So what is a Technology and Market Assessment?

In this day and age of entrepreneurship, starting new businesses and balancing all of the needs and questions that this means many people wonder “where should I start” when developing an idea into a company?

Many people will tell you that you should start with a business plan. While this is good advice, I’d recommend starting with a technology and market assessment. The business plan ultimately is the plan that you hope to go about to make your business successful and sustainable. But the assessment is really a deep dive investigation into your idea, with the hope of seeing “Does this make business sense.”

Furthermore it is a tool that could and should be used before you spend money and time on developing a product. Often times you will get that “Eureka” moment when suddenly you think of an idea that you had never thought of before but how do you know if it really is a good idea or not?

Assessment of a technology or product concept, including both technical and commercial aspects, is a primary step before actually moving forward with the product development process.  The assessment process itself approaches the problem from multiple levels, requiring assumptions to be quantified and challenging these assumptions from both objective and subjective viewpoints.  The assessment process may also be tailored to the specific technology or product concept being considered.  As the process unfolds, the goal is to answer the fundamental question: Is this the concept ready for product development and ultimately commercialization?

Interested in learning more about starting a business? i’d recommend Gregg Fairbrother’s work – a sample of which can be found here: http://greggfairbrothers.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/resources-references-content-9-19-11.pdf