Topic B2B & High Tech Brand Process

Submitted to Sir Awais Hassan

Submitted by Shahzaib

Roll No 64

Class BBA 7th M2

Department of IBMAS
 High Technology Brand Process

Building a technology business is unlike building any other business. Startups leverage technology to serve

customers at scale. Creating this technology requires a series of validation, iteration, and sometimes

complete changes of plan. The search period that every technology startup goes through to find a scalable

and repeatable business model with a product that solves a problem and worthy of customers’ money is

what makes building a startup unique. For decades, the principles, methodologies and approaches used to

build non-technology businesses were applied to launch and grow technology startups. In a nutshell, once

you understand the market, if you build and promote a solid product, customers will use and pay for it. This

approach proved ineffective for technology startups. Findings show that close to 45% of startups fail due

to lack of market need. For startups, the learn-build-promote approach skips the business model search

period and assumes that the created solution is valid and worthy of customers’ attention and money. While

a few startups sometimes quickly hit the sweet spot, the majority realize a need for major changes in the

product or business model. In many cases, lessons learned from product launches suggest a complete change

of direction meaning building a different product as if the team is starting from scratch.

A startup will always be evolving no matter how careful the founders are in trying to build a product people

love. The goal is to make smaller mistakes especially in the early risky stages. This guide will show you

how to build a profitable technology business by quickly learning what customers want and will pay for so

that you don’t waste resources in ineffective strategies and solutions.

1. Identify A Need

Ideas are nothing more than proposed solutions to a problem or a need. While there are countless business

opportunities, the more urgent the need is for a solution, the more likely a product will be used. The first

step is to measure the urgency of an identified need.

1. Are people paying for an alternative solution?

2. What’s the consequence of not having a solution? Will they lose money, waste time or incapable

of getting an important job done?

3. Is it an unavoidable problem?

4. Are there underrepresented or underserved segments?

Answering those key questions is the first step in evaluating whether your solution is worth creating. The

last question can reveal opportunities for differentiation through concentration in which your solution can

be customized for a specific group of people even in the existence of large competitors.
2. Validate The Need

Many ideas look great on paper but are not valid in practice. Building and marketing a product is one way

of knowing whether the solution is valid. However, this approach is long, costly and the reason many

startups fail. Adding a few steps before product development will significantly minimize costs and startup

risk. The goal from those steps is to build in response to demand.

A product is created to solve customers’ problems. Therefore, only the customer can tell if there is an urgent

need and if they’re willing to pay for a different solution. As such, the first step in validating a need

is customer interviews.

The benefits of interviewing potential buyers go beyond gathering insights. Think of your group of

interviewees as your mentors, marketers and investors. They’re mentors because they can help you build a

product they need. They’re marketers because they can help you spread the word and attract other

customers. Finally, they’re investors because they can help you fund the early stages by committing to the

solution early on.

You can gather your group of interviewees by leveraging online and offline communities, social media

sites, cold outreach, your network or any channel that allows you to connect with your target buyers.

The goal from the interviews is to find consistency in respondents’ answers who should deliberately indicate

whether the problem is worth solving or not. If it is, move to the next stage and if not, let your interviewees

tell you what need you should be focused on addressing instead.

3. Validate The Solution

It can be tempting to move straight to product development based on interviewees’ indication of a need and

request for a solution. In reality, many of the things we say we will do are different from the things we end

up doing. In other words, while insights gathered from the interviews should be taken as a strong validation

signal, it isn’t until they commit to the solution and use it that we know we have proof. Follow these four

steps to quantitatively validate a solution.

1) Chances are, through research and customer interviews, you have a clear idea how the product should

look and function. Before building it, design it. As noted earlier, one of the benefits of involving customers

since the beginning is their contribution as mentors or guides. Invite a few of your interviewees to review

your product designs and help you picture the product they wish they could use.

There are many reasons why you should start with product designs. First, they are quicker to create. Second,

every software development project starts with a design phase which means you would have started with it

anyways. Finally, designs are great for testing ideas because you can modify them quickly without costly

and time-consuming redevelopment.

