1 of 85

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

2 of 85

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We acknowledge that we are situated on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We are privileged to work and play on these lands.

3 of 85

PRESENTING SPONSOR

4 of 85

GOLD SPONSORS

5 of 85

SILVER SPONSORS

6 of 85

BRONZE & MEDIA SPONSORS

7 of 85

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

8 of 85

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

9 of 85

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

10 of 85

IP PATHWAYS

IP Certification Program - Level 1

Get actionable insights to align your IP strategy with business strategy

  • Join us for a FREE program to learn the foundations of IP, and earn a shareable IP Certification
  • Offered on a monthly basis with both in-person and virtual cohorts
  • Next online dates:
    • Mar 10, 12, 17 (12pm - 1:30pm)

Scan to learn more and register today!

11 of 85

NVBC EVENTS CALENDAR

Or go to: newventuresbc.com/events

Scan to view upcoming events:

12 of 85

ACCELERATING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

VENTURES

13 of 85

�Product/Market Fit

“Product Marketing Overview”

Really about ‘Product Management’

To succeed as a tech company, you need to manage your product before, during and after MVP

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

14 of 85

Dave Thomas 604-603-8630

dthomas@rocketbuilders.com

Dave@venturelabs.ca

Lesley Duncan

Director, Communications at Photonic Inc.

lesley.duncan@gmail.com

��

14

15 of 85

Lesley Duncan, PhD

  • Director, Communications Photonic Inc.
  • Operations Director & Mentor, SFU VentureLabs
  • Co-Founded a Fintech Company
  • 10+ years in Market Research, UX Research, Program Evaluation
  • Doctorate in Social Psychology

15

16 of 85

Dave Thomas

  • Mentor in Residence – SFU Chang Institute, Director Programs @ VentureLabs
  • Rocket Builders ‘Go to Market’ and ‘Sales’ Programs in BC for growth companies
  • Start-ups 2 successes, 3 failures,1 new start-up

16

17 of 85

17

Sailing School at Jericho Beach & Harbour Tours

www.macsailing.com

www.vancouverbysea.com

info@macsailing.com

18 of 85

Round 2 – April/May

  • Business Model Canvas + 60 sec video
  • Baseline info – Four Topics
    • Only one is about the product
  • Four Questions
    • Three about the market
    • One about revenue and money

The jury is hoping for concise, consistent answers to those items

18

19 of 85

Business Model Canvas

BUS 237

19

20 of 85

Most Important Question - DT

  1. How will you win in the marketplace?
  2. More than just the product and the fact that there is a market. How will you move into the market?
  3. Show the revenue model, not just some Uber number

20

21 of 85

Not Sure How to Answer a Question

  1. Work in Progress is an acceptable answer
  2. Look in your business model canvas - it will have answers

21

22 of 85

Getting ‘down’ to Five pages

  1. A sophisticated audience - Don't have to explain simple things in detail
  2. Tables and Point Form
  3. Talk mostly about the company and how it will succeed in the market rather than about TAM and my company.

22

23 of 85

How many of you used AI?

  1. I have an AI company
  2. AI is part of my product
  3. I used AI to draft my submission
  4. AI partnering with hardware companies

23

24 of 85

Marketing Research & Segmentation�Understanding Consumers�‘Whole’ Solution Offerings�Product Positioning�Metrics��Answer Questions: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

25 of 85

Successful Growth Companies

  1. Minimum Viable Product evolves to become……
  2. … the product demanded by the market including a viable revenue model
  3. Addressable market with an ‘engine of growth’ or a clearly defined niche market

Product

Revenue

Market

26 of 85

Market Research

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

27 of 85

Why Segment?

  • Focuses scarce marketing & development resources on target customer group
  • Narrows whole product definition
  • Limits real competitors
  • Leverages past success into other segments
  • Allows the benefits of market leadership to develop more quickly

27

28 of 85

28

“Whenever you get confused… go to the store… the customer has all the answers… and all the money.”

