Faster Horses

Market research takes a bit of effort. It seems simple: find your target audience, ask them what they need, and build out your offering. Companies use this model and promptly crash and burn. One of the reasons is the data collected isn’t dependable. 

People generally don’t know what they need… but they always have an answer to the question. There is no intent to mislead you but they often haven’t thought through it. If Henry Ford asked people what they needed they would have said faster horses. 

Ignoring the nuances is a mistake. 

The skill comes with reading between the lines and having a vision that sees the underlying need. Testing to see if it will fly before going all-in is the wise move. 

Pro Tip:  Just because you build it...doesn’t mean they will come.