In the second instalment of my interviews with Owen Rees-Hayward, founder of thingloop, the focus is on market research and how it informs business viability. Pretty important stuff for any new business. I for one was impressed and surprised in equal measure by what Owen has to say here…
thingloop makes it easy to lend and borrow physical objects (tools, books, DVDs and so on) with people in your social network. Save money. Save the planet. Borrow stuff.
What kind of market research did you do for thingloop?
“thingloop exists in a wider emerging market, sometimes referred to ‘collaborative consumption’. This market didn’t really exist when I began exploring the idea of thingloop.
“For an existing market, you are able to ask the standard questions. How much is the market worth? Who are the incumbents? How are they doing? Is there space for a new entrant? How will you compete?
“For an emerging market, or one that doesn’t yet exist, things are a little trickier. Research amongst family and friends doesn’t really cut the mustard, although if everyone tells you the idea sucks, well, then it probably does!
“I did a lot of online research, exploring the web looking to see if anyone else was doing the same or anything similar to thingloop. As it turned out, at the time, there were only a couple of US sites vaguely similar in concept, but they weren’t going anywhere.”
How did you work out if your business idea was viable?
“To be honest, I’m not sure I did! We were launching into a future full of unknowns, as new markets are hard to quantify.
“That said, I tried to get the basics right, the financial planning, and so on, and to quantify as much as I could.
“Secondly, and probably most importantly, I got all the advice I could. There are a number of organisations in the Bristol area who can offer great guidance and support to new businesses: from the better-known business advice centres like Business Link, BRAVE and BEN; through to tech/web incubators like SETsquared, UWE Ventures and Spike Design. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of most of these organisations when I started out with thingloop, and would have really benefited from their input!
“Thirdly, you can approach the project using what is known as the Lean Startup model, which basically involves releasing a product as early as possible. The idea being that there’s no point investing loads in creating a well-polished product that no-one wants. Rather it’s more valuable to get feedback early. Why not release something that’s got a few rough edges? If people like it and you get some traction, then you can invest in refinements to take it forward.”