—Sam Walton

Founder Wal-Mart

Value Proposition

Value of Your Offering

Value Offered by Competitors

29 of 85

The Value of Testing Your Value Proposition

  • Learning who your customer is
  • What their problem is
  • What they need to solve it
  • If your product can offer that solution
  • If they prefer your solution over other possible solutions
  • If they’d pay (enough) for it
  • If they can purchase and implement it

29

30 of 85

Be Humble in your Research

The value is in the strength of the test.

Everything should be set up to rigorously test your assumptions about your value proposition and find where it doesn’t hold up.

Build it like you’re right, test it like you’re wrong.

30

31 of 85

Crash Test your Value Proposition

32 of 85

Your crash test dummy survives

=

Your value proposition is strong

=

A segment of the market will buy

Your crash test dummy doesn’t survive

=

Your value proposition is weak

=

Not enough of the market will buy

33 of 85

Market Research Approach�by Stage

IDEA

MVP

SALE

SCALE

Question

Is X a problem for a segment of people?

Does Product Y solve Problem X?

Will people pay for Product Y to solve Problem X?

Can enough people buy X to be a viable business?

Hypothesis

There is a problem with X that could be solved with Y

Product as shown effectively solves problem X

Product effectively solves problem X better than existing solutions/no solution

Lots of people willing and able to buy and use this product

Prediction

People with this problem share Z characteristic

Using product Y makes people ##% faster at X

People are willing to pay $AA for Product Y

ARR will be $AA, because ### users will pay $### each/yr

Testing Method

Customer Discovery Interviews

MVP focus group, UX experience

Pricing testing, # of purchasers

Markets, sales processes, conversion

Analysis

Synthesis of feedback

What works, what doesn’t

Price points, volume estimates, who buys, uses

Conversion, retention, efficiencies

33

34 of 85

Market Research Approach by Stage - examples

IDEA

MVP

SALE

SCALE

Question

Is X a problem?

Does Product Y solve Problem X?

Will people pay for Product Y to solve Problem X?

Can enough people buy X to be a viable business?

Hypothesis

There is a problem with X that could be solved with Y

Product as shown effectively solves problem X

Product effectively solves problem X better than existing solutions/no solution

Lots of people willing and able to buy and use this product

Prediction

People with this problem share Z characteristic

Using product Y makes people ##% faster at X

People are willing to pay $AA for Product Y

ARR will be $AA, because ### users will pay $### each/yr

Testing Method

Customer Discovery Interviews

MVP focus group, UX experience

Pricing testing, # of purchasers

Markets, sales processes, conversion

Analysis

Synthesis of feedback

What works, what doesn’t

Price points, volume estimates, who buys, uses

Conversion, retention, efficiencies

34

35 of 85

Market Research Approach by Stage - examples

IDEA

MVP

SALE

SCALE

Question

Is X a problem?

Does Product Y solve Problem X?

Will people pay for Product Y to solve Problem X?

Can enough people buy X to be a viable business?

Hypothesis

There is a problem with X that could be solved with Y

Product as shown effectively solves problem X

Product effectively solves problem X better than existing solutions/no solution

Lots of people willing and able to buy and use this product

Prediction

People with this problem share Z characteristic

Using product Y makes people ##% faster at X

People are willing to pay $AA for Product Y

ARR will be $AA, because ### users will pay $### each/yr

Testing Method

Customer Discovery Interviews

MVP focus group, UX experience

Pricing testing, # of purchasers

Markets, sales processes, conversion

Analysis

Synthesis of feedback

What works, what doesn’t

Price points, volume estimates, who buys, uses

Conversion, retention, efficiencies

35

36 of 85

Market Research Approach by Stage - examples

IDEA

MVP

SALE

SCALE

Question

Is X a problem?

Does Product Y solve Problem X?

Will people pay for Product Y to solve Problem X?

Can enough people buy X to be a viable business?