2) Turn the designs into a clickable prototype. There are many tools that can help you build prototypes even

if you don’t have a programming background. The prototype, at this stage, will not be the solution that

customers use, it will serve as a presentation tool for the next step.

3) Create and sell a mafia offer. If interviewees collaborated to create the designs and prototype, and if the

need is truly valid, there shouldn’t be a reason future users will not be willing to commit financially to an

offer that is very hard to resist.

It is common at this stage to see hesitations and objections. It is the moment you learn if future buyers were

honestly interested in the solution. Surprisingly, most, if not all, of your interviewees will want to pass. For

instance, in one of my first startup ventures, out of close to 500 interviewees who deliberately asked for a

solution, only three paid. Had I built the product before selling the offer, I would have wasted tens of

thousands of dollars.

4) In many cases, especially in a market with many alternative options, future buyers will prefer a functional

product before committing to it. In this case, the fastest way to serve customers without necessarily spending

the next few months turning the designs into a functional product is by creating a non-scalable solution

delivery process.

It is a solution that combines existing tools and manual work to get customers’ job done. You may be

familiar with the story of Airbnb where the founders used their own apartments and air mattresses to serve

guests. Even after validating the need, the founders continued to hustle in connecting guests with hosts

before building a powerful online and mobile matching platform. The founders of the food on-demand

startup, DoorDash, followed a similar process in the early stages before building an app.

Those 4 solution validation steps will provide you with all the insights you need to build a product people

are more likely to use. Best of all, you can accomplish all of the above in as little as one month. In fact,

when the founders of DoorDash realized they were trying to solve the wrong problem, it took them one

afternoon to iterate and get their first food order. They used a simple landing page, their cell phones and

vehicle to take and deliver the orders.

4. Build Core Features

Having validated the need and solution, it is time to build your app idea. As noted earlier, one of the benefits

of testing the validity of the solution with product designs is presenting a visual and interactive version of

the product before it’s built. This is key to the development phase since by now, the features and visuals

should have been adjusted and prepared for development based on customer insights and feedback.

One of the costly mistakes founders make at this stage is build an advanced product before quantitatively

validating the core features. Those are essential features for delivering the value proposition of the solution.

In other words, users will not be able to get their job done without them.

If users do not see value in core features, chances are good-to-have features will not make a difference.

Therefore, it is wiser and safer to start by building and quickly testing the core features of the product.

If you don’t have a programming background or a technical co-founder, you need a team to help you build

the product. With today’s freelancing platforms, it is easy to find people with complementary skills.

Turning an app idea into a product people use is unlike building any other software product. Prioritize

working with entrepreneurial freelancers. Those are talents who have startup projects of their own and

understand what it is like to build a startup. Best of all, they can potentially become your co-founders.

5. Test Riskiest Assumptions

While earlier stages seek to find problem/solution fit, this stage focuses on product/solution fit which

essentially is how well you turn the proposed solution into a useful product. The riskiest assumption is

people using the core features to get a certain benefit.

Key metrics like churn rate, user growth and customer lifetime value help in measuring the impact of the

product in solving the identified problem. More importantly, the insights gathered from customer interviews

will help you connect the dots to make educated conclusions about the product and the next steps.
6. Invest In Customer Acquisition

Entrepreneurs are encouraged to start building an audience as soon as possible, even before identifying a

need in the market. Starting with an audience means having a group of people that can provide insights,

invest in your idea through presales, refer others and more.

There are many channels that can help you build an audience. Some of them include writing articles,

producing a podcast, launching events and actively engaging on social media. For instance, the founders of

the social media management platform, Buffer, were able to build a growing audience of future users by

actively writing blog and guest posts before launching the product.

Your main acquisition channel will depend on the product and target buyer. It’s important, at this stage, to

at least start setting up the foundation of a repeatable acquisition channel whether it is content marketing,

cold outreach, paid ads or others.

