A large software company in Silicon Valley was experiencing steady revenue growth, but needed to find new markets—and new ways of serving those markets—to maintain its growth rate.

The problem was to determine the markets to serve, the products appropriate to these markets, and the best way to deliver those products.

Using market research and validation, Market Builders determined that the opportunity for this company lay in specific verticals within the financial services and manufacturing industries in the SMB market. We further determined that even though the market required education to understand the benefits, the market potential for a hosted solution was greater than the traditional licensed model.

Interviewing prospects in depth, we were able to determine their feature and functionality requirements, pricing parameters, perceived alternative solutions, and decision making processes. Benefits included customer ease of adoption with fewer financial risks and the ability to collaborate and share information more readily.

Based on our research, we were able to quantify the size of the market opportunity and our client was able to expedite its product and market plans to deliver the first version of its hosted solution within 9 months. The result was an 8% increase in market share the first year, with over $16M in incremental revenue.