Hypothesis

There is a problem with X that could be solved with Y

Product as shown effectively solves problem X

Product effectively solves problem X better than existing solutions/no solution

Lots of people willing and able to buy and use this product

Prediction

People with this problem share Z characteristic

Using product Y makes people ##% faster at X

People are willing to pay $AA for Product Y

ARR will be $AA, because ### users will pay $### each/yr

Testing

Method

Customer Discovery Interviews

MVP focus group, UX experience

Pricing testing, # of purchasers

Markets, sales processes, conversion

Analysis

Synthesis of feedback

What works, what doesn’t

Price points, volume estimates, who buys, uses

Conversion, retention, efficiencies

36

37 of 85

How do I do effective market research for my company?

38 of 85

Business Model Canvas

This is the overarching theory of your business

  • Each block allows you to clearly lay out the assumptions that you’re making and the evidence you have
  • Each block is linked to the others – consider the flow and impact if your assumptions don’t hold

Develop your Business Model Canvas to define the scope of work

38

39 of 85

Customer Discovery Plan

  • Determine where you’ll do some work – what parts of your value proposition /BMC content is based on assumptions?
  • Define your priority questions, what you think the answers are, based on the best information you have available
  • Determine who you need to hear from (sample), and what methods can be implemented to do so

39

40 of 85

Customer Discovery Plan Advice

Prioritize De-Risking:

  • Test ideas, prototypes, sales channels, etc. early and often.
  • Seek information so you can adapt your approach and your product based on data from customers, prospective customers.

40

41 of 85

Customer Discovery Plan Advice

Ask both What and Why

  • Don’t be satisfied with knowing what, ask why.
  • Use available data as starting points to both generate questions, and provide answers.
  • Use what you learn for positioning and marketing

41

42 of 85

Market Segmentation

  • Revolutionary Products
    • Segment originates with technology or product
    • Vendors can’t predict next innovation or its consequences
  • Evolutionary Products:
    • Segment is pre-defined; challenge is to refine definition/redefine
    • Mainstream market customers insist vendors fit solution to their problem

42

43 of 85

Blank - Hypotheses versus Reality

Large companies execute in a market

Start-ups ‘search’ for a business model

Build, Measure, Learn

    • Make a prediction, ship, measure the results, repeat and then see what happens again

    • Prove that your product fits the market - Reality

44 of 85

  • Revenue is NOT a function of market share, size, and penetration rates

  • ($ 1B market x 2% penetration = $20 M)

  • Revenue IS a function of the leads you attract, conversion rates, price and individual customers

  • L x % x P = R

  • AI companies are different

45 of 85

Bottom-up – The Market

  • Target markets are groups of individuals separated by distinguishable and noticeable aspects.
    • Available Budgets
    • Market Reach
    • Attach Rate
    • Conversion Rate
    • Win Rate

46 of 85

Bowling Alley Model – Headpin Segment

46

  • Identify a segment you can dominate
  • Win market share leadership in that segment
  • Leverage leadership to win over adjacent segments

(In Bowling Alley)

”Target a single niche market segment� with a ‘must-have’ value proposition”

47 of 85

Market Penetration – Where you Start

47

U

X

MKT

48 of 85

MacSailing - Helly Hansen Jacket Sales

48

MacSailing sold ______

Jackets when we added

Fancy ‘Sailing’ clothing

to our website? How many

in the first year?

  1. 0 – 10
  2. 11 – 25
  3. 26- 100
  4. 101-500

49 of 85

Understanding the Market

Internal Focus External Focus

Product & Feature Customer Value

Lots of Features Differentiation

Reactive R&D Headpin Segment

Unpredictable Results Reliable Customers

More to it than doing a Demo

50 of 85

Role of Search in Buyer’s Process

Content Copyright 2013, Rocket Builders

50

51 of 85

How many people are involved?

