Strategy: Five Questions for Capturing Markets

The most influential companies today (Amazon, Apple, etc.) started by targeting a specific niche before going into bigger markets. They began with a "Beachhead."

The most influential companies today (Amazon, Apple, etc.) started by targeting a specific niche before going into bigger markets. As Dhruv Saxena explains, they began with a "Beachhead."

“If you want to capture a territory where an incumbent already exists, put your full force behind capturing a Beachhead where the incumbent is vulnerable and expand into larger territories from there.”

If your startup is looking to capture a “Beachhead,” you should ask yourself the following 5 questions:

1. Does your product meet a strong customer need 10x better than existing solutions? Your product has to significantly outperform existing solutions in solving a specific problem to make it attractive enough for early adopters.
2. Can a tightly scoped product be built around this unmet need? You have to have a clear and narrow focus initially. Go small and establish a dedicated user base before expanding.
3. Will customers adopt the product despite the lack of feature parity with existing solutions? Focus on crucial features that meet specific customer needs - think of a particular feature that your customers will not be able to live without.
4. Does the Beachhead have a network effect that will help your product gain organic traction? Think of ways in which your product can leverage network effects. Dropbox, for example, used a referral program to boost early user growth.
5. Is the Beachhead a way to enter an existing market or is it a way to create a new market? Two approaches: 1) Leverage the beachhead to compete in an existing, growing market and eventually pivot to meet broader markets; 2) Create a new market around the original product vision and convince customers of the value.

Source: FailloryGPT