The business school (I ought to say Dr. Harper, the professor who has probably had the most impact on my life) has pretty well ingrained the notion of finding customer demand (for which I am thankful) . Not just any demand, mind you. The kind of demand where you tell a customer about the product and they hand you their wallet, irrespective of how much might be in it (and in this case, we’ll assume a lot).
As most ingrained things go, their true value, while understood, can sometimes begin to fade (like your mom telling you to look both ways before crossing the street… or maybe a better example, companies who probably said they would never be part of the status quo, but did). That is why I love to hear from successful entrepreneurs because it seems each time I get to speak with one, some new part of business becomes very real.
In this case, the importance of analyzing customer demand in the marketplace was made distinctively important (and impressive) by the founders of Southport Boat Works. This past Monday, those of us in the managing emerging venture class received the luxury of a tour and a fair amount of personal time with the founders of Southport Boat Works (as well as a large dose of fiber glass particles, yum). During this time they outlined how they found this niche market… and its demand. The way they went about it and explained it literally gave me that feeling when you find out about Tyler at end of Fight Club and think “Whoa.”
And that’s where it should start. That’s how defined it ought to be. Niche internet marketing is built around traffic, products around buyers, and so on and so forth. It’s easy to get caught up in a sexy idea. But it needs to be built around knowing how many buyers or how much traffic will come. That’s where your success starts.