  • “Business Technology Buyers Survey”

Content Copyright 2013, Rocket Builders

51

Size of Buying Organization

Participants in Buying Process

100 to 500 employees

6.8

501 to 1000 employees

13.5

Over 1000 employees

21.0

52 of 85

Participants in Buying Process

  • Users
    • are members of the organizations who will use the product or services. In many cases, users initiate the buying proposal and help define the product specifications.
  • Influencers
    • often help define specifications and also provide information for evaluating alternatives. Technical personnel are particularly important influencers.
  • Buyers
    • have formal authority to select the supplier and arrange terms of purchase. Buyers may help shape product specifications, but their major role is in selecting vendors and negotiating.
  • Deciders
    • have formal or informal power to select or approve the final suppliers. In routine buying, the buyers are often the deciders, or at least the approvers.
  • Gatekeepers
    • control the flow of information to others. For example, purchasing agents, often have authority to prevent salespersons from seeing users or deciders.

Content Copyright 2013, Rocket Builders

52

53 of 85

Third Party Validation

53

54 of 85

Hotel Room Shopping Poll

When you book a hotel room do you read the comments from past customers that rate the hotel? Yes ____ N _____

When you book a hotel room do you insist that it has everything you want even if it costs more?

Everything __________

Most Important things and value _________

54

55 of 85

Segmentation 101

Do you need to build every feature potential customers ask for?

Why or why not?

Is differentiation based only on your product?

55

56 of 85

Building a Competitive Matrix

Us

Competitor 1

Competitor 2

Largest Customers

Key Partners

Financial Health

Market Share

Key Products

Pricing

Key Product Features

Value Proposition

Sales Channels

56

GTM Program – Refining Market Strategy /

57 of 85

Whole Product

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

58 of 85

Whole Product Definition

Physical Product

+

All Associated Factors

(services, partners, warranties, guarantees, image, training, etc.)

=

“The Whole Product”

58

Both tangible & intangible elements required by target customer to solve his/her whole problem.

59 of 85

The Whole Product

59

Core

Product

Hardware

Software

Legacy

interfaces

Connectivity,

SI

Pre-sales

services

Post-sales

service

& support

Peripherals

Consulting

Complementary

Products

Complementary

Services

Source: Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore

All other products, services and relationships needed by the target customer to fulfill their compelling reason to buy

Incredibly Important for Defense & Security

60 of 85

Hotels – Whole Product

Whole Product

60

GTM Program – Product-Market Fit /

61 of 85

Coffee Example

61

62 of 85

Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts

What percentage of the people switched to the other coffee shop after a month?

0 – 5 _____

5 – 10 _____

10 – 25 _____

25 – 50 _____

> 50% _____

62

63 of 85

Positioning

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

64 of 85

Definition

  • Why will they buy from us vs. our competition?
  • Positioning = Managing the product and its presentation to fit a predetermined place in the mind of the customer
  • Positioning = Market + Competitive Segmentation Differentiation

64

65 of 85

More Definitions…..

  • Perceived status within market segment. (Exists in people’s heads)

  • Build relationships to secure & communicate competitive advantage. (Something marketing folks do)

65

66 of 85

“My wife drives a very safe car” What type of car does she drive?

BMW ______

Chevy ______

Ford ______

Honda ______

Hyundai ______

Toyota ______

Volkswagen ____

Volvo ______

66

67 of 85

Positioning Impact

67

Partnerships

Pricing

Whole Product

Distribution

Sales Cycle

Service/Support

Company Valuation

Competition

Product Position

68 of 85

Product Positioning – How You Describe Your Product To Potential Customers

  1. Customer: Who do we / could we sell to?
  2. Need: What problem is our customer trying to solve, or opportunity to address?
  3. Products: What do we / could we sell to meet our customer’s need?
  4. Differentiation: Who else can address our customers’ needs. How are we different?
  5. Whole Product: What else is needed to get a solution to the problem?
  6. Positioning Statement Development.

