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Goldsmith Technology Commercialization Model

Step 12: Market Validation

Market Validation is not a haphazard process. It should be a well-defined project with specific outcomes. In addition to simply discovering the market’s satisfaction level with the product, other marketing aspects should be discovered such as the number of closings per contact, sales decision makers, the time for the sales cycle, the rate of sales growth, number of repeat sales, number of returns, customer satisfaction surveys, and many other market-related information needs.

Definition: The process of introducing the product to the market, assessing market approaches, and obtaining customer feedback.

Objective: The objective of the market validation step is to test the receptivity of the market to the product and to compare expectations of the business plan with the realities of the marketplace.

Product: The product of this step is a quantitative analysis of limited sales performance and a qualitative analysis of customer response.

Marketing Activities

The marketing activities common to this step are those necessary to obtain a quantitative and qualitative market response to the product.

During the strategic marketing plan step, the following activities must be completed:

  • Conduct limited product sales
  • Quantify the volume, rate, and demographics of sales
  • Design and implement a customer survey
  • Analyze customer feedback (price, design, function, packaging, delivery)
  • Transmit design modifications to technicians

Milestones: Sales

Funding Sources: Angel investors (seed round)

Marketing Information: Completion of the marketing validation step will usually result in a verification of the validity of the enterprise's marketing approach for the product and/or identification of recommended modifications.

Key Questions

Have you conducted limited product sales?
Have you quantified the volume, rate, and demographics of sales?
Have you designed and implemented a customer survey?
Have you analyzed customer feedback (price, design, function, packaging, delivery)?
Have you analyzed your competitor’s response?
Have you incorporated marketing modifications into the market plan?
Have you transmitted design modifications to technicians?