What's Next

What's Next?

This week, we talked about growth. Growth in new markets, growth in existing markets. For this experience exercise, you'll need to set a course for growth for your business and develop plans for how you will grow in both a new market as well as in the market you have already identified. 

What you need to do. Again, you'll need to hit the pavement and talk to potential customers. This time, you'll be armed with your "venture concept" description. Break your post into two pieces:

• Existing Market 
• New Market

Existing Market. 

Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next. You may rely on your analyses from "The Amazon Whisperer" exercise (when you discussed what product you thought might come next.)

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. Video or audio record these interviews.

Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.

New Market.

Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

Step 3: Interview three people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? Video or audio record these interviews.

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

To complete this post, be sure to include the video recordings of your interviews. Proofread the post. Be sure to include the phrase "What's Next" in the title and label it "Week 12." Upload the post URL here, and make the declaration.

Text for declaration:

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

I have completed the requirements for the "What's Next?" exercise.

I have published a blog post for this exercise. 

The blog post meets all of the requirements outlined in the instructions.

I have provided the video or audio recordings of the interview.

I have included the phrase "What's Next?" in the title and labeled it "Week 12." 

I have proofread the post, and I have shared the URL for the blog post at the "Share" exercise in Canvas.