Opportunity Identification:
- Do people either need or want “something” that you can develop?
- How can you manage the risk of proving it?
- Is there any sales value (subscription or similar revenue) associated with the use of the “something” you can build for them?
- Can you create monetizable value from other elements of the service delivery?
- Is the market (defined by the metrics characteristic of a profitable company) big enough to be interesting?
Resources:
- Can you find the right people to build the product?
- Can you afford to fund its development?
- Do you need funding?
- Can you secure it?
- Can you last long enough?
- How long can you stay poor?
Development:
- Can you manage delivery and execution to some kind of quality spec?
- Can you build it fast enough to a point that it is good enough to not disappoint, and thus trigger a “You don’t a second chance to make a first impression” reality?
- Can you find the development resources you don’t have?
Go-to-Market (sales and marketing):
- Can you reach the channels and people who can help create demand?
- Can you get the attention (DEMAND GEN) of the target market?
- Can you interest prospects (LEAD GEN) in learning more?
- Can you acquire users/customers (SALES) for less than their sales/monetizable value (over a time period you can live with)?
Growth
- Can you continually improve the product (PRODUCT MANAGEMENT)?
- Can you remain competitively relevant (PRODUCT MANAGEMENT/SALES & MARKETING)?
- Can you keep customers happy (CUSTOMER SERVICE)?
- Can you keep existing customers, while continuing to gain new ones SALES & MARKETING)?
- Can you fund your current realities (FINANCES: CASH-FLOW) and future plans (FINANCES: STRATEGIC PLANNING & GROWTH PLANS)?