Dr. Zhiyong Li: Let's move on to Product Development. There are so many things you can think about especially with internet advancement. We have Google, Facebook, Twitter, and now, Groupon. With so many options, how do you know if you have the right idea?
Dr. Wang: When you start a company, you have an idea of something you want to develop. I then go to the end customer. My current company is BioMedomics, a medical diagnostics provider. We spend a lot of time talking to doctors. We are very fortunate here in Research Triangle Park that we have Duke and UNC. One of our company advisors is a senior administrator and leading cardiologist at UNC. We go to him and ask his needs and probe on what is missing. He gives insightful answers on what the market needs. We listen carefully, since we must develop something that we can really sell.
Also, I suggest going to strategic partners such as Johnson & Johnson and other big companies that could become your customers or one day buy you. Go to them and ask their needs, what their problem is, and what is missing. Get into a conversation, and they will identify areas where they have no solution. Go in there as soon as possible to help define your product early on.
Ms. Ueng: You have to really understand your market. You can't develop your technology in a vacuum and think because it is "such cool" technology that all these people will want it. While that could happen, if you are in market of only 2 people who will want it, certainly that is not commercially viable!
I can't emphasize how much you have to listen to your market and understand their needs and make sure that your product has the features that meets those needs, assuming you want to have a product that has a sizeable market potential in order to grow your business.
Do your market research, whether it be qualitative research or quantitative research, and ideally, a combination of both. Then make sure you are uniquely positioned so that you have a chance to stand out and be the leader in your market space.
Dr. Fernandez: We have a renewable business because bacteria become resistant. You have to find out who else is doing what, and how to differentiate your product. Research on competition is very important: we have to find out what's available, what's coming along, what's ahead of us, what's side by side us, and what's behind us. We do a lot of this research so that when we get the FDA process done, there is still a place to sell this product.
Some of the knowledge is common sense having been in the industry for a long time. You should, however, get key opinion leaders to tell you there is a need, as investors will ask the key opinion leaders. It is important that you have a core set of people who believe in the same thing you do.
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