or career, ask yourself:
Are my efforts helping to build my own platform, my own audience?
If not, you may be selling yourself short.
Questions, thoughts or comments? Share them below:
- Don’t rely on your memory, always write it down - 2016-12-02
- Don't focus on words - focus on white space - 2016-12-01
- Avoid problems: manage expectations - 2016-11-30
- Make more profit by making things easy - 2016-11-29
- Product or market; which do you build first? - 2016-11-28
- Increase your profits by repackaging your products - 2016-11-25
- How to sell successfully - sell the sizzle, not the sausage - 2016-11-24
- One of the key buying signals, and how to profit from it - 2016-11-22
- Make your life easier; go after the big win - 2016-11-21
- Make more money - don't negotiate on price first - 2016-11-18