68

69 of 85

The Positioning Statement

  • Positioning Criteria:
    • Who is the target customer? Is this the decision maker?
    • What is the compelling reason to buy?
    • What is the product category?
    • What is the key benefit of that product category?
    • Who is the main competitor?
    • What is the key differentiation of this product?

  • Positioning Statement:
    • For (target customer)
    • Who (compelling reason to buy)
    • Our product is a (product category)
    • That (key benefit)
    • Unlike (main competitor)
    • Our product (key differentiation)

69

70 of 85

Positioning Example: Apple iPod

For mobile, high-income individuals

who need a way to listen to their entire music collection in different settings

the Apple iPod is a small, portable digital music player

that offers elegance of design, the ability to store an entire music collection, and easy purchasing of new digital music.

Unlike flash mp3 players (Creative, Rio, etc),

the product stores an entire music library and is integrated into a service to purchase new digital music (iTunes)

70

71 of 85

EXAMPLE FROM 1985 - Starbucks

  • For: Sophisticated coffee drinkers
  • Who: value excellent coffee and an amazing customer experience
  • The: Starbucks experience is a unique retail chain
  • That: adds to the quality of coffee-drinkers’ lives.
  • Unlike: Drip coffee served in a plastic cup
  • At Starbucks: we’re making coffee a new way and providing a unique environment for drinking it

72 of 85

Pricing & Value

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

73 of 85

Common Pricing Issues

    • What are some common price objections you hear? Is your price too high or too low?
    • How does you pricing model compare with the industry? With your competition?
    • Do you offer promotional pricing? How effective is it?
    • What licensing alternatives do you offer?
    • What discounts do you provide to resellers?

73

74 of 85

Pricing 101

Pricing is a combination of……….

  1. Cost plus
  2. The Market sets the price
  3. Value of the product to the buyer

74

75 of 85

Pricing 101

Do you need to have the lowest price to compete when you enter the market?

75

76 of 85

Product Marketing, Metrics and Analytics

These materials can be reproduced only with official approval from Rocket Builders and Venture labs. Entire contents © 2022 by Rocket Builders Canada Limited and Venture Labs. All rights reserved. �

77 of 85

Download from Hubspot

78 of 85

6 essential steps to internet marketing success:

    • Optimizing Your Website
    • Creating Content
    • Implementing a Social Strategy
    • Converting Visitors into Leads
    • Nurturing Leads into Customers
    • Analyzing & Refining Data

HubSpot Has 199 free eBooks

79 of 85

B2B Social Media Marketing

  • 93% of all B2B marketers are engaged in some form of social media marketing
    • with most putting their focus on the most popular channels
      • LinkedIn
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Instagram

Source: BtoB Magazine

Content Copyright 2013, Rocket Builders

79

80 of 85

Market Segment Fit

  1. For each segment, identify which methods you will use. (this will depend on the Pros/Cons for your solution/segment combinations)
  2. Then prioritize each method for each segment
  3. For Priority segments create a budget

Marketing Methods

80

GTM Program – Marketing Programs, Processes and Methods /

81 of 85

Segments Poll

How many of you have an AI company?

How Many will integrate AI into their product?

How many will use AI to write their NVBC Application? Remember AI is weak at differentiation

81

GTM Program – Marketing Programs, Processes and Methods /

82 of 85

Segments Poll

How many segments will you target initially?

1 ______

2 ______

3 ______

>3 ______

If it is more than 3 you’re fired

82

GTM Program – Marketing Programs, Processes and Methods /

83 of 85

Are you going to Web Summit?

  • Yes, I am signed up
  • I am considering going
  • I will attend if I can keep the cost low
  • Not really all that aware
  • Not for my type of company

83

GTM Program – Marketing Programs, Processes and Methods /

84 of 85

Resources – Reading Material

  • First customer to first market
  • Users and revenue
  • Targeted marketing

85 of 85

Dave Thomas 604-603-8630

dthomas@rocketbuilders.com

Dave@venturelabs.ca

Lesley Duncan

lesley.duncan@gmail.com

��

85