7. Learn-Build-Measure

A startup can have a solid product with paying customers and yet, fail to validate a business model at scale.

For instance, if the cost of acquiring customers is higher than the return generated from retaining them, the

business is operating at a loss.

With validated core features, the next step is to progressively improve the product by providing users with

all the needed tools so that they stay longer or use it more often and refer others, thus increasing customer

lifetime value and reducing customer acquisition cost.

Shortening performance evaluation cycles is how a startup can continue to test ideas of new features or

initiatives quickly. Learn from the data, prioritize features, measure performance and start again with new

additions.
In conclusion, to build a profitable technology business,

1. Find out if there is an urgent need for a solution by studying the competition and talking to future

buyers.

2. Validate a solution by involving the customer in product designs, seeking their commitment and

serving them by doing things that don’t scale.

3. Build and validate the core features of the product; features that are essential to users’ ability to

address the validated need.

4. Set the foundation of an acquisition funnel to build a predictable revenue channel.

5. Continue to improve the product as you gather and analyze data to enhance user experience and

differentiate it from the competition.

 The B2B Branding Process

A strong B2B Brand is what separates a service provider from a solutions provider. Anyone can provide a

service to a client, but a well-crafted brand creates relationships by offering solutions. A business serious

about long-term client relationships should take the time to develop and maintain a strong brand. The

B2B branding process can be boiled down to five major steps. While there are a slew of tasks and to-dos

that make up each step, we will be looking at the major milestones of branding a B2B business.

1. Outline Your Vision and Core Values

The first step in a B2B branding project is outlining your firm’s vision, core values, and mission

statement. These are the foundation of a brand and must be definitively outlined before creating logos,

taglines, websites, copy, or any type of tangible collateral. The typical process for outlining vision,

values, and a mission statement is a creative meeting of the C-level team or decision makers. Since these

individuals are guiding the success of the company, they are the best group for determining the

fundamental values of the organization.

A mission statement should communicate the vision and values of the organization and how the company

adds value. For example, Amazon.com’s mission statement is “to be Earth’s most customer-centric

company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors

to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.” This mission statement shares the company’s vision and

communicates the value to its customers.

2. Define Your Target Market/Ideal Client

Next, determine who your target market is and what they “look” like. The simplest way to do this is to

create a profile of an ideal client. The profile includes information about sex, occupation, age range,

education level, geographical location, income, work environment, and job title. The profile creates a

detailed snapshot of whom your company is trying to reach. Be sure to define their pain points and

challenges as well, since that will help with your value proposition.

3. Determine Value Proposition

What compels clients to buy your products or services? Determine what unique offering or attribute your

company provides that differentiates you from competitors and addresses a pain point or points for your

clients. The value proposition focuses on the benefit of your product and service. A great value

proposition answers the question, “Why should I be your client?” Stay away from listing features here

since a client won’t care about features if your product or service doesn’t fulfill a need.

4. Create Your B2B Brand Narrative

At this point in the B2B branding project, it’s time to create your brand narrative. This is essentially how

you tell your “company’s story.” This is not the same as the company history. Storytelling, also referred

to as messaging, is how you are going to communicate with your potential clients and educate them about

why they need your product or service. By crafting an interesting and engaging brand narrative, you are

educating your target market without them thinking they are being sold on a product or service. Your B2B

brand narrative runs throughout your marketing strategy and is essential to keeping a consistent brand.
5. Promote Your Brand Internally

The final step in launching your new B2B brand includes getting company wide buy-in. It’s counter-

productive to launch a new brand if your internal staff doesn’t understand it or even know about it. Sadly,

many companies don’t alert their employees about a new brand or a re-brand until it has launched and

been communicated to the market. Every member of your organization is a brand ambassador in one way

or another so make sure you share the elements of the brand with them prior to launch. Share the

information with excitement to create internal buzz and show employees they have a stake in the

company’s success.

Building a B2B Brand involves more than logo creation and a new email template. The branding process

is an opportunity to define how your target market sees your company and views your products or

services.