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A Better Mousetrap?

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t be so sure of that.

In a young and growing market, one product strategy is to best the competition. Innovate to add what’s missing. Unfortunately, this strategy loses it’s power as

• markets get mature.
• markets get crowded.
• markets get saturated with competitive product.

A “better one” is hard to see among too many options, especially when “better ones” are introduced at a blinding pace. New technology outdates offerings and changes market needs almost daily.

Before we create a “better” product or service based, we might want to use questions such as these to check the assumptions on whiich we’ve built that better mousetrap.

• Are there still enough mice around?
• Are there still enough people bothered by mice?
• Are those people unhappy with the mousetrap they already have?
• Are they unhappy enough to spend enough real currency to cover your costs in order to have your one?
  • Will they agree that your version is better than what they’ve got?
  • Will they forego the other stuff they might spend that real currency on?
  • Will they be able to fit your mousetrap into their lives without having to give up too much?
• Can you afford to make it easy for them to find you?
• Can you simply explain your mousetrap to them in lanuage they can understand?
• Will they still need your mousetrap 6 months from now?

A better mousetrap becomes a paperweight when no one has mouse problem.

Customers don’t want innovation. They want solutions.

Liz Strauss

Find out about working with Liz.

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