Getting It Right the First Time: How Innovative Companies Anticipate Demand

There is no doubt that the pace of business has accelerated―products go from concept to release faster than ever, business partnerships and alliances are established (and dissolved) more quickly, competitors react more swiftly to any tilt in the playing field. Whether your business is microprocessors or airplane manufacturing, it will live or die by the degree to which you can anticipate demand for your products and services. In Getting It Right the First Time, John Katsaros and Peter Christy argue that the most successful businesses will be those that accurately predict market conditions―especially the market changes that will occur within the crucial 18-to-36-month innovation window. Or, to paraphrase hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky: skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it is.

Showcasing dozens of colorful examples of lucrative successes and missed opportunities (from high-tech to financial services to medical devices), the authors present a detailed plan for how you and your company can learn to: identify your top customers in advance of entering the market, successfully position your company and its products to those customers, and catch emerging trends before your competitors do. Eschewing traditional market research techniques―such as focus groups, polls, and surveys― Katsaros and Christy demonstrate how expert interviews with potential early adopters can help identify your killer app―the function that customers most value―and avoid costly trial-and-error. In a viciously competitive world where your company may have only one chance to score big, Getting It Right the First Time provides essential guidance for entrepreneurs, marketers, product developers, and business strategists, and offers new insight into the dynamics of innovation.

John Katsaros is a principal at the Silicon Valley-based Internet Research Group (IRG), a leading marketing research and consulting company. He is the author of Selling High Tech and a contributing author to Tricks of the Internet Gurus.

Peter Christy is a principal at the Silicon Valley-based Internet Research Group (IRG), a leading marketing research and consulting company. He previously served as president of MicroDesign Resources and in management positions at leading computer companies, including Apple, Digital Equipment, IBM, and Sun Microsystems.