Feasibility Survey integral part of start-up success

Do you know that 90% of start-ups fail within six months of operation? This figure is shocking, isn’t it?.

Majority of enterprising people with brilliant business ideas find themselves in trouble a couple of months down the line.

Without knowing what hit them, they find themselves unable to pay their daily business expenses.

The question is what causes this high failure rate in the first place? There are several reasons attributed to start-up failures. Below I will profile a few key ones.

• Lack of knowledge about the market
• Insufficient Capital
• Poor Management
• Poor Location
• Lack of planning

I will focus on the first item – Knowledge about the market you are planning to do business in is very critical in ensuring success. First and foremost any budding entrepreneur needs to identify a niche in the market – in other words a market niche is an unserviced or an opportunity identified in the market which is under serviced. After identifying this gap in the market the second step is to find out if that gap is profitable. To find out if there is real need for the products/services identified, there is need to gather market insights about the identified market (niche).

How do you get or establish market insights from the identified niche/ market? This where market research comes into play. Market research conducted to find out whether an idea is viable or not is called  a ‘Feasibility Survey’. The aim of this market research survey is to find out if the proposed idea/s are viable and accepted by the target market.  A feasibility study is the analysis of a concept to see if it will be a success or not. It takes into account:

• Operational (will it work?),
• Economical (costs Vs benefits)
• Viability (can it succeed?)

Results of the market research survey often determine whether the concept should be implemented or not. When developing a feasibility survey he following 5 key questions must be addressed:

1. What is the actual product or service?
2. Who are the targeted customers?
3. What is the benefit of providing your product or service?
4. How will you get the product to the customers?
5. Who is already providing the service/products you want to sell

It has been proven that the 10% of start-ups, who make it, utilize market research before embarking on setting up their businesses. I will be covering in depth the elements of a feasibility survey. For free advise feel free to contact me here.

To your success!!!!