Market segments are comprised of like people, who share a common interest, who have access to each other and who look to one another as a trusted reference.

As Eric Ries writes “by testing, each failed hypothesis leads to a new pivot, where we change just one element of the business plan (customer segment, feature set, positioning) – but don’t abandon everything we’ve learned.” Pivoting is at the heart of the “fail fast” concept. The sooner you realize a hypothesis is wrong, the faster you can update i

Early Adopters want to help you and (here is the best bit) want you to be successful.

Word of mouth regarding products works best among those who share a need and a means to communicate a solution. “Access to each other” indicates a common methodology to reach them. Indirect knowledge (e.g., PR, testimonials, etc.) of like individuals buying a product is a powerful influence. One

“Separate the zeal of entrepreneurship from the blindness of hubris.” #CustDev #LeanStartup http://bit.ly/bdtjFD

Launching in an existing market also requires millions of marketing dollars to compete with the existing players who hope to squash you. If you don’t have millions of dollars to spend, you must build your business or prove the traction to investors by dominating a specific niche market segment. In the latter case, you are essentially in a “segmente

“The second most desired outcome is the realization that there is no market...” #CustDev #LeanStartup http://bit.ly/a60evp

The point isn’t that the individuals within a segment do communicate with each other, but rather that they “have access” to do so.

For example, if you develop “Facebook for senior citizens,” you and your techy friends, as well as tech savvy pundits will see that you have segmented the social networking market for the senior citizens’ market niche. All well and good, but if the senior citizens have never heard of Facebook, what good does the comparison do you? Try a landing pag