Conducting a Market Study

& Developing the Business

Model

Lessons learnt in creating SlideShare

SlideShare

• The World’s largest community for sharing presentations

• Called ‘YouTube of PowerPoint’ by TechCrunch

• Launched Oct 06, growing fast

• Run by a 14 member Delhi + USA based startup

Large-scale social sharing

for photos

for video

for Presentations

What people share on SlideShare...

Cartoons Paintings Humor

Love Songs

Talk slides

Images of womenSermons Standalone presentations

Activism Lesson plansMovie reviewsMother’s day cards

Conducting a Market Study

& Developing the Business

Model

Typical Business Planning roadmap

Typical Business Planning roadmap

Need Gap Identification

Ideation

Mission/Vision Statement

Need Gap Identification

Ideation

Mission/Vision Statement

Detailed business planning

Detailed business planning

Competitive analysis

Product Positioning Map

Core Value Proposition

Develop Business Model

Competitive analysis

Product Positioning Map

Core Value Proposition

Develop Business Model

Competitive Analysis

• Direct Competition- same product, same geography

- same product, different geography

• Indirect (overlapping) competition

• Future Competition- who could be competitors in future

- competition from disruptive technologies

• empirical knowledge

• conferences, events

• media (print, electronic) - published studies, newspaper articles

• internet search

• industry resources

- industry directories, associations, newsletters

Sources of competitive info

Detailed competitive mapping

• Syndicated research- free/paid basis

- private companies / industry organizations

- e.g. IAMAI, JuxtConsult, Indicus

• Employ professional market research agencies- IMRB, AC Nielson

• Conduct own market mapping study- previous projects, interns, students

Product Positioning Map (slideshare example)

Public Private

Asynchronous

Open, social sharing

Private sharing

Synchronous WebinarsOnline

meetings

2 X 2 Product Matrix (slideshare example)

The Positioning…(slideshare example)

• SlideShare…the “YouTube of Powerpoint”

• the elevator pitch

• - video http://light.vpod.tv/?s=0.0.12688

• your product’s core value proposition

• how it is different from others

Why is positioning important?

• Positioning has to be clear & simple

- information & choice overloaded societies

- explosion of products on the web

- “me too”, overlapping features

- low entry barriers for new players

- short product life cycles on the web

Factors influencing business models

• Depends on business objectives- trade-off between growth & monetization

• Depends on financials- cash burn rate

- expectations from investors

• Depends on exit strategy

Internet business models

• Transaction Based- charge users per interaction

• Advertising- revenues driven by internet traffic

• Freemium model- subscription based

- basic is free, charge high-end customers

- use free as marketing incentive

• Content syndication• Licensing

Scenario building & what-if analysis

• Evaluate multiple options

• Initial financial projections- revenue, expenses, profit

- cash flow projections

- deficit could mean you need external funding

• Estimate break-even point

• Projections beyond break-even till exit

Preliminary Financial Planning (fictitious example)

Preliminary financial planning

(fictitious example)

Reality check reqd!

• Projections are numbers on a spreadsheet- how to validate your assumptions, hypothesis

• Get as much feedback as possible- other entreprenuers

- venture capitalists, financial institutions

• Make dry runs if needed

Questions ?

